text: spider - man : one more day " one more day " is a four - part , 2007 comic book crossover storyline , connecting the three main spider - man series concurrently published by marvel comics at the time . written by j. michael straczynski and joe quesada , with art by quesada , this story arc concludes the fallout of spider - man 's actions during the 2007 civil war crossover . " one more day " starts in the amazing spider - man # 544 , continues in friendly neighborhood spider - man # 24 and the sensational spider - man ( vol . 2 ) # 41 , and concludes in amazing spider - man # 545 . after his aunt may has been shot , spider - man seeks help to save her life . he encounters the demon mephisto , who offers to save her life if spider - man gives him his marriage . spider - man and his wife mary jane watson agree , and this part of their history is erased so that , effectively , they have never been married . additionally , the demon erases the world 's collective memory of spider - man 's secret identity , which had been exposed in civil war # 2 . the storyline set the stage for a restructuring of the spider - man titles , resulting in the cancellation of friendly neighborhood spider - man and the sensational spider - man , with amazing spider - man revamped as a thrice - monthly publication . the decision to abruptly end peter parker and mary jane 's marriage and the events of " one more day " were heavily criticized upon the series ' conclusion , although the artwork received praise . publication history marvel comics editor - in - chief joe quesada felt dissolving the peter parker and mary jane marriage and returning spider - man to his roots was necessary to preserve the longevity of the character for the next 20 or 30 years . quesada said he and other previous editors - in - chief had long been seeking an opportunity to begin a new methodology in which to tell spider - man stories , but had not found a reasonable way to do so . quesada said , " it 's very easy to un - marry a character , or fix something like that : you just do a huge universal retcon , and say a few events in history didn 't happen . but that 's really not the way we do it here at marvel . " quesada found an opportunity to address this in the events of the 2007 civil war mini - series , which resulted in the unmasking of spider - man 's identity to the public . quesada knew j. michael straczynski was planning to end his run as a marvel writer , so he personally approached straczynski to propose " one more day " as his final project . the ideas for " one more day " began to develop almost two years before its release , at one of marvel 's creative summits for creators and editors . quesada , straczynski , brian michael bendis , mark millar , jeph loeb , tom brevoort and axel alonso developed the concept between them , and ed brubaker and dan slott added more at the next summit . " one more day " was announced as the concluding storyline of straczynski 's run on amazing spider - man in early 2007 , and quesada was named as the artist for the storyline . although quesada had become more selective in choosing projects to do as an artist since becoming editor - in - chief , he felt compelled to do the art for one more day because he felt very close to the story , and because since he had been talking about the project for so long , he felt he " needed to put my money where my mouth is . " while no plot details were given , marvel issued a promotional image in february that consisted solely of the line " what would you do ... with one more day ? " against a background of spider webbing . at a panel at the san diego comic con in june 2007 , joe quesada gave few details about the story , but described it as " a peter - mj story . " at the same panel , marvel editor tom brevoort announced that amazing spider - man would become the sole main spider - man title , and would be published three times a month . due to quesada 's known dislike of mary jane and peter parker 's marriage , fans began to speculate he intended to dissolve their marriage in one form or another . quesada felt that 1987 's " the wedding ! " story happened due to an editorial decision , and that jim shooter mirrored events stan lee had planned for the spider - man comic strip in order to maximize any publicity generated . straczynski surprised many when he publicly revealed : " there 's a lot that i don 't agree with , and i made this very clear to everybody within shouting distance at marvel , especially joe quesada ... there was a point where i made the decision , and told joe , that i was going to take my name off the last two issues of the arc . eventually , joe talked me out of that decision because at the end of the day , i don 't want to sabotage joe or marvel , and i have a lot of respect for both of those . " quesada explained this disagreement with straczynski , stating that their rift was primarily over the " methodology " of how to erase peter and mary jane 's marriage , but straczynski was on board with the editorial mandate of undoing the parkers ' marriage . various marvel writers , including brian