Nick Peron

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Spider-Man: Blue #1

Nick Peron

My Funny Valentine

Now

After swinging to the George Washington Bridge, Spider-Man leaves a single rose on the spot where Gwen Stacy dies. Returning home, he starts a recording to get down his feelings regarding his relationship with Gwen Stacy.[1] He recalls that on Valentine’s Day, Gwen would give him a card with no name, just a smiley face. When he asked what she did that, Gwen had told him that it was to make him notice. Reflecting on her death, he recalls how people have told him to move on with his life as that’s what Gwen used to remember. However, Peter doesn’t want to forget about Gwen Stacy. Whenever he thinks about her it makes him smile. He then begins recollecting the events that led up to his romance with Gwen Stacy…

Then[2]

Peter Parker’s recollection begins on the day that the Green Goblin learned that he was really Spider-Man. He also learned that the Goblin was none other than Norman Osborn the father of his classmate Harry, who would go on to become Peter’s best friend. At the time, Peter was unmasked and tied to a chair on one of Osborn’s warehouses. The Goblin mocked Peter, saying that his was the last face he was ever going to see. Goading Norman to get close, Peter manages to kick him then roll his chair to the floor and break free from his bonds. Yanking the Goblin off his glider, Peter puts his mask back on and leaps into battle. Spider-Man then webs the Goblin’s hands to a wall and begins beating him. However, the web-slinger is forced to back off when Norman summons his glider. In the ensuing battle, the Goblin can’t believe that Spider-Man is a useless schoolboy, just like his son.he hurls a pumpkin bomb at Spider-Man, who catches it on a web line and whips it back at his foe. It strikes some volatile chemicals causing a massive explosion that knocks out the Goblin and sets the building on fire.

Recollecting the situation later, Peter Parker thought he had killed Norman, but the soon Osborn woke up with no memory of his identity as the Green Goblin. At first, he thought this was a ruse until he was reminded of his Aunt May. Stripping off Norman’s costume, Spider-Man tossed it in the fire as the fire department arrives on the scene. Outside, he hands Norman over to the authorities and tells them that the Green Goblin was responsible for the fire and that the villain perished in the explosion.[4]

When Peter turns over photos of the battle to the Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson doesn’t buy the story that the Green Goblin is dead on Spider-Man’s say so. When Peter suggests taking the photos to another newspaper, Jameson tells him that he’ll take them, telling Parker that — as usual — he’ll be paid for them two weeks from next Friday. Peter tries to press Jonah to get paid sooner, but Jameson refuses. As they leave his office, Joe Robertson tells Jonah how Norman Osborn has been moved to the Memorial Hospital. When Jonah learns that Phil Sheldon is busy with another story,[5] Peter offers to go instead, telling them that he is kind of friends with Norman Osborn’s son, Harry and that he could get into the hospital easily. Web-slinging to the hospital, Peter visits Norman in his hospital room. He tells Harry that he heard the news and wanted to come by and see how his father was doing. Harry says that his father almost died and doesn’t remember what happened and that he’ll have to look after his father for a while.[5] Peter decides to leave to give Harry’s dad some time to rest. Harry tells Peter he really appreciates him coming out to see his father. That’s when Flash Thompson and Gwen Stacy arrived to give their condolences. Flash is surprised that Parker came out, but Harry defends Peter, saying he’s not a bad guy. Peter turned back at that moment and made eye contact with Gwen Stacy for the first time. Recollecting this later, he remembers how that smile is what started it all.

Returning to his home in Queens, Peter tells Aunt May how he wants to get a motorcycle. May is surprised but decides to allow this since his Uncle Ben rode a motorcycle when they first met. That’s when she goes a cookie jar and pulls out an envelope of money that they had been saving up to buy Peter a car when he was old enough to drive. She tells him that he can use the money to buy his motorcycle. Peter went to a motorcycle dealership and was struggling with the idea of spending so much money on a motorcycle. That’s when he saw Flash and his friends walk by and that made up his mind that he was going to buy the motorcycle.[6] Peter then caught up to Flash, Harry, and Gwen to show off his new motorcycle and offers to give one of them a ride. To his delight, Gwen Stacy was the one to volunteer and, riding on the back of the motorcycle, told Peter that she likes it when they go fast. Recollecting this moment, Peter thought that life couldn’t get any better at that moment, unaware that — at that moment — a young woman had come to Aunt May’s house looking for Peter. May tells the woman that Peter isn’t home and he’ll be sorry that he missed her. The woman leaves, telling May that she can bet on that.[7]

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Green Goblin, J. Jonah Jameson, Joe Robertson, Betty Brant, Ben Urich, Harry Osborn, Gwen Stacy, Flash Thompson, Aunt May, Mary Jane Watson

Continuity Notes

  1. Gwen Stacy was murdered by the Green Goblin in Amazing Spider-Man #121.

  2. According to the Marvel Chronology Project, the narrative recorded by Peter Parker happened around the events of Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #43. I disagree, (see below) as I think it actually takes place between Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #50 and 51. Per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616, this recording was made about nine years after the events that are being described.

