If your spidey-sense isn’t tingling right now, it’s probably broken!
Well Marvel fans, if you were thinking that The Amazing Spider-Man was officially down the tubes as we know it, think again! In what will no doubt resonate throughout the comic world as a resounding sigh of relief, it appears that Peter Parker will be making his return after all!
If you’ve not followed the events of what’s been going on in the world of Spidey since December of 2012, let me bring you up to speed. First off (leading up to issue #700) we saw the consciousness of Doctor Octopus implanted into the brain of Peter Parker. While some saw this as an interesting twist, many could not fathom what would come next. Most expected Peter to regain control, but instead, saw him remain trapped and die in the body of Doc Ock. This leads into the events of The Superior Spider-Man (launched in January 2013 as part of the Marvel Now! re-launch).
As the events of Superior Spider-Man roll on (with Dr. Octavius attempting to be the Spider-Man that Peter Parker never was), we now learn we’ll be greeted with the arrival of a new The Amazing Spider-Man #1 (that hopes to make everything right with the universe again).
Of course, this leaves us with one burning question: how will they raise Peter Parker from the dead?
The info was leaked this past week and later confirmed by the Daily News. Writer Dan Slott teased that Parker’s return may not exactly be a pleasant one (via a recent press release). He says it will occur in a “…strange and terrifying way. And… possibly… at a very great cost. Remember, nothing is ever easy for Peter Parker. It’s one of the reasons he’s a true hero” Slott said.
Another interesting tidbit to come out of this recent bombshell is that the writers knew all along. Apparently, this isn’t reactionary, but part of a long-term story arch that saw Peter regaining control of Spidey all along. Slott says that killing off Peter wasn’t really the hard part, but keeping up the charade for over a year was. “To do that for a solid year of my life, that’s the hardest thing I’ve had to do — to look small children in the eye at a convention and lie to them. Inside, part of me was dying.” Slott said.
So hopefully you didn’t burn all your Spider-Man memorabilia just yet, as it looks like we’ll be sailing back to familiar shores once again. While I certainly liked the idea of the Superior Spider-Man series (and the change of pace it gave us), let’s be real: none of us could see this series garnering half as much success in the future without Spidey’s true alter-ego intact. Luckily, Marvel knew not to run with this too far, and I think pulled this “comic-happening” off well.
It just goes to show you: there’s only one Clark Kent, there’s only one Bruce Wayne…and there’s only one Peter Parker!