Comics Spider-Man: Life Story

[ragingdemon155]

Is it me or does it feel like an eternity since the last issue hit?

 

[UltimateWebhead]

Yes. Yes it does

 

[ragingdemon155]

Just read issue 6....Words won’t do this justice. He nailed the landing. This is by far my favorite Spider-Man mini series ever and flat out one of my favorite comic stories ever.

It’s so crazy. Marvel at one point seemed to want to get away from the Peter/MJ relationship. They tried to bury that poor girl lol. But now it seems like every single corner we turn there goes MJ right by Peter.

 

[UltimateWebhead]

Issue 6...

Welp, he did it. Zdarsky capped off what is now my favorite Spider-Man mini series. The final issue imo is probably the second best of the series. I don't want to go into spoiler territory but I'll say the ending is exactly where it should have gone...I kind of predicted it before when I said it would be like the end of Toy Story 3--sad but fulfilling. Bagley saved this last issue to put out his best work on the series. Some truly stunning panels.

Issue 6 gets an A-...the whole series, I'll give an A.

 

[shinlyle]

Okay, it's been a ROUGH summer at my house, but I made it to the comic shop Saturday. I was a little bummed to see they did NOT put Life Story 4 or 5 in my pull list, but I picked up issue 6 off the racks. I had read spoilers online, so I didn't go in blind. Wow...issue 6 was a beautiful, tragic, and awesome story. Peter NEVER lost his own voice throughout. He was ALWAYS Peter Parker, which is more than could be said of him for awhile recently.

Peter and MJ are heartbreakingly well written, and yes, Bagley saved the best for last. This was where it should be. This will be purchased in a hardcover form by me as soon as it's out. No way around it. I need Chip and Bagley to adorn this with their signatures and sketched, and it needs a place of honor on my shelf...where I will read it until their signatures fade. This was the best self contained Spidey mini since Spider-Man Blue, and it's even better than that. Better because this was an original story that began and ended, and needs to follow up nor sequel ever.

Well done, team!!!

 

[UltimateWebhead]

I love how Zdarsky handled the Superior story line. Peter wasn't a fool and Ock paid for his crimes even though he did attempt redemption. Imo this is better than how Slott wrote Superior.

 

[shinlyle]

I love how Zdarsky handled the Superior story line. Peter wasn't a fool and Ock paid for his crimes even though he did attempt redemption. Imo this is better than how Slott wrote Superior.

Well, that, and they didn't let the story run its course, then bring Ock back as the Superior Spider-Man AGAIN, thus ruining any redemptive arc as well as the special nature of the whole story. Superior was the last Slott stuff I semi-enjoyed, and watching him bring Ock back as Superior Spidey was just dumb. He should just be Ock. The fact that he is super-strong, super-fast, can STILL wield his arms, and he's super-smart, and he STILL can't beat Peter...well, that's just making Ock look pathetic. It's only fitting that the last bit of Slott's ongoing legacy seems to be destroying his favorite villain.

 

[Nicko-Ray]

SM: LS #6
I knew Chip was gonna deliver something powerful, I just didn't know how. The panel with

Spoiler

just Peter's face right before the ship explodes

was powerful. You don't often feel this way with a lot of books/it's only so often that you get to a beat like that for an arc. And agreed, I totally forgot that SUPERIOR was of the '10s so it was a nice surprise to see that

Spoiler

Miles twist

. I also looooved the bit with the dream and Uncle Ben. The end was a nice callback to that. Yeah. Totally picking up a trade or hardcover when it's out. So happy with this series.

 

[Shikamaru]

Just read the first issue.

Spoiler: Spider-Man: Life Story #1 - Review

Overall not much to say about it. I like it a lot, but I think it's a setup issue more than anything else.

My favorite thing about it is Zdarsky's portrayal of Peter. As much as I liked seeing 616 Peter grow from a bitter kid to a down-to-earth guy, I always felt the transition from Ditko's Peter to Romita's was rushed. I would have loved to see Peter naturally grow into the Romita Peter and put effort into overcoming his bitterness, but Ditko left the book before that could happen. Zdarsky's Peter more-or-less feels like an amalgamation of those two takes on the character - charming, but not as charming as he thinks (as Gwen points out). Social and down-to-earth, but still prone to being a jerk. My favorite scene is when he insults Flash at his farewell party. Damn, as much as we hate Flash, I really couldn't sympathize with Peter there. I'm glad someone finally addressed what a jerk Peter used to be even if it was just for one issue.

