Spider-Man: Life Story #4 The ’90s Review

“I’ve tried to stop. To see if I could actually give it up, maybe win MJ back…but with great power…comes great guilt.”

Take a trip back to the XXXXtreme ’90s when clones were plentiful and no one knew who the original Peter Parker was! In Spidey’s life story, who is the big bad pulling all the strings?

WRITER: Chip Zdarsky

PENCILER: Mark Bagley

INKER: Andrew Hennessy

COLOR ARTIST: Frank D’Armata

LETTERER: VC’s Travis Lanham

COVER: Chip Zdarsky

VARIANT COVER: Kaare Andrews

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Shannon Andrews

ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Alanna Smith

EDITOR: Tom Brevoort

SPIDER-MAN created by STAN LEE & STEVE DITKO

STORY: 1995. Ben Reilly is a photographer in Chicago. Doctor Octopus is there, starting fires to draw out “The Red Mask”. In New York City, Tony Stark is meeting with Peter Parker, trying to convince him to merge Parker Industries with Stark International. Peter refuses and calls his girlfriend, Jessica Jones, once Stark leaves. Spider-Man goes out on patrol and gets knocked out and captured by Doctor Octopus. When he comes to, he finds both himself and Ben Reilly restrained in an OsCorp lab. Harry Osborn is there, having given up Peter’s secret under threat. Doc Ock wants Peter and Ben so he can unlock the secrets behind cloning so he can extend his life. Ock’s scans though reveal that Peter is the clone! This truth enrages Ben, who breaks free of his bonds. He attacks Ock, but is pulled back by Peter. Ock uses this reprieve to his advantage and strikes with a killing blow, but Harry jumps in the way, sacrificing himself. Ock gets away as Harry dies in Peter’s arms. Later, Peter compiles a dossier including all the info Ben would need to take over as Peter Parker to the world. The “brothers” hug and part ways. Jessica Jones, who has dumped Peter, gives him the information he needs to track down Norman Osborn. Peter confronts Norman, revealing he did his own tests and he knows he’s the original. Not only has Norman’s plan failed, but Peter tells him that Harry has died. Norman tries to attack, but his sheer hatred gives him a heart attack and he dies. Peter travels to Portland and reunites with his family.

THOUGHTS: Zdarsky once again provides a sublime cover. It might not feel as ominous as the last two, but I like the idea of the cracked reflection in an issue dealing with the Flour, I mean, Clone Saga. Does Spidey look heavier to anyone else on the cover? When I first saw the cover solicited, I thought Zdarsky was going the Earth X route with Peter’s physique as he got older. That’s not the case though when you look inside.

The issue starts off catching up with Ben Reilly and his new life. Ben is doing what he knows, snapping photos and masquerading as a red hooded vigilante in his downtime. Maybe it’s me, but I felt Bagley gave him a bit of a Ditko resemblance. If so, that’s a neat tribute to Spidey’s co-creator.

For those like myself who aren’t a fan of Tony Stark’s influence on the cinematic version of the Wall-Crawler, I took great joy at seeing this Peter confront Stark over his weapons manufacturing and throwing him out of the building when their conversation no longer proved fruitful. The look of shock on Tony’s face when Peter tells him what Stark needs to do so he’d consider a merger was priceless! Stark feels that he is ever the hero, weapons manufacturer or not, especially as his weapons won the Russian war that was alluded to in the ’80s issue. Keeping true to form, he needles Peter about his family relocating to Portland, which made me smile, recalling how the Peter and MJ in the 616 tried relocating there during the ’90s.

I was surprised to find out Peter and Jessica Jones were dating now that he was divorced. It even makes sense, assuming they went to high school together and have super powers as some common ground. Of course Peter would make a decades-out-of-date Shaft reference when calling her in an attempt to be cute. It felt authentic to the character who once said he hadn’t listened to the Monkees since the first time they were popular. (Amazing Spider-Man 290) I liked Peter’s guilty look at his family’s photo as Jessica asked him if they were meeting at his place or hers. It was important to see that he still feels deeply towards them after all these years.

FINALLY! A Bagley redesigned suit that I like in this series! It’s not ostentatious like the last two and seems well suited to Spidey, protective, but not too bulky. Fingers crossed that one day it becomes a Marvel Legend figure! Peter spends a good portion of this issue wearing it, both with and without a mask, so we get plenty of opportunity to appreciate the design.

After last issue, it should come as no surprise that Aunt May has passed away in-between installments. What caught me off-guard was that she had left Otto. After a mention in #2 that they had married, I totally forgot about their betrothal in #3! I don’t think I noticed that element once during several readings of that issue!  Sorry, Doc. Paying tribute to the 616, Ock finds out about Peter’s dual identity during this decade. This revelation leads him to believe that Spidey turned May against him. We’re not through with revelations though!

