Maybe Next Year

[cyberghostface]

This story comes from Peter Parker Spider-Man v2 #33. It was written by Paul Jenkins and illustrated by Mark Buckingham.

The issue opens it with another year passing on the day that Uncle Ben died, and Peter remembers how it was his fault for not stopping the burglar in time. Each year, Aunt May visit's Ben's grave to remember him, and Peter lets her go by herself so she can be alone with him. He has another way of remembering his uncle--by going to a Mets game.

Looking up into the sky, Peter asks "What d'you say, Uncle Ben? Maybe this year?"










As an adult, Peter thinks to himself how "Maybe Next Year" became their mantra. Every time they go, however, something goes wrong. At one point, Peter gets beaned trying to catch a baseball that flies into the stands. A mascot (a giant baseball head) is there when Peter wakes up, causing Peter to scream and pass out again.

Eventually, Peter gets tired of going to the games.












char: ben parker, char: may parker, char: spider-man/peter parker, creator: mark buckingham, creator: paul jenkins, publisher: marvel comics, title: peter parker spider-man

Comments

[nezchan]

Man, Ben Parker had as busy a last week as Tom and Martha Wayne.

I resolve to be as lazy as possible and never do anything. I'll live forever!

[polarisnorth]

Ow, I have something in my heart.

(Also, as a lifelong Mariners fan, I know exactly how this feels.)

[punishermax]

I'm just glad Ben wasn't a Yankees fan.

[2cards_short]

He was married to one.

[xammax]

I appear to be near tears.

[palabradot]

Oh, jeez. This is kind of how I celebrate Father's Day.

Not in June, but on Derby Day. Dad and I would sit and watch the Kentucky Derby together.

I still do, now that he's gone.

[wolfy]

Pardon me, I'm gonna watch the Nationals game with my dad.

[cleome45]

Eerie.

My Dad was a Red Sox fan his whole life. He died about two months after they finally won the World Series, in 2004.

[autolychus2]

My dad was a Reds fan -- which is probably why I started rooting for the Red Sox in '75. Man did I hate the Big Red Machine. But Reggie Jackson and the '78 Yankees did it for me. I'll never hate a team as much as I did that N.Y. squad.

[bradhanon]

I have maintained for years that being a Mets fan is absolutely key to Spider-Man's characterization. This is part of why.

[deleonjh]

Has Uncle Ben ever been shown to have any faults at all or has he always been morally superior to Jesus? Maybe he takes really stinky dumps where the smell hangs around for half an hour? Or maybe he always had an irrational hatred of the Mongolian people? Come on, people, surely there are examples out there of Ben being a dick.

[cleome45]

There was that "What If?" story where he finds out Peter's secret and thinks of a semi-humorous way to let Peter know that he knows. If that counts...

[cyberghostface]

Well, it's not uncommon for someone to only think back on the positive memories of a dead loved one.

[espanolbot]

There's the story that implied that MiniPeter was molested when he was younger, and I think that the guy was called Ben or something. May probably be miss remembering though.

[jlroberson]

Judging from this artwork, he must have had a weakness for cake.

I don't think I've ever seen Uncle Ben portrayed as fat before.

[darkblade]

There was that really creepy psa comic where Peter tells some kids that as a child he was molested and the guy in the flash back looks a lot like Uncle Ben.

[thatnickguy]

Wait a minute, hold on, hold the phone.

This was charming, funny, and...fun?

I don't understand. This is a Spider-Man comic. Where's the deals with the devil? Where's the rape? Where's the gore?

I've never been more disappointed since watching Spectacular Spider-Man.

[espanolbot]

Maybe being beaned in the face with a baseball caused one of Peter's eyes to explode, so ever since then he's been wearing a glass one?

[amaniwolf]

I'm sorry....but i find it sad that someone needs to find something bad to say about Ben. No doubt he wasn't a saint, but to dredge it up in comic form, really? We don't get enough depressing stories and horrors in reality? Enjoy the story for what it is, and if you don't like it,....find something you do like. I prefer to enjoy my comics, not have them depress the hell out of me. Everytime they write some backstory to retcon a history and make it dark, it just demeans everything, the writers had done previously. When it comes to people i've cared about who have passed...i tend to gloss over the bad as well, i think we all do. That's just life.

[deleonjh]

I apologize, I didn't realize your life was so full of constant pain and terror that even a casual remark on a comic book forum would send you spiralling into despair. I am kind of surprised that Siberian gulags allow prisoners Internet access, though.

Really, if you don't like stories where bad stuff happens then next time just say so, don't try to justify your tastes by invoking the spectre of starving African children. It wasn't enough to make me eat my vegetables and it sure as heck isn't enough to make me only like Full House and the Brady Bunch. Art is not only escapism, it occasionally has other things to say besides "happy stuff makes me happy", and liking stories besides escapist fare does not mean one is an emo depressive who only listens to goth and has memorized The Sorrows of Young Werther. What I find sad is that you seem not to understand this.

But I don't understand why I'm even talking about this because nowhere did I mention exclusively enjoying stories about the Holocaust. And where in the hell did I even mention retcons or taking things back to the 90's?

Here, let me rephrase my original question: "Has Uncle Ben ever been depicted as a three-dimensional character with human flaws or has he always been written by Mitch Albom?"

[joysweeper]

Awww... I remember this issue.

[proteus_lives]

I liked this story.

But I don't remember Uncle Ben being so fat.

[introverted_excavator]

I seem to have something in my eyes, it's getting all over this pile of unused tissues that I just so happened to have with me when I clicked on this thread.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

...what a terrible waste of soda. I would not be able to stand for it.

--LBD "Nytetrayn"

[lencannon]

Stinkin' Mets fans.

[punishermax]

Never heard hatred for Mets fans before. Must be a regional thing, Only team we hate down here in Philly is the Yankees but that's just common sense.

[philippos42]

Paul Jenkins--best Spidey writer in years.

[felinephoenix]

Agreed. Love this story.

[aaron_bourque]

Paul Jenkins is British, right?