Bags and Boards: A Look Into Comics is a monthly column from long time comic book fan Jaybird.  Each month, Bags and Boards brings to you comic book commentary, opinion, and reviews.

The events of One More Day changed Spider-Man forever.  All Spider-Man titles other then "Amazing" were cancelled, and instead Amazing Spider-Man moved to a thrice per month publishing schedule.  A so called "brain trust" was put into place to oversee the Spider-Man stories and universe through a new phase known as Brand New Day.  Now, after nearly 8 months, I find myself asking what happened to the Spider-Man I knew and loved?

For the uninitiated, here is how it went down.  Editor-in-Chief of Marvel, Joe Quesada, decided that Spider-Man needed an overhaul.  As Quesada put it, a genie needed to be put back into the bottle (a favorite line of his).  That genie was Peter Parker's marriage to Mary Jane.  The reason for this, Quesada argues, is that a married Spider-Man is a boring Spider-Man.  Who needs character development and growth?  Not Spider-Man.  He needs to be a swinging single or kids won't like him!

The Spider-Event to accomplish the unmarriagification of Spider-Man was titled One More Day, penned by long time Amazing Spider-Man writer JMS.  One More Day, a four part story, deals with a dying Aunt May (in a previous issue, she was hit with a bullet meant for Peter) and Peter's struggles to save her.  For reasons unknown, this draws the attention of Mephisto, the Marvel Universe equivalent of the devil.  Mephisto offers to save Aunt May's life, but in return, he wants Peter and MJ's marriage, because he's a jerk, and the devil.  I'm not making this up.  And of course, Peter and MJ decide to erase their marriage from existence to save Aunt "I'm super old and have already died at least once" May's life.  And poof, Peter and MJ were never married.  But wait, that's not all!  For some reason, this leads to Peter being an unemployed dork once again living with Aunt May, everyone forgetting he is Spider-Man (he revealed his identity not too long ago), losing his new powers (ones he also gained previously) and Harry Osborn is back from the dead (because hey, why not?).  Thus, One More Day pretty much negated every Spider-Man comic I've read since coming back into the comic book fold.  Thanks.

Obviously, not many fans were happy about this.  All over the world fans were up in arms over this travesty.  Even JMS refused to put his name on the last two issues (which he later caved and allowed after months of delays and rewrites).

But instead of bitch and moan on random comic centric message boards around the net, I decided to take the "wait and see" approach, as I do with most things.  Sure, I hated what just happened, but why not check out the three times a month Brand New Day?  Maybe it'll have something going for it.

It is now eight months later.  With the constant switch in creative teams (which is the only way to do such a frequent book) the quality has fluctuated.  The stories have ranged from bad to good and the same can be said for the art.  If you're lucky, the two "goods" match up and you get yourself a good Spider-Man story.  If not, you cringe at each page.

Spider-Man ruining my life

But here's the thing.  If you are going to change Spider-Man so drastically, each story better damn well be awesome, which they haven't been.  Right out of the gate you should be awing the fans, showing them why this new Spider-Man is worth it.  Instead, the brain trust has started off slow, introducing new characters and mixing up Spider-Man's world more than ever.  Both of these things are all fine and well, but there has to be something else, something that makes it special (other than paying three times as much a month).  Instead, it's left me with a "meh" feeling.

Quesada claims that this move was for the long term health of the character.  But was there really a problem with the character's current state?  The marriage to MJ (which I'll admit, was also, on all accounts, a stupid editorial move at the time) took place in 1987.  I was born in 1986!  For nearly my entire life, and at least for as long as I could hold a comic, Peter and MJ were married and they were synonymous with one another.  Has Spider-man really had a problem attracting new readers since 1987?  It sure got me hooked no problem.

You see, Quesada grew up with an unmarried Spider-Man, so I can understand where he is coming from, but people reading comics today, the younger generation, doesn't see it like that.  All Marvel did was take our Spider-Man and make him a loser.  And for what?  To attract younger people?  What happened to the unmarried Spider-Man portrayed in Ultimate Spider-Man (and from what I hear, done amazingly by Brian Michael Bendis) being the title aimed at attracting new and younger readers?  Quesada missed the mark on this one.  All he really did was piss off a bunch of long time fans and negate every Spider-Man story I've ever read.

In the end, I have no doubt that Amazing Spider-Man will tell good and eventually great stories.  I'm sure sales will turn around and Peter will remain unmarried to MJ.  People will settle in, the hatred will recede, and things will return to normal.  And me, I will continue to read it, because Spider-Man will always have a special place in my heart.  Yet, the Spider-Man I knew and grew up with is gone forever.

This Month's Recommendation: The Immortal Iron Fist #1-16 by Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction

Do you like crazy Kung-Fu action?  What about mystical cities, ancient texts, completely original baddies, and a compelling story to wrap it all together?  Then I think you'll love The Immortal Iron Fist.

I have to say, I picked this title up on a whim.  Iron Fist popped up a few times in Daredevil and I was curious to learn more about him.  Safe to say, I was pleasantly surprised.

Brubaker and Fraction take Danny Rand, the Immortal Iron Fist, a character from the 70s doomed to obscurity since the 80s, and turns him and his world into an entire universe.  The Immortal Iron Fist fleshes out the Iron Fist annals by ten fold.  We discover the long legacy of Iron Fists going back to the thirteenth century and are introduced to the mystery of Orson Randall, the overly awesome Iron Fist predecessor from WW1 who somehow still maintains his powers.

When it was announced that Brubaker and Fraction were leaving the title after issue sixteen, it was safe to say that most people were shocked.  It sure sounded like they were on it for the long haul, but instead we got only a taste of greatness.  The title continues on, but it's a tough act to follow.

For anyone looking to read an unconventional super-hero title, I highly recommend this one for you.  You can easily pick this up in trade format for relatively cheap just about anywhere.  So hop to it!

Jaybird currently resides in Seattle where he reads comics, works in a library, and writes for this site.  He has also been known to blow your mind, rock your world, and eat pizza.