Spider-Man: Life Story By Chip Zdarsky & Mark Bagley

[QUOTE=Kevinroc;4357804][url]https://twitter.com/7ThWonderComics/status/1128700495080710144[/url]

[IMG]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D6nzAXIXsAAJQO4.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE]

I love a great homage. They have the fonts down and everything

I may have disliked how they separated them in this issue, but I absolutely understand Mary Jane for leaving. I mean, the writing for her here isn't even that good because all she did was be a doormat of angst for Peter's shitty decisions so her leaving him to put her needs first was the salvageable agency she's been given at least.

Peter's clearly a very flawed person here and I appreciate the nuance put but he's too much of a prick here for me to sympathize. I'm sorry but forcing your wife who's already in a lot of stress looking over your newborn twins you're hardly there for, to fully take care of your senile aunt suffering in dementia even though you have the resources to put her in proper senior care facility is abusive. It's emotionally taxing and overwhelming. Maybe it's just too personal for me, but the way Peter handled the whole thing actually kind of made me relieved that MJ left him.

[QUOTE=emmafrosting;4357896]I may have disliked how they separated them in this issue, but I absolutely understand Mary Jane for leaving. I mean, the writing for her here isn't even that good because all she did was be a doormat of angst for Peter's shitty decisions so her leaving him to put her needs first was the salvageable agency she's been given at least.

Peter's clearly a very flawed person here and I appreciate the nuance put but he's too much of a prick here for me to sympathize. I'm sorry but forcing your wife who's already in a lot of stress looking over your newborn twins you're hardly there for, to fully take care of your senile aunt suffering in dementia even though you have the resources to put her in proper senior care facility is abusive. It's emotionally taxing and overwhelming. Maybe it's just too personal for me, but the way Peter handled the whole thing actually kind of made me relieved that MJ left him.[/QUOTE]

The fact that Zdarsky didn’t wait until the 90’s-00’s to have them divorce(aka the period in which they were separated) makes me worried that they’ve broken up for good.

[QUOTE=Miles To Go;4357633][spoil]And the fact he allowed this much to pile up is not consistent with who he is, or how other versions of him have acted. He would never have allowed things to get this worse for himself or the others he cares about.

Every action could have been avoided if the plot had served the characters, not the other way around.

The day has finally come where people are perfectly OK with MJ having enough and it sickens me. Her likeability hinges on her being durable enough to sustain her and Peter through anything...and now she can't, and it's being praised. The fans have finally caved. It's OK to give up.[/spoil][/QUOTE]

[spoil]Erm...Peter having to try and keep the plates spinning between his personal life and life as Spider-Man is...kind of a key point of his characterisation since the beginning?

I think in this specific case, the dark tone is deliberately evoking the tone of those stories. Hell, there's even a Rorschach incognito cameo in this story!

And we're only halfway through, jeez. MJ's on the variant cover for next issue, I'm pretty sure this isn't the end of their story. MJ left in 616 after that whole mess with her stalker, but then she came back (and we got [I]Doomed Affairs[/I] out of it, to boot). She left due to OMD - and she finally came back with Spencer's run. She's left before, but she always comes back. You're reading way too much into this. I'm a pretty big Peter/MJ shipper, but I can see how [I]in the context of this story[/I], her making the decisions she has makes sense.[/spoil]

[QUOTE=Yvonmukluk;4357928][spoil]Erm...Peter having to try and keep the plates spinning between his personal life and life as Spider-Man is...kind of a key point of his characterisation since the beginning? [/spoil][/quote]

[spoil]Not for every Peter who has grown up. I stand more by their examples because they have been allowed to evolve. not to remain mentally 17[/spoil]


[QUOTE=PCN24454;4357920]The fact that Zdarsky didn’t wait until the 90’s-00’s to have them divorce(aka the period in which they were separated) makes me worried that they’ve broken up for good.[/QUOTE]

Or it could be a case of love conquering all in their golden years. As I said, Chip is on public record as thinking MJ is like his ex-wife, who's his best friend despite the fact they couldn't make it work together. It might be the case here

There have been real life instances of couples getting back together decades down the line, sometimes remarrying. They're quite rare though.

