Sensational Spider-Man #40

[sinisterlink.insanejournal.com]

So turns out Peter met someone veeeeeery interesting before One More Day started...

So I mentioned this story in the recent Spider-Man thread and a few people asked me to post it, so here it is. It's from Sensational Spider-Man #40 and was set during the Back in Black thing right before One More Day started. This is one of those comics I really wish I could post the whole thing, but I'll try to just summarize a lot of the beginning instead.

The story begins with a narrator telling us how once there was a boy named Peter, "And this boy was blameless and upright, with a good heart, who never turned toward evil." They show him with Aunt May and Uncle Ben and then show him getting picked on at school but saying that, "...his belief that the world was basically a good place never wavered." They show Liz Allen being nice to him after Flash trips him and then they go on the field trip where, "...like a serpent slithering into a garden, a certain spider lowered itself into his life...and cursed this good boy named Peter." It then mention that it could be a blessing or a curse depending who's telling the story. Anyways, after that we have more things from the past shown, like Peter letting the robber go and Uncle Ben being killed, along with others like Norman and Gwen dying. It then goes to the present where Peter is watching over Aunt May in her hospital bed. He then gets up and tells MJ he's not doing alright when she asks how he is.



I'm basically showing this page because I think it's very nicely done, but I'd also like to ask if anyone knows who all the people are. I recognize Kraven, Harry, and Captain Stacy but does anyone know who the woman at the top or the guy in the Spider outfit are?

Anyway, back to the story, Peter's "something" that he decides to hurt turns out to be a dumpster that he punches the crap out of in an alley. And then someone pops up behind him.



Peter tells the guy to get lost since he's not in a good mood, but the guy offers to buy him a burger and then calls him Peter. Peter isn't impressed since his name has been all over the news lately. The guy notices how messed up Peter's hands are from hitting the dumpster and closes his eyes and then says, "You're welcome, Peter", who then looks down and sees his hands are completely healed.



We then cut to an outdoor restaurant with the two.



I gotta say I left the top panel in basically because God disguised as some homeless dude going OM NOM NOM on a burger always makes me laugh.

Anyways, God asks Peter what he would do if that WAS the design for his life. Peter then says that he would beg him to save her and give up anything for her, even being Spider-Man. Peter then says that God could make the spider bite someone else, and spare him from all the death caused over the years from being Spider-Man. God then says he wants to take him somewhere. They instantly are at Robert Moses Beach, where Peter mentions May and Ben used to take him when he was a kid. While they walk down the boardwalk, Peter starts asking the typical questions of God, like, "Did I do something to deserve all of this? Is this some sort of test?" God tells him that, "It's not a test, it just...is" and then talks about how suffering is hard to explain to someone who hasn't been around since the beginning. Peter then wonders what the point of it all is and God says that "they" are the point as they come across a beach filled with hundreds and hundreds of people.



"Counting team-ups", lol.







I love that last page.

Comments

[freezer818.insanejournal.com]

And yet, this feels like one big "Fuck You" to the fans. "We'll show you Peter's 'Happy Ever After', just to make it hurt worse when he throws it away! TAKE THAT!"

[hybrid2.insanejournal.com]

Yeah.Marvel like to do that a lot lately.

[stig.insanejournal.com]

Me, I thought that combined with the previous two issues wherein May tells Peter to let her go, and the annual wherein MJ says that she's really happy with Peter...were a huge "Fuck You" to editorial from a title that was small and didn't make much difference anyway.

[menagerie.insanejournal.com]

Wait, I'm pretty sure this is the last story Marvel put out with Spider-Man. Ever. ;)

[comicoz.insanejournal.com]

While I'd forgotten most of this issue (and now am totally going to find it and re-read), I remember the image of May(day) and her spider shirt making me go "YEAH!!" because I loved the title so much. I remember thinking "does 8 on Ben mean he's some sort of Doc Ock? Or is that a stylized spider?"

I need to go read this tonight.

[ezlebe.insanejournal.com]

I really like the art for this, even though the hamburget God is eating looks a little off. Despite my love for the colorist, I find it hilarious that old!Peter looks like the lovechild of Reed Richards and Harry Potter, and that old!MJ still looks unusually young and is in fact showing a little midriff.

This issue has also made me realize that I have been watching waaayyy to much Supernatural.

[yaseen101.insanejournal.com]

Y'know, i never took MJ for the hair dying type. Maybe she just wants to feel young again?

[darklorelei.insanejournal.com]

Creepy art is creepy!

[yaseen101.insanejournal.com]

You know, when you said 'God' was appearing, I was half expecting some sort of clean cut guy in a snazzy looking suit, but I like that they went with this route instead.

