Spider-Man: Blue #4
Autumn in New York
Resuming his recollection of his romance with Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker has drawn a comparison between Gwen and Aunt May. He thinks about how frail Aunt May is, yet she is so strong. By comparison, Gwen was physically well and yet he didn’t think he would be burying Gwen before his Aunt May…[1]
He recounts the time just after he agreed to move in with Harry Osborn,[2] both Peter and Aunt May were having breakfast in the kitchen when they both said they needed to talk. When confirming that Peter wasn’t mad at her or keeping any secrets, she admitted she deduced that Peter was planning on moving out to live with Harry Osborn after Harry showed up at the house recently.[3] She also told Peter that if he had a problem with Harry going out with Mary Jane, he should speak up and say something. At that same moment, Adrian Toomes — aka the Vulture — suddenly has a heart attack while eating in the prison commissary. When Toomes collapsed to the ground another inmate, Blackie Drago, managed to get Toomes to tell him where a spare set of his wings were hidden before the prison guards dragged him away. By that time, Peter was walking Aunt May to Anna Watson’s house as the two were planning on living together. Reflecting on it later, Peter thought that this was a beneficial arrangement, but not because of Mary Jane who, at the time, he still wasn’t sure about. When they arrived at the Watson house, Mary Jane came out to greet them. As Peter was just about to ask Mary Jane to go out, Harry Osborn showed up in his car to pick her up. Peter takes the opportunity to tell Harry that he has agreed to move in with him. After Harry and Mary Jane had taken off, Peter then overheard Aunt May telling Anna Watson that she doesn’t care much for Harry Osborn.
At that point, a mysterious man has taken the place of the regular guy who picks up laundry from the prison. He has helped Blackie Drago poison Adrian Toomes and was now smuggling Blackie out of prison in a cart of laundry.[4] Soon they are out of prison and Blackie directs his liberator to the Old Mill Bridge, where Adrian Toomes stashed a spare set of his Vulture wings. Soon the police arrive and Drago’s mystery savior reminds him that they have a deal and he will hunt Blackie down if he fails to follow through on it. Drago told him not to worry and soon the two men depart in separate directions, the strange disappearing into the woods and Blackie taking flight with the Vulture’s wings.
By that time of the evening, Peter was out on patrol as Spider-Man. Swinging past Harry Osborn’s apartment, his passage was seen by Flash Thompson who was playing pool with Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane. When he points out that Spider-Man just went by, the two women miss him when they look up from the game and are convinced that Flash is seeing things. That’s when Harry returns with some drinks and puts on some music. As the two women danced, they all wondered where Peter Parker was. Gwen theorized that Peter was probably off at the Daily Bugle, an idea that is shared by Mary Jane. Flash, meanwhile, wasn’t interested in partying and remained by the window to catch another glimpse of his hero, Spider-Man. Recalling this later, Peter admits that he felt kind of sorry for Flash since he didn’t know that his hero was also “puny” Peter Parker. Spider-Man has been circling near Harry’s apartment distracted by the sight of both Gwen and Mary Jane dancing. This left him open to attack from Blackie Drago, the new Vulture, who easily ambushed the web-slinger and was giving him a sound beating.
Back inside, Flash was also wondering what is taking Peter so long and figures he fell asleep in the library while they are having fun. This prompts Gwen and Mary Jane to start teasing Flash and suggest that he’s jealous of Peter. Harry insists that Peter is a good guy, hence why he invited him to become his roommate and tells Flash to give Peter until midnight before writing him off. By this time, Spider-Man had realized that this is not the same Vulture he used to fight. Asking what happened to Adrian Toomes, Blackie Drago told the wall-crawler that Adrian was now dead.[5] Drago continued his attack on Spider-Man as the clock struck midnight. Inside Harry’s apartment, Flash began to laugh, as the time confirmed for him how much of a loser Peter Parker was, unaware that he was fighting for his life right outside the window. Blackie Drago then knocks Spider-Man out of the sky, and flew away thinking he had killed Spider-Man. Spider-Man, however, ended up landing on the snow-covered rooftop below. Recalling this moment later, Peter remembers blacking out thinking how he let his gang of friends down for not showing up and wondering what Gwen thought of him.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Vulture (Drago), Kraven the Hunter, Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane Watson, Aunt May, Anna Watson, Flash Thompson, Harry Osborn, Adrian Toomes
Continuity Notes
Per my own assessment, I place Peter’s narrative being recorded between Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #50 and 51, putting the events recounted in this story as occurring eight years prior to the recording being made. Gwen Stacy’s death happened in Amazing Spider-Man #121. This story takes place around the time of Amazing Spider-Man #48 (although the continuity is all over the map, we’ll get into that below)
Harry Osborn asked Peter to be his roommate in Amazing Spider-Man #46. He will move in with Harry in issue #47 of that same series.