I think this story is doing depressing in the right way. In comics writers are always going to want to have their stakes and drama, not just physically but especially emotionally, they want to put the characters through the wringer so that it's more satisfying when they finally come out on top in the end, or revealing a tragic tale in the end if they don't. What matters is if it makes sense in the context of the story, and I think this did.

This is Peter essentially refusing to let go and the stress of everything around him spiralling out of control. He feels he has to be Spider-Man to make a difference, so keeps the dangerous symbiote longer than he should've. He keeps Aunt May around because he feels he owes her for his life and is scared to move on, but unable to focus his priorities, dumps it all on MJ, who not only has her own life to worry about, but their twins as well. In trying to do what he thinks is right, he makes the wrong decision and ends up paying for it. And that's not to mention the whole rest of the Marvel Universe crumbling around them as the butterfly effect takes it course. We're reading to see what else could go wrong, with the hope that something will go right, and I think this is the best way to do that.

Looking back, I realized that they didn’t resolve the Vietnam plotline! Are ll the heroes just on good terms again!?

[QUOTE=Revolutionary_Jack;4357374]Sue Storm stuck by Reed in the 70s too, so Zdarksy at least is playing fair. And Parker Industries didn't exist in the '80s. Obviously once comic book time kicked in to slow down the aging of the characters which happened in the '70s and 80s so on, there's going to be divergences from the actual comics publication history and so on.[/QUOTE]

it has to work as its own timeline and arc as well. it can’t be chained to what happened decade by decade, because those 616 decades were never planned to work together with any foresight. they just unfolded under many different creative teams

this is a finite story with an overall arc and structure; so really the “80s” is nearing middle of the story , roughly “act 2”...[I]conflict[/I]

[I]resolution[/I] is still to come

[QUOTE=AngelJD;4357586]I want to ask first if the name Claire means anything for Peter and MJ in any multiverse?[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Yvonmukluk;4357587]I think in this case it's a case that MJ didn't want to name her after May in this context, since Peter wasn't there to provide input, and her relationship with May is strained (as opposed to 616/MC2, where May was a dearly departed surrogate mother figure).[/QUOTE]

My impression is that Claire Parker is a reference to the famous Canadian animation pioneer of the same name. Famous for her work in pin-striped animation alongside her husband Alexandre Alexieff. They worked on Orson Welles' movie [I]The Trial[/I]. Zdarsky is Canadian so maybe he snuck that in as a personal homage. I also think renaming the twin girl Claire was an attempt to divert from AU takes like Mayday and Annie because he didn't want to be disrespectful to the existing versions of Peter's children and his more positive role in their childhood. Zdarsky is signalling that this is his AU take and not some definitive version. Naming the kid Benjamin and him being a red-haired little cutie is about the only thing in common with Spider-Girl but on the other hand that might be a little ominous too.

[QUOTE=Inversed;4358123]I think this story is doing depressing in the right way. In comics writers are always going to want to have their stakes and drama, not just physically but especially emotionally, they want to put the characters through the wringer so that it's more satisfying when they finally come out on top in the end, or revealing a tragic tale in the end if they don't. What matters is if it makes sense in the context of the story, and I think this did. [/quote]

Yeah. And furthermore, Zdarsky isn't doing this just to Peter. And it's not done to make Peter look good, young and so on. I mean OMD and OMIT tries to devalue and undermine MJ as a character to make Peter sympathetic. That doesn't happen here nor in ITSV, so that makes sense to me and it at the very least plays fair.

[quote]This is Peter essentially refusing to let go and the stress of everything around him spiralling out of control. He feels he has to be Spider-Man to make a difference, so keeps the dangerous symbiote longer than he should've. He keeps Aunt May around because he feels he owes her for his life and is scared to move on, but unable to focus his priorities, dumps it all on MJ, who not only has her own life to worry about, but their twins as well. In trying to do what he thinks is right, he makes the wrong decision and ends up paying for it. And that's not to mention the whole rest of the Marvel Universe crumbling around them as the butterfly effect takes it course. We're reading to see what else could go wrong, with the hope that something will go right, and I think this is the best way to do that.[/QUOTE]

More or less, yeah.

