In a completely selfish hope that Marvel Comics' new high end collectible Wolverine Adamantium Edition may be followed by a Spider-man Web Slinging Edition I’m taking the opportunity to highlight the stories that I think are representative of what makes Peter Parker “Amazing”. I’m sticking exclusively with the mainstream Spider-man most people know of and worked hard to keep the page count as close to 720 as possible. I’m also working in publication order so that we can see the character growth and development as it happened. Last week I chose The Amazing Spider-man #229 and #230, “Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut” and “To Fight the Unbeatable Foe”
At this point in his career Spider-man was now enjoying the success of headlining multiple books and while I’ve previously chosen a story from Marvel Team-up, “Fantasia” is the first of my selections from Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-man as published in #74 in January, 1983.
Written by Bill Mantlo with art by Bob Hall and Jim Mooney this story opens with Peter’s on-again-off-again girlfriend Debra Whitman visiting her psychiatrist. The product of a battered history, she’s had issues with fantasy vs. reality and now believes herself to be regressing again as she’s put together that Peter and Spider-man are one and the same and she can’t seem to reconcile that with herself. Unbeknownst to her, the doctor had secreted Peter in an adjoining room to listen in. The doctor’s suggestion of “shock therapy”, by having Peter dress as Spider-man and reveal himself to prove how ludicrous this was, offended Peter and off he went to handle it his own way.
The story then spins through the beginnings of the Owl/Octopus war involving appearances by Wilson Fisk and the return of the Black Cat, and well as other characters from Peter’s life as he works out just what he wants to do to help Deb. Ultimately he visits her apartment and tells her the truth. He even lets her take off his mask.
Neatly, the “shock therapy” worked. Deb laughed and then left the books to return home and start fixing what was wrong with her life.
It’s not an overly great story. The art isn’t ‘spectacular’. Yet the reason this is one of my very favorite choices is Peter's strong character development. Peter Parker was offended that the doctor thought "shock therapy", through making Deb's fears seem real and therefore showing her the absurdity of it all, and Peter had no interest at all in playing games with her head. She wasn’t a serious love of his life character, but he had decided that her well being was more important than his secret identity. That’s the responsibility that Peter Parker has towards his friends. He’d prefer to hide his secret but he’s willing to share it if that’s what it comes down to. That’s the kind of friend we all need. There’s almost no better representation of Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-man.
Michael R. Murray has been buying and collecting comics for over 35 years. At one point his collection included two copies of Amazing Spider-man #1, and one copy each of Amazing Fantasy #15, Fantastic Four #2, Avengers #4, Showcase #22, and dozens more high grade and key issues. The collection has grown to include original art pages, as well as statues and busts, with the current emphasis on collecting original drawings from appropriate artists on the inside of his hard covers. His personal collection of graphic novels consists of over 2,000 hard covers and trade paperbacks. He has attended all of the Boston and New York Comic Cons and experienced Philadelphia, Chicago, and San Diego. He has championed comic books in the local schools and was very proud that both of his children read at least three years above their grade levels, due nearly exclusively to comics. He’s quick to point out that none of this makes him an expert, but that his love of comics is most enjoyable when he can share it. Follow on Twitter at mycomicstore001 or like his Facebook page.