Monday Spider-Musings

Ah, Spider-Man. He used to be my favorite four-color character. I must have read that issue of Secret Wars where he beats up the X-Men's entire first string roster a hundred times (then, I really don't like the X-Men. Morality plays on race and acceptance ring false when everyone is white and pretty).
Of all the characters around, I always thought he was the easiest to relate to as a kid. Even as a young adult. Money problems, girl problems, problems, problems, problems. Some issues it seemed as if Spider-Man was beaten before he even started to fight. Those were good issues, mainly because you knew he was going to fight anyway.
That was what he was all about, right?
Long odds, long hours, fighting the good fight. Fighting to survive. Different kind of hero, there. Spider-Man never struck me as the type of guy who wanted to fight, but more as the guy who had no choice. He fought because somebody had to. Because the Avengers were busy and Daredevil didn't leave Hell's Kitchen and the Hulk wasn't a hero and if you weren't a mutant, the X-Men weren't interested.
The Uncle Ben guilt was always there, but I don't think it registered on me. It was just the reason he did what he did. Captain America was a patriot, Wolverine liked to fight, the Hulk wanted to be left alone, and Spider-Man was trying to live up to the ideals of a dead father-figure. They'd mention it every so often, but the character had passed beyond the point of angsting over it. It was just a facet of his back-story, summed up in one to two panels. Or, to switch things up, it'd be Gwen Stacy.
When Aunt May died (the first time) I was impressed. I thought 'here we go, we'll replace guilt over a death with honoring the memory as the motivating factor'. As a character, May Parker had literally outlived her usefulness. She, like Gwen Stacy, would have more of an impact on the ongoing story as a motivating force. Living up to Aunt May's ideals would have kept Spider-Man lifting girders and fighting past the point of exhaustion for years to come. And, frankly, it's a much purer motivation for a flagship character than crippling guilt. The guilt wouldn't have to go away entirely, but the focus could be shifted off it and onto other facets of the character's personality.
So why'd they bring Aunt May back?
I don't have an answer for that. Editorial fiat, I assume. Someone somewhere thought that it was a good idea to keep all the elements of the mythos in play. Whatever the reason, it weakened the gains (if any) which had been made.
As soon as they brought May back, I stopped reading Spider-Man. I knew what was next, mainly because I read a lot and I know a ret-con when I see one. Writers do it all the time. And I was right. The systematic deconstruction of the existing status quo in order to reassert the original. It took a while, as these things do. The Green Goblin came back, despite his importance as a villain hinging on the very act which removed him from the overall story. The Spider-Baby removed from continuity completely (unless you read Spider-Girl), Mary-Jane shuffled offstage several times until it finally stuck.
The Scarlet Spider killed. I think I'll talk about why that was a dumb mistake tomorrow.
Regardless, I've never understood the logic. There were other ways to get back to basics (Ultimate Spider-Man ring any bells?) that didn't involve changing things back. It was possible to have cake and eat it too.
Perhaps I've never understood the logic of how a sickly relative is any more an obstacle than a stressful marriage and a child. As far as providing secondary plot fodder, the latter has far more potential.
Then, maybe they just really like wheat cakes. Who knows?
Like I said, that's when I stopped reading the title. I picked it up again briefly during JMS' infamous run, which had a lot to recommend it, but dropped it again soon after the Civil War Event. Once the character was shoe-horned into the plot in order to perform a specific function, as opposed to his function resulting from a natural character progression, I stopped caring.
It'll be interesting to see how Spider-Man fares in the coming 'Heroic Age'. The stressed back to basics approach that's being touted most likely signals a return to the previous status quo, but perhaps not.