Spider-Man: Brand New Day

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"Brand New Day"
Cover of The Amazing Spider-Man #558 (Jul, 2008). Art by Barry Kitson.
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Publication date	January 2008 - present
Main character(s)	Spider-Man Harry Osborn Mister Negative Jackpot Menace Freak
Creative team
Writer(s)	Dan Slott, Marc Guggenheim, Bob Gale, and Zeb Wells
Artist(s)	Steve McNiven, Salvador Larroca, Phil Jimenez, Chris Bachalo, Marcos Martin, and Barry Kitson
Inker(s)	Dexter Vines, Andy Lanning, and Tim Townsend
Colorist(s)	Morry Hollowell, Dave Stewart, Jason Keith, Jeromy Cox, and Antonio Fabela

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a comic book storyline, published by Marvel Comics in 2008. It focuses on Spider-Man's adventures in the new status quo created in the Spider-Man: One More Day storyline, starting with Amazing Spider-Man #546.

[edit] Overview

Following the events of One More Day, Spider-Man's marriage to Mary Jane Watson has been erased, resulting in the adjustments to the timeline, such as the return of Harry Osborn^[1]. Spider-Man's secret identity has also been forgotten by everyone, including those who knew his identity before his public unmasking (such as the original Green Goblin, Norman Osborn).

[edit] Plot synopsis

Harry Osborn is again alive (instead of dying, he had been in Europe for years searching for new, talented engineers) and has a girlfriend, Lily Hollister (It was mentioned that Harry has been married countless times). Mary Jane and Peter are said to have been in a long-term relationship, but things ended badly after they tried to get married, and their relationship is now frosty at best. It is also strongly suggested that she is the new Registered superhero of New York, named Jackpot, although Jackpot has denied this and seemed to not recognize the name. May is still alive and volunteers in a homeless shelter where the shelter's owner, Martin Li, is in fact a villain known as Mister Negative. Peter has his original mechanical webshooters and nobody other than he himself knows that Peter Parker is actually Spider-Man. Although "some people" vaguely recall that Spider-Man unmasked himself during the events of Civil War, they do not remember who he is.^[2]

[edit] Brand New Day

Apart from a brief encounter with Jackpot and Overdrive^[3], Spider-Man has not been seen in one hundred days because of the Superhuman Registration Act. Peter Parker is living at Aunt May's house while he searches for an affordable apartment in the city. After failing to impress at a series of job interviews, he agrees to go clubbing with Harry Osborn, Harry's girlfriend Lily Hollister, and her friend, forensic expert Carlie Cooper. As Peter and Carlie step outside to avoid Mia Flores, the stranger who kissed him as he entered the club, they are held up by Sean Boyle, a serial mugger who has become well known as the "Spider-mugger" because of his regular use of a Spider-Man mask. Boyle steals Peter's wallet and webshooter (which he mistakes for a watch). Peter plants a spider-tracer on Boyle and chases him, but loses him after he cuts through the F.E.A.S.T. project, a homeless shelter where he discovers his Aunt May is volunteering.

[edit] J. Jonah Jameson in hospital

Peter decides to check in on the Daily Bugle, which owes him a large royalty payment for the Spider-Man pictures they keep reprinting, to discover that the Bugle is suffering from extreme financial difficulties because J. Jonah Jameson is fighting off a takeover attempt by Dexter Bennett with every dollar and cent he can scrape. Nevertheless, he gets into a heated argument with Jonah, who begins to yell "PARKER!" but chokes and collapses to the floor. Peter realises he is suffering from a heart attack and attempts to give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Jonah is taken to hospital. His wife Marla sees him unconscious in intensive care and, with power of attorney, decides to sell all the Bugle shares to Bennett.

Jonah eventually wakes up, extremely weak, and Marla declines to inform him of the Bugle's sale, as she is afraid the shock might induce another heart attack that could kill him. She orders hospital staff to not tell him and specifically to not let him see any newspapers, particularly the Bugle. However, Jonah bribes a janitor to get him a copy of the Daily Bugle. He is enraged by what he perceives as an appalling newspaper, but with the name change and the janitor's language barrier he does not realise that The DB! is the Daily Bugle. However, when Spider-Man arrives with a peace offering (of flowers and cigars), unaware of the taboo, he tells Jonah the truth about The DB! and upon learning this he suffers another heart attack. The doctors do not blame Spider-Man for this second heart attack (although Jameson had blamed Peter for the first one), and nobody believes he would have broken this news. Jonah has not mentioned Spider-Man since but whenever he comes to he "starts hissing Bennett's name until they have to sedate him".

