Peter Parker: Spider-Man
By Howard Mackie, John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and a whole bunch of other people

Mary Jane is not dead. She isn't, you know. It may look that way, but, really, what is the point of being missing and presumed killed when your plane explodes in mid-air if you are actually killed in it? That's just crazy talk. No, Mary Jane Parker, world's most glamorous supermodel and wife of Peter Parker (who is Spider-Man, as everyone now knows) is alive and well, and no doubt being held captive by one of her husband's dastardly foes...

Pete, of course, has been in denial such as this since Issue #14... of The Amazing Spider-Man. 'Cause MJ disappeared in Issue #13... of Peter Parker: Spider-Man. Yes, Pete and his alter-ego have two homes to fight and suffer in just now. And, much as I love the arachnoid guy, that may very well be just one too many.

Ever since Marvel reset the Amazing clock, bringing it back to Issue #1, Peter Parker has been along for the ride. Of course, multiple Spider-Man tales are hardly new -- he is a Marvel property, after all -- but at least such titles as Untold Tales of Spider-Man and Spider-Man Unlimited had some kind of identity, some kind of individuality that justified their existence. Peter Parker: Spider-Man is just another in a long line of devices to make me buy more Marvel comic books; like I needed one.

He's fighting the same evils, battling the same battles, and facing the same inner-torment, over and over and over again. I mean, I could understand it if, in The Amazing Spiderman, he was just more amazing, and in Peter Parker: Spider-Man, he was just more Peter Parker-y, but that doesn't happen. Occasionally we get a little insight into the Webslinger, but mostly we just get the same villains, the same crossovers, and the same wise-cracking as ever. Oh, it's all good, of course, the Spidey art is pretty much great and the whole MJ thing has certainly added a new dimension, but the only reason I can see that Peter Parker: Spiderman exists is that they decided they couldn't bring out The Amazing Spider-Man bi-monthly.

This split personality thing is annoying. Not only is he Peter Parker, photographer, by day and Spiderman, fighter of evil... er... often also by day, but he's Tortured Denial Guy as well, and he keeps on doing it! Spider-Man fights a villain in Peter Parker, and Peter Parker broods about him in Amazing Spider-Man. Thing is, you can't read Amazing without reading Peter Parker, because the same events impact on both books, and you get left out of the loop. Then again, when the loop contains things like an essentially pointless trip to Latveria, feudal home of Doctor Doom (PP Issue #15) and battles aplenty with many a returning adversary (Venom, Venom, just cut it out with boring old Venom!), you sometimes gotta wonder why you bother being in it.

This is not to say that the whole Peter Parker trip has been a total loss. Issue #16, appropriately entitled "Cliché," was a very clever, very witty attempt at deprecation, echoing the long held thoughts of fans everywhere, and even fuller of self-referentiality than a Kevin Williamson production (but in the best possible way.) The moment at the end of #13 when Peter found out about MJ's disappearance was touching, and the faith he has had in her survival ever since (reasoning that very few people who die in his life ever stay dead for very long) has been very real -- even emotion-charged. Now that he has accepted MJ's death, of course, I confidently predict her return... not until he's found consolation in the arms of the re-introduced, and troubled, Jill Stacy, who, naturally, is MJ's best-friend. At least, it would happen that way if this were a soap opera -- which, in many ways, it is. Just with tights! Hardly anyone ever finds themselves in love with their half-brother, though, which is a great comfort to us all.

Another saving grace of this recent bout of X-Men-itis under which Peter Parker and Spider-Man are suffering is the consistency of the over-riding storyline of both, and the intrigue therein. Stuff -- stuff exciting and new -- is happening in Spideyville, at last, and that is good. There is action, there is torment, there is recrimination and doubt, love and loss. It's all great stuff -- it's just happening in stereo. And I'm starting to wonder how much longer I can take the noise.

-- Rachel Hyland

Peter Parker: Spider-Man, published by Marvel Comics, is currently available through both comic retailers and newsstands.

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