I was pissed about OMD also.  They have Mary Jane floating around more now.  They really needed to progress him with being married back then.  They also nerfed his baby which I am still confused about.  I even liked the out of continuity Spider-girl for a time.  Maybe they can make Spider-man gay him now?  Since so many people love gay storylines now. 

I don't like the Alpha storyline so far.  They should just feed him to Galactius since he is full of so much power. 

 Glad to know I'm not the only one still upset about OMD/BND.  I hadn't been buying comics regularly for years, but I still keep up with what is going on with Spidey and a couple others.  I'm 33, have been a Spidey fan since I first learned to read.  My dad shared all his old comics with me (which he really shouldn't have, because issues that should be valuable such as the first appearance of Scorpion aren't worth too much thanks to little hands) and I've been hooked ever since.  Collected toys, watch the movies, play the games, used to draw Spidey and his villains all the time.  I was so disgusted with the character after OMD that I didn't touch any of it for a good while.

This is definitely an interesting litmus test for what readers currently think of the Spider-Man. I am not completely surprised that most of you are still jilted from OMD, but the fact that most of you won't even go near the book is definitely a comdenation of Marvel editorial. I remember sitting in a panel at NYCC where Joe Quesada was trying to justify the OMD arc with varying degrees of success. He said they went the Mephisto route because killing MJ would make Peter a widower, which would be even more unattractive to readers.

I will once again throw out my support of Dan Slott. He's not perfect by any means, but at least Spiday has a clear direction, and Slott has the ability to surprise. The Alpha storyline is definitely worth picking up, it's the first unique idea for Spidey since JMS' run.

@ObiWannaJones I actually like Humberto Ramos' art. It does have a cartoon/anime bent, but it works well on Spider-Man, particularly for the man himself.

@CyanideRush I thought his first arc "Big Time" was enjoyable. "Spider Island" and "Ends of the Earth" were a bit too over the top for my tastes. Issue #680-681 were fun, and of course "Alpha" .

I think the fact that the character still has to go on and with the stories they did since then, it's obious it's not as bad as we think and there might be some good stories in there since OMD. But I think you hit the nail when you mention that many of us won't even go back to it since then.

For me the story of OMD ''turned me off'' so bad of the character, I won't buy the book anymore, by princuiple and by support to the writter.

I can tell you this, if they would've killed Mary Jane, I would still be there and reading the stories. Death is meaningless in comics but can add value to the character, OMD was just horrible and so not though out it was just stupid in my book.

And now that Bendis is leaving the Avengers...not sure where I will get my Spider fix.

Happy 50th, Spidey!!!! your still more awesome than batman, but you and wolverine dont belong on the Avengers....

 Proud to say my boycott of Spider-Man continues. Until Peter is married to MJ again, Marvel can suck it along with their 3.99 cover prices. Since I started reading comics in '82, Marvel titles had always outnumbered DC titles. That trend began to change once Marvel stated that they would charge whatever they wanted because fans would still buy them. Really? My pull list: DC - 15 titles. Marvel - 4 (2.99 titles).

OK, ok.....ranting again. Happy Birthday Spider-Man. Miss you.  

So, all this begs the question- what would it take for you to come back to reading Spider-Man. A retcon of the retcon? A specific writer?

i havent read a new spiderman comic since the sixies , perhaps im 'retro " , but I like the drawings of Ditko an Romita sr. work any day over todays drawings . Ill stick to MARVELMASTERWORKS for" ol webhead" .