[edit] The DB!

In light of the Bugle's financial difficulties, Robbie asks Peter to do what he can to get Spider-Man pictures that he believes would boost circulation, which convinces Peter to return to the web-slinging. Robbie is finally getting on top of things as Dexter Bennett, a celebrity businessman, arrives to inform him that he's bought all of Jameson's Bugle shares and he's now running operations.

Bennett is particularly ignorant of his staff, frequently addressing them by incorrect names (such as Peter Perkins, Robbie Robinson, Betty Brandon) and addressing editors and reporters as if they're his personal assistants. He shows a complete lack of understanding of the newspaper business, for example demanding that a headline be printed "in huge ten-point type" (which isn't huge at all) and ordering Robbie to use a screen capture from a TV news feed for their front page (despite this being illegal); and inconsistency in policy, laying off a reporter for pitching the "spider-tracer murders" story citing it as being "Daily Bugle, not DB", before later writing the exact same story as a front-page headline, "Spider-Man: Serial Killer!". All this creates resentment in the Bugle staff who, according to Betty Brant, "don't know whether he's coming or going".

Dexter has the newspaper retitled "The DB!" and it now carries the banner "The official newspaper of Spider-Man". He offers a $10,000 bonus to the first person who can get a good picture of Menace, turning down some of Peter's blurry shots, but withdraws the offer after Menace gatecrashes a televised Mayoral debate. However, he decides to pay Peter $2000 for his shot of Menace carrying Parfrey above the rooftops which the rest of the news photographers did not have access to. Peter gets paid another $2000 for his photo of Spider-Man saving Crowne from Freak, explaining that it proves Spider-Man is a hero, but Dexter takes it on the TV to claim it depicts Spider-Man attacking Crowne while being pursued by the "heroic Armadillo Man". Soon, Peter was hired by Bennett to take pictures of Hollywood movie star Bobby Carr, who is revealed to be dating Mary Jane Watson, whom Bennett refers to as Carr's "mystery girl." He then takes pictures of Carr assaulting a waitress named Edith Harper. Harper was later flattened by a supervillainess named Paperdoll. Joe Robertson stated that Harper died because she was made into a celebrity. Robertson says he'll stay if Bennett gets better. He soon realizes it will never happen and quits. After Spider-Man defeats Paperdoll, Bennett fires Peter.

[edit] Dexter's relationship with Peter

Dexter starts out being particularly warm to Peter, praising what he perceives as a great work ethic (because he turns up to meetings late) and offers concern that he doesn't injure himself while obtaining photos for him. However, after Peter's camera battery dies in the middle of an attack by Freak, Dexter threatens to fire him if he doesn't obtain a series of unflattering pictures of Bill Hollister at his press conference, declaring the DB! to be a Crowne-supporting paper. Peter feels that he is betraying his friend Lily in doing this so when Dexter gets his name right for the first time he tells him that it's actually "Peter Parkinson" so she doesn't know it's him. Peter similarly claims that Betty's name is Betty Brando and she is Marlon Brando's great-niece, which prompts him to "promote" her to the organized crime beat (which, unbeknownst to him, she was already on). On one occasion, Dexter insists that Peter gets into the city the next day before sunrise to take pictures of the snow being cleared up - despite Peter living in Queens.

[edit] Harry and the Hollisters

Harry Osborn has returned from Europe, a three-time divorcee, living the playboy lifestyle with a new girlfriend in tow, Lily Hollister. In an effort to impress Lily, Harry has set up a million dollar exploratory committee to see if Lily's father, Bill Hollister, a popular and powerful "public crusader", should enter the New York Mayoral race. Bill is suspicious of Harry but accepts the offer all the same. Harry has also bought the Coffee Bean bar on one of Lily's whims. Despite all this, Peter thinks that Lily might be flirting with him.

Lily is very keen for her father to become Mayor. After Deputy Mayor Wexler privately presses Bill to run, he announces his candidacy at a press conference, on the platform of "uplifting people". At the Hollisters' campaign launch party, Bill declares that in light of Spider-Man's involvement in two attacks on Mayoral candidates, he joins his opponent Randall Crowne in calling for a crackdown on costumed vigilantes.

After encountering Menace, Peter is concerned that Harry might have returned to his goblin-glider ways, but Lily provides an alibi.

