Weblines: THE J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI RUN – Part IV.

Previously, on The Amazing Spider-Man:

Different from most runs conceived by different writers in the ASM title in which Peter Parker had to deal with the cards given in his life, not many of them presented him with a plain objective. Different from Batman, for instance, whose sole purpose is to purge his city from crime and all forms of evil without ever having to surrender to the mask of Bruce Wayne’s needs, Peter Parker is a more of a reactive superhero: he will change into his uniform and fight the good fight until its very end without ever giving up –  also one of his superpowers. If he’s called into action he’ll respond immediately to it; no wonder he’s more qualified than most of his peers to be an Avenger, but more on that later.
Clark Kent’s Love for mankind pushed him to create a simulacrum for himself: he has a wife, a Super-Son. Under Tom King‘s scripting, Batman has finally caught-up with mankind as well and is getting married; so the Bruce Wayne persona who died when his parents were murdered in front of him is coming back to life – the pursuit of happiness, the Love urge is calling to him. Because Love itself is part of human nature. These super-gods, thanks to the evolution of superhero psychology embedded into their personalities across the decades of their publications, finally caught up with Spider-Man and most of Marvel’s psychological (and even emotional) template. They’ve outgrown their capes and are becoming more human.

Peter Parker never changed into someone else behind the mask; he frees himself behind it. But never pretended to be someone whom he never was only to conceal his identity. The guilt-ridden attitude will always be there, fused with the notion of power and responsibility, but he will always be himself. And just like any of us in the real world who must face and learn the great scheme of things and how our reality functions, we must grow up and evolve to deal with it all. But also we must have objectives, goals to make our lives better; to make ourselves happier. And Love is one of such goals. To share our lives with someone and be with them.
After the Ditko/Lee/Romita runs in the title, less seldom were the moments in which Peter would chase his own bliss and personal objectives. Of course, there would always be a Daily Bugle assignment that would make his rent and his Aunt’s birthday to attend. But then, like any other person who has personal objectives in life, why wouldn’t the same rule be applied to the most human of superheroes?

J.M. Straczynski, allied with John Romita Jr. and Scott Hanna presented us with a tale of sorts: Peter Parker, who has always been fighting for many reasons beyond himself, has finally caught up with his own needs and must fight for his own happiness: True Love. As impersonated in his life by Mary Jane Watson. Because he misses her. Badly. It’s a sentiment that evokes pain not easy to ignore, neither cast aside. And just like John Lennon said and sung: Love is real; Love is all we need.
For obvious reasons, readers don’t want their favorite superhero title to become a Mexican-over-dramatic over the top soap opera about a super Luchador who fights evil and goes back home to encounter more drama in his family. The Amazing Spider-Man is also about the superheroics of Peter Parker – the feats of a regular guy imbued with Spider-like abilities against fantastic and improbable situations; it has become a template to the rest of the superhero comic book lore, even reaching beyond the pages he’s been printed on: he represents the everyman who will go impossibly odds in order to defend and fight for what is morally right. That’s what makes his comics so unique. And that’s also why he got married long before Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne. Because he evolved as a person. The same strategy, for instance, used by Frank Miller in Batman and Daredevil; by Mark Waid and William Messner-Loebs before him in The Flash title and many other comic book writers, especially in the nineties.

Let us remember: Peter Parker will never change himself to be Spider-Man; he evolves with and without the mask. It didn’t mean that would be getting older. But mature.

And with maturity, comes great understanding and acknowledgment about oneself.

UNTIL THE STARTS TURN COLD – ASM #43-45/vol.2 (September – November 2002):
(covers by John Romita Jr.)

To his beloved aunt and surrogate Mother – May Parker -, Peter’s life is now an open book. She understands Peter’s frustration of not being able to reach the woman he Loves. He wants Mary Jane back in his life. It’s his one objective, the one thing that crosses his mind. May knows how Peter’s life functions, then suggest he should reach her in person, so he can put some peace into his soul and follow his heart.
And so the Parkers go to Hollywood.