michael bendis , mark millar , ed brubaker and incoming amazing spider - man writer dan slott had a hand in developing the story . during the course of the story 's development , quesada claims that he and straczynski made plans to resurrect gwen stacy alongside harry osborn in the final chapter . this plot twist was discarded after numerous marvel editors and writers lobbied for the character to remain dead . according to quesada , straczynski 's original script for the storyline 's fourth issue involved changes to continuity going as far back as 1971 . peter would have helped harry osborn get into rehab for his drug addiction immediately , which would have allowed a number of rewrites . mary jane would have remained in a relationship with harry , gwen would not have been killed and ultimately peter 's marriage to mary jane would not have taken place . quesada realized that these changes would have far - reaching consequences for both historical and forthcoming storylines , so he made the decision to change straczynski 's story . while peter and mary jane were to have remained a couple for the purposes of back - story , they were simply not a married couple . quesada also described " one more day " as an emotional climax of sorts and resolution for the relationship between peter parker and tony stark , who had developed a father - son - like bond during the " civil war " storyline . however , quesada hinted the paths of the two characters could cross again in the future due to planned storylines for iron man . quesada , answering questions for comic book resources , said every story that happened in the spider - man canon still " counted " , with the only change being that , due to the world 's newly revised memories , peter and mary jane did not marry due to some unknown incident and the official unmasking of his identity to the public during the 2007 civil war mini - series has been forgotten . a " back and forth " developed between quesada and j. michael straczynski in separate interviews and messages , with straczynski outlining some of his original plans for the " retcon " , and conversations he had with quesada about the storyline . quesada said , " we 're committed to preserving as much of these stories as is humanly possible , " but he added the changing of certain elements is inevitable . for example , he sees the storyline in which mary jane was pregnant as never having happened . also , spider - man lost the organic webshooters that he gained in the " avengers " storyline , and the other spider - like powers that he gained in the 2005 - 2006 storyline , " the other . " quesada commented that in removing those powers and bringing back spider - man 's mechanical webshooters , he was returning " an element that [ he ] felt needed to be brought back into peter 's world , " and that the " mechanical webshooters demonstrate peter 's ingenuity and overall smarts . " quesada sees peter 's making a " deal with the devil " as a villain ( mephisto ) taking advantage of someone at his weakest moment . this , he feels , is a better resolution than peter and mary jane getting divorced , which would indicate " they gave up on their love , that their life in love together was so awful , so stressful , so unfulfilling that they had to raise a red flag and walk away from it . they quit on their marriage and even more tragic , ( they ) quit on each other . instead , we had them make a deal with the devil . ' cause that isn 't as bad . " quesada went on to say , " peter and mj didn 't quit on their love , they sacrificed it to save a life , that to me is a pretty heroic story . " release and delays the four issues that comprised " one more day " were originally scheduled to ship weekly in august 2007 . the story encountered delays due to quesada 's art duties conflicting with his job as editor - in - chief . sensational spider - man ( vol . 2 ) # 41 was rescheduled for release in late october , and the concluding chapter of the story , amazing spider - man # 545 , was rescheduled for november . the issues were again delayed in late october , with sensational spider - man ( vol . 2 ) # 41 and amazing spider - man # 545 for release on november 28 and december 27 , respectively . plot the events of " one more day " began in amazing spider - man # 544 , where peter parker 's aunt may is shown slowly dying from a gunshot wound sustained during the events of civil war and " spider - man : back in black " . peter is forced to ask tony stark for financial assistance , and then seeks counsel with doctor strange . the latter informs peter that he can do nothing to grant aunt may her life back . however , he helps peter seek the aid of several others including doctor doom , the high evolutionary , reed richards , and doctor octopus . peter attempts to go back in time using a magic spell without strange 's approval , harming himself in the process . strange heals his wounds and sends him on his way , encouraging him to be by his aunt 's side at her death . on his way to the hospital , peter is confronted by a little girl , who says she holds the answer to his problem . he