Marvel Saga El Asombroso Spiderman 29. Un Momento En El Tiempo: UN MOMENTO EN EL TIEMPO

The Amazing Spider-Man (1999) (Collected Editions) #38

by Joe Quesada (Translator)

Rare book

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Spider Man, Marvel, Superheroes, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics

248 pages, Hardcover

First published November 24, 2010

About the author

Joseph "Joe" Quesada (born January 12, 1962)is an American comic book editor, writer and artist.

He became known in the 1990s for his work on various Valiant Comics books, such as Ninjak and Solar, Man of the Atom.

He later worked on numerous books for DC Comics and Marvel Comics, such as Batman: Sword of Azrael and X-Factor, before forming his own company, Event Comics, where he published his creator-owned character, Ash.

Reviews

[RG · Rating 2 out of 5]

The artwork is what gets the 2 stars. The actual story about MJ and Peter is pretty average. The dialogue is way too overdramatic.

[Nicolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing is too melodramatic for a superhero book and the dialogue hard to read at times. In fact, the rating could have been much lower if not for the gorgeous Paolo Rivera art. The art made this worth reading and keeping. See the cover? The thumbnail image of this book? Just an example of how good the art is.

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you haven’t read Marvel’s Civil War crossover event, then spoilers abound.

Captain America aside, in the Civil War saga, I don’t think any character had it worse than Spider-Man.



This big reveal set off a crap storm that saw all of Spider-Man’s enemies turn on him and his family, culminating in the death of Aunt May.

What would the Marvel universe be without that old harridan, so Peter and Mary Jane turn to Mephisto and beg him to bring her back to life – his price: their marriage.

Quesada combines panels from the original wedding issue with the story as it would now unfold thanks to an assist from the devil.

The reason why the wedding didn’t happen: Spider-Man got hit in the dome with a cinder block and was unconscious for hours.



Symbolism alert! Discarded flower = trashed love and Face it, Tiger, you lost the jackpot!

Aunt May will soon be foisting her wheat cakes on the Marvel Universe again, but she’s still in danger because, well, everyone still knows who Spider-Man is and the bad guys are still gunning for his family…



…so Spidey, turns to the Sorcerer Supreme, Dr. Strange and asks him if he’ll have everyone forget he’s Peter Parker.



So Strange convenes with Reed Richards and Tony Stark.



Gee. That’s swell of you Tony, since you only ruined the guy’s life. Bastard!

So abracadabraalakazam and “Who’s Spider-Man?” “Gosh, I have no idea!”

Goodreader, are you thinking what I’m thinking?

Probably not, you perv!

No, not the Aunt May-Rhino fantasy. Doesn’t it seem as if Marvel went to the Deus-ex-machina well once too often?

Spider-Man’s life is really in the toilet. Well, let’s just call on some cosmic entity and clean it right up.

Twice.

Bottom line: If you’re a Spider-Man fan, you should read this. If you’re not, don’t.



*sob*

[Pranay · Rating 4 out of 5]

The illustrations are brilliant in this paperback. The written story could have been a bit tighter although it was a good read overall.

The art and writing was done really well as it made me empathize a lot more with Peter and what he was growing through.

I think this was written to fill in the blank and answer questions like
What really happened at the wedding of Spider-Man and Mary Jane? What does Mary Jane know about Spider-Man today? How did ONE MORE DAY affect the Marvel universe?

[Anthony · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is basically Quesada trying to clean up and fill in the gaps left open by One More Day. However, continuity clean-up does not make for a good story. I feel bad for only giving this two stars, because Paolo Rivera's art is great. Especially his painted covers. It's the only thing that makes this readable.


It turns out that Peter couldn't make it to his wedding because he was busy being Spider-man. Which is fair enough, and I suppose it's believable. It's just when it gets down to the exchanges between Peter and Mary Jane. They love each other so much that they want to be together but they can't be married because MJ wants kids and she doesn't want to put them in danger but they love each other so they want to still be together but not until it takes MJ to realise it'll never end and...