[edit] The Devil's Breath

Mister Negative's courier, Overdrive, steals the Tablet of Death and Entropy from a museum but is pursued and caught by Spider-Man as he speeds through Soho during his escape. Mister Negative then has Detective Willowby retrieve the Tablet for him from the evidence locker. He later comes into contact with Spider-Man after kidnapping Bruno Karnelli. As Spider-Man fights his henchmen, the "Inner Demons", he explains that he is using the formula on the tablet, along with Karnelli's blood, to create a poison called "The Devil's Breath". He escapes and goes on to launch the poison into the ventilation system of the Vendemere hotel, where the crime families are meeting.

Spider-Man arrives at the meeting to warn everyone just as the poison gas enters the system; most of the crime bosses die from the gas. Spider-Man realises that the gas is designed to only affect Bruno Karnelli's blood relatives. The sole Karnelli survivor of the attack begs Spider-Man to save their wives and children, who have gone to the circus at Battery Park. Having run out of web fluid, Spider-Man commandeers a taxi cab to get there. He attempts to evacuate the circus, but Mister Negative uses the Inner Demons to persuade the attendants that he is just part of the show. Spider-Man locates the delivery system for the gas and launches it away from the mob children. The big cloud of gas leads to the evacuation he wanted, but Mister Negative holds one of the children hostage. In exchange for the child he asks for a dose of Spider-Man's blood for use in a future batch of the Devil's Breath, which Spider-Man gives secretly knowing that he has no blood relatives. Mister Negative escapes and the child's mother tells Spider-Man that the Maggia family is forever in his debt.

[edit] The F.E.A.S.T. project

Aunt May now works as a volunteer at the Food, Emergency Aid, Shelter and Training (F.E.A.S.T.) project, a homeless shelter financed by Martin Li, who is secretly Mister Negative. Freak, a junkie who "snorts and shoots up anything", is one of the homeless men who regularly uses its facilities.

[edit] Menace

Dexter Bennett informs Peter along with the Bugle staff of a new villain who he calls Menace. Menace has been causing havoc over the city for the previous two weeks, breaking into Stark Labs, stealing kevlar from a police precinct and knocking the giant U off the Bugle building. With only an NYPD composite sketch to go on, Dexter offers a $10,000 bonus to the first person to get a photograph of him. Peter is alarmed to discover another villain using a "goblinesque" glider, but realises he can use its exhaust trail to track him down. As Spider-Man, he finds Menace and grabs him only to be shaken off by an electric charge (reminiscent of Electro) when he attempts to unmask him. With Spider-Man beaten, Menace warns him to back off in future and leaves him unconscious on the edge of the pier. When he wakes up, he and Jackpot investigate Menace's dockside warehouse hideout to discover blueprints for the Apollo Theatre in Harlem.

Later that night, the New York City Mayoral debate between Anne Parfrey and Randall Crowne is held in the Apollo Theatre, and midway through the debate, Menace gatecrashes the theatre on his glider and kidnaps Parfrey. Spider-Man and Jackpot catch up with Menace with the aid of a police helicopter and his exhaust-tracking device. Spider-Man lands on the glider and throws Parfrey into Jackpot's arms so he can take on Menace. Jackpot sets Parfrey on the ground and then leaves her to attack Menace again, against Spider-Man's instruction. She knocks them both off the glider which crash-lands into and kills Councilwoman Parfrey. Menace declares to Spider-Man "This is all your fault" and disappears in a cloud of dust.

After a blizzard, Menace returns to New York and threatens the Hollister family by attacking a Hollister campaign rally. Spidey then confronts him, but since the blizzard's over and Freak is about to hatch, Spidey web-slings to the Salvage yard, where Freak's chrysalis was taken.

[edit] Fate of Randall Crowne

At the near-end of Amazing Spider-Man #553, Freak crashes in at the same time as Randall Crowne's campaign speech. Randall witnesses Freak's damage, and orders him to stop wrecking public property, causing Freak to order Crowne to shut up.

Spider-Man arrives at the scene, and misses a tube-like thing thrown at him by Freak, which is about to land on Crowne. The story ends with Spider-Man proclaiming he doesn't have any web left.

The adventure continues in Amazing Spider-Man #554, immediately after #553. Spider-Man saves Randall Crowne and places him in a safe place.

A picture taken by Peter (Spider-Man) looks a lot like, as Dexter Bennett puts it, Spider-Man trying to assassinate the campaign runner. Peter sees the detail and picture on the news, causing him to scream that it was a lie.

[edit] Romantic Ties to Mary Jane Watson

In addition to the odd nature with which Marvel decided to revert to Peter's old bachelor style of living, fans are now even more confused over the immediate romantic ties with Mary Jane. Over the course of the new issues, Peter speculates that she may be Jackpot. This belief is only slightly abated by Peter following up with the presume identity of Jackpot, only to find that the woman is neither Mary Jane, nor is she who she seems to be, and at least feigns at not knowing Spider-man. This character later shows up to get Mary Jane's autograph, and that has been the last we have seen of her.

