The following originally ran in the Weekly Planet 6/20/18. You can find the issue in question in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Volume 3.
Over the last few months, the conversation surrounding the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man has been bogarted. Talk of Infinity Wars and returning Osborns and decade-spanning comics dominated the scuttlebutt. The best news, of course, was that my main man Mysterio might finally be making his big screen debut.
But during all of that, the most exciting, inventive, and dare I say “spectacular” Spider-Man story in years has been running—without pause or error—right in front of your very eyes. Did you see it? Perhaps it took enhanced spider senses? Its recent milestone was an #300, paltry compared to recent series’ #800s or #1000s. But Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man is absolutely the most delightful (if overlooked) superhero book in recent memory.
The book takes place at an unspecified time in recent Spider-Man history. (During Secret Empire, the book intentionally made Peter talk over and over about how great Captain America is while always letting us know that this is before all that Nazi business). Peter has just reunited with his long-lost-possibly-sister Teresa, a secret agent on the run. Peter desperate desire to save her puts him on a collision course with government hit squads, dating stand-up comedians in costume, missing dates with the Human Torch, and finally meeting the man who makes the gadgets for all of New York’s many superheroes.
Most importantly, all this puts Peter right in the hands of his old boss/nemesis (redundant, I know), J. Jonah Jameson. Ousted in recent years from his own paper, Jameson sees the perfect opportunity in sizing up Spider-Man one last time. Finally, they would sit down to a dinner/interview and hash out all their bad blood. What resulted was Spectacular Spider-Man #6, my absolute favorite single issue of 2017. That’s a high bar but I mean it. Writer Chip Zdarsky, along with pencillers Joe Quinones and Andy Kubert, took one of the greatest antagonist relationships in comics and broke it down to its beautiful core in an issue that is at times hilarious and others absolutely heartfelt. It’s such a perfect encapsulation of why Parker and Jameson work so well as enduring characters, both on their own and when placed together. The book became about their relationship and with that became a comic I absolutely could not miss.
This week, Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #1 hits the stands and you will absolutely not want to miss it. You better believe it.
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