I think if anything, it just over complicates things more, both story and continuity wise. Story wise is fine, because the issues can be returned to at a later date if a future writer decides too. But continuity, it gets more messy than the DC universe. Just don't over think what counts and what doesn't in those 20+ years of comics were Peter and Mary Jane were married.

Amazing art though. Paolo Rivera on Doctor Strange, please.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just as the decision for Peter Parker to marry Mary Jane Watson was a pivotal one in the Spider-Man universe, so was the decision to permanently separate the couple in the "One More Day" storyline. And while the decision has been polarizing, it's no where nearly as despised as the whole Clone saga in the mid-90's.

The along comes "One Moment in Time" that examines the impact breaking up Peter and Mary Jane had on them both as characters. It tells the story of how they ended up not together anymore in the rebooted Spidey universe--and it seems to say that the likelihood of their getting back together is slim. (Well, at least until sales warrant otherwise).

Surprisingly, I found this arc to be a moving, compelling one. It gives the decision an emotional impact and shows how the storyline developed in this new rebooted world Spidey lives in. It may still stink that Peter and MJ didn't get the happy ending they deserved, but at least we got to see why they aren't together instead of just simply hitting the rest button. And we got to see that the decision had an emotional impact on the couple that continues to echo through the series today.

[Mike · Rating 1 out of 5]

I do NOT understand why Joe Quesada felt compelled to meddle in any of the Spidey story. His shit is so melodramatic and pointless - like he wanted to say something meaningful but didn't actually have anything specific he wants to report to the world, just that he has a huge crush on Peter Parker and wants to do his part to write a love letter to Spidey.

I get why Wacker printed it - what choice does a guy have, when his boss shows up with ink-stained hands and says, "You gotta let me have four issues to get this amazing story in front of readers"? I actually feel sorry for him - them both, truly.

Making this *more* painful is the gimmick of weaving new pages of the altered storyline in with the original pages from the Spidey + MJ wedding storyline. This wouldn't be nearly as tortured if it was only one issue, but so obviously printing so many unneeded pages, padding this out to four issues - is really a little sad. And what does the revised story mean to accomplish? Does this sit any better with us by retconning the "demon stole their marriage and made the world forget" and going with "magic and goofy tech made it happen"?

The one question this book answers is "how does MJ feel about Peter now, and where does their history fit into current continuity?" we get an answer - a painfully drawn out, horribly over-telegraphed answer, but finally we have something definitive to go on. How long will it last? Who the hell knows. Does it really matter? Not terribly.

And god help me, if Quesada wanted to write a love letter do bad, why did he have to do such a crappy job of drawing Peter & MJ?

[Andy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oi. I suppose for those of us who've gone through the whole One More Day debacle this is something that should be read, if only to (hopefully) put an end to it.

Promising to give us all the answers, it doesn't quite deliver though it does give an explanation of why Pete and MJ didn't get married, how Aunt May survived and how the rest of the world forgot Pete's unmasking. It flicks around a fair bit in time which can make it confusing to work out when things are actually set. One More Day is really only briefly mentioned at the beginning and then wisely ignored as we relive things back to the present time. Saying that it doesn't feel like it follows on from the events of Grim Hunt so maybe this does just hang in time.

I wasn't keen on the artwork to start, Pete looked weird and potato like in particular, but it did pick up and there were some nice splash pages and compositions. In total though this puts an end to a bad event in Spider-Man history without really satisfying or making it feels anything deeper than an editorial justification of a badly handled retcon. I think many fans are happy with where the series has gone since Brand New Day but it was still a horrible way to get there. Let's all just move on.

[Μιχάλης · Rating 4 out of 5]

Τα τευχη οπου μας εξηγει τι αλλαγες εχουν γινει στη χρονολογια του Spiderman μετα το One more day.
Πολυ δυνατες στιγμες, αν ολο αυτο το ειχαμε διαβασει στη θεση του Brand new day οι οπαδοι δε θα ζητουσαν το λιντσαρισμα των δημιουργών...

[Oneirosophos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful story and one of the best covers ever made in Spider-Man. :')

[Wing Kee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pointless.

World: The art was the best thing about this arc, that's all I can say. There is a muted realistic style to the art that is great and the facial expressions and worry moments area framed well. The world building is aight, it's in line with "One More Day" and fills in the gaps no one needed but it does fill it in with good melodrama.