  3. Spider-Man and the Green Goblin learned each other’s secret identities in Amazing Spider-Man #39-40. The events depicted here are adapted from the “final” battle between the Green Goblin and Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man #40.

  4. Joe states that Phil Sheldon is covering the “Tony Stark Trial”, this is a reference to the congressional hearing that Tony Stark was being forced to participate in. This hearing will occur in Tales of Suspense #84.

  5. Peter mentions how he grew up without a father. As revealed in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5, Peter’s parents were government agents that were killed while on a mission. Peter was very young when this happened and was raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben.

  6. Peter bought his motorcycle in Amazing Spider-Man #41.

  7. This “mystery woman” is, of course, Mary Jane Watson. At the time of this story, Aunt May and Anna Watson had been trying to set up Peter and Mary Jane since Amazing Spider-Man #15. The pair will finally meet in Amazing Spider-Man #42.

A Word on Chronology

For whatever reason, nobody at the Marvel Chronology Project has attempted to figure out where the flashbacks in Jeph Loeb’s “color” series. There were a few reasons why. One was the question of if these stories are actually part of continuity or not. However, Hulk (vol. 2) #23 featured flashbacks that included pages of the Hulk: Grey series. It stands to reason that if Hulk: Grey is considered part of Earth-616 continuity then the rest of Loeb’s “Color” stories (Spider-Man: Blue, Daredevil: Yellow, and Captain America: White) are all part of continuity as well. Another resource that references this series is the profiles in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z hardcovers particularly, the entry for the Rhino.

Another reason why the Chronology Project hasn’t chronicled these is that it has been deemed that due to a few conflicting facts they don’t fit neatly into continuity. I myself don’t let something like that prevent me from trying to make that kind of assessment. Marvel has frequently gone back and retold key points in their history. Often times facts are a little different. Dated concepts are updated. Sometimes the story is framed in a more modern setting than the era it was originally published. Often facts and events are slightly different. I find that a lot of times, the differences between one account and another all depends on the narrative perspective of the story. For example, a lot of the events referenced in this series take place during the early John Romita era of Amazing Spider-Man. The perspective in which these stories were originally told and how they are told in Spider-Man: Blue is different.

Literature (yes, even comic books) often tells stories in different narrative voices. If you paid any attention in English class you may remember that there are three types of point of view. There’s a first-person perspective where the story is being told from the perspective of one of the characters. Second-person perspectives are written as though the reader is part of the story. Then you have the third-person perspective where the story is narrated by the author.

With that in mind, the original stories written by Stan Lee were told in the third person, while these stories are by Jeph Loeb are written in the first-person from the perspective of Peter Parker. Memory is a funny thing, when we recount stories the human mind doesn’t necessarily have a perfect recollection of events. Sometimes our recounting events are altered to support personal biases or to make ourselves look better. We embellish facts or fill in gaps to provide a more complete narrative of events. It’s why individual eye witness testimony (in a crime or disaster) is not considered reliable.

The best example I can give of this is the difference in the origin of the Black Panther told in Fantastic Four #52 and the one was given in Black Panther (vol. 3) #5 and then yet again in Rise of the Black Panther #1. The original story was recounted by T’Challa himself, while the second origin was told by Klaw, while the third origin story was told in the third person. Although they all tell the same basic story, the details are wildly different and that’s based entirely from the perspective of who is telling the story and their motivations for telling it. Why change the story from a publication perspective? It was probably done to update it and eliminate some of the more problematic elements of the story since the Black Panther’s origin story was rife with African tribal stereotypes when it was first written in the 1960s. That said, an in-universe explanation for these differences should boil down to who is telling the story and why. In the original telling in Fantastic Four #52, T’Challa is telling his origins to the Fantastic Four, whom he just met. Prior to this, Wakanda was a pretty reclusive society, and likely, the Black Panther told the version he did because he wasn’t entirely sure he could trust the Fantastic Four. In Black Panther (vol. 3) #5, the events are recounted by Klaw, an utter coward and bigoted individual to begin with. His telling of the story presents him as a deadly assassin. Likely, he’s telling the story to make him look better in light of the fact that he got his ass handed to him by the people of Wakanda.

Anyway… Getting back on topic….

With that in mind, I think it’s the best way to handle the discrepancies between Jeph Loeb’s “Color” series and the original stories they were based on. The differences between one version of the events and another is due to the perspective of how the story is told. Peter Parker’s recollection of events in this story is a lot rosier than how Stan Lee originally wrote the story. They are the recollection of someone reflecting on the loss of a loved one and his recollections are presented through that lens. That doesn’t make his recollections wrong since that’s how he remembers the events. Anyone who ventures to try and figure out how this series fits into Spider-Man’s continuity shouldn’t be discouraged by the events of these stories. As such, I’ve made my best attempts to fit the events of Spider-Man: Blue into Spider-Man’s continuity. I’ve only done so for Peter Parker, how this continuity affects other characters in this story may vary.

