BND hasn't sucked but it sure as heck isnt great either. The first 3 issues were mildly entertaining, but they should have been stupendous to overcome the bad rep from OMD. I still pick up spidey, but its fallen down the list in my must read pile each week.

WTF is this Gwen getting raped ####?

To saturnflight -- Gwen died how long ago? Sheesh. Must be nice to see "revenge" on MJ for taking your man from you.

After a lot of thought, here's a reader's digest version of what I would've pitched for breaking up the Watson-Parker marriage:

Still heartbroken over the death of his son, Norman Osborn makes a deal with the devil to bring Harry back.

Rather than simply resurrecting Harry, Mephisto takes the opportunity to alter history ever so slightly, making it as if Harry never died. Harry lives and the resultant shock to continuity changes not only Osborn history, but Parker history as well. He never experienced the other; he rethought his stance on Civil War before he took his mask off. He didn't get the girl. Typical Parker luck!

Did you ever read Sins Past? They basically say that Gwen met with Norman Osborn at some point before her death and got it on with him, then traveled to Paris to have his twins. The original storyline was that they were going to be Peter's kids, but that was nixed, so it was changed to Norman raping her, which was also nixed for being too similar to Dr. Light. So it became, "Gwen saw him, he was down, she felt bad for him and got it on with him, despite her being a virgin up to that point." It was a butchery of what could have been a good story.

And yeah, Gwen died a long time ago. But Spider-Man isn't over her, and often refers back to her. Books still come out with her in them (Spider-Man: Blue). She was just put in a Spider-Man movie. Gwen is still a character who a reader can argue was more the love of Peter's life than MJ was, or at least she had the potential to be.

As for MJ, I respect the character development she's had, and over time she's become a better woman for Peter. But Stan Lee himself has said that he did all he could to make MJ more like Gwen and Gwen more like MJ because he liked Gwen better. And if you look at the traits that make MJ appealing now, it's not what she was doing back in her first appearances. I'm allowed to like Gwen more than MJ. That's all I was saying.

Not raped. That scene I mentioned is from the story of her death. The goblin (pre-retcon) went to Peter's, as the Goblin, but Peter wasn't there... however, Gwen was. So, Gobbie took her hostage, brought her to the bridge and we all know what happened then.
The new retcon (that I made up) has it MJ was there, punched Gwen out, and ran off so the Goblin took Gwen instead of her.

Well, if Sin's Past was ignored...remember, Norman was off edge. He was pushed back into his Green Goblin persona because his son was deep into drug abuse, and it really affected him. And Harry went into his drug abuse because MJ broke up with him. MJ broke up with Harry because she was never really into Harry, but more into Peter. So that's my argument on how MJ KILLED GWEN!!!!

No, I've never read this "Sins past", as I try to avoid buying retcons. But some have a lower denominator for their entertainment.

I don't know if anybody posted this yet, but I have to get it out there:

http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/7...mansuitzg3.jpg

I totally remember that issue. It was when Peter was showing off his new suit! It was 32-pages of awesomeness!!!!

Niiiiicce.

I don't know. His suit looks a little small. Typical Parker luck.

I've got to admit that BND is pretty good and is the best writing Spider-Man has gotten in some time. Also it is being produced at a record pace. Which moves it up and onto my list. Sorry Ultimates but I just don't like the entire history of the character crammed into his high school days.

I'll just have to think of OMD as one of the worst ret-cons of all time and enjoy BND on it's own terms. Though I still hate the fact that Peter is now living with his Aunt, and suddenly single yet technically undivorced. With new villains and characters to work with, I don't see the need for Harry's resurrection yet, and getting a divorce from MJ would have served both for being single again as well as being broke.

Whoever wrote that lousy summation of his character in the special issue also got it very wrong. Spider-Man is more than just a clownish, comic relief stereotype. Sure he needs to be humorous at times but he is also greater than that.

BND holds my interest for now. Just don't ever change the title to the Amazing Journey of Spider-Man. OMD was just the latest and greatest in a series of f-ups in the JMS/Quesada run of Spider-Man. Which I kind of would like to pretend never happened. Oh but it did Marvel, it did.

Easier said than done IMO. :cross-eye

Meh. OMD was just atrocious, but the best I can say about BND is that while not really bad, there is also nothing particularly good or exciting about it. It's just some of the blandest Spider-Man stories I have ever read.

OMD was awful, but I say give BND a chance.

Right now the only three titles I'm getting from Marvel are :Fantastic Four, Ultimate Spiderman, and Utlimate X-Men