Given Straczynski’s experience as a professional screenwriter for TV and cinema and his recent entry (back then) as a professional writer in the comic book lore, he takes the opportunity to depict his perspective on the Hollywood movie industry and pay homages to seminal superhero moments in comic book history in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man. He knows how both industries operate. So his critique and homages are shown in three cases during this storyline:

MJ’s hard work to shift gears in her career from a model to become an actress; her intention to become the next Rebecca Romijn or Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. A dream pursuit by many models to this day.
The lackluster of knowledge from powerful Hollywood producers to finance insane movie projects according to the primal demands of the mass audience: high-level visual spectacle and the sexual innuendo without care to the story  – the kind of visual spectacle shown in most of Michael Bay’s Transformers movies. But instead of hot babes and alien robot cars, hot babes and superheroes. The first case in point: The Amazing Lobster-Man (‘Nuff said). In order to make it into the spotlight and break into the industry, MJ complies to take the part and present herself visually in lingerie – another movie tendency mercilessly exploited from young and new actresses – the one reason she’s being cast for the movie according to the taste (and not vision) from Mr. Devereaux – a proto Harvey Weinstein.
This is JMS’ critic on the Hollywood movie industry today and how it desperately searches for – and even creates – new myths to transform them into new franchises, to spoonfeed cinema moviegoers who are interested in the visual spectacle supported by a “deep mythological” concept. There’s nothing wrong in readapting historical tales and explore myths of old to be commercialized and reintroduced to our modern culture. But the proper back-up needs to be established wisely; most of the source material needs to survive the test of time to be supported by its own reputation and strength. Those are the elements that also compose a modern myth, and Spider-Man is one of them.

From that idea of readaptation and reintroducing concepts, Straczynski delivers another masterstroke element to the story, directly connected to the same criticism of how the Hollywood movie industry behaves to keep their audiences captivated and eager for more: reboots.
This leads to the second case in point: Meet Carlyle – a corrupt and sociopath businessman located in L.A. who chose to build his own empire and live a luxurious life through murder and crime. Part of his ascension demands the entrapment of Otto Octavius, the one and only Doctor Octopus. Luring him through his ego, Carlyle imprisons him to replicate and refine the original concept of his mechanical tentacles, building a body armor that supersedes the original, yet keeping it green and even wearing the glasses, but with red lenses. The personification of a reboot is used as exemplification within a story that criticizes an industry willing to constantly reboot its movie franchises because it’s becoming harder to develop new ideas, concepts, and characters.

What is old is new again.

At least half of Spider-Man’s battles happen by chance – or sheer coincidence. But as Ezekiel Sims stated to Peter when he first introduced a second perspective to his origin and a higher source behind it, “one type attracts the other”; the spider attracts scorpions, vultures, rhinos, and octopi – and this time, doubled.

As Peter and May meet MJ in front of the studio lot where The Amazing Lobster-Man is about to commence its principal photography, she learns that Aunt May also knows the truth about Peter being Spider-Man. Still, Peter has his one objective in mind (and heart): to re-establish a line of communication with the woman of his life. At the same time, Octavius escapes his captivity and chases Carlyle.

The board is set. The pieces are moving.

When they engage in a battle at a hotel, Spider-Man intervenes. It’s important to stress the fact that this is the first time he has to leave her with her own blessing – because she knows he has to be Spider-Man in order to save lives; that is a satisfactory feeling to Peter and even the reader. In the heat of the Battle, Carlyle brings part of the hotel’s structure down to escape; Octavius even helps Spider-Man to help the civilians escape, but only until he is alone holding a structure that can’t be held. The building collapses and Dr. Octopus also escapes, leaving the hero alone under the weight of destruction. What follows is a claustrophobic and powerful visual sequence masterly conceived by Romita Jr., Hanna, and Kemp, depicting Spider-Man fighting for survival. So spider-history repeats itself in the format of a homage to The Master Planner saga, originally published in ASM#31-33 (vol.1).

Being the third case in this story, properly emulating Ditko and Lee’s original storyline, also caused by Doctor Octopus. It’s the weight of a thousand tons of wreckage over him. He’s fighting for air, for survival. The metaphor of a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders, always sacrificing himself for the lives of others. For Superman, that would be a feat easily accepted – for Spider-Man that is a feat to be amazed by. Because he’s facing – if not fighting – his own mortality. And it’s not a coincidence that this very sequence has also been reproduced in the Spider-Man: Homecoming movie. It represents how much powerful and strong-minded Peter Parker is – regardless of the media and the story this sequence is presented in.

