Web of Spider-Man #38

“Moving Up” – May 1988

In this exciting issue: Peter Parker gets drunk! Yup. I bring this up mostly because of the hubbub regarding Pete’s inebriation (at a wedding) in a recent issue of Amazing, which, apparently, drove some fans absolutely nuts and led to Marvel claiming in the book’s letters column that Peter wasn’t really drunk at all. He’d been drinking ginger ale the whole time thinking it was champagne and, so, was only psychosomatically drunk because, of course, Spidey would never get drunk. Similar storytelling gymnastics are also used in this issue of Web of Spider-Man. You see, Pete and MJ are throwing a party in their apartment on the eve of moving out. Peter hears Hobgoblin is back and goes off to fight him, but is a little tipsy. But don’t worry, webheads! The punch had been secretly spiked by the landlord’s husband, so Peter didn’t know he was drinking alcohol. After all, as we all know, Peter Parker only ever gets pretend or accidentally drunk and, for some reason, that’s okay. The whole to do over this was because of Spidey’s place as a role model for kids, so he shouldn’t drink. That’s fine. I get that. But what’s the better lesson for kids: “sometimes bad things happen when you drink so be responsible (as Uncle Ben would say)” or “Spidey NEVER DRINKS EVER, unless the writers think it’s funny and can whitewash it later?” We’re a long way from “Demon in a Bottle” here, folks.

Spider-Man 2099 #1

“Begin the Future History of Spider-Man 2099”

Cover Price: $1.75
Bargain Price: $0.50
Cover Date: November 1992

I’ve been meaning to pick this one up for awhile because I heard that it was the best of the 2099 titles. I also generally like Peter David and artist Rick Leonardi’s work. As a comic, there's a good deal to like here. Leonardi is in top form and his designs for the book are suitably cool and futuristic without becoming campy or seeming too extreme (for a comic book anyway) for the relatively near dateline. I also like that there is very little effort given to tying the 2099 world into Marvel’s then current continuity with even Peter Parker only getting the briefest mention. It would be so easy to make our hero Peter’s descendant or biggest fan or have him transformed by the same equipment that affected Peter all those years ago, but David wisely avoids all of that. The origin is instead entirely original, if a bit too rooted in the nineties. Ambitious scientist Miguel O’Hara is betrayed by employer Alchemax, an omnipresent, evil corporation. First they addict Miguel to a designer drug and then, when he tries to use a gene resequencer to un-addict himself, they splice him with a spider. The origin ultimately takes up the second half of the book, working as a flashback following a pretty exciting action sequence involving Spidey 2099 and some cops on hover bikes. All in all, it’s a solid first issue, but I’m not sure if it was quite engaging enough to get me to seek out the rest of the run.