Which leads to my next point about Zdarsky's Peter...overall, he comes off very responsible to me. I already discussed him apologizing to Flash, but him reporting Norman to the police caught me off guard. I never saw Peter keeping Norman's identity a secret as irresponsible, but I think Zdarsky made a strong case for it. Kudos to him for giving us a new perspective on some of the most iconic Spider-Man stories of all time. It also gives me relief he won't write Adult Peter like some irresponsible manchild in the next issues.

This might also be Bagley's best work on Spidey. Everything looks detailed and polished the way it did in Ultimate, but everyone has more realistic body proportions than in Ultimate - they look like adults and not "squishy" or "made of clay" (to quote certain fans).

My biggest problem with the book is its historical commentary. Peter is way too naive about the Vietnam War in this. I didn't expect him to be a protesting hippie, but I also don't see Peter as a guy who'd think the Vietnam War was just (or who'd want to join). At first I thought they were playing it safe, only for them to give us that awesome scene with Cap at the end. So if they're not afraid to get into the politics of the War, how is Pete so naive about it and Cap isn't? Peter is arguably just as counter-culture as Cap is, if not more.

Unless the reason for Pete's naivete is supposed to be his age. Even then, it's weird. I mean, this is the sixties - your average college student thinks Vietnam is a waste and a byproduct of the military-industrial complex even if they're not out there protesting. They even mention Harry isn't a fan of the war.

Were there potentially good reasons for Peter to go to Vietnam? Maybe, but they never come up in Pete's own thought process. Just the way the monologues read, it sounds like Peter wants to go to Vietnam to help the military fight peasants (exactly what he accused Flash of, ironically).

Peter's entire thought process over Vietnam felt weird at best and problematic at worst. It's ultimately what hurts this book the most since it was supposed to be his main character arc. I think all the Vietnam stuff needed a second draft. Or at the very least the book should have been longer so we could get in Peter's head more and understand him better.

My only other problem was the way Norman lost his memory. I felt it was a bit rushed and silly. There's not much else to say about that, though.

Anyways, onto the next issue!

 

[UltimateWebhead]

Just read the first issue.

Spoiler: Spider-Man: Life Story #1 - Review

Overall not much to say about it. I like it a lot, but I think it's a setup issue more than anything else.

My favorite thing about it is Zdarsky's portrayal of Peter. As much as I liked seeing 616 Peter grow from a bitter kid to a down-to-earth guy, I always felt the transition from Ditko's Peter to Romita's was rushed. I would have loved to see Peter naturally grow into the Romita Peter and put effort into overcoming his bitterness, but Ditko left the book before that could happen. Zdarsky's Peter more-or-less feels like an amalgamation of those two takes on the character - charming, but not as charming as he thinks (as Gwen points out). Social and down-to-earth, but still prone to being a jerk. My favorite scene is when he insults Flash at his farewell party. Damn, as much as we hate Flash, I really couldn't sympathize with Peter there. I'm glad someone finally addressed what a jerk Peter used to be even if it was just for one issue.

Which leads to my next point about Zdarsky's Peter...overall, he comes off very responsible to me. I already discussed him apologizing to Flash, but him reporting Norman to the police caught me off guard. I never saw Peter keeping Norman's identity a secret as irresponsible, but I think Zdarsky made a strong case for it. Kudos to him for giving us a new perspective on some of the most iconic Spider-Man stories of all time. It also gives me relief he won't write Adult Peter like some irresponsible manchild in the next issues.

This might also be Bagley's best work on Spidey. Everything looks detailed and polished the way it did in Ultimate, but everyone has more realistic body proportions than in Ultimate - they look like adults and not "squishy" or "made of clay" (to quote certain fans).

My biggest problem with the book is its historical commentary. Peter is way too naive about the Vietnam War in this. I didn't expect him to be a protesting hippie, but I also don't see Peter as a guy who'd think the Vietnam War was just (or who'd want to join). At first I thought they were playing it safe, only for them to give us that awesome scene with Cap at the end. So if they're not afraid to get into the politics of the War, how is Pete so naive about it and Cap isn't? Peter is arguably just as counter-culture as Cap is, if not more.

Unless the reason for Pete's naivete is supposed to be his age. Even then, it's weird. I mean, this is the sixties - your average college student thinks Vietnam is a waste and a byproduct of the military-industrial complex even if they're not out there protesting. They even mention Harry isn't a fan of the war.