Chronology

  • Page 5 - The Goblin says his will be the last face Peter Parker will ever see. This takes place between panels 1 and 2 of page 7 of Amazing Spider-Man #40. (ASM #40)

  • Page 6-9 Panel 2: Spider-Man attacks the Goblin and breaks free. This is at odds with Page 11 Panel 5 to Page 12 Panel 2 of ASM #40. In which the Goblin intentionally frees Spider-Man. The differences between the two accounts are due to the narrative perspective between tellings.

  • Page 9, Panel 3-Page 12 - Spider-Man and the Green Goblin fighting. Spider-Man whips the pumpkin bomb at the chemicals causing an explosion. This can all fit between page 16 Panels 3 and 4 of ASM #40. The first panel is of Spider-Man kicking the Goblin into his chemicals and the next are the chemicals exploding. This placement adds to the already lengthy battle without interfering with the outcome of the battle. The pumpkin bomb exploding the chemicals instead of the Goblin causing the blast by falling into the explosives, to me, sounds more plausible.

  • Page 13, Panel 1 - Spider-Man standing over the Green Goblin’s body fits between Page 16, Panel 4 and Page 17, Panel 1 of ASM #40.

  • Page 13, Panel 2 - Norman Osborn saying he can’t breathe with his mask on fits between Panels 1 and 2 on Page 17 of ASM #40 which shows Spider-Man approaching Osborn and taking off his mask.

  • Page 13, Panel 3 - Osborn not recognizing his costume and asking for Harry can fit between Page 17, Panel 2 and 3 of ASM #40, the first panel is of Norman calling out for Harry, the next is of Osborn not recognizing Spider-Man.

  • Page 13, Panel 4 is concurrent with Page 18 panel 2 of ASM #40, which shows Spider-Man tossing Osborn’s mask into the flames from a different perspective.

  • Page 14, Panel 1 - Spider-Man brings Osborn out of the burning building fits between Page 18, Panel 3 and 4 of ASM #40. Panel 3 Spider-Man is telling the firefighters stay out , the following panel Spider-Man is leaving the scene and Osborn is in the hands of the firefighters. It’s also noteworthy that the original story depicts Osborn wearing a business suit while Spider-Man: Blue #1 (SM:B #1) depicts him in an undershirt and boxers. The difference was probably due to the Comic Book Authority Code wouldn’t let them depict someone in their underwear in the 1960s.

  • Page 14, Panels 2-3: The firefighters tell Spider-Man to stay, he tells them that the Green Goblin is dead. These panels happen concurrently Page 18, Panels 4 and 5 of ASM #40 since they are basically the same scene from different perspectives, it’s these different perspectives which also explain away the differences in how the dialogue is told.

  • Pages 15 to 16: Peter sells his photos to the Daily Bugle and offers to get the story on Osborn at the hospital. This fits between panels 5 and 6 of page 20 of ASM #40. The first panel is of Aunt May doting over Peter in bed followed by a panel of Harry alone with his father at the hospital.

  • Pages 17-18: Peter visits Harry and his father in the hospital, leaves as Flash and Gwen arrive. This takes place after the final panel of Page 20 of ASM #40.

  • Page 19-20: Peter tells Aunt May that he wants to buy a motorcycle, she gives him the money, and then he buys the bike when he sees Flash and the others walk away. This happens between Panel 5 and 6 of Page 19 of Amazing Spider-Man #41. (ASM #41) Panel 5 is of Peter lamenting that he forgot to set up his camera and get pictures of his battle with the Rhino and panel 6 is of Peter driving his motorcycle off the lot. The only difference is that the guy who sells the motorcycle is a clean-cut man in a business suit in ASM #41, whereas SM:B #1 depicts him as a biker. This was to update the story for the times. The differences in appearances should be considered topical.

  • Page 21, Panels 1-3: Peter drives up to Harry and the others, splashes Flash with a puddle. This fits between ASM #41 Page 19, Panel 6 (Peter leaves the dealership) and Page 7 (Peter pulls up to Flash and the others)

  • Paes 21, Panel 4 to Page 22: Peter offers to give one of them a ride and Gwen takes him up on the offer happens between Page 20, Panel 1, (Peter tells Gwen that there are things about him she doesn’t know) and panel 2 (Peter has left, Flash wonders what is with Peter these days)

  • Page 23: Mary Jane visits the Parker home and learns that Peter isn’t home. This follows the end of ASM #41, as the final panel shows Peter driving off on his motorcycle.\

The Chronology Project states that Peter’s narrative takes place during the events of Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #43 (ASM2 #43). I would disagree with that. In Amazing Spider-Man: Blue #6, we see that Peter is recording this in Aunt May’s attic and that Mary Jane was actually listening to him make this recording for a bit. Placing this as happening around ASM2 #43 doesn’t work because in that story, Peter and Mary Jane are still separated. Moreover, that story is in the middle of a story arc that sees Peter going to LA to try and patch things up with Mary Jane.

I would instead argue that this story takes place between Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #50 and 51. It’s not very far away chronologically from issue #43. It is also after Peter and Mary Jane have patched things up and returned to New York City. It’s the earliest point where the setting in Blue #6 would actually work.