I never did get over the death of Gwen Stacy. It happened in issue #121 of The Amazing Spider-Man, published in the summer of 1973. Gwen Stacy had been the girlfriend of Peter Parker, aka, Spider-Man, but because of some very dumb decisions by people at Marvel Comics, she was killed off by the Green Goblin. I was nine years old and had developed a powerful crush on Gwen. I never forgave Gerry Conway, the writer who did the deed.
But now Gwen Stacy is back -- she is featured in the new film The Amazing Spider-Man, forthcoming in 2012. So almost 40 years later, Marvel Comics has the ability to undo the worst mistake of their history. If they're smart, they'll pretend that the death of Gwen Stacy was just a bad dream. Gwen Stacy was killed off in the name of making Spider-Man a more realistic comic, but all it did was make it more reactionary and childish.
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Spider-Man #121, the issue in which Gwen Stacy dies, is known among comic book geeks -- or "fanboys" -- as a pivotal issue. They claim that it ended one age of comics, the "Silver" age, and ushered in the "Bronze" age. The transformation to comic stories with more "adult" themes was due in large part to writers who had been affected by the cultural toxins of the late 1960s and early 1970s -- Vietnam, Watergate, etc.
In his new book Supergods, comic book writer Grant Morrison nails it: "These older comic-book hobbyists -- often collectors of back issues, compilers of price lists, and publishers of DIY fanzines -- favored work that was edgy and defensibly mature....Anxious to escape the mocking echoes of the Batman TV show and the disrepute it had brought upon the ‘serious' business of collecting comics, and learning to appreciate the nuances of their artistry, these adolescent advocates were ready to embrace any development that validated their growing interest in politics, poetry, sex, and expressions of emotional pain."
One comic book writer who handled that maturation of the form well was Stan Lee, the creative mind behind Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Hulk and other iconic Marvel comics figures. In the late 1960s, Lee began introducing contemporary social issues into Spider-Man. After all, in 1968 Peter Parker was a college student. It would have been unusual for him to not have been aware of the social upheaval that was going on around him.
But Stan Lee was approaching 50 in 1968. He wasn't a member of the SDS or the Weather Underground -- rather, he was a a world War II vet (Lee served stateside as a writer) and the father of two teenagers. When young characters in his comics would give speeches about "the man," Lee often had a rational adult -- someone like Robbie Robertson, an editor at the Daily Bugle newspaper where Peter Parker worked -- argue against reactionary politics.
Lee was not conservative, but rather more of a pre-1960s liberal. He and his characters argued against racism and Birchers, but also warned against the drugs that were destroying young American lives.
One of Lee's most impressive works, and perhaps the most representative issue of the transition from Silver Age of comic to the Bronze Age, was The Amazing Spider-Man #100, "The Spider or the Man?" It is one of the most honest original comics Lee ever wrote, simply for the fact that it deals with idea of what happens when a superhero gets bored of his life and decides to grow up.
After Spidey stops a bank robbery, he admits that he just doesn't "get the same kick" out of fighting crime as he used to. In fact, Peter Parker is deeply in love with Gwen Stacy, and has decided to dedicate his life to her. After defeating the Kingpin, Doc Ock, the Lizard and other villains, Spider-Man is about to confront the adult terror of domestic life and marriage.
Rereading the comic recently (thank you Marvel digital comics!), I was struck by the elegiac tone. Stan Lee genuinely seemed to be wrestling with his fatigue with Spider-Man, whom he had been scripting for more than seven years. I think he wanted to let Peter Parker become a man.
But, of course by then the money was just too good and the character too popular. So Peter is told by Gwen Stacy's father in a dream that being Spider-Man is his destiny, a "blessing and curse." And with over $1 billion in ticker sales form the films alone, it's hard to see the downside -- unless you consider ridiculous story lines (the clone saga), continual reboots to try and keep the character young, and (I'll say it!) Tobey Maguire.
The comic book world is full of altered time lines and parallel universes (and mulitverses). In the one I have created for myself, in The Amazing Spider-Man #100 Gwen Stacy's father tells Peter Parker that he has fulfilled his mission as Spider-Man, and that it is time to grow up and marry Gwen -- to accept limits.
I can hear the speech now: "You must resist the temptation of millions in merchandising. Hollywood will come to you with bloated, mediocre scripts. A cartoon will want Neil Patrick Harris to voice you. Say no, Peter. The answer is love." That would have been truly amazing.
Mark Judge is a columnist for RealClearReligion and author, most recently, of A Tremor of Bliss: Sex, Catholicism, and Rock 'n' Roll.
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