In the aftermath of the battle, when Carlyle is defeated and Octavius flees, the reader has another powerful insight into what it means to be Peter Parker and Spider-Man. What he wants is Mary Jane; to conquer his wife back. He flew over the country, had a building thrown over him, had his aunt endangered, fought two versions of Doctor Octopus, only to see the Love of his life walking away with the Amazing Lobster-Man – a Hollywood engineered hero. A vision that hurts him just as much (if not more) than the physical ordeal he just went through. An overwhelming frustration, a distorted and flawed representation of what he intended to accomplish by going after her. Spider-Man wins and saves the day, but Peter Parker loses it. The main premise crafted by Steve Ditko and Stan Lee to the hero.
The improbability of consequences from one single intent – but done right by Straczynski. Writing a plot is easy, but how the characters respond to the story is something else entirely. Hence JMS’s high skilled craft: he lets his characters speak naturally – not only with depth but nuance; because they respond naturally – not as shallow supporting characters to the situation. Their actions drive the plot forward. They’re not reacting to it. And amidst everything, there’s Peter Parker taking the hits. The reader truly knows what’s like to spend time with him, to be inside his mind and soul. A hero who has just entered into his adulthood without losing the core aspects of his personality is described with perfection through the captions of his thoughts and visual description of his emotions – even behind the mask.

In the course of the last two pages of this storyline, the main characters, portrayed as real people, literally sit down and talk. Another great example of great storytelling and character development – the threat and constant action don’t need to be followed by enigmatic cliffhangers; things take their due time to happen. The arc is over, but the overall storyline of Peter’s life continues:
May acknowledges herself as being stronger than she ever realized. Peter and MJ talk about how they feel about one another. Mary Jane is still trying to decide what to do with her life and find her place. And there’s Peter Parker – the strongest link between these two characters who, deep down in his heart, knows that true Love doesn’t die, neither fades away that easily. He Loves Loves Mary Jane; always will.

Until the stars turn cold.

ISSUE #43 (vol.2) – technicalities:

• This issue presents the first cover drawn by Romita Jr. during his run with JMS, which displays the hero either striking a pose or in action, but with no relation to the story content; a fresh way to suggest a Spider-Man comic book to be picked up from a shelf without the weight of continuity; it’s safe to assume that it could have been an idea implemented by the then Spider-editor Axel Alonso.
• The issue also presents a subtle change in its typography style – Richard Starkings remained for the lettering duties, but for each speech balloon and caption, every single sentence started with a capital letter. The style lasted until the last issue drawn by John Romita Jr. penned by Straczynski: issue #67 (vol.2) / #508 (vol.1).

Rebooting is not a trend relegated only to the movie industry, but also comics. It’s a known fact among superhero comic book readers that  DC Comics has more than once rebooted its entire publishing chronology; history had been rewritten – more than once, nonetheless. Marvel hasn’t (yet) rebooted its entire continuity, but found a way to fix some of its problems (or undesired plots) through the events cited below:

• Ultimatum: the event which had most of its characters of the Ultimate publishing line decimated in ghastly ways. The ones who remained alive – such as Miles Morales the new (Ultimate) Spider-Man – were inserted into the current Marvelverse continuity after the two separated universes had become one through the Secret Wars event. Marvel’s light version of Crisis on Infinite Earths.
• One More Day: the Marvelverse hasn’t been rebooted, but Spider-Man’s life has. Ironically, through a script from J.Michael Straczynski. A full analysis of this storyline will be presented in this column as the last post regarding his run.

If an idea is appealing enough to be explored through movies and especially superhero comic books, it’s worth investing in it. Harvesting on sowed seeds in the past is not a sin either; that’s how storytelling functions and even sometimes move forward in different forms of entertainment media. The writer Scott Lobdell used many of Chris Claremont‘s plotlines and ideas to modernize his run on the X-Men – because that was the main recipe that made the title a worldwide success. Just like Geoff Johns utilized ideas and concepts presented through the works of Alan Moore for DC Comics and explored them in The Blackest Night and now with Doomsday Clock. Jim Starlin walked and expanded the paths layered by Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby – in both visual style and writing, respectively -, and his work changed forever the Marvel and DC’s cosmic landscape. Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Millar admittedly stated that the works of Frank Miller are highly influential on theirs.
Dan Slott, during his long run in the ASM title, also stood on the shoulder of giants to reintroduce and modernize old concepts from Spider-Man’s chronology to new (and young) readers who discovered superhero comics in the 21st century – as published in the very first post of this column. Because ideas, plots, and events also come in cycles: Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy is a revisit to the works of Gerry Conway and the whole Clone Saga spawned from his original storyline (an analysis from the event can be read here); Spider-Verse is the writer’s attempt to show the new readers how expansive the Spider-Man mythos is and infuse many elements first introduced during the Straczynski run. Slott knows his Spider-history and tried as much as he could to reboot, readapt and transform ideas, characters and plot elements to a new generation of Spider-Man fans who couldn’t (or still can’t) be patient enough to go back to the Ditko/Lee/Romita stories and discover the essence of the hero to his core.

It’s no wonder he remained as the main scribe in the title for ten years after the Straczynski run and the whole Brand New Day phase – he had big shoes to fill.