One More Day/Trivia

• Creator Backlash: Probably one of the most famous ones in comics, from J. Michael Straczynski. Contrary to popular belief, JMS wasn't against the the storyline. Instead, he was angered over the fact that Quesada didn't allow him to fully explain story, leading to the rather infamous "It's magic, we don't have to explain it" quote. Things reached the boiling point when JMS actually threatened not to put his name on the final issue. Following the completion of the story, JMS would completely disown any involvement, place the blame on Quesada, and commence work for DC Comics.
  • It's since been found that JMS really did hate the OMD retcon. And got into a rather public spat with creators of Marvel in late 2011 about it. http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/12/10/fanboy-rampage-jms-vs-steve-wacker/
• Executive Meddling: JMS really didn't want to put his name on the last two parts, and shortly jumped ship to the Distinguished Competition.
  • To elaborate, JMS wanted to specifically explain in One More Day how the marriage was erased and the direct effects. Quesada overruled him and decided to leave it up to the viewers imaginations because, "It's magic, we don't have to explain it!"
• Flip-Flop of God: Quesada's defense over the deal with Mephisto changed over the course of Brand New Day. Options are:
  • A) Peter was actually being selfless by sacrificing his marriage.
  • B) It was an Enemy Mine situation, not a Deal with the Devil.
  • C) Mephisto isn't really the devil so it's not comparable. (Despite Mephisto having been presented as a blatant Expy.)
  • F) It was really MJ who made the deal, not Peter.
  • Three guesses which one he settled with? That's right, MJ did it!
  • And now Quesada says M.J's exact words somehow tricked Mephisto into erasing the deal from history. Only without actually erasing it, since the marriage is still ret-conned out.
• What Could Have Been: According to Quesada, JMS wrote the point where the new timeline diverged from the old one as be Harry getting into rehab back in the early 1970's, thereby affecting relationships and meaning Gwen Stacy never died. Marvel's writers collectively nixed it beforehand because such changes would affect the entire Marvel universe and invalidate nearly forty years of canon, and with two issues done they had to scramble to change the remaining two at the last minute. (If true, this could explain why JMS wanted his name off those issues; but all things considered, take this with a grain of salt unless we hear JMS's side of the story.)
• Writer Revolt: There are a few subtle hints that the writers didn't want to go through with this.
• Writing by the Seat of Your Pants: Covering his bases, JMS (Or Quesada, or probably both) snuck in some emergency "backdoors" in case Marvel balked on OMD after a while or decided to produce a sequel to make the BND continuity more "acceptable", and had MJ make a secondary deal with Mephisto to make a resolution somewhat necessary if sales and fan outrage demand it.
  • Ultimately averted (even though sales and fan outrage arguably did demand it); turns out MJ was just reaffirming the deal with Mephisto.