But how do you get parental types otherwise? Do all characters have to have kids before they get married? Besides, Peter and Mary Jane were parents, until their child was taken from them.

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My ideal would be for Peter and MJ to be living together but not married, as there are more directions they can go from there. Serialized storytelling is already full of "riskless" drama. When Superman risks his life to fight Metallo, the reader knows he isn't actually going to die, or if he does, that it won't be for long. And that's okay, because there are other things, more personal things, that actually can be at risk. But marriage can screw that up. If Clark and Lois have a fight, I know nothing's at stake, as DC would never have them get divorced, and a retcon would be a major undertaking.
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Creating drama with "safe" characters is part of good story-telling. A good example would be the season finale to Season 1 or 2 (I forget off the top of my head) of Justice League. The JL got transported through time back to WWII, and I honestly had no idea how they were going to get out of the situation.

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There's no drama there. (Not to say that the only relationship drama can come from whether a couple stays together or breaks up, but you know what I mean.) If Peter and MJ weren't married, they could actually act like a regular couple, as there wouldn't be a metatextual impetus keeping them locked together, and a major change wouldn't be necessary for them to break up from time to time.

A real couple? How is being married not being a real couple? And honestly, I don't want to see Peter and MJ periodically break up. There can be tension between them while still being married. An example would be MJ's smoking habit back in I think the early 90's (I just remember Bagley pencilling ASM at the time).



Using your Dick Grayson example, we watched Dick go from kid sidekick in short pants to being his own man that every superhero in the DCU respects. In short, he grew up. Peter started as an awkward high school student, went through college and the dating scene, and then got married. Peter grew up, but differently than Dick. The next logical step would be to have kids, which got derailed back during that whole Aunt May-actress garbage. As much as I love May, I would have loved her more had she stayed in the ground.


I've cut my books back a lot, but I'm loving Brubaker on Iron Fist, Captain America, and Daredevil (which I collect in trade format, as I started while Bendis was writing and his stories are much better in complete arcs as they're soooooo drawn out). She-Hulk and Thor round out my regular Marvel pulls.

~Hat~