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 we celebrated Peter’s birthday with him in Amazing Spider-man #500’s “Happy Birthday, part three”.
Here I present another single issue, multi-part story in Amazing Spider-man # 542, “Back in Black part four of five” from August 2007, written by J. Michael Straczynski, pencils by Ron Garney, inks by Bill Reinhold, and colors by Matt Milla.
Our story so far: In the wake of the Superhuman Registration Act, Tony Stark convinced Peter Parker to abandon his fears of vengeance and reveal his identity to the world. As the line in the sand became more clear for the opposing sides of the Civil War, Spider-man chose to side with the law and gave a public address revealing himself to the world. Losing any semblance of a ‘normal’ life, Peter, Mary Jane, and Aunt May found themselves in a motel, where a sniper's bullet found May. Trying desperately to save May’s life, Spider-man puts on the black and white version of his costume to more accurately portray his emotional state to the world at large and hunts for the person responsible for the shooting. He ultimately finds that the order was given by Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin of Crime.
This comic picks up right as Spider-man breaks into Rikers and comes face to face with the Kingpin. Fisk asserts himself as the be all end all, that everybody saw Spider-man “The chump” trust the world and take off his mask. Peter, for his part, takes off his mask again. He takes off his tunic and gloves and explains what Wilson’s got wrong. That Spider-man is an ideal, that he wouldn’t ever kill but Peter would. And he proceeds to kick the crud out of Wilson Fisk. All the while explaining that the Kingpin doesn’t know what real power is, and that he’s never had it, that he can’t fly, or stick to walls, or stretch across a 20 foot room. Peter tells him that he’s going to leave Fisk a broken man, who had been seen being beaten down, his reputation lost, in fear and waiting for the moment when Aunt May dies, when Peter will come back and kill him for real. Peter leaves him with the proclamation there’s nothing the Kingpin can do to stop him.
What a great, great story! This is a perfect example of the separation and distinction between Peter Parker and Spider-man. Spider-man is a hero. Peter is on the run, hunted by the authorities, hunted by Spider-man's enemies, in the process of losing everything that's important to him as his life unravels. Peter Parker is a man on the edge with nothing left to lose. The idea that Peter would consciously kill somebody after everything he’s been through to this point goes completely against what we know of him. Yet what makes this an absolutely perfect selection for the story is when Peter takes off his suit and very simply points out the difference between Peter Parker and Spider-man. It’s a testament to who he is as a man and what lengths he’ll go to in order to protect his family and even in the midst of all of this, he has enough restraint to not cross that line. This is the perfect separation of spider and man and a very defining moment in where that line is.
This is also my last selection for my ‘would be’ book. This would top it off at 702 pages, leaving 18 pages for the Title Page, Table of Contents, Forwards, or Appendixes. When I started, this was a dream based on a coming project and as I write this, the Wolverine Adamantium Collection is in my hands and I’ve got to say, while it’s beautiful in the sheer monstrosity of it, it’s also very disappointing. What I would hope for in a $200.00 Spider-man Web Slinging Collection hardcover would be maybe to make it just a little bit taller so there doesn’t seem to be so much “lost space” on the edges. Less than being just a bigger collection of what we already have on our shelves, give us some original art as chapter breaks or maybe single page story segues, something certainly that’s only available in this edition. That’s how I want to spend that much money that I don’t really have to spend. So here’s to the Spider-man Web Slinging Collection because Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-man really is the most Amazing hero in the world!
In the finish of this, I'd like to give a shout out "Thank you" to John Payant and Michael Kelleher for their invaluable assistance and time in helping me roll my thoughts around and work them all out.
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.