I think Life Story Peter is a character who ages without actually growing up, similar to the 616 Peter of Post-OMD but he faces actual permanent consequences for not getting their act together.

And I'm happy that the phrase "Parker luck" hasn't showed up in stories yet. It's not luck when you do the most to make things worse.

SPIDER-MAN: LIFE STORY #6 (of 6)
CHIP ZDARSKY (W) • MARK BAGLEY (A) • Cover by CHIP ZDARSKY
Variant Cover by PAUL POPE
THE REAL-TIME LIFE STORY OF SPIDER-MAN CONCLUDES!
The year is 2019, and the 72-year-old web-slinger is about to embark on his final adventure! Will the end of Spider-Man’s life story mean the end of his life?
40 PGS./Rated T …$4.99

[url]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D7RHI3bW4AAsz1K.png:large[/url]

[QUOTE=Revolutionary_Jack;4371109]SPIDER-MAN: LIFE STORY #6 (of 6)
CHIP ZDARSKY (W) • MARK BAGLEY (A) • Cover by CHIP ZDARSKY
Variant Cover by PAUL POPE
THE REAL-TIME LIFE STORY OF SPIDER-MAN CONCLUDES!
The year is 2019, and the 72-year-old web-slinger is about to embark on his final adventure! Will the end of Spider-Man’s life story mean the end of his life?
40 PGS./Rated T …$4.99

[url]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D7RHI3bW4AAsz1K.png:large[/url][/QUOTE]

Reaching 72 years old is already an accomplisment for Peter Parker. He's already as old as my own parents, and with his twins born in 1984, that means the new generation is as old as me. Even if Peter Parker's life is over, I'm pretty sure his legacy will continue.

[QUOTE=Ursalink;4373039]Reaching 72 years old is already an accomplisment for Peter Parker. He's already as old as my own parents, and with his twins born in 1984, that means the new generation is as old as me. Even if Peter Parker's life is over, I'm pretty sure his legacy will continue.[/QUOTE]

I think the point going in the last issue would be "Peter Parker is dead. Long live Spider-Man" as Miles becomes his successor.

It's really cool that the last issue is going to end in 2019. For meta-points, they should make it August 2019, month and year of publication to drive home the "by the time you're reading this" of things.

[QUOTE=Revolutionary_Jack;4373621]I think the point going in the last issue would be "Peter Parker is dead. Long live Spider-Man" as Miles becomes his successor.

It's really cool that the last issue is going to end in 2019. For meta-points, they should make it August 2019, month and year of publication to drive home the "by the time you're reading this" of things.[/QUOTE]
It does not necessarily mean Pete will die, he can simply retire on top and be replaced by Miles. Here is a story: In 1960, baseball Hall of Famer Ted Williams went out on top by homering in his final at bat in the Major Leagues, and was replaced by Carl Yastremski ( a future Hall of Famer), who was replaced by Jim Rice who was you guessed a future Hall of Famer. But as great as Yastremski and Rice were, today they are not on considered to be on Williams level. You could do the same for Spiders where Miles and any future Spiders are great, but do not equal Pete.

I think as these past 3 issues have shown us, we shouldn't take what happened in 616 continuity as bible. It is very possible Miles could show up and get the torch passed onto him, but I would put a hard bet that it's not as simple as that is.

[QUOTE=NC_Yankee;4374085]It does not necessarily mean Pete will die, he can simply retire on top and be replaced by Miles. Here is a story: In 1960, baseball Hall of Famer Ted Williams went out on top by homering in his final at bat in the Major Leagues, and was replaced by Carl Yastremski ( a future Hall of Famer), who was replaced by Jim Rice who was you guessed a future Hall of Famer. But as great as Yastremski and Rice were, today they are not on considered to be on Williams level. You could do the same for Spiders where Miles and any future Spiders are great, but do not equal Pete.[/QUOTE]

While I dislike the implication that none of Peter’s replacements can ever surpass him, I think it’s horrible to assume that Peter has to die to leave the story. After all the sh*t that’s happened to him, he deserves an unambiguously happy ending.