Story: The story follows and builds on "One More Day" which I was somewhat okay with but not a big fan of. I wanted forward momentum with the Spidey book and OMD did that but that's another discussion for something else. This fills in the gaps and tries to further justify that book which is rather annoying. It does a good job for what it's suppose to do and adding a large dose of drama is always good. But it's a needless story, it's pointless and just opens up more wounds and the ire of fans.

Characters: There is a lot of justification going on for OMIT and that's the main point. But the characters don't really have anything more than more drama. These are emotions we've felt before and it adds nothing new. It's well written for what it is but it's the same old.

It's the same thing and opens up wounds and tries to justify a controversial arc. Marvel is doubling down and who better to do it than Quesada.

Onward to the next book!

[Tesutamento · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tam bir sıvama hikayesi. Peter ve Mary Jane'i ayırdık ama bir de hikayenin iç yüzünü görün diyerek daha da saçmalanıyor. Mary Jane evlenmek istemiyormuş çünkü yegane amacı çocuk yapmakmış. Peter'ın kendi kötü babası gibi bir baba olacağını düşünerek çocuktan vazgeçiyor haliyle evlilikten de. Mary Jane'in tepkileri biraz sonuca yönelik hissettirdi. Biraz ters bir yol izlenmiş gibiydi.

Mephisto yaşananları değiştirdiğinde "olaylar nasıl olmuş oldu" sorusuna yanıt buluyoruz. Bol bol flashback görüyoruz. Keşke günümüz kısımlarında Peter ve MJ obez gibi çizilmeseymiş. Geçmişteki sanat nerede, şimdiki nerede...

Demeden geçemeyeceğim kapak çok güzel.

[Gerry Sacco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad book. The art is really good throughout. The story though is slightly lopsided and a bit too drama heavy for my liking. It's fine overall, just a bit average.

[John Wiswell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an event story, or maybe an excuse story. Mary Jane and Peter Parker meet up to hash out exactly why they aren’t together. It goes along their entire history since their failed wedding day. If you hate that decades of their love-life was wished away by the Devil, this won’t change your mind.

There are two ways to read this. Joe Quesada has been public about wanting Spider-Man to be single, and he’s got a hand in writing this. He’s the head of Marvel’s editorial. He controls the horizontal and the vertical. So the story that cements the split of these two characters can easily be viewed as him grinding his heel. Parts of it, like pre-wedding jitters by both of them, sound like rationalization, putting words in their mouths to back up what he wants. Read that way, it’s very cloying to anybody who stuck with the Spider-Husband for all those years. We know whatever words you put in their mouths have been disproved by one of the most famous couples in comics.

I chose to read it a different way. Mephisto, Marvel’s Satan, made a deal with them to spare Aunt May’s life. In return, their love-life was undone. As the chapters proceed we see the tragedies and happenstance that kept breaking them apart. You have to wonder if Mephisto wasn’t the architect of every overheard fear and untimely crime. After all, this is the story Mephisto wanted them to live, the one that would guarantee they’d be apart. Though his red butt never pops up, it’s his will unfolding here. You can read this as the cruelest trick the Devil ever played. Instead of a truly brand new day, it’s a life away from true love.

Read the latter way, it could be undone some day. Most people suspect Marvel will eventually go back to the popular marriage. Nothing is permanent in superhero comics, not in a world of rotating writers. Superman doesn’t stay dead; Steve Rogers doesn’t stay away from his shield. Mephisto can be beaten some day, and one hopes that story will play on what he pulled here.

[Peter Derk · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the most Amazing/Spectacular/Sensational/Astonishing Untold Tale in the intricate Web of Spider-Man titles. Ultimately.

The whole thing makes for a very bizarre read.

So we had One More Day, in which Spider-Man and Mary Jane traded their relationship to basically start fresh. Aunt May is alive again. People don't know his secret identity anymore. And the catch is that Peter Parker and Mary Jane are, somewhat mysteriously, not in love anymore. Thanks to a deal with good ol' Mephisto. Always a wise move, making a deal with the devil.