[sinisterlink.insanejournal.com]

I actually like it a lot when they make God appear as kind of a bum looking guy because a lot of times you can see a person's true nature by the way they react towards someone who is less fortunate. Like are you the type who sees a homeless person and feels compassion towards them, or are you the type who sees them and thinks of them as just some lazy bum who needs to get a job?

[interrobamf.insanejournal.com]

So he met God and still had such a problem letting May die and pass on to a better existence and preferring to make a deal with the Marvel universe's equivalent of Satan?

[yaseen101.insanejournal.com]

Not in my fanon!

[stolisomancer.insanejournal.com]

On the first page, the woman at the top looks like she might be Jean DeWolff, 616 version. Peter found out after she died that she had a thing for him.

The guy in the Spider-Man outfit is pretty obviously Ben Reilly, just going by the white stripes.

[ashtoreth.insanejournal.com]

Oh, good eye. I kept going through all his girlfriends and every dead chick he didn't save. Was gonna guess Charlemagne, cuz Pete actually killed her, but you're right, definitely DeWolff.

[arilou_skiff.insanejournal.com]

I like a lot of stuff about this. And this is despite HATING the entire concepts of these kinds of stories. They're almost universally awful.

Also, someone pointed out that Spidey apparently only saves white people :p

[icon_uk.insanejournal.com]

Nah, it's just the white folk pushed to the front of the beach, the non-white savee's are filling the twelve beaches beyond the one we can see.

[zegim.insanejournal.com]

Yep, this is very good.

[joysweeper.insanejournal.com]

Mary? Not May? Aw, c'mon, if you're flashing to the happy ending that is currently in no way canon, you can at least hint that one of the kids is Mayday.

Not a bad story, though.

[icon_uk.insanejournal.com]

Mary was the name of Peter's mother.

[greenmask.insanejournal.com]

(unimpressed with oldMJ but)

I really like this version of god-on-earth! Possibly my favourite ever.

I thought Peter came across kind of badly, but I guess you don't need to worry about that if you're talking to the/an ultimate guy.

[volksjager.insanejournal.com]

Peter met Iggy Pop ?

[menagerie.insanejournal.com]

Motto.

[foxhack.insanejournal.com]

Is it wrong for me to think that was actually Randall Flagg?

GAAAAAAAAAAAA

[freeman333.insanejournal.com]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

DO

NOT

WANT

[shadowpsykie.insanejournal.com]

heh, God has a character tag :)

*sigh* this just makes me sad and happy at the same time... this is how I beleive OMD should have ended, with Peter having faith in God... instead of making a deal witht he Devil....

i mean even god saying "He's asked a lot more from people MUCH closer to me." i mean this and the scene where May tells him to let her go is just a spit in the face by Peter.

I know that this whole BND thing is going to end with Peter and MJ getting back together and FIXING everything, but Peter will always have this deal hanging over his head, I really hope Aunt may lets him have it when she finds out what her nephew did....

[ashtoreth.insanejournal.com]

Don't worry, they're gonna blame it on Eve Mary Jane.

[robogeek.insanejournal.com]

I guess the Kirby eidolon was busy...

Part of me, though, thinks that if Peter was to see God... He should look like Uncle Ben.

[xdoop.insanejournal.com]

If Spidey finds a way to get back his marriage while keeping May alive, will people still think he was wrong in making the deal?

[greenmask.insanejournal.com]

Yep.

[mullon.insanejournal.com]

God has the worst acne scarring ever.

[gothamsprincess.insanejournal.com]

These scans...they made me feel happy and peaceful. Totally the opposite of OMD. I just wanted that to burn. Fire and brimstone indeed.

[ashtoreth.insanejournal.com]

Eh. I hated this story so much. It was just so offensive. Really made me angry that they'd try to blame their awful writing on God. Next, Jesus will return and beat up Mephisto and resurrect all MJ's dead babies.

[xdoop.insanejournal.com]

[cyberghostface.insanejournal.com]

I think I'll stick with Aguirre-Sacasa's view.

[lbd_nytetrayn.insanejournal.com]

I hadn't seen this before. All the more reason for me to dislike BND, I suppose. Nice ending, though.

Question: I have by and large carried my grudge with this against Spider-man in general. I know Ultimate, Marvel Adventures, movie, etc. haven't made the deal with Mephisto and spit in God's face as 616 here did, but I can't help but think that deep down, they're all the same, and placed in the same position, they would all react the same way.

Am I off-base with this? Or should I simply focus my dislike on 616, and just pretend this abomination never occurred when looking at the others?

--LBD "Nytetrayn"