It’s been pretty rough to be a Spider-Man fan for the past couple of years. Some slightly more cynical fans would argue it’s been rough being a Spider-Man fan since “One More Day” completely stripped away Peter’s history with MJ in one of the most out of character moves in all of comics history. Although it definitely hasn’t been as doom and gloom as some people would lead you to believe, it’s undeniable that the quality of The Amazing Spider-Man comic has certainly been a bit below average in recent years. Plagued by clear editorial control and a status quo that enrages fans more than any villain ever could, the main Spider-Man comic has been in a rough spot. Until Joe Kelly started his run on volume seven of The Amazing Spider-Man, and gave us the start of the best run on the comic we’ve had in years.
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Why Spider-Man Was in a Bad Spot
Marvel Editorial has always had a vested interest in how Spider-Man is managed. This is natural, of course, given that Spider-Man is their most popular and profitable character by leaps and bounds. However, in order to keep their cash-spider as appealing to as many people as possible, Marvel demands a very strict status quo be kept about the character. To summarize it Peter must constantly be down on his luck, either unemployed or feeling guilty about his job, either chasing a relationship or in one that will inevitably come apart in a couple of issues, and he must always be on the back foot against his villains. This is Marvel’s attempt to keep Spider-Man relatable to a young, unmarried audience, by having him in a constant state of growing and learning. However, while this idea sounds nice, it pushes far too hard and is way too repetitive.
A large part of what made Peter Parker a relatable character at his debut is that he dealt with real problems that the majority of his readers could relate to alongside all of the supervillain shenanigans. He had money issues and troubles with his personal relationships, which are things everyone can see themselves in. However, as a natural part of facing those problems, Peter grew past them. He matured as anyone would, but Marvel didn’t want him to drift away from that relatability, so they reset his progress back to a baseline over and over again. A constant status quo is expected of comic books, but the reason fans hate Spider-Man’s is because his baseline is just him suffering for things either outside his control or because he somehow forgets the lesson he just learned. And it just feels mean. Peter is constantly getting beaten down again and again, and because the status quo wants to continuously reset there’s no end in sight, because the second Peter does something to alleviate it he’s pushed back into the mud again. And because comic books are eternal stories, they tend to want to ramp things up instead of lowering the stakes, so every time Peter’s character is reset he suffers even worse than before.
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The reason fans hate Paul so much is that he is the living embodiment of Marvel arbitrarily keeping Peter from being happy. Zeb Well’s run on Spider-Man especially felt less like a story and more often like 101 ways to torture your main character for no reason. And yet that’s exactly what Joe Kelly’s first arc on Spider-Man wasn’t.
A Return to Classic Spider-Man Storytelling
This Spider-Man story is fun, first and foremost. Instead of beating Peter down like he owes Marvel his lunch money, this run doesn’t go out of its way to make Peter’s life worse. Instead, it focuses on Peter building back up his life. Putting the pieces of his shattered life back together at the start of a new run is tradition for Spidey at this point, but this time it feels different. Peter doesn’t feel like he’s being punished for being himself. Yes, being Spider-Man is a burden and this first arc shows that, but it shouldn’t be the full curse Marvel often presents it as. Peter does struggle to juggle his heroic and personal lives, but it doesn’t feel like he’s being put into impossible situations where he loses everything. He acts like a mature and well-meaning adult, not a petulant manchild who doesn’t know how to handle interpersonal relationships. And people help Peter without it being made out like they’re doing him an unimaginable favor he doesn’t deserve.
Beyond that, the story and art have been awesome. Spider-Man deals with an intriguing mystery that is tied to one of his classic villains, the Hobgoblin, who has also been given an incredible redesign. Spider-Man faces the villains and confronts his own guilt over his past actions, but it never feels like the story is punching down on Peter. He overcomes his guilt and has legitimately very heartwarming moments with Aunt May, who actually feels very present in this story. Ever since Peter and MJ traded their marriage for Aunt May’s life, Peter’s maternal figure has felt like an outsider in his life. With her once again having her memories of Spider-Man’s secret identity revoked, it really felt like the writers didn’t know what to do with her. She seems unable to learn his secret as per the status quo, so she kind of just languishes in this area of not being able to do anything. Joe Kelly’s run actually brings her back into Peter’s life more prominently. The gap between boy and aunt is being bridged, and the rest of Peter’s side cast feels just as alive. Norman Osborn is still a good person after his sins were ripped away from him, but he is once again acting cold and calculating even while he is a much better person. Spider-Man’s cast of side characters has always been one of his strongest points, and they are on full blast in this run so far.
Of course, the absolute best part of this run hasn’t just been the incredible art and fun yet emotionally mature storytelling, but the fact that it doesn’t feel like it’s trying to change everything. Nick Spencer’s run made promises of restoring Spider-Man to how he should be and constantly chased that impossible dream, while Zeb Well’s run was all about the constant up and down of Peter’s life as the stakes were raised ever higher and higher every arc. Joe Kelly’s first arc on Amazing Spider-Man didn’t try to do anything other than tell a good, simple Spider-Man story. It had good writing and good emotional beats, but it didn’t try to redefine the character or do anything out of left field. All it did was be good, and that’s what’s been missing from Spider-Man comics for so many years. We don’t need some major reinvention that shakes Spider-Man to his core, we just need Spider-Man. Peter being allowed to just be the hero that Spider-Man is sounds so simple, but it’s so incredibly powerful, and exactly what he does in this run. I am really excited to see more, because Spider-Man being Spider-Man is all we really need. Between this run and Ultimate Spider-Man, it’s a good time to be a Spider-Man fan.
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Image courtesy of Warner
