Peter Parker: Angry Misanthrope!

[starwolf_oakley]

As discussed on the BATMAN: GHOSTS post, Peter Parker was a friendless outcast in high school and became an angry misanthrope in college. It really wasn't until Steve Ditko left and John Romita Sr took over the SPIDER-MAN art that Peter mellowed out



Some of Peter Parker as a bitter misanthrope makes sense. He stresses out over Aunt May, ignores people who try to get his attention, and they think he is "high hatting" them.

Sometimes it seems like Peter Parker hates himself and the world and everyone in it because... reasons? It isn't even Uncle Ben's death.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #38.







This issue had Spider-Man yelling at protesters. Stan Lee changed it to Spider-Man supporting the protesters.

Comments

[dcbanacek]

Well Parker being friendless, if those where his options, kind of makes sense.

[xammax]

Oh Ditko Peter Parker,

[sarahnewlin]

Who did the art? Peter looks much much older than he should be in some of those panels.

[starwolf_oakley]

Steve Ditko. It might be the scans, which are a little faded.

[reveen]

Heh. Objectivists, am I rite?

[kd_the_movie]

I didnt see Peter come off as overtly ornery seeing as how pretty much everyone save Gwen(? ) acted like complete dicks toward him

[redmagpie]

Well they live in a world where kindness is for fools and only the great men and their railways will prevail, so I understand where they're coming from.

[grapeweasel]

Happy Birthday, Steve Ditko, BTW........

[silverhammerman]

I feel like this misanthropic edge is something that tends (understandably, given how tiring it can be to read) to get forgotten when people look back on the early Spider-Man stuff. As great as the Ditko stuff is, I've always preferred the Romita era because it's not universally filled with jerks.

Looking at these pages actually reminds me of some discussion I saw surrounding the latest film reboot; namely that an actual update to the Ditko Peter Parker would be utterly steeped in privilege. Peter would be less geek chic than he'd be the kind of clueless whiteboy who could get really into men's rights for a while.

[starwolf_oakley]

Or he could go right into a teenage Bruce Wayne where "Only the Mission matters." Yes, Peter Parker has never really been as obsessed with Bruce Wayne, and often just changes into Spider-Man when the need arises. But that could change in a modern era.

[jlroberson]

Peter Bagge actually took that idea on.

[flash_fan]

Honestly Steve was a creative genius but a pretty strange dude with some weird hard on for objectivism. I do miss his influence on the Peter Parker though. Romita drew some of the best Spidey stories ever but I never liked how he buffed Peter up and gave him the movie star good looks. I

[alschroeder3]

Ditto. Or having beauty queens like Gwen and Mary Jane falling all over him. Betty Brant was pretty but not gorgeous, the same way Pete was just normal-looking, not movie-star handsome. Yeah, there's part of me that will always remember the Romita Mary Jane, the "Tiger--you've hit the jackpot!" but that's hormones. Part of me cringed, knowing that Ditko's Peter Parker would get along with Romita's Mary Jane like oil and water.

[starwolf_oakley]

How was it clear Mary Jane was good looking, not just "good looking because she's a young woman in a comic book good looking"? I was just curious.

[flash_fan]

Mary Jane basically has Ann-Margret's face and she dressed in a way that implied she was a 'sexy mod girl/beatnik chick'. A few different supporting characters point out how pretty she is. To the credit of both Ditko and Romita the Spidey characters didn't suffer from same-face the way a lot of modern character's do. You could tell pretty easily who was supposed to be conventially pretty, old, boyish etc

[yvonmukluk]

I kind of wish that Grant Morrison had gotten around to doing that planned story he'd had where 616 Peter (this was pre-OMD, so still married to MJ) went to another dimension and met that world's Spidey who'd never married and lived alone since Aunt May died. So he was basically a well-meaning loner who got most of his joy in life being Spidey.

So basically the logical evolution of Romita Spidey meets the logical evolution of Ditko Spidey.

Kind of surprised nobody revisited that in Spider-Verse, actually.

[starwolf_oakley]

I never heard about this. Interesting. I've said that at some point Peter is going to realize 'I can't be with Carlie or Mary Jane or anyone because someone is always going to need Spider-Man to save them."

Grant Morrison must have realized that as well. Of course, every superhero has to be lonely these days because... reasons.

[yvonmukluk]

I don't know, Peter & MJ seemed to have made it work before OMD ruined everything. 'Doomed Affairs' pretty much is the perfect explanation for why Peter needs somebody, and that somebody is Mary Jane.