Spiderman cuts his ties
Updated on 19 January 2008
In a plot twist that's enraged some fans, Spiderman is no longer married and his entire memory of that time has been erased.
It's a web of love that's captured the hearts and minds of Spiderman fans for years but writers of the comic book have decided that the superhero would be better off alone.
The new storyline is now threatening to wreck the relationship between Marvel Comics and its worldwide audience because Spiderman is not just a superhero but a superbrand.
Created in the 1960s, married in the 1980s but single again in the noughties, it's a web of love that's captured the hearts and minds of Spiderman fans for years but writers of the comic book have decided that the webbed superhero would be better off alone.
Peter Parker, the superhero with the arachnid alter ego has been saving lives and spinning webs for more than 40 years.
The spiderman character is based on the early comics, but TV spin-offs and more recent movies show him as a misunderstood adolescent, with a sweetheart.
But if you've been reading the Marvel comics for the past 21 years Spiderman has always been married to Mary Jane Watson.
But now Spiderman and Mary Jane do a deal with the devil to save the life of Peter's beloved aunt May.
The catch? His marriage and every storyline during that time is erased from everyone's memory.
This controversial issue of the comic has been flying off the shelves but reaction from readers has been venomous.
Writers at Marvel Comics have said it was time to shake things up in the life of Peter Parker and it was easier to do that if he wasn't married.
That decision's been criticised by some fans who say they feel cheated.
But it may delight others, who never forgave Stan Lee for abandoning Spidey's original characterisation as a young outsider.
But it's not the first time writers have resorted to such a twist.
There was similar reaction in the 1980s to the American drama Dallas, when Bobby Ewing returned after a massacre of characters turned out to be a dream.
This looks like a battle to tie up inconsistencies in a superbrand, where the movies and the merchandise make all the money.
Only time will tell what the long term effect will be. But some comic book fans say they may just abandon their superhero's new life.