OR IS IT!?

Making a deal with the devil is like buying a new Jeep instead of a Honda. It's very fun, and for a while you are happy with your choice. And then you get about three years down the road and would trade your soul for a car that didn't require major repairs every quarter. EXCEPT YOU ALREADY TRADED YOUR SOUL FOR THE JEEP, DUM-DUM!

Okay, back to the book.

Not the best-woven plot here. Basically just a continuity reset with the caveat that the characters did something as opposed to the kind where it's all done outside the comics. But, BUT, I enjoyed the hell out of Brand New Day and The Gauntlet, so the results were well worth it. And let's face it, an unmasked Spider-Man is going to be a tough thing to work with, long-term.

This volume, this addition, however, seeks to clarify things that I just felt were better left in the past. Honestly, the the One More Day storyline wasn't all that strong, but it was a means to an end. I was willing to go along for the ride.

But why rehash the part of the ride that was most unfulfilling? It would be like going on Splash Mountain, and after you take the huge plunge, going through another ten minutes of boring forest bullshit. What the hell for?

It's a very bizarre choice. And that's coming from a guy who just read some 70's Spider-Man that included a trip to the Savage Land, a jungle located in the arctic...somehow.

[Blindzider · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm going to try and separate my feelings about One More Day and the changes to Spider-Man that this story attempts to explain. I understand what they were trying to do but in the end it all felt like a cheat and wasn't done very well, even though the end result is what Marvel wanted (a non-married Spider-Man for one thing.)

So, I'll evaluate this story totally on the merits of how well it explained the break-up of Peter and MJ: I have to admit I liked it. Peter's conflicted yet emotional decisions to balance his personal need and responsibility are central to the story as well as delving further into MJ's difficulty with knowing Peter's secret and being in love with him. It's certainly a difficult decision and I bought into it. As much as I want these two fictional characters to still be together, the explanation of their reasonings at least felt realistic to me.

Another plus is the art, primarily Paolo Rivera's, and how he nearly seamlessly blends in with the art from the original wedding album and also maintains a bit of the John Romita style, which I love. Quesada did part of the art and while he is hit-or-miss for me, I didn't particularly care for his rendition of MJ. For some reason that bothered me.

This story if fairly essential reading if you need to blend previous Spider-Man continuity with the new post-OMD modern continuity.

[Silas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really, really hated the storyline where they took away Peter and Mary Jane's marriage, so I didn't have high expectations for this story, but I found I actually enjoyed the way the plot points were resolved. It definitely helped that I read that story as well as Spider-Man's Civil War story that preceded it in recent memory. I liked how the story was told in flashback, and that the art style changed during the different time periods (though I found modern Peter and MJ a bit off), and enjoyed the subtle ways that things were changed that added up to such a big change in the present, which suited the "deal with the devil" format well. I liked that the story went a different way than I had expected, and had both characters caring for each other deeply, but not feeling they were able to stay married because of the risk involved. It made a good bit of sense. There were a couple of times where Mary Jane's reasoning wasn't entirely clear for a good while until she actually said something, but I suppose that was somewhat intentional on the writer's part, since Peter didn't get it, either. This did have issues, but it was much better than I had anticipated.

[Sevki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I'm quite disappointed with Quesada's marriage-removing action and unnatural explanations, this volume has been a nice weekend read for me. The art, with all the old and not-so-old One More Day pages, was fabulous, especially thinking the recent volumes' artwork up until One Moment in Time. Pete and MJ needed to work out this situation, and so they did it the best possible way. Hopefully the future volumes will be this good in terms of art. I am reading this series somehow late, but I don't want to catch up to the current volumes in an instant and finish all the available material, so I'm taking my time. 12 volumes remaining here, and then 6 from Superior, and then a few more from Amazing Vol. 3.

[Javier Galíndez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decir que Marvel no se inspiró en este cómic para la última entrega del trepa muros de Tom Holland, sería una total, y completa, mentira.

Lo que más conmueve en el lector, o espectador, de el Hombre Araña es que sigue siendo un humano, sigue teniendo cosas que perder aún cuando lleva el traje puesto.

