| Trouble | |
|---|---|
 Cover ofTrouble #1. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics (Epic Comics) |
| Schedule | Monthly |
| Format | Limited |
| Genre | Romance |
| Publication date | September 2003 – January 2004 |
| No. of issues | 5 |
| Main character(s) | May Reilly,Mary Fitzpatrick,Ben Parker,Richie Parker |
| Creative team | |
| Written by | Mark Millar |
| Penciller | Terry Dodson |
| Inker | Rachel Dodson |
| Letterer | Chris Eliopoulos |
| Colorists |
|
| Collected editions | |
| Trouble | ISBN 978-0785150862 |
Trouble is a five-issuelimitedcomic book series written byMark Millar and illustrated byTerry andRachel Dodson. It was published from 2003 to 2004 byMarvel Comics as the debut title for its relaunchedEpic Comics imprint. The series follows the summer vacation of recent high school graduates May, Mary, Ben, and Richie, depicting subjects such asabstinence,teenage pregnancy, andabortion.
The series was heavily marketed as a potential neworigin story for the superheroSpider-Man (Peter Parker), with much of the promotion centered around how the series' primary characters are heavily suggested to be younger versions of Spider-Man's family membersAunt May,Uncle Ben, andRichard and Mary Parker. This reflected the so called "made-you-look" marketing strategy Marvel pursued in the early 2000s under executive vice presidentBill Jemas, characterized by provocative editorial gimmicks that attracted substantial media coverage at little direct financial cost to the company.
Trouble was positioned by Marvel as an attempt to broaden its appeal among female readers by re-expanding intoromance comics, a genre which enjoyed significant popularity in the mid-20th century, and to expand from thecomic book store market into the more lucrativebookstore market. Though the first issue ofTrouble went to a second printing in a significant reversal of Marvel's then-longstanding policy to neverreprint comics, the series received generally negative reviews from critics, underperformed commercially, and was never formally incorporated into the broader Spider-Mancanon.
May and her best friendMary get summer jobs at a resort inThe Hamptons, where they begin dating fellow workersBen and his brotherRichie, respectively. May and Ben's relationship soon becomes sexual, but Mary tells Richie she isabstinent. A sexually frustrated Richie begins having an affair with May; soon thereafter, May becomes pregnant. The affair is exposed after May discloses her pregnancy to Ben, and he responds that he cannot be the father as he issterile.
Fearing reprisal from her religious parents, May considers anabortion before deciding torun away from home. A desperate May later contacts Mary, and despite Mary's continued anger over the affair, she agrees to help her. Mary formulates a plan to claim May's baby as her own, allowing May to conceal the truth from her parents and allowing herself to test Richie's commitment to their relationship. May gives birth and returns to her parents, and Mary and Richie begin to raise her sonPeter as their child.
Bill Jemas became executive vice president of Marvel Comics in 2000, and significantly reorganized the company as it emerged from its mid-1990s bankruptcy proceedings.[1] Among these changes were replacing Marvel editor-in-chiefBob Harras withJoe Quesada, and withdrawing the company from the from theComics Code Authority (CCA), a system of comic book content regulation.[1] The latter change allowed Marvel to depict material in their comics that had been forbidden under the CCA, such as sexual intercourse.[2] The company also sought to expand from thecomic book store market into the more lucrativebookstore market, whose comic sales were dominated bygraphic novels andmanga,[3][4] and made its first attempt to break into this market with the 2003young adult novelMary Jane by Judith O'Brien.[4][5]
Jemas pursued a so-called "made-you-look" marketing strategy of provocative editorial gimmicks that attracted substantial media coverage at little direct financial cost to Marvel, such as reimagining theRawhide Kid as an openly gay character and publishing the limited seriesTruth: Red, White & Black, which introducedan African American Captain America.[1][4] He additionally oversaw a revival of Marvel'sEpic Comics imprint, which was to publish a combination ofcreator owned comics, new interpretations of existing Marvel characters, and comics based on licensed properties from other media such as television.[6]