Were there potentially good reasons for Peter to go to Vietnam? Maybe, but they never come up in Pete's own thought process. Just the way the monologues read, it sounds like Peter wants to go to Vietnam to help the military fight peasants (exactly what he accused Flash of, ironically).

Peter's entire thought process over Vietnam felt weird at best and problematic at worst. It's ultimately what hurts this book the most since it was supposed to be his main character arc. I think all the Vietnam stuff needed a second draft. Or at the very least the book should have been longer so we could get in Peter's head more and understand him better.

My only other problem was the way Norman lost his memory. I felt it was a bit rushed and silly. There's not much else to say about that, though.

Anyways, onto the next issue!

Hey Shika! Been awhile. Hope all is well with you.

Do we need to spoiler tag this? I dunno. Books been out for a good 6 months. I'd say we're probably safe at this point but...since you started a tag, I'll follow suit.

Spoiler

I agree with most of your review but I had to go back and read the issue over again to remember the details.

From what I could gather Peter does seem to be against at least the general notion of the war. As Cap said, it's different from WWII. The process isn't clear. But Peter still wants to do the right thing and protect people but he's also concerned about losing his secret identity. Which is understandable. I think he's on the fence about which is more important and I think Caps speech to him about being responsible doesn't mean you are at the whims of the world helped him decide. It really isn't clear about which side of the fight he'd be on. Just that because he has power he should go to at least help. It's still just about his responsibility.

Though I most certainly agree about needing more issues to expand on these ideas and concepts. I've spoken with Zdarsky over Twitter, and he's made it known that he wishes he would have pushed for more issues in each decade. Even so, this mini ended up being one of my favorite arcs/stories of the year.

 

[shinlyle]

Okay, I have a complaint about this book!
WHY isn't it available in a hardcover?! I was so pumped to buy a collected edition, only to find a paperback of it. Wha wha whaaaaa.....
And it's over 20? No thanks. Ugh...I was hoping for a hardcover....

 

[Shikamaru]

Hey Shika! Been awhile. Hope all is well with you.

Do we need to spoiler tag this? I dunno. Books been out for a good 6 months. I'd say we're probably safe at this point but...since you started a tag, I'll follow suit.

Spoiler

I agree with most of your review but I had to go back and read the issue over again to remember the details.

From what I could gather Peter does seem to be against at least the general notion of the war. As Cap said, it's different from WWII. The process isn't clear. But Peter still wants to do the right thing and protect people but he's also concerned about losing his secret identity. Which is understandable. I think he's on the fence about which is more important and I think Caps speech to him about being responsible doesn't mean you are at the whims of the world helped him decide. It really isn't clear about which side of the fight he'd be on. Just that because he has power he should go to at least help. It's still just about his responsibility.

Though I most certainly agree about needing more issues to expand on these ideas and concepts. I've spoken with Zdarsky over Twitter, and he's made it known that he wishes he would have pushed for more issues in each decade. Even so, this mini ended up being one of my favorite arcs/stories of the year.

Hey there, ol' Webhead! Hope you're doing good and that you're having an Amazing New Year.

You're right, I guess we don't have to spoiler tag things.

I wanted to review each issue one-by-one but ended up reading the whole book twice now. Honestly, I was a bit dissapointed with it the first time up until the last issue. I mean, there was nothing 'bad' about it, it's just...when I hear the words "Life Story" and "miniseries", I imagine something more personal and lighthearted (kinda like the montage from Up). Instead I think it's closer to the montage from Watchmen in terms of scale and tone. It's "What if Peter Parker was real and the Marvel Universe aged in real time?".

While it is phenomenal at being that, I felt like I missed out on most of Peter's life story while reading it the first time. I thought he got lost in the plot in certain places and didn't feel like I was in his head as much as I wanted to be. I also felt the fast pacing and plot-driven nature of the book prevented us from seeing Peter enjoy a lot of the "little moments" in life, particularly with MJ and his kids. I don't think this Peter is any more sorrowful or lived a more intense life than most versions, it's just that it can come off that way due to the limited room we have and all the talk of war.

Regardless, I did want to give it a second go and focus more on Peter this time. I think Zdarsky did a far better job at keeping it all centered on Peter than initially thought, although I still think we lose him or feel too distant from him in certain places. I'd say the theme of the book is responsibility and about how Peter's sense of responsibility changes throughout his life. I like the transitions between him thinking he can only help people in big action-y ways, to him thinking he can help it just as much as Peter Parker, to then shifting his responsibility towards his family and later to the future gen's. Part of the reason I think the last issue works so well is because it addresses how all those different ways of helping people come together and are related to one another. That's just my take on it.