Mary Jane in the meantime, according to the conclusion of the paper doll storyline, seems to have an awareness of her previous relations with Peter, if only subconsciously.

[edit] New Characters

[edit] Carlie Cooper

Carlie is a lifelong friend of Lily Hollister. She works as a forensics expert in the crime scene unit. New to her job, she shows interest in the more "exotic" cases, but has to start at the bottom. Her father was Ray Cooper, a cop who was well-respected by his peers. While preparing a body found in the river for the Medical Examiner, she finds a spider-tracer in its mouth.

Recently, she was kidnapped by Dr. Rabin, an insane professor intent on using human sacrifices to appease an ancient Mayan god. He drags a bound and gagged Carlie out into a blizzard and attempts to murder her and offer her to the god, but she is saved when Spider-Man arrives and defeats Rabin.

As seen at the end of One More Day, she is strongly attracted to Peter. In the Amazing Spider-Man: Swing Shift Carlie is said to "have eyes for Peter, but is too consumed with her work to do anything about it."

[edit] Ryan Maxwell, the man who sued Spider-Man

Ryan Maxwell is a construction worker. After Dexter Bennett changes the name of the Daily Bugle, he is working on taking down the giant letters from the top of the newspaper's building when Menace knocks his co-worker Bill off their suspended platform. Spider-Man arrives to catch Bill but his webbing is attached to the underneath of the platform and the cables break under the pressure, causing Ryan to fall as well, along with the giant "U" of "Bugle". Spider-Man catches both the giant U and Ryan with his webbing but Ryan's neck is injured.

Ryan later approaches the lawyer Matt Dowd, asking if he can sue Spider-Man for knocking him off a building. Dowd tells him that because his identity is unknown, they can file a "John Doe" complaint and serve him by publication; if he doesn't respond they get a default judgment against him.

[edit] Sean Boyle, the Spider-mugger

Boyle sells his wallets and the webshooter (which he thinks is a watch) to his fence, Dooley, at the Blind Spot, a waterfront bar for crooks. Dooley considers the webshooter useless and returns it to Boyle, who puts it on only to discover what it actually is - accidentally shooting a spider-tracer onto the back of Bruno Karnelli, who is also at the bar. Boyle hides this from Dooley and starts using the webshooter to restrain his victims, until he realises that he must have stolen it from the real Spider-Man and one of the wallets he's given to Dooley contains all his ID. He returns to the Blind Spot and asks for it to be returned, attacking Dooley with webbing, but Dooley turns it around on him and starts strangling Boyle with it. Later on, as Dooley drives off, Spider-Man finds Boyle's lifeless body with the webshooter and tracer still on him. Gonzales and O'Neil witness Spider-Man doing this and assume he's killed Boyle.

[edit] Bruno Karnelli

Bruno is the overweight son of a Karnelli and a Manfredi, and credits his parents' marriage with bringing the two crime families together, although he feels put out that he has not been invited to their big meeting. He has made a deal with Mister Negative, who has promised to make Bruno head of both families. After Sean Boyle accidentally plants a spider-tracer on him, Spider-Man follows him (hoping it will lead him back to Boyle) as he is pulled into a blue van and kidnapped. Bruno is tied to a table by Mister Negative and his Inner Demons as they extract a large amount of blood from him, until they are interrupted by Spider-Man, who lets them escape in order to save Bruno. From what he's seen of Bruno, Spider-Man reckons that the only way he would become leader of the crime families is if everyone else up for the job is killed, which makes him realise that this has been Mister Negative's plan all along. Bruno tells Spider-Man where to find them.

[edit] Reception

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The first issue was sold out and had a second-printing, and all subsequent issues have been top selling despite there being three issues per month. Joe Quesada has pointed out that there are some vocal nay-sayers, but there are still many fans who enjoy the changes: "There are always a few vocal people who don't like everything that we do, and it's okay, they're passionate about it, but, right now, I'm looking at sales figures, and I'm looking at how Spider-Man is flying off the racks and the letters we're getting in."

^[4]

Jesse Schedeen states that "single greatest success so far is injecting Amazing with a sense of light-heartedness and fun that's been lacking for way too long" although still critical of the events in Spider-Man: One More Day that created this new status quo. The reviewer praised the art stating the "detail is extraordinary, and every panel is vibrant to the point of almost bursting with color", scoring the issue 7.1 out of 10.

^[5]

[edit] References