Harry showed up at the Parker home to ask Peter to move in with him last issue.
This mystery man is revealed to be Karven the Hunter in Spider-Man: Blue #6.
Toomes, in fact, is still alive having survived the attempt on his life as we’ll see in Amazing Spider-Man #63/Spider-Man: Blue #5
Placing Continuity
As stated back in my summary of the first issue, the events in this series are out of order from the way they were originally told by Stan Lee and John Romita. It’s my opinion that the differences in the order of events is due to the difference in storytelling perspective. Whereas the Lee/Romita stories were told in the third-person, Jeph Loeb’s story is told from the first-person perspective of Peter Parker. I have put forward the theory that Peter’s recollections are skewed just like the memories of a real person and that he is mixing up his facts. Primarily he’s mixing out the villains he fought at a given part of his narrative. It’s plausible when you consider that Peter is trying to remember events that happened about 8 years prior to his recording especially when you consider all the battles that Spider-Man had in that time.
The biggest problem with this story is its placement of Spider-Mna’s battle with Blackie Drago. The final issue of Spider-Man: Blue culminates in Kraven the Hunter attacking Norman Osborn at Flash Thompson’s going away party, which was originally chronicled in Amazing Spider-Man #47. The encounter with Blackie Drago happened the following issue in Amazing Spider-Man #48.
I think that Peter is mixing up events putting the battle with Blackie Drago ahead of the confrontation with Kraven the Hunter by mistake. Chronologically, part of this story takes place prior to Amazing Spider-Man #47 (when Peter moves in with Harry) and issue #48 (the battle with Blackie Drago). It still works when you consider that, at the end of Amazing Spider-Man #47, Kraven the Hunter manages to escape. Since this story posits that Kraven had been responsible for a number of Spider-Man’s battles post-Amazing Spider-Man #40, it would still track that Karven could be involved with freeing Blackie Drago after he was defeated by Spider-Man the issue before.
Another consideration is that issue #47 is a going away party for Flash who had enlisted in the military. The next time Flash is seen is in Amazing Spider-Man #52, he has already enlisted and is wearing a military uniform. Flash is absent in all the issues in between because the assumption is that he went into basic training. That said, it’s just as probably that Flash’s going away party was a few days away from his actual enlistment thus he could be having one last party with his closest friends before going off to the military in this story.
Chronology
Keeping the above in mind, it’s my position that the chronology for this issue goes as follows
Amazing Spider-Man #45 (ASM #45) Page 1 to 19, Panel 2: Spider-Man battles the Shocker and returns home.
Spider-Man: Blue #3 Page 21-22: Peter returns home and finds Harry waiting for him to ask if Peter will move in with him,
ASM #45 Page 19, Panel 3: Peter Parker wakes up in the morning excited to be moving in with Harry Osborn.
Spider-Man: Blue #4 (SMB #4) Page 1-6: Peter and Aunt May talk about moving in with Harry over breakfast
ASM #45 Page 19, Panel 4-Page 20: Peter packs his things and moves in with Harry.
The events of Amazing Spider-Man #45/Spider-Man: Blue #6 happen here (I’ll get into more detail about those in the summary for issue #6)
SMB #4 Page 7-10: Adrian Toomes eats his poisoned food, appears to have his heart attack and is taken the infirmary. Peter brings Aunt May over to Aunt Anna’s house. Mary Jane goes out on a date with Harry Osborn.
Amazing Spider-Man #47 (ASM #47) Page 1-4: Blakie Drago visits Adrian Toomes in the infirmary, learns the secret location of the Vulture’s wings and is Toomes tells him to kill Spider-Man for him. Drago then reveals that he arranged for Toomes’ health condition.
