Book review: “Spider-Man: Blue”
Now, my way of reviewing books will not be at-all typical. I’m not going to give much of an overview of the book, as not to summarize because seriously… I don’t want to spoil things for readers.
The first thing to discuss is the art, as that is a constant through the six chapters (this was originally published as a six-issue mini-series). Normally, I am not a proponant of Tim Sale’s artwork. I mean, I don’t have anything against it, but I didn’t find his work all that engaging on the Loeb/Sale Batman stories. But for some reason, there’s a sweetness to his art in the context of the story. Sort of a hyper-reality to it that fits in with the book because it’s all a flashback.
The basic story of the book is it’s the chronicle of the beginnings of the Peter Parker/Gwen Stacy relationship. It doesn’t cover the death, because that would certainly take the story down a dark path, wouldn’t it? Sad enough that she died at all… to follow the story to that end would just be a downer, and the story’s enough of one given the trappings of the relationship we know already, y’know?
Jeph Loeb capsulizes succinctly what was so wonderful about Gwen Stacy in the first place. Although Peter grew to love Mary Jane, it wouldn’t have happened without Gwen’s death to mature her. Had she not died, Peter would have ended up with her, and I think that would have been a far happier ending for Peter.
Really… I’m not the biggest fan of Mary Jane. As a guy who grew up on the ’90s Spider-Man animated series that did not feature Gwen, and not knowing of her existence until I could afford to buy trade paperbacks of my own in later years, I was indoctrined with the idea that Mary Jane was the be-all, end-all for Pete Parker. But after having discovered the joys of Gwen, I’ve come to find that the reason I prefer Gwen is easy: she’s the kind of girl I’d fall in love with.
Mary Jane is a party animal. A performer, a model. Gwen was gorgeous but only had honest aspirations. She was a thinker, a studious soul who loved Peter Parker. And although Mary Jane clearly does, it’s the ‘Spidey’ side that fits her better. She doesn’t prefer it, like Felicia Hardy does, but truly Peter Parker is too calm for her, and the idea to put the two together was always only possible from a taming-down of her character. MJ, as originally written, was only attracted to Peter in the way that a wild girl is attracted to a nice guy instead of a Flash Thompson, but in the real world, they always gravitate back to the guy that’s like themselves, not to the soft-spoken nice guy.
And this book really drives home that love triangle: it’s at the heart of it. Now, there’s plenty of action to be had here. The life of Spider-Man always gets in the way of his love life. Within, he fights the Green Goblin, the Rhino, the Lizard, Kraven and others. So Spidey fans, don’t fear. This isn’t just a love story.
People tell me most often that if I’m anyone from the world of comics, I’m Peter Parker. So I suppose it’s natural and easy for me to see why Peter loved her so. The flashbacks are framed by modern-day Peter in his attic, talking ‘to’ Gwen though a tape recorder, perhaps getting out his final thoughts on the matter. It’s hard for anybody not to identify with the guy, as Loeb gets inside the mind of Peter Parker, down to his soul, in a way not many writers have. The three-dimensionality of the characterizations for Peter, MJ, Harry, Flash Thompson and Gwen herself give this book its emotional core.
Anyway, long review short (before I start to gush), this is a touching, at-times, powerful book. Framing the long-forgotten but still-tragic love affair of Peter and Gwen. Modern readers have no idea who she is… and that’s just sad, because if there’s any girl that deserves to be noticed, it’s Gwen Stacy.
5 stars out of 5.