A lot of Peter's thought process made more sense for me the second time around. Some of his thoughts surrounding Vietnam and Parker Industries are still a little unclear, but I think they could have been clarified with minor changes. The big one that sticks out is Pete lying to Ben about him being the real clone. I get that we're in a different continuity and everything is more fast-paced, but I think it's a bit hard to swallow it that fast after the JMS issue with Aunt May.

I think I sound more negative about it than I want to, though. It's overall a book I'm impressed by, it's just that I'll have a hard time going back to it often due to how Watchmen-y it feels. It excels at what it's trying to do, I was just hoping it would bring out different emotions in me. I think it could have done that had Marvel let Zdarsky make it a little longer (I mean, whatever emotional moments we get in this, they're very touching).

Also, Grant Morrison is Chip Zdarsky's spirit animal. It's really the only explanation for how he weaved Spidey's entire continuity in just 6 issues.

 

[Ben_Reilly]

Thinking about it, I do have one complaint:
I wish the book was so stuck with adhering to the mainline Marvel Universe continuity.

 

[UltimateWebhead]

Hey there, ol' Webhead! Hope you're doing good and that you're having an Amazing New Year.

You're right, I guess we don't have to spoiler tag things.

I wanted to review each issue one-by-one but ended up reading the whole book twice now. Honestly, I was a bit dissapointed with it the first time up until the last issue. I mean, there was nothing 'bad' about it, it's just...when I hear the words "Life Story" and "miniseries", I imagine something more personal and lighthearted (kinda like the montage from Up). Instead I think it's closer to the montage from Watchmen in terms of scale and tone. It's "What if Peter Parker was real and the Marvel Universe aged in real time?".

While it is phenomenal at being that, I felt like I missed out on most of Peter's life story while reading it the first time. I thought he got lost in the plot in certain places and didn't feel like I was in his head as much as I wanted to be. I also felt the fast pacing and plot-driven nature of the book prevented us from seeing Peter enjoy a lot of the "little moments" in life, particularly with MJ and his kids. I don't think this Peter is any more sorrowful or lived a more intense life than most versions, it's just that it can come off that way due to the limited room we have and all the talk of war.

Regardless, I did want to give it a second go and focus more on Peter this time. I think Zdarsky did a far better job at keeping it all centered on Peter than initially thought, although I still think we lose him or feel too distant from him in certain places. I'd say the theme of the book is responsibility and about how Peter's sense of responsibility changes throughout his life. I like the transitions between him thinking he can only help people in big action-y ways, to him thinking he can help it just as much as Peter Parker, to then shifting his responsibility towards his family and later to the future gen's. Part of the reason I think the last issue works so well is because it addresses how all those different ways of helping people come together and are related to one another. That's just my take on it.

A lot of Peter's thought process made more sense for me the second time around. Some of his thoughts surrounding Vietnam and Parker Industries are still a little unclear, but I think they could have been clarified with minor changes. The big one that sticks out is Pete lying to Ben about him being the real clone. I get that we're in a different continuity and everything is more fast-paced, but I think it's a bit hard to swallow it that fast after the JMS issue with Aunt May.

I think I sound more negative about it than I want to, though. It's overall a book I'm impressed by, it's just that I'll have a hard time going back to it often due to how Watchmen-y it feels. It excels at what it's trying to do, I was just hoping it would bring out different emotions in me. I think it could have done that had Marvel let Zdarsky make it a little longer (I mean, whatever emotional moments we get in this, they're very touching).

Also, Grant Morrison is Chip Zdarsky's spirit animal. It's really the only explanation for how he weaved Spidey's entire continuity in just 6 issues.

I'm doing well, thank you.

I'm gonna have to read this series again. From what I remember I really enjoyed it and was probably my favorite series from last year. It wasn't without faults but on the whole given the short amount of space that Zdarsky had to complete the task, I felt the series was excellent. A well done reimagining of certain events. You can tell Chip did his homework. Some things in the book were sorta weird for lack of a better word on first read but became more clear as I delved into it. I appreciate the choices Zdarsky makes and did a good job of giving us a Peter that at the core was still trying to be the best he could. I really liked how he took the idea of Superior Spider-Man for example and gave it the ending that it should have had. Otto doesn't deserve redemption. In the end I feel like this mini would have been better served with more issues for each decade. Zdarsky had some really good ideas that more pages would have allowed those ideas to breathe and flourish.