Just like it was back in the day, Peter Parker is, in fact, THE CLONE! Ben Reilly is a real boy and not a bag of flour! Zach (Spidey-Dude) is vindicated AT LAST! Bagley really sells not only Peter and Ben’s absolute shock, but how Ben’s shock turns into blind rage as he breaks free of his bonds. The close up on Ben’s eyes in particular really stands out, making you think he could actually kill Ock in payback for all he’s missed out on in life.

Ock doesn’t die here, though. Oh, no. In a scene reminiscent of the eternal classic, Amazing Spider-Man #122, Ock launches a tentacle, intent on stabbing Ben in the back, with Ben’s Spider-Sense warning him of the incoming danger. He leaps out of the way, as Harry jumps in front of Peter, getting impaled, much like his father did in the 616. It also brings to mind Harry’s sacrifice in Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 and his passing in the also-classic Spectacular Spider-Man #200. While there are three other stories this scene is riffing off of, it doesn’t make it any less powerful or potent. It still delivers a heft of emotion seeing Harry tragically meet his end yet again.

After the dust has settled, Peter turns the mantle of Spider-Man over to Ben. So, pretty familiar territory for those who’ve read the books in the ’90s. Where Zdarsky tricks it up is by having Peter relinquish EVERYTHING to Ben! We’re talking the business, suits, labs, passwords, and the very identity of Peter Parker himself. As they hug and discuss being unable to escape their sense of responsibility, Peter makes a foreshadowing remark how they can shift that sense to where it matters and leaves to embrace his new destiny.

Before that destiny can really begin, he’s got one piece of unfinished business left to him, courtesy of the sleuthing skills of his now ex-girlfriend, Jessica Jones – Norman Osborn. It made me happy to see him still connected to this version of the Clone Saga. Just like then, it makes all the sense in the world that he was behind all the machinations.

One of those machinations I really should have seen coming. Peter did his own tests and Ock’s results were false, engineered by Osborn. Peter is still the original. I really bought in to Zdarsky going back to the original intent of the Clone Saga by having Ben be the Real McCoy. I can hardly think of a creepier Norman Osborn (outside of Sins Past, that is) than the one Bagley provides in close up as he utters, “Cleverrrr boyyyy…” My hat’s off to the inking prowess of Hennessy in this issue. He perfectly accentuates every line of age in the character’s faces, bringing phenomenal depth to Bagley’s art.

True to form, Norman can’t accept responsibility for his complicity in Harry’s demise. His grief and rage rang true as he refocused his hatred on Peter. We once again get a callback to ASM#122 this issue, but without the impalement this time. Bagley depicts Peter in epic fashion as he catches and crushes Norman’s glider! In an issue full of iconic moments, this was another one! Finally though, Norman’s seething animosity proves to be his downfall as he spits out his last hate filled breath in Peter’s arms, dying of an apparent heart attack.

With Norman now dead at Peter’s feet, there’s no gloating, just a sense of sorrow over lost potential. It’s one of the things I love best about Spider-Man. Even after all that Norman has put him through over the last thirty years, he still feels compassion and pity towards him. It’s also motivation for Peter as he begins the next leg of his journey. What kind of legacy will he leave for his own son? What kind of father does he want to be for his children?

Last issue finished on a very downbeat note as Mary Jane took the kids and left Peter. I was over the moon happy to see things turn around at this story’s conclusion and Pete was reunited with his family, seemingly for good. With someone else able to assume the responsibilities of Spider-Man, he can finally rest a bit and focus on his responsibilities as a father. As an enormous fan of the Spider-Marriage, it was the cherry on top of a fantastic issue.

Zdarsky is not afraid to put Spidey and the reader through an emotional wringer. Four issues in he still manages to surprise me how well he takes familiar beats and presents them in a new way. The fact that he even tricked me on story beats is a sign how engrossed I am in this story. There is no way to describe Bagley’s artwork other than to say it may be the highlight of his career. This is a man who was on Amazing in the ’90s, set records with his Ultimate Spider-Man run, and gets his work in on time. I can’t think of a better person for this title and this issue is a stellar example of that. I can’t recommend this book enough!

MY GRADE: A+

JAVI’S HUH?: What happened to Gwen’s clone?

Is Norman mind controlling his glider now? Raimi’s Spider-Man shows it activated by button press and Amazing Spider-Man #122 mentions it being remote-controlled, but here it seems to be willed by his hate!