Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-11276487-20131125022524/@comment-61022-20131222192510

The reason why they keep Spider-Man in the "status quo" is because they want to sell books to new readers. The mentality over at Marvel is that a married Spider-Man... Or one further, a Spider-Man with a kid... would not appeal to younger readers. It's their trademark character.

I think it's kind of a silly notion since when I started reading Spider-Man at the age of 10 he had been married to Mary Jane for years. The fact that he was married didn't bother me so much, all I cared about was who he was going to punch in the face that issue. If Venom was on the cover, I was a happy kid.

I think that the people in editorial seem to fail to grasp what its like being a kid reading comic books any more. When I was a kid, I read comics with complete blind faith, with no preconceptions or expectations. I bought Spider-Man because I liked the super-hero side of his character, the Peter Parker stuff was just secondary for a child. It didn't really concern myself or get interest in back story and plot until I was a teenager and more so as I became an adult.

However as an adult, I look to the entire history of Spider-Man since 1962 and the character has always been about Peter always being the under dog. If Peter had things going his way, things got stagnant. If he kept the wife, if he had the kid, heck if you want to go back and talk about keeping Gwen Stacy alive even... These were all things that put Spider-Man in a dead end. With happiness from some place else, he can then probably get over the loss of his Uncle Ben. If he loses sight of the "Great Power/Great Responsibility" thing then why even be Spider-Man? The fact is, Peter's sense of responsibility and the regret for not being able to save the lives of those he lost along the way is what drives him to continue being Spider-Man.

Which gets back to what I was saying: Kids want to read stories about Spider-Man. Not Peter Parker.

The other reason why the create these new tragedies for Peter is not just to keep tragedy fresh in the life of Peter Parker's life, but it's also to put it there for new readers who did not have the benefit (or interest) in going back and reading Amazing Fantasy #15.

As for the baby Parker -- to clarify things -- The official handbook states that the baby died in a miscarriage by Norman Osborn. They were toying with the idea that Osborn somehow stole the baby (in the Final Chapter arc) but it was revealed that it was really Aunt May who Osborn had prisoner since he faked her death (That is a long long story) The Handbook also states that after One More Day, Mary Jane never got pregnant.