Luego de apoyar a Iron Man en la Civil War, y haber revelado su identidad publicamente comienza la gran pesadilla para Peter. Sus seres queridos entran en el foco de sus enemigos. Lo que lleva a pensar a Parker que mejor hubiera sido seguir en el anonimato.

Me sorprendió encontrarme con un Tony Stark herido, roto por la muerte de Steve, y aún con miedo de seguir perdiendo a quienes alguna vez quiso. Entre ellos Peter.

Aún cuando hay mucho que contar, la historia se vuelve encantadora porque está relatada desde el presente. Entonces, sabes que todo salió bien, pero que aún hay detalles por concluir.

[Muzaffer Gümüşsu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dönemin Marvel patronu Joe Queseda'nın One More Day'deki boşlukları doldurma ve şu anda MJ-Peter çiftinin ne durumda olduğunu açıklama hikayesi. Kısaca One More Day'de Mephisto nasıl bir düzenleme yaptı (MJ-Peter birbirini nasıl unuttu ve Örümcek'in kimliği nasıl hafızalardan silindi) sorusunun cevabı da diyebiliriz.

Konu ve fikir One More Day ya da Sins Past ile yarışacak düzeyde rezil olsa da en azından işleniş tarzını ve flashback'lerle geçmiş ve geleceği bağlama şeklini sevdim. Ayrıca Paolo Rivera'nın Mary Jane yorumu ne kadar asil ve zarifse Queseda'nın yorumu da bir o kadar kötü olmuş. Koskoca Mary Jane'i sıradan balık etli bi Nebraskalı gibi çizmiş.

Yine de en azından uzun süre herhangi bir evlilik olmayacak, sonu o şekilde bitiyor. Bundan sonraki bir parmak bal çalma Renew Your Wows hikayesiyle (MJ ve Peter'ın evlenip kızlarının olduğu alternatif evren olayı) oluyordu sanırım Secret War dönemi.

[Ricardo Noronha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely a "better love story than Twilight" :)

This is a Spider-man story where the main character is not Spider-man per se, but instead Peter Parker and Mary Jane. This book explains all that happened when Mephisto interfered with their marriage and, given Peter Parker and Mary Jane were (are?) by favourite fiction (super-heroes) couple, I was very pleased to know how it all went. Suffice it to say, their love knows no bounds and can face any adversity. As for the art, despite really enjoying the artist's choices of picking up strips from "The Wedding" as well as "One More Day" in order to provide a more realistic sense of flashbacks, I have to say the "present" MJ and Peter are "larger" (at least drawn so) than usual, making them look overweight. Not sure how to feel about that, seems they ate until they were bloated.

[Kris Shaw · Rating 2 out of 5]

G-R-O-O-O-A-A-AN-N-N....What a piece of crap! With the exception of the outcome of The Gauntlet/ Grim Hunt arc(s), I feel that the Brand New Day run has given us the best Spider-Man comics in 25 years. Rather than putting the whole messy Mephisto thing behind us and moving on, Joe Quesada feels that drudging everything up with more ret-cons is a good idea. This is borderline DC/ What If...? style storytelling.

The last few pages is Issue 641 were padding to the maximum. Showing the same panel 10 or 11 times, but with different coloring, and then on the 12th panel showing the same pose but with something different going on is piss poor storytelling. Oh well, we had a great run that lasted nearly 100 issues. Now we are getting Humbero Ramos' sucktastic "artwork" after this. Let the new 'dark ages' for Spider-Man begin.

[Mr. Stick · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I KNOW PETER. HE WILL NEVER MAKE THIS DEAL WITH YOU, NEVER -- UNLESS -- I ASK HIM TO. BUT, IF I DO THIS, THIS IS THE END OF IT -- YOU WILL LEAVE HIM ALONE FOR THE REST OF HIS DAYS."
- Mary Jane Watson to the demon Mephisto.

If One More Day depleted your will to live, this book is totally skipable. Otherwise, why not?
Peter and MJ finally have that "why we didn't work out" conversation they've been promising one another. Many flashbacks to the events preceding their wedding, with some new gaps filled by the "corrections" of Mephisto's interference. There's also some involvement by Doctor Strange.
The conversations the former lovers have are great for readers who relate to flawed and tangible characters and relationships.
Nothing is gained or lost here, like snacking on zero calorie food. A what-if that's mostly pointless. Three stars.

