Comic Info
Comic Name: Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-Man/Spectacular Spider-Man (1)
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Peter David
Artist: Rich Buckler/Sal Buscema
# of Issues: 7
Release Date: 2011
Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-Man #109
Reprints Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-Man #107-110 and Spectacular Spider-Man (1) #134-136 (October 1985-March 1988). A vigilante is stalking the streets of New York City. He calls himself the Sin-Eater and no one is safe from his own style of justice. Armed with a shotgun, his first victim is Spider-Man’s sometime ally Detective Jean DeWolff. Now Spider-Man must hunt down the killer and he has help from Daredevil. Once Spider-Man realizes the Sin-Eater’s identity, a battle to keep him behinds bars ensues as the Sin-Eater’s sanity is questioned.
Written by Peter David, Spider-Man: The Death of Jean DeWolff was praised for its then revolutionary presentation of a vigilante pushed over the edge and a much more adult Spider-Man. Original collections contained just the original story presented in Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-Man #107-110, but more recent release also holds the three part conclusion to the story in Spectacular Spider-Man (1) #134-136.
The first story (The Death of Jean DeWolff) is a very good Spider-Man story. It has a lot of what makes Spider-Man a great character with his morals and the internal conflict that drives him to be a hero. Spider-Man is met with a character that has his own set of morals, but the morals are corrupted by insanity. The battle for Stan Carter’s freedom introduces Daredevil to the mix and forces Spider-Man to realize the importance of the legal system…corrupt or not.
Spectacular Spider-Man #136
The second story (Sin-Eater Released) is not as good. It becomes a story of Spider-Man’s self-consciousness due to his attack on Sin-Eater and the Sin-Eater plot gets sidelined with Spider-Man’s battle with Electro. The Sin-Eater was an interesting character, and he seems a bit underwritten in this collection with a short three issue run. I like what David attempted to do in this story, but it just didn’t reach the level of The Death of Jean DeWolff.
One interesting outcome of the whole storyline is the relationship between Daredevil and Spider-Man. In this story, Daredevil learns Peter Parker is Spider-Man and then reveals to Spider-Man that he is Matt Murdock. This becomes an important friendship that has lasting effects. It is a more adult friendship than Peter’s friendship with Johnny Storm
Spider-Man: The Death of Jean DeWolff is a must for Spider-Man fans. It is a strong story from the ’80s when comics had a bit of dark grittiness. It is hard for Spider-Man to be gritty but this is a nice attempt. If you can only find the The Death of Jean DeWolff collection, it is worth picking it up since that is the stronger of the two stories.
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