Beating A Dead Horse

Because this still bothers the hell out of me years later...

Remember--Marvel had Peter Parker willingly make a deal with this guy:

Now, even if I grant that having Peter Parker single somehow magically makes for better comic stories than having him married, the way that which that was accomplished says something about Joe Quesada and JMS, doesn't it?

This is, after all, the Marvel Universe. So you could have had the Beyonder do it, or have Spidey use a Cosmic Cube, or Doctor Strange cast a spell, or a thousand other ways to save Aunt May.

But no, you guys opted to have a hero make a deal with "the black heart that pumps its putrid bile into the farthest corners of the universe." Because that's what heroes do, apparently.

Seriously, you guys thought this was the best way to accomplish your goal??

And that's why Joe Quesada is the last person on Earth who should be shepherding Marvel through the Heroic Age...

Sigh...

Blame my foray into Marvel 1985 for reminding me about this appearance of Mephisto in Fantastic Four #277 by Byrne, Byrne and Ordway...