Amazing Spider-Man Question

In the midst of all this confusion about exactly what volume of Amazing Spider-Man we are going to be getting, I was wondering if someone could clear something up for me. Didn't Aunt May die way back in ASM #400? What was the reason for her return? Was it just some arbitrary decision to include her with the reboot? If so, how on Earth can ASM suddenly revert to Vol. 1? This has probably been answered many times before and I apologise in advance if it is one of those FAQ-style queries, but it's been bugging me for a while...

Cheers!

It wasn't May who died in #400 but a terminally ill actress. Norman Osborn had abducted the real May, but spidey got her back (yes pretty lame.....especially since #400 was so fantastic)

Ellwood

It was revealed that the Aunt May who already knew that Peter was Spider-Man had been an actress who took Aunt May's place, all part of Norman Osborn's schemes. This is who died.

When this was revealed, we had the return of Aunt May, who didn't know, until the recent storyline.

There has never been an official reboot of the Spider-Man books. The Chapter One series was an attempt to do so, but the modern stories pretty much ignored events in Chapter one to the point that it could be considered not to have happened.

Nor has she or the other folks mentioned it to any significance, you know, that old Aunt May wa captured and held prisoner for a few months, that little bit of history.

The whole aunt may thing was just a cheap way to swerve readers, When that renegade female doctor revealed after about 2 years that 'May was alive' it was supposed to mean Peter and MJ's daughter May who was abducted by Osborn at birth. The whereabouts of the kid are still not known (unless you count Spider-Girl, but that's an alternate universe) so instead of an interesting plot idea of kids (don't want to alienate that target demographic) we get crusty old woman returns from the dead to nag Peter again.

Um, have you been reading the character of Aunt May within the past year?

Well, I have, and really, it's no big whoop. Aunt May could be that figure, or Peter could find a kind neighborly lady who can fill that role. I'd rather have a long lost Uncle appear than have Aunt May brought back.

Google also brought up this thread with this topic:

'In Amazing (vol. 2) #35, Aunt May walks in on an unconscious Peter in his costume. (Um, Peter was in the costume, not May.)'

I can't even remember if i've discussed this in previous threads or not, but...does anyone else find it INCREDIBLY STUPID that *this* is how aunt may finds out peter is spider-man??? She walks in on him in costume??? How many times in past stories was peter shown to be able to avoid stuff like this? I mean after ASM #400 where aunt may says she's known for a while (most people assume since the issue in which aunt may says she isn't afraid of spidey anymore), it's shown that she 'really' finds out that peter is spider-man by walking in on him after a fight??? This is so anti-climactic. I just can't believe that they were allowed to take this way out to have aunt may find out peter is spider-man. And you know what's even more stupid? Before chapter one, bob harras said he wanted aunt may back and for her to *not* know that peter was spider-man. So not only was *that* a stupid retcon to bring her back and claim some actress died, but then they had to retcon the fact that she did indeed know peter was spidey??? Ok, it's not *really* a retcon, but it might as well be, seeing as i much prefer the aunt may of ASM #400 who knows and is dead over an aunt may who is alive and can't possibly serve *that* much of a purpose in the current titles and who knows peter is spider-man. I think that was a run on sentence. And she may make for some nice stories, but i really think the spider-titles would be fine without her. Seriously, what a stupid way for her to find out.

Bort...who apologizes for the rant.

I can't think of a single occasion in which Aunt May was about to walk in on an *unconscious* Peter Parker and Peter managed to avoid it. Can you?

I would suggest you read the excellent stories in question before mindlessly bashing them.

My point was that peter was never stupid enough to allow himself to lie unconcious in bed in costume...and i can assure you that if stan lee ever felt the need to write that into a story, he would have given peter a way out of it (e.g. hide his body under the covers). I understand that they *wanted* may to find out, i just think they should have went about it differently.

I am not mindlessly bashing the stories in which aunt may appears. I am mindfully bashing the story in which she finds out peter is spider-man.

He wasn't in costume. He'd taken a major beating, including injecting himself with radioactive isotopes, and had come home exhausted. He'd left his cotume exposed and gone to sleep, confident that his spidey sense would wake him up if some danger appeared. It didn't wake him up, which tells me that Aunt May's discovery of his secret identity wasn't going to be dangerous to him.