The concept forTrouble originated from Jemas and Quesada under the working titleParents, and was originally envisioned as a series that would tell the story ofPeter Parker's conception.[4][7] Similarly to the 2002 comic seriesOrigin, which tells the backstory of the superheroWolverine, Jemas and Quesada aimed to depict an origin story that was distinct from what had been depicted in the then-recent film adaptations of these characters.[4][a] As the story was developed by its creative team, it shifted focus from Spider-Man's conception to the lives of May and Mary, and was renamedTrouble.[5][7] It was positioned as an attempt to reviveromance comics, a genre which enjoyed significant popularity in the mid-20th century but which had declined significantly by the 1970s,[2][8] with the hope that it would appeal to a readership of both women and traditionally male superhero comic readers.[5]
Jemas and Quesada approached writerMark Millar about writing the series in December 2002;[7] Millar was among Marvel's top talent at the time, following his acclaimed runs onThe Authority atWildStorm, andThe Ultimates andUltimate X-Men at Marvel.[7] Millar said that he agreed to take on the series because he thought it was interesting hook for a story that could appeal to both superhero and romance fans – he remarked thatTrouble was his first comic that his wife read cover to cover[4] – and that it would be a change of pace from writing superhero comics.[7] He prepared by reading a range of teen and romance publications,[5] and said that he intentionally wrote the story as one that could stand on its own without requiring knowledge of Spider-Man continuity.[7] Millar stated that he was particularly intrigued by the idea that while Aunt May was originally written as being born in the 1920s, Marvel'sfloating timeline meant that she could have an origin story set in an era closer to the present day.[4]
Terry Dodson, also among Marvel's top creative talent, was Jemas' first choice to draw the artwork for series due to what Jemas described as his "modern day sensibility that also hearkens back to the great romance books of the past".[4][7]Axel Alonso served as the series' editor.[7] The covers of the series were shot by fashion photographer Philippe Biabolos;[6] photographic covers are an atypical approach for comics, and according to Jemas, Biabolos agreed to participate in the project because he was a fan of Marvel.[7]
"Is [Trouble] the origin of Spider-Man? I'll give you an honest answer because right now we don't know. I don't think that the answer to that question ought to be up toJoe orMark orTerry orAxel or me. We think the final answer ought to come from the comics community based on the acceptance of the story."
In March 2003, Marvel announced that Epic Comics would be revived withTrouble as its debut title.[6] The series was promoted as the "secret origin" of Spider-Man, with emphasis on how the series' primary characters are heavily suggested to be younger versions of Spider-Man's family membersAunt May,Uncle Ben, andRichard and Mary Parker.[2] Jemas indicated that fan reaction to the series would determine whetherTrouble would be formally recognized as Peter Parker's new origin story in subsequent Spider-Man comic books.[5]
Retailers had a largely negative reaction to the early promotion of the book.[4] Jemas remarked that "this policy of not deciding about continuity leaves some enormous problems for our business partners", because "you can't really orderTrouble like it's the origin of Wolverine, because we're not calling it the official origin of Spider-Man".[4] The photo covers depicting teen models wearing bikinis faced accusations of having pornographic or even pedophiliac overtones;[3][8] Marvel and Millar contended that they match the photo covers commonly used for young adult novels aimed at teen girls.[4] Critics noted similarities to the covers of the young adult novel seriesGossip Girl, and suggested that the cover appears more sexually suggestive in the context of a comic book shop where other covers are intended to titillate an older audience.[3][4] Others expressed concern about the depiction of subjects such asteenage pregnancy andabortion in a book ostensibly aimed at children. Millar comparedTrouble's depiction of this material to the controversialStan Lee–authored issues ofAmazing Spider-Man in the 1970s whereHarry Osborn becomes addicted to amphetamines, with Jemas arguing that as a youth publisher Marvel risks becoming "irrelevant to children by hiding significant issues" from them.[7] Quesada stated that he did not seeTrouble as being specificallypro-life orpro-choice, but that it was simply "a story to be told".[4]
