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  1. #1
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    Default Spider-Man: Life Story #3

    I read it. I liked it. I have some doubts and issues about the Watchmen homages and larger political story though but maybe that'll become clearer on re-reading it.

    spoilers:

    Mashing together Secret Wars with KLH and Venom is a hard thing to do in one go, and doing so essentially twists the meaning of the stories. Venom for instance is the story that marked an intrusion of personal horror into Spider-Man and his family and so on. While KLH is the dark night of the soul that they survive through. Mashing them together essentially brings an additional element of tragedy to that situation but it's grounded and logical. Having the Venom suit bond with Peter, and Peter rising out as Venom is a dark twist to that.

    This Peter certainly is an interpreted as being a highly flawed individual certainly from the second issue forward. Now he's a deadbeat dad, who puts his senile Aunt over his two babies. Missing out the birth of those kids of course substitutes for the missing two weeks early in that marriage and it basically is the catalyst for MJ leaving with the kids. It's more or less Peter B. in ITSV except there he divorces MJ because she wanted kids after May died, while here May is senile and invalid and he's arguably a bigger and less forgivable screwup than Peter B. is. I am of course sad that this take on Peter and MJ separated for now (though they did in 616 before coming back later, so who knows) but I am happy she carried her babies to term at least. I was dreading that when I saw her in preggers in hospital. This is better. Obviously Peter having distant and strained relations with his kids will be the story in the next three issues, and that is definitely an interesting wrinkle in Spider-Man AU stories.

    There's certainly a lot of thematic commentary that comes through here. I am not able to put it to words yet but maybe by the time the last issues roll out, it will come out.

    Politically though, I don't get what Zdarsky is trying to do. Russia actually nuking Allentown Pennsylvania should have actually started armageddon. This was something Frank Miller and Alan Moore agreed on. Both Watchmen and TDKR written in the '80s was about the fears of nuclear weapons falling and dropping. So if the bomb actually dropped, then why is nobody doing anything? This might be one part that weakens everything. And more importantly the story has had Captain America as the central hero in the background in the first two issues and he hardly figures here.

    The art by Bagley is wonderful here.
    end of spoilers

  2. #2
    World's Greatest Hero blackspidey2099's Avatar
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    I love how grounded Chip's take on Spider-Man in this series is. This results in a lot of suffering, but everything makes sense, and I never feel like any of the main characters has been written out-of-character to get to where he's going. Chip has outdone himself on this series, and I honestly think we're seeing a modern classic in the making.
    "Anyone can win a fight when the odds are easy! It's when the going's tough - when there seems to be no chance - that's when it counts!" - Spider-Man

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by blackspidey2099 View Post
    I love how grounded Chip's take on Spider-Man in this series is. This results in a lot of suffering, but everything makes sense, and I never feel like any of the main characters has been written out-of-character to get to where he's going. Chip has outdone himself on this series, and I honestly think we're seeing a modern classic in the making.
    I'm, not going to sugar coat it. It's a train wreck and the main characters ARE being written OOC.

  4. #4
    Astonishing Member boots's Avatar
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    the great thing about this being a finite series is there’s a defined plot and character arc; everything is leading to something

    one hopes
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  5. #5
    Extraordinary Member Jman27's Avatar
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    I posted my thoughts it in the last thread but I am going to repost it here
    spoilers:
    What the hell again why is Peter life is full of misery! I am starting to wonder if each issue is trying to top the previous one in terms of despair for the Hero. Since I believe Clones are coming back next issue and since its the 90s I could see Peter finding out that a clone of him makeup with MJ and started raising the kids and he had no idea about it but I fully expect MJ to marry someone else. Kraven last hunt was done neatly surprised Black Cat wasn't in this issue maybe she will be in the next one she could possibly be his next girlfriend I don't know. But I am expecting Aunt May to not be alive cause I am tired of that lady is this what OMD feel like when he chose her over his marriage?
    end of spoilers

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jman27 View Post
    I posted my thoughts it in the last thread but I am going to repost it here
    spoilers:
    What the hell again why is Peter life is full of misery! I am starting to wonder if each issue is trying to top the previous one in terms of despair for the Hero. Since I believe Clones are coming back next issue and since its the 90s I could see Peter finding out that a clone of him makeup with MJ and started raising the kids and he had no idea about it but I fully expect MJ to marry someone else. Kraven last hunt was done neatly surprised Black Cat wasn't in this issue maybe she will be in the next one she could possibly be his next girlfriend I don't know. But I am expecting Aunt May to not be alive cause I am tired of that lady is this what OMD feel like when he chose her over his marriage?
    end of spoilers
    Issue #1 was fairly lighthearted and positive on the whole. I will add that Zdarsky is putting the entire Marvel universe through the wringer. Look at what Zdarsky did to Reed, and for that matter poor Vision and Pennsylvania, and of course don't think it was an easy or happy choice that Captain America made in #1 going rogue on USA.