There are a few issues here. First the narrative of the story states that Toomes had an accident in the prison workshop, but how that accident played out is not depicted in the story, so I think we can easily ignore this statement. Blackie Drago claiming responsibility for Adrian Toome’s health condition still works in either case.
Second, Toomes tells Drago the location of his spare set of wings on his death bed in ASM #47, while SMB #4 has Adrian telling him after he collapses in the lunchroom. One could assume that Drago went to visit Adrian in the infirmary primarily to gloat but to also re-verify where the wings are buried.
In SMB #4, the Vulture states that the wings are hidden at Old Mill Bridge, while ASM #47 he states that they are just outside the prison walls. Since ASM #47’s location is so vague, we could assume that Old Mill Bridge is near the prison walls.
SMB #4 Page 11 Panel 1-2: Kraven the Hunter smuggles Blackie Drago out of the prison in a laundry cart.
ASM #47 Page 5 Panel 1-4: Blackie Drago waits for the vehicle to arrive. Knocks out the guard and drives away in the truck. The guard sounds the alarm.
The problem here is that Blackie Drago is depicted as escaping on his own. The vehicle he escapes in doesn’t look like a laundry truck. Drago’s thoughts are also stating that his being out in the yard was because he made a trustee of the prison.
When it comes to the truck, we could easily assume that the type of vehicle used is topical because the vehicle in ASM #47 looks like a vehicle that was driving in the 1960s while the laundry truck in SMB #4 is a more generic vehicle that could belong in any era.
One could also assume that Blackie got out of the laundry cart while Kraven started up the car and the guard came by to check, thus requiring him to knock out the guard. You’ll note that he’s not knocking out the driver of the vehicle. One panel someone is driving the vehicle, the next it’s racing away from the scene with Blackie in it. This would also explain how the police found Blackie and Kraven so quickly in SMB #4 as that story does not indicate an alarm was raised at the prison.
Drago’s thought about being a trustee could be dismissed as merely a cover in case someone caught Blackie outside of his cell at that given moment.
SMB #4 Page 11 Panel 3: The laundry truck speeds away from the prison. Kraven tells him to get ready as they won’t have much time.
ASM #47 Page 5, Panel 5: The truck is fleeing the scene, Blackie Drago boasts how he is going to get the Vulture’s wings.
SMB #4: Page 12, Panel 1: Kraven tells Blackie to hurry as the guards are coming.
ASM #47 Page 6, panel 1-2: The officers have to leave their vehicles because of the snow. Blackie finds the wings and gloats some more.
SMB #4, Page 12, Panel 2-3: Blackie tells Kravne he found the wings, the police arrive on the scene. Kraven reminds Blackie about their deal.
ASM #47 Page 6, Panel 3-4: Blackie puts on the Vulture’s costume and begins to fly away.
SMB #4 Page 12, Panel 4: The police begin to shoot
ASM #47 Page 6, Panel 5 to Page 19: Peter Parker discovers his coming down with a cold see the news about the new Vulture. Drago commits a bunch of robberies. Spider-Man attacks him as he tries to snatch a man carrying negotiable bonds in an attache case. They fight on the bridge etc.
One issue that comes up here is that prior to his fight with Spider-Man, Drago creates a helmet for himself. This helmet is absent from the story in SMB #4. I think we can assume that this was just an omission on the part of the artist.
I place the cut-off point on page 18 since page 20 of ASM #47 show Drago knocking to Spider-Man to the nearby rooftop.
My assumption here is that the Vulture managed to get away between pages 18 and 19 (pretty easy when Peter is sick in my mind) leading Spider-Man to go on patrol leading to what happens next in SMB #4…..
SMB #4: Page 13-20, Panel 1: Spider-Man continues his patrol with the Vulture. Flash and the others are having a party waiting for Peter to show up.
ASM #47 Page 20, Panel 1: The Vulture kicks Spider-Man.
SBM #4 Page 20, Panels 2-3: The Vulture introduces himself as Blackie Drago the man who killed Spider-Man.
ASM #47 Page 20, Panel 2: Spider-Man hits the ground, Blackie considers Spider-Man finished.
SBM #4 Page 21: It strikes midnight, Flash declares Peter a loser, Blackie once again says he killed Spider-Man.
ASM #47 Page 20, Panel 3 & SBM #4 Page 22: Spider-Man is laying motionless on the snow.
