THE WEB PAGE: OCT. 10, 2007
Wizard Universe’s regular swing through ‘Spider-Man: One More Day’
By Sal Loria | Posted October 10, 2007 4:35 PM |
(EDITOR’S NOTE: The amazing Spider-Man is swinging into a whole new friendly neighborhood thanks to the back-to-back Spidey mega-events “One More Day” and “Brand New Day,” both of which are poised to change the wall-crawler’s world forever. So check into the Crawl Space with each new issue for recaps, insight, analysis, Easter eggs and more web-slinging goodness! )
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!
PREVIOUSLY IN THE LIFE OF SPIDER-MAN:
• Bitten by a radioactive spider while on a school field trip, nerdy Peter Parker gained the proportionate strength and abilities of a spider. Following the death of his Uncle Ben, Peter took on the alter-ego of Spider-Man in hopes of helping others, because with great power comes great responsibility.
• Life threw many curveballs at Peter, but he still found love with the beautiful Gwen Stacy—until a battle with the Green Goblin left her dead. Eventually, old wounds healed as he fell for, and eventually married, model/actress Mary Jane Watson. With his wife and his beloved Aunt May behind him and a membership in the New Avengers offering new support, things were looking up for Peter.
• Then the Stamford disaster, in which an out-of-control battle between heroes and villains left hundreds of civilians dead, turned the Marvel Universe upside-down. Wanting to put a stop to these “unsanctioned” heroes, the government and Tony Stark/Iron Man instituted the Superhuman Registration Act, forcing all heroes to receive official sanction from the government. Spider-Man chose to back the act, and as a sign of good faith, he revealed his secret identity to the world.
• As a civil war among the heroes broke out, Peter began to rethink his stance, and realized just how much of a mistake he made by going public. Switching sides meant that Peter and his family were on the run—fugitives for making a stand against Iron Man and registration.
• While the Parkers were on the lam, a sniper hired by longtime Spider-Man adversary the Kingpin shot Aunt May. Spider-Man tracked down the man who gave the order and trounced the Kingpin while he was still in prison, vowing to return and to finish him should his Aunt May pass away. She remains in a coma, with extremely little chance for recovery…
• With rising hospital costs, Peter and MJ are aided by Jarvis, personal butler to Tony Stark and one-time romantic interest of Aunt May, as he covers all of the bills for May’s care. With the financial problem in order, Peter heads off in search of other alternatives in saving his aunt.
THIS WEEK…
FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #24
J. Michael Straczynski (W)/Joe Quesada (A)
THE SPIDER-SUMMARY:
• An upset Spider-Man pays a visit to Doctor Strange in hopes of finding a remedy for Aunt May’s condition. While Strange explains that there’s nothing he can do to heal her, he does offer Peter a chance to search all possibilities himself by invoking the Hands of the Dead—allowing Peter to “enter the tides of space and time” and to “be in several places at once.”
• Splitting his consciousness, Spider-Man asks a virtual who’s who of the Marvel Universe for help in saving his aunt. Everyone from Reed Richards, Dr. Curt Connors and Beast and Yellowjacket to Doctor Octopus, Doctor Doom and even the Night Nurse give the same answer—they are unable to help.
• Back in Strange’s inner sanctum, Peter seizes the opportunity when the Master of Mysticism turns his back, and invokes the Hands of the Dead once again—this time, diving in headfirst and going back to the moments leading up to Aunt May being shot.
• Unable to stop the shooting because he’s unable to physically touch anything, a frantic Peter watches in horror as he relives the moment his aunt was gunned down. Adding to the problem is the arrival of the Nightwalkers, creatures that live on the edges of time and space in order to prevent destiny from being changed. Peter can’t hurt them, but they can inflict damage on him, and do so repeatedly until Strange pulls Peter back to our reality.
• After Doctor Strange heals Peter of his grave injuries—“magical cures for magical ills”—Peter comes to a hard conclusion: His beloved Aunt May will die, and there’s nothing he can do to change that. Leaving, Peter mulls over what he’s just experienced when a familiar bird causes him to follow it, where he runs into a little girl who says she can change the fact that everyone dies…
ROAD TRIP
By splitting himself up, Peter visits anyone he thinks may be able to help his Aunt May, and this journey of his is detailed with this image. For more on how Joe Quesada came up with this gem, as well as who each character is, click here!
TAKING THE PLUNGE
Not satisfied with his results from his trip, Peter decides to try again, this time without the good Doctor’s help and guidance. Unlike Peter, Strange knows immediately what a terrible mistake the grief-stricken lad has made.
A PERSONAL HELL
Peter must relive this tragic moment in his life once more, and worse yet, he’s powerless to stop it. Joe Quesada’s depiction of both Peter and Spider-Man’s synchronized horror is spot-on here.
LITTLE GIRLS ARE EVIL
…or, at the very least, they should be dealt with from afar. In the Marvel Universe, whenever a new little girl pops up, it signals a potentially enormous change (Layla Miller anyone?) and this is no exception. But what will this arrival bring?
Once again, fabulous looking art by Joe Quesada. It's times like these when you can't help but wish he were back pencilling regularly again, instead of having his full-time day job as the Marvel EEK! (Editor in Chief).
Though, if he wasn't the Marvel EEK! then we'd lose so many great stories and so many great creators working for Marvel. On second thoughts, keep the day job, Joey Q!
No comments:
Post a Comment