And so we enter a new era. As of this issue, PPSM is the domain of Paul Jenkins and Mark Buckingham. This will be a fruitful partnership, as I recall, producing a lot of good stories (And a few stinkers). It will also reinstate the usual tension of trying more than one title about the same character by different writers. But I sure am excited to make it this far after what I’ve been reading lately. Buckingham was a rather bold choice, certainly not a huge name despite a solid career (He was one of the few people who worked on the revered 1980s run of Marvelman in the UK, published as Miracle Man in the US, a book that stood alongside Watchmen and Dark Knight Returns in making comics more mature). He’s a real change of pace from John Romita, Jr. He’s inked by Dan Green, and Joe Rosas, seemingly becoming the new Bob Sharen, colors. We open on Peter Parker, sitting next to Uncle Ben’s tombstone as it begins to rain, saying, “You know what’s funny? Neither do I, Uncle Ben. Not anymore.”
A take on Peter so different from last month that it’s jarring. In just two pages, he seems more like a real person than he has… in a long time. Peter goes on to think back to his first day back at school after his folks died, and the other kids whispering and making him cry, and Aunt May taking him home early. Uncle Ben scared him trying to make him laugh, but they made up immediately.
I mean, look at this. You weren’t really allowed to make comics like this for most of Spider-Man’s existence. This simple human stuff is pretty engaging after… all of Volume 2. Peter goes on to detail a history of prank wears between him and Ben before recapping his origin real quick, then his career as Spider-Man, and Buckingham, who you may recall I caught swiping Joe Bennett on the cover of ASM , quickly proves he’s gonna be doing a lot of copying, with Spidey know is a copy but can’t immediately source, and then a version of the cover to this very issue on the facing page:
I think… I think I’m going to have a harder time with this run than I did the first time. As Peter tells Uncle Ben he’s not sure he can go on without MJ, he flashes back to foiling a bank robbery yesterday, and Buckingham at the very least is looking at that horrible first page of Chapter One in panel 3:
This could get unpleasant for me. But Spider-Man proceeds to scare the last gunman into submission without any obvious swipes.
This sort of sweet-but-grounded tone is going to more or less be the hallmark of this run. Minus a few, uh, eccentric choices, one of which is coming very soon. But, yeah, after the absolute mess Volume 2 descended into so quickly, this issue was a much needed change of pace. But, meanwhile, there’s still ASM to worry about… And next issue is a real Monster…