2002-2003

ASM. Vol. 2 46-53, PPSM 42-57, Daredevil, Vol. 2 34 & 35, Spider-Man/Daredevil one-shot, Thor, Vol. 2 51. Well, the big news is Peter and Mary Jane reconcile some 37 issues after she “died” and 21 issues since she came back. And they repair their marriage in the traditional style: in snippets of conversation stolen between Spider-Man and Captain America trying to keep waves of cyborg assassins from killing Dr. Doom in the Denver airport. A memorable, funny and heartwarming story. Before that, Spider-Man and Green Goblin have yet another pointless fight to the death in which neither of them die, the only kind of Green Goblin story since he came back from the dead. In the course of this one, Norman puts Flash in a coma, and Liz Allan is the person at his bedside despiteā€¦ them having no relationship for well over a decade, even as friends? Writer Paul Jenkins apparently forgot Betty Brant exists, let alone the entire Thompson family JM DeMatteis made up only a few years prior. Elsewhere, Ezekiel & Dr. Strange help Spider-Man defeat Shathra, the totem of the spider wasp who comes to kill him in what is essentially a remake of the Morlun story a mere 10 issues later. When a tabloid reveals Matt Murdock is Daredevil, Ben Urich and Peter Parker both show up to tell JJJ it’s not true, even tho they both know it is, and then Spider-Man helps DD when Mr. Hyde attacks his house. Spidey teams up with his latest cop friend, Lt. Lamont, to deal with Digger, a zombie Hulk made of body parts from a bunch of mob bosses who were killed in the 50s. Really. Spidey encounters Thor as he brings Asgard to Earth for the first time as its newly crowned ruler. In PPSM, new villains Tara and the Virus are introduced and immediately forgotten and Spider-Man fights Hammerhead to close out Paul Jenkins & Mark Buckingham’s run. The series then runs 7 months of filler where Spider-Man fights Hydro-Man, Shocker, Boomerang, Scorpion, Stilt-Man, a dumb robot and Rocket Racer, with brief help from the FF. And then the series closes with Sandman splitting into 4 people representing parts of his personality before pulling himself back together. With a Peter & MJ by John Romita, Jr. and hideous Spider-Man and Green Goblin by Humberto Ramos, copied through gritted teeth and continuing the sub-series.