I may have said this before (once or twice), but I love Spider-Man. Yep, the comicbook character. I’ve been something of a huge fan since I first met him back in 1962 (yes i AM that old!). Over the years I’ve managed to collect all but a handful, a handful-and-a-half of his comics (I’m missing something like 30 of the nearly 600 issues of The Amazing Spider-Man, and not from the early episodes, but from the ones that happened around the turn of the century.The other day I just read Vol 2 #38, the issue where Peter’s beloved Aunt May finally confronted him about the truth that she just learned. Apparently she learned in the issue or two prior that he is Spider-Man (no, I don’t have that issue, but I’m hunting for it). Anyway, the story was written by J. Michael Straczynski and illustrated by John Romita, Jr.
What makes the story especially powerful is that, for all intents and purposes, there is no villain, and there is no violence (other than Peter recapping his oprigin and talking about the death off his Uncle Ben at the hands of a bugler), the story is told entirely as an encounter between Peter and his Aunt after years of him keeping the secret of his dual life from her. (To be sure, while it has been better than four decades for us, in the “Marvel Universe” only about 10 years have passed. Still that is a long time to keep a secret.
It was also one of the best and most poignant Spider-Man stories I have ever read. If you haven’t ever read the story, and you are a fan of either Spidey or comicbooks in general, I strongly urge you to seek this story out and read it for yourself.
It is really THAT good.