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this was an attempt to retcon a retcon so that all of the weird dangling plot threads from the first retcon - which have been weakly and inconsistently foreshadowed since - would reach some kind of resolution. Somehow, the new retcon further cheapens the old already-cheap one. The fact that Quesada is back writing this makes me think that the whole thing was so toxic nobody in the usual Brain Trust wanted to touch it. Which, it turns out, was probably for the best.

Gets by as a page-turner thanks to the promise of resolution and some mostly-lovely art (the covers deserve special mention), but the whole thing is too ill-conceived to properly enjoy in the end.

Also, just to check, Joe Quesada knows that you don’t actually need to be married to have kids, right?

[Jota Houses · Rating 3 out of 5]

Empezando en Civil War, me he leído todos los retapados del trepamuros hasta este One Moment in Time que intenta limpiar la continuidad y fijar la historia canónica tras el Mefistazo y la desaparición del matrimonio con Mary Jane. Una nueva serie de sucesos que reemplazan a los que conocíamos y una explicación alternativa para el hecho de que se haya borrado de todas las memorias la identidad secreta de Spider-man.
La calidad ha sido variable. Me ha gustado bastante parte del arco argumental de The Gauntlet pero no su conclusión The Grim Hunt. En general, las historias de Kraven no son lo mío.
Tampoco me gusta que desaparezcan lineas argumentales como la de Mr. Negativo. Aunque lo que parece haber pasado es que se ha incorporado a los sucesos de una Macrosaga ( Dark Reign).

[Casey Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best superhero comics I've read in a while. It really captures the perils that would arise from being a superhero whose identity is known and the dangers it would put on your loved ones. This is more or less a dramatic love story between Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson. It's a bit melodramatic, but it feels legitimate. This is a great example of the core foundation behind Spider-Man: that with great power, comes great responsibility. One Moment in Time deals with the human aspect of being a superhero and it does it beautifully.

[Ángel G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Este cómic y One More Day... Lo mejor que se puede decir es que existen.

Este cómic de Quesada, en aquel entonces el jefazo de Marvel, intenta solucionar la gran polémica que provocó que MJ y Peter nunca se casaran. Y, aunque a mí la idea de que Mefisto interviniera para que todos olvidaran la identidad de Peter no me parece mal. El problema es cuando lo lían tanto que hace ilegible el cómic.

En fin. No sé ni siquiera si este cómic se ha superado ya, si se ha vuelto atrás... El día que compré este cómic menuda decisión tomé, jajaja

[Stewart D. Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coming off of the gauntlet series this was a really nice read for me.

Listen, I love MJ and Peter together so maybe this was just written for someone like me but I really enjoyed hearing more about their relationship fully even if it did end with a conclusion that they weren’t going to be involved (for the time being).

Also, I’m a Dan Slott defender and think One More Day/Brand New Day was a lot of fun.

Maybe this collection is sappy and maybe it had too much deep love talk for some comic book fans but I really liked reading it.

For these reasons, I give it 4 solid stars.

[Victor Casas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me impresiona la cantidad de gringos enojados por este tomo.

Creo que Joe hizo lo mejor que pudo intentando cubrir los huecos en blanco dentro de Un Dia Mas. Y esa queja de que el tono es "demasiado dramatico"... bueno, no estoy seguro de que esperaba leer la gente con esa queja.

Hay que tomar esta historia como lo que es: un nexo entre OMD y el nuevo dia y cumple bastante bastante bien con eso. Desafortunadamente, este tomo tenía demasiados limitantes como para compartir un idea extraordinaria...

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's hard to really make sense of the full implications of Brand New Day and the reboot of the Spider-Man continuity but this is one of those books that tried to address things somehow. As much as I'm not a big fan of the timeline hijinks, this book did nicely capture part of what defined Peter and MJ's relationship over the years and how part of it still rang true through despite the changes to everyone's memories. It's not quite the happy ending we'd all want, but it's certainly something.