talks to the little girl , who runs off . while pursuing her , peter encounters a group of men ; a woman in red informs him these are alternate versions of himself , from alternate timelines where he never became spider - man . the woman in red transforms into the demon mephisto , who tells peter he can save aunt may . as payment , mephisto wants not peter 's soul , but his marriage to mary jane . peter and mary jane are given until midnight the following night to decide their answer and , after several hours agonizing over the choice , they agree to the deal , as long as knowledge of peter 's secret identity is erased from the world . mary jane also whispers to mephisto another , unspecified offer in return for mephisto putting peter 's life back exactly how it was and " [ giving ] him a chance at happiness . " finally , mephisto reveals to the couple that his disguise as the little girl was in fact their future daughter , but she will never exist because of their decision . this future daughter is not to be confused with may " mayday " parker ( spider - girl ) . may " mayday " parker is the baby that peter parker and mary jane had at the end of the clone saga from the 1990s and would grow up to be spider - girl if norman osborn never killed her . mephisto then changes history so that peter and mary jane never married , and no one remembers whose face is underneath spider - man 's mask . peter wakes up alone in bed , once again living with aunt may . he attends a party being held for his best friend harry osborn ( previously thought to have died in spectacular spider - man # 200 ) , who introduces lilly hollister and carlie cooper . peter glimpses mary jane sadly leaving the party . the guests all toast to a " brand new day . " reception one more day was panned by fans and critics . ign reviewer jesse schedeen described amazing spider - man # 545 as " undoubtedly the worst comic marvel published in 2007 " and a " deus ex machina of the highest order . " he did admit that writer straczynski " had a great handle on the peter / mary jane dynamic , " making their potentially final moments mean something , and that quesada 's artistic style made sense given the dark tone . however , he also dismissed the story as " infuriating and downright disrespectful to anyone who has come to love spider - man comics over the years . " ign published two " additional take " reviews for amazing spider - man # 545 . bryan joel said that he 'd been a " vocal supporter " of " brand new day " , but summarized the story as " flip , weightless , and painfully brief . " richard george stated that " one more day " " could prove to be the best example of editorial influence gone horribly , horribly wrong " and " in trying to preserve the appeal of peter parker , joe quesada has actually managed to fundamentally undermine the character . " both joel and george agreed with their colleague in complimenting quesada 's artwork . tim of the wall street journal stated that having spider - man makes a deal with the devil - like mephisto is " the rough equivalent of having z - movie director uwe boll film a studio - funded prequel to martin scorsese 's taxi driver . spider - man creator stan lee praised the storyline and what he perceived as the courage its writers and creators showed in so drastically changing a popular and well - established character . lee said changes are needed to keep a series fresh and compared the criticism from fans to the backlash marvel comics received when peter parker and mary jane watson married in the first place . however , in the newspaper strip he pens , he wrote a deliberate parody of the " one more day " retcon , revealing that it was in fact a bad dream . peter remains married to mary jane in the newspaper strip . in a roundtable review at newsarama , j. caleb agreed that spider - man was easier to relate to while young and single , but that retconning the marriage of spider - man was unnecessary due to the existence of titles such as ultimate spider - man and marvel adventures spider - man . he found the story confusing , wondering how this retcon made sense in the larger marvel universe as spider - man played important roles in new avengers and " civil war " . kevin huxford claimed , " you can feel editorial mandate dripping from this " and called the story " utterly ridiculous , " while lucas siegel criticized quesada 's decision to have heroic peter parker make a " deal with the devil " for selfish reasons . richard felt that the story 's conclusion was a missed opportunity " to add a new layer of guilt to peter ’ s already rocky life by allowing may to finally have the send off she deserves , " while troy brownfield felt that the storyline damaged marvel continuity and spider - man 's decision was " selfish and childish , " not to mention " a big middle finger to the idea of marriage in comics . " he speculated preferable endings to the story before concluding , " as it stands , peter , mj , may . . . and the readers . . . all got a raw deal . " a more positive view came from brandon thomas , who felt that " one more day " was " an incredibly