In response to this criticism, Marvel pursued an aggressive promotion strategy that saw an in-house advertisement forTrouble placed in all Marvel comic books published in July 2003, and sought to have reviews for the series placed the publicationsWizard,Entertainment Weekly, andThe Washington Post.[4][7][9] Simultaneous with the series announcement, it was revealed that the first issue ofTrouble would go to a second printing with avariant cover by the artistFrank Cho if it sold favorably.[9] This marked a significant reversal of what was then Marvel's longstanding policy to neverreprint comics in order to preserve their value as collector's items.[7][9] Certain aspects of the marketing strategy forTrouble were based on Marvel's meetings with retailers, who indicated that the company's marketing strategy of promoting books months from their publication dates in order to compel retailers into ordering them meant that general interest invariably dissipated by the time the book arrived in stores.[9]
The first issue ofTrouble was published in July 2003, with acover date of September 2003, and ran for five issues until January 2004.[6] Jemas stated that he expectedTrouble to underperform in thedirect market, and that significant sales and market efforts were to be made for thetrade paperback edition of the series.[3] This collected edition was to be sold primarily in bookstores, where it was believed the female audience the series was attempting to attract would be more easily reached.[4][5]
"It's a perfect metaphor for [Marvel's] position, when you think about it: an attempt to break into another, possibly more profitable market, it nonetheless retains just enough trace elements of theMarvel Universe to ensure that Mark Millar remains legally replaceable. It mimics the latest advances in modernteen novels (sex, booze and an attempt to deal with 'modern issues'), but still feels like it was written by committee; I've had a chance to read the first issue, and frankly I couldn't shake the impression that I was about to watchArchie andVeronica fuck."
Trouble received generally negative reviews from critics, and underperformed commercially.[2] Though the first issue ofTrouble sold well enough for the Frank Cho variant cover to print under the titleTrouble #1: The Second Chances Edition,[7] the strategy to use the collected edition of the series to expand into the bookstore market never materialized asTrouble would not be published as a trade paperback until 2011.[10] Among the comics enthusiast press, the series frequently places on lists of the worst or most controversial Spider-Man storylines.[11][12][13][14]
ReviewingTrouble forThe Comics Journal,Dirk Deppey unfavorably contrastedTrouble to other comics that had gained popularity among female readers such asLove Hina andChobits, writing that these titles possess "an underlying personality behind the storytelling" because "their authors have an owner's stake in the property and know that they're in it for the long haul," whereasTrouble "reads like its job is to produce a hit comic which leads to bigger paychecks on better projects."[3]
Several critics offered praise for the attempt made byTrouble to diversify Marvel's editorial output and expand the company beyond traditional comic book stores.[3][5][15] Comics critic Ora C. McWilliams considersTrouble as an "interesting derivation" that demonstrates the extent to which Marvel was willing to potentially change the origin of one of its most prominent characters. They consider the series as an "interesting thought experiment" of a Spider-Man as a comic told from the perspective of Aunt May, a largely underdeveloped secondary character defined almost exclusively by her relationship with Peter Parker.[2]
Trouble's revelation that Aunt May is not Peter Parker's aunt but his biological mother was never acknowledged in subsequent Spider-Man stories.[2] McWilliams writes that it "may never be known" whetherTrouble represented a genuine attempt to write a new origin story for Spider-Man or was "simply Marvel attempting to attract attention to the new book."[2] Jemas' aspirations forTrouble and Epic Comics as parts of a broader sales and marketing strategy for Marvel would never come to pass: by October 2003 his responsibilities within the company had been curtailed significantly, reportedly because Marvelchief creative officerAvi Arad believed his "made-you-look" marketing strategy was hindering efforts to pitch Marvel properties to Hollywood studios.[1]
Trouble has never been reprinted in a serial format and has never been made available on any of Marvel'sdigital distribution platforms.[11] The series has been cited alongsideX-Men: Misfits andSentinel as being a precursor to theyoung adult graphic novel line launched byDC Comics.[16]
