The TV series, "Who Wants to Be a Superhero" had people auditioning to become the character in an original superhero comic written by Stan Lee.

One of the contestants took an opportunity to thank Stan Lee. He said that his father had committed suicide when he was young and that he'd looked to Spider-man for guidance and inspiration as he grew up and because of that he viewed Stan Lee as a bit of a father figure.

It was clear that Lee was taken aback, but it was nonetheless a testament to the enduring power of Marvel's flagship character.

So What's So Great About Spider-man

Spider-man is very different from Superman and Batman. With Superman and Batman, you have a sense that these characters are pretty much set. It's very hard to tempt them or entice them to do something outside of that character.

With Spider-man, he was really like one of us. He had these amazing superpowers, but his life was a struggle. His health often put at risks none of us can imagine from Man-Spider incidents to multiple arms, he's been through the whole gamut.

But he also struggles with letting down people he love. He's tempted to self-pity and doubt, he's tempted to be selfish with his powers. He wonders sometimes if what he does actually matters. These are the sort of things that we all struggle with. What makes him a hero is that he comes out of that struggle and ends up doing the right thing.

And what did marriage mean for Spider-man fans who'd followed the character for years? It was great. It was like if you had a friend who really hit the jackpot with their spouse. "Wow, what a great couple! They're so cute together." And of course the Spider-man/Mary Jane marriage was filled with a lot of great stories and great times. Most people were quite happy, but there was at least one exception.

Joe Quesada, an editor for Marvel Comics HATED the Spider-Man/Mary Jane marriage. He believed it aged the character. He tried to come up with some way to end it. However, most solutions didn't work. The most popular idea among those who favored ending the marriage was divorce, which would have required Spider-man and Mary Jane to both go way out of character and besides Hank Pym had never recovered from his nasty break up with his wife. Divorce and widowing Spider-man would actually serve to make him older.

That's when he came up with the idea for "One More Day." In it, in order to save the life of Aunt May, Peter and Mary Jane sell their marriage to an interdimensional demon in exchange for Aunt May living. Mary Jane also throws in that Spider-man's secret identity be restored and the deal is struck. Their marriage is if didn't exist. In the follow up to "One More Day," "One Moment in Time," we learn that Mary Jane didn't get married to Peter because she insisted he give up being Spider-man because he missed their wedding day because of it, but they do end up living together and not having kids.

Yes, you read that right. Spider-man made a Faustian bargain to throw his wife under the bus. And resulting storylines violated both the character of Spider-man and that of Mary Jane.

This left fans feeling bitter. The Amazon and Goodreads reviews tell the tale better than I can:

But, as an admittedly middle-aged person who grew up with the character, it hurt to lose someone with whom I'd related to for so long. We kind of grew up together and had reached a number of similar milestones. Marriage, with it's share of ups and downs. Family (if you follow the Spider-Girl storyline), which sometimes makes facing the occasional super villain look like a walk in the park. Life moves on and we all must do the same. Spider-man was becoming an adult (that wore tights and fought bad guys on the side)....Well, thanks for stabbing the loyal fans who supported the Wall-Crawler for all those years! It's nice to see you've moved on and left us with nothing but the memories. I heard Joe Qesada has said that the "Spider Girl" storyline is the perfect avenue for us old-timers who don't like the new direction. Then he cancelled the title altogether. How fitting.

I think I speak for a few people when I say that this one really hurts. You've remade a character that I really cared about into someone I don't know and don't really like that much.

And another:

New kids, if Marvel decides to believe that kids actually read comics in between their video games, can read those titles, but we old 30 something year olds grew up with this nerd, who grew up to become a man, falling in love and marrying this beautiful woman. Because inside each one of us is a Spider-Man...

I don't know how I will read Amazing again.

And on Goodreads:

This is without a doubt an abomination in every form of the word. It spits on years of comic history, the personalities of the characters themselves, and the fans.

This book represents Joe Quesada putting his personal preferences for a character into play in every way. Changing things to what he, not the fans want, and forcing ridiculous reasons for it to occur that make virtually no sense.

The review averages about 2 stars on Amazon and a little more gentle 2.7 stars , but still very negative reaction. J Michael Straczynski who was told to write this as his last assignment for Spider-man so strongly objected, he wanted his name off the cover, but was talked out of it. He still wrote an email trying to distance himself the project and saying that he'd asked to have his name off the last two issues.

Stan Lee, always a team player decided to revert to Peter being single in 2009 to go along with the comic book continuity, but when fan feedback came through, Lee listened and the marriage was restored.

Of course, in our pragmatic world, the question is, "Did it work?" While people objected strenuously, was Joe Quesada that brave visionary whose daring leadership took Spider-man forward into reaching a younger audience?

The verdict is in and the answer is no. The best way to do a comparison is to look at where the comics stood in months not covered by some major that leads to more temporary sales.

Going back to June 2007 (months before the One More Day storyline), the figures show Amazing Spider-man as the 8th highest selling comic book in America selling 108,217 copies a month. In addition, Spider-man had two other titles, "The Sensational Spider-man" and "Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man" and they were selling 57,055 copies and 47,855. Total is 213,127 copies. Move forward to April 2009 and Quesada had cancelled the other two series and was running Amazing Spider-man three times a month. The three issues were ranked #17, #19, and #24 selling 192,848 copies. While the sheer number of copies was down by about 10%, perhaps the most important thing was that the fans were down big-time. The top selling Amazing Spider-man issue had only sold 66,410 copies, meaning that the number of buyers of Amazing Spider-man was down 39%. The commercial decline of Spider-man continues today. With the latest figures from October 2012 showing the top-selling copy of Amazing Spider-man (now down to twice a month) selling 58,185 (#23) with the back up Avening Spider-man selling 32,908 copies with total sales for the character at 149,043.

While other factors certainly have to be considered, One More Day has to be considered a key culprit. Joe Quesada's wager didn't pay off.

What he bet on was that we weren't interested in seeing a Peter Parker that grows up and into a mature loving marriage but a Peter Pan who doesn't really mature. Unfortunately, all Quesada managed to do was spoil the good will of many fans and sink Marvel's flagship character.

On the plus side due to the low circulation of Spider-man comics, even with the declining newspaper circulation, far more people think Spider-man is still married to Mary Jane than not.

However, One More Day would not be the last assault on comic book marriages.