well - told story . " he praised the writing , in particular the morally ambiguous decision peter has to make and the way he and mary jane deal with it together , as well as quesada 's art , which he felt set the tone of " guilt , regret , and despair . " in regards to the change made in spider - man canon , he said , " peter parker being married really isn ’ t a vital component of the mythos " and that it allowed marvel to make " big , sweeping changes to bring things slightly more into focus and back on message . " wizard praised the artwork , specifically the way quesada differentiated visually between the dark and light tones before and after the retcon . however , they felt " the entire set up and execution just doesn ’ t make sense " and failed to empathize with the characters and their decisions . they criticized the use of magic in a largely science - based book , calling it " the biggest cheat since dallas . " they also felt that the concept of making spider - man more accessible was undermined by the new and unfamiliar characters . in their coverage of the storyline , uk television 's channel 4 news also compared the reaction to " one more day " to that of dallas , claiming , " this controversial issue of the comic has been flying off the shelves but reaction from readers has been venomous . " channel 4 speculated that the reason for the storyline was to make the comics more similar to the financially successful films and merchandise . comic book historian peter sanderson criticized the story for using a supernatural element to retcon the marriage and not maturely dealing with the issue of divorce , arguing the writers had forgotten stories where spider - man dealt with his causing the death of uncle ben , drugs and child abuse . he wrote , " i expect there are people who are professional comics writers and editors , and people who will someday become professional comics writers and editors , who are outraged that marvel had spider - man make a deal with the devil . and these present and future writers and editors will be determined to undo it . we shall see whether it takes twenty years this time , or much less . " he found the story better than the clone saga in the respect that it altered an aspect of canon , instead of erasing it entirely . he also criticized the idea of a hero making a deal with one as evil as mephisto , effectively the devil . the direct sales estimates for the initial month of publication for the first issue of the storyline , amazing spider - man # 544 , was 146 , 215 , putting it in second place after " world war hulk " . this dropped to 110 , 405 with friendly neighborhood spider - man # 24 , 100 , 300 ( and seventh position in number of sales ) for the sensational spider - man # 41 and the conclusion to the storyline , the amazing spider - man # 545 , was ranked second with estimated sales of 124 , 481 . future direction marvel posted a sneak peek at the final pages of the first post- " one more day " issue , amazing spider - man # 546 , and a two - page spread penciled by john romita , jr. entitled " spider - man : the new status quo ! " , which established the new continuity of spider - man . the retcon brings back harry osborn from the dead ( in this new continuity , instead of having been dead he had been living in europe for many years ) , and explains that although spider - man unmasked himself during the events of the " civil war " storyline , no one remembers who was behind the mask . although quesada would initially take the position that the changes to the timeline did not have to be explained since they were the result of magic , subsequent writers would , in short order , provide detailed , in - continuity explanations for the changes . in 2010 , quesada wrote a sequel storyline , " one moment in time " . this story established that the only actual change mephisto wrought upon the timeline was allowing a criminal to escape custody , causing a butterfly effect that prevented peter and mary - jane 's marriage as peter was delayed in reaching the wedding , prompting peter and mj to reconsider marriage . the storyline also established that may was saved by doctor strange , despite strange saying during " one more day " that it was beyond his power to save her , who also worked with iron man and mister fantastic to create a mass mind - wipe across the globe to protect peter 's identity , using the extremis as a dispersal system to simultaneously erase spider - man 's identity and establish a ' psychic ' that prevents anyone from realising that peter parker is spider - man , regardless of the evidence they might discover , unless peter is unmasked in front of them . collected editions the story has been collected into a single volume , one more day , with an afterword by stan lee . the 112 - page volume collects amazing spider - man # 544 - 545 , sensational spider - man # 41 , friendly neighborhood spider - man # 24 and marvel spotlight : " spider - man - one more day / brand new day " . the hardcover was published april 2008 ( isbn 0 - 7851 - - 3 ) , and the softcover in august 2008 . ( isbn 0 - 7851 - - 1 )