So Spider-Man Life Story happened again today. This time a look back into the Clone Saga. Chip Zdarsky continues to show his gift in doing this. His great economy in suggesting, implying, and indicating with a few scenes, lines, and gestures a lot of stuff that he couldn't deal.
The main thing that I liked is that he shows 48 year old Peter as being quite capable and strong. He's really experienced, smart, and knows all the angles. So you actually get a glimpse at what an experienced and capable Spider-Man really looks and moves like in this issue.
spoilers:end of spoilers.
Zdarsky also gets at the bit that Sam Raimi first latched on to in Spider-Man 1, namely Norman Osborn is in some sense an embodiment of the grown-up Peter Parker. Here we see Peter at 48 not too different from Norman when he started as goblin. A workaholic middle-aged guy estranged from his wife and kid, and too blinded by his work and sense of duty to really be there for the people who love him. I gotta say for some reason, seeing an old man Norman with gray hair and overalls was really striking and the first sense of "man characters age" in this story. I mean I don't get that with Peter aging as much. We also get that with Dr. Octopus who drove away May just like Peter drove MJ away, and Otto is again obsessed with youth and finding a younger clone body, and tying that with the clone saga is pretty interesting
Zdarsky is really good at making what should be familiar and expected, and what still is when you read it, feel really unexpected and different.
Next month will be LF#5 which for me is really personal because that was MY decade: JMS, Civil War.