    And you know it's set in the 80s the age of Watchmen and TDKR, which are both dark takes on superhero stories so its appropriate and look spoilers:
    at least Peter and MJ have children, so it's not like it was entirely absent of bright spots
    end of spoilers.

  7. #7
    Extraordinary Member Jman27's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Revolutionary_Jack View Post
    spoilers:
    at least Peter and MJ have children, so it's not like it was entirely absent of bright spots
    end of spoilers.
    spoilers:
    yeah he has children but Mj left him so they can easily make it where they resent him as well or his duties as Spiderman will make it where he didn't spend that much time with him The negatives so far outweigh the positives
    end of spoilers
    "He's pure power and doesn't even know it. He's the best of us."-Matt Murdock

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  8. #8
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    If there's one positive I can spin out of this, is in relation to treating Life Story as a cautionary tale to the entire franchise

    spoilers:
    Refusing to let go of Aunt May ultimately does more harm than good
    end of spoilers

    I applaud them for showing the stark reality of that, but nothing else.

  9. #9
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    spoilers:
    ]A single, adult Peter choosing his old aunt over his wife and children? I did not at all expect the OMD callback would be this early, lol.

    I don't get it, he has a successful company and if Mary Jane's still a "millionaire" and everything, why can't they give Aunt May a decent, proper care? Did I miss something? It wouldn't make sense, and it looks like Zdarsky just used her conveniently as a wedge between Peter and MJ again as a forced OMD reference. I would've wanted at least a fresh, different reason why Peter and MJ separated.

    I get that it's a different universe and all, but Peter doing nothing with his sense of responsibility and just sitting there miserably wallowing in his own guilt as his family turns away from him is depressing as hell and just makes him look like a complete unheroic prick instead of just having the"loser" status. If he doesn't bounce back, grow up, and try to reconcile and make amends for his fault of not being there for his own family, in the 90s issue, then the whole thing just brings a bad taste to my mouth and it would look like Zdarsky just wanted to drive Peter and MJ apart because of personal preferences.
    end of spoilers
    Last edited by emmafrosting; 05-15-2019 at 07:42 AM.

  10. #10
    Astonishing Member boots's Avatar
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    i know it’s not a particularly anglo celtic thing to have extended family living arrangements; but a lot of ethnic families would be horrified at the idea of putting a parent in a home. even one with dementia
    troo fan or death

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by boots View Post
    i know it’s not a particularly anglo celtic thing to have extended family living arrangements; but a lot of ethnic families would be horrified at the idea of putting a parent in a home. even one with dementia
    Parents are both working, and May in this issue is dangerous to leave with the kids. Peter himself is basically foisting her on MJ to look after and deal with when her priorities are the babies. So it's a difficult thing. I will say that it's weird that PI with its wealth and so on still presents the Parker family as basically living in the same poor setup they did back in the day.

  12. #12
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    I felt like the issue was a bit too soap opera-esque for my tastes.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Miles To Go View Post
    I'm, not going to sugar coat it. It's a train wreck and the main characters ARE being written OOC.
    Life Story is a train wreck. Stuff I did not like down through the years. Sins Past: Check. Clone Saga: Check. Pathetic Peter: Check: Sacrifices for Aunt May: Check. Breaking up Peter and MJ: Check. I bet the ending will feature losing to Mephisto instead of an ending like Renew Your Vows or even Requiem. Compared to Chip, Dan Slott is Spencer.
    Why? At least Slott gave us Renew Your Vows and was not responsible for Sins Past or the Clone Saga.

  14. #14
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    I hope this series ends with 67 year old Peter sad and alone in a shriveled up tight Spider-Man suit covered in spaghetti sauce stains trying to web swing but then breaking his hip before Miles Morales saves him and then drops him into the middle of traffic in a pothole full of water while Jonah loudly cackles from his hospital bed.
    I don't blind date I make the direct market vibrate

  15. #15
    BANNED WebSlingWonder's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by NC_Yankee View Post
    Life Story is a train wreck. Stuff I did not like down through the years. Sins Past: Check. Clone Saga: Check. Pathetic Peter: Check: Sacrifices for Aunt May: Check. Breaking up Peter and MJ: Check. I bet the ending will feature losing to Mephisto instead of an ending like Renew Your Vows or even Requiem. Compared to Chip, Dan Slott is Spencer.
    Why? At least Slott gave us Renew Your Vows and was not responsible for Sins Past or the Clone Saga.
    Hahahahahaha
    Wait....
    Ahahahahahahahaha
    I'm sorry. The whole story is a trainwreck because it doesn't cater to personal biases?

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