Hey there Web-Heads,

If you’re a Spider-Man fan, your friends are probably bombarding you with news that Spider-Man will no longer be under the Marvel Cinematic Universe to see how you’re reacting.

A lot of people think that this is bad. Mostly, this feeling comes from the assumption that we will have to see Spider-Man try to make it on his own again after failing so many times *cough* Andrew Garfield *cough* Far From Home *cough cough*, and we will now have to see him get by with less money. Which is a bad thing?

Correct me if I’m wrong here, but isn’t that what Spider-Man is all about? How many times have we seen him just scrape by on rent or go on a roommate hunt because he just got evicted? Believe it or not, that stuff wasn’t just made up for the video games. Also, how many times has he had to pick himself up after he’s been beaten down?

How often did he have to figure everything out for himself and not have amazing suits and super OP’d pairs of glasses handed to him?

Sorry for so many questions, reader. They’re all rhetorical, if you want them to be, but I do want you to think about all the good that can come from this separation. Think about all the smaller, more personal stories we can get into. Think about the character development we night actually get to see on screen. Personally, I am very excited for this news. I cannot wait to see a Spider-Man movie that won’t be driven by the movies that might come after, or what movies that movie is leading up to.

If Into The Spider-Verse has taught us anything, it’s that we’re ready for an older Spider-Man. We want to see him as an expert at being the Marvel Knight, the “no crime too small” hero.

I know a lot of people are really upset about the news that Spider-Man is now purely Sony’s property, but honestly, let’s imagine all the possibilities this can open up for us. We had a Marvel Team-Up, the big Crossover-Event is over now, and we can finally get back to the main story line.

I just finished reading the latest issue of The Superior Spider-Man, issue 4 circa 2019. This is the latest in the adventures of Doc Ock in Peter Parker’s body. Sure it’s a cloned copy with some spliced DNA, but it’s close enough. For the most part, that’s how I see The Superior Spider-Man. At least, that is, until this issue.

A little back story. When I was in my first year of college, I’d started reading Ultimate Spider-Man and Amazing Spider-Man weekly. I’d get the new issues, and do my best to catch up on the old ones. I ended up reading a whole lot of Spider-Man, to the point that it became my safe space.

Then The Death of Spider-Man happened. They killed Ultimate Peter Parker. I lost half of my escape world. I picked up the first issue of Miles Morales, but it didn’t feel the same. I wasn’t ready for something new.

To compensate, I dived full-force into The Amazing Spider-Man, which was, as you might expect, Amazing. I read through Big Time, Spider-Island, and a huge story involving loads of Goblins. So many Goblins.

Then, just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, Doctor Octopus stole Peter Parker’s body. Thus, The Superior Spider-Man was born.

I dropped it after about five issues, right around the time when Peter’s ghostly figure inside of Doc’s head was buried beneath some rubble in their shared subconscious. Needless to say, this left me without refuge, and feeling pretty bitter toward the new Spider-Man.

I picked the story up again when Spider-Man 2099 showed up, when I could recognize a face in the Spider-Man world. I was not disappointed. Only a few issues later, they brought Peter Parker back, a full year after they’d killed him off. It only got better from there. Spider-Verse happened, and Peter got to land the most satisfying punch in the 616 history, right in the face of Doc Ock inside Peter’s past body.  Sorry if that’s a little confusing, there’s no way I’ll describe the scene better than it’s laid out in the actual magazine.

Deep breath reader, back story is about finished. Extremely long and convoluted story short, Doc Ock died after giving Peter his body back at the end of The Superior Spider-Man. In preparation for his own death, Doc Ock stored a copy of his mind in the Living Brain, as you do. He then downloaded the copy of his mind into a perfected clone body that contained a mixture of his own DND mixed with that of Peter Parker’s. Then he moved to San Francisco where he now works for Horizon Labs.

There are a couple of points I’d like to address here. Eddie Brock, the original Venom, was born and raised in San Fransisco. Doc Ock got created his clone body with the help of The Jackal. Peter Parker used to work for Horizon Labs. Are we seeing some common threads here?  Everything about The “Superior” Spider-Man glows with the toxic hue of a cheap knock-off.

So why write about it now? Well, this latest issue changed my mind about accepting Doc Ock as a member of the Spider-Family. The truth is, before this story, I didn’t think he came close to Miles or Gwen on the top of the list of substitute Spider-Powered heroes. There are so many Spider-Themed characters out there. Even Spider-Man 2099 is still hanging around present day, and Scarlet Spider is wandering around in Houston. There are more Spider-People out there than ever before, thanks mostly to the developments of the aforementioned celebrated story-arch, Spider-Verse.

It only took a few panels to change my mind. Spoilers to follow, nudge nudge, wink wink.

In Issue 4, The Superior Spider-Man finds and saves a kid from some fallen building rubble. The kid’s mother doesn’t survive. While comforting the kid, Superior Spider-Man drops the ‘Superior’ out of his title and claims to be the true Spider-Man. How dare he, you might be thinking. I sure was.

But then he does something incredible, even more so than lifting half a building off of a kid. He puts himself on the kid’s level emotionally. We don’t hear the conversation in the next four panels, and we don’t need to. He tells the kid what he needs to hear, that’s what matters. Then he swings away to help other people. A full panel’s worth of other people.

The thing is, he didn’t have to tell the kid anything, and, more importantly, he did’t have to swing away with the weight of not only his own grief of his lost parents on his shoulders, but the weight of the kid’s grief as well. But he did, and he carried it the same way a Spider-Man would.

This issue made me realize that there doesn’t have to be only one. There can be any number of Spider-Men or Women or… pigs, as long as they represent the same idea the with great power there must come great responsibility. Doc Ock spends a lot of time talking about his powers and gifts in this issue. He goes on and on about his superior mind, strength, and resources. And it’s not until the end of the issue, after sharing grief with a child and carrying it with him to save countless more people, that he realizes it’s the power that grants him the ability to be Spider-Man, it’s the responsibility that comes with it that he now has to embody.

Thanks for reading, reader. I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on the current Marvel affairs. Until next time.

Seeing as how Valentine’s Day has come and gone recently, I figured I’d dig up some material on Spider-Man’s love life.

My personal favorite romantic interest for Spider-Man has to be Kitty Pryde from the Ultimate Universe. Essentially the equivalent of the Black Cat from the 616 universe when it comes to Spider-Man’s lovers, Kitty has a skin-tight suit, slick powers, an attitude, and harbors an unhealthy affection for Spidey.

Now, I could go through the list of potential loves or tally off a list of girls who shared a web with our hero, but as far as I can tell that’s been done. Instead, if you’ll indulge me reader, I’d like to explore the world of Spider-Man’s first Valentine.

Aunt May.

As you probably know, reader, there is little in Peter’s world that overshadows his love for Aunt May. He’d do anything for her. Even kill. Sorry, a little grim there, but I have a point I’d like to make.

We see evidence of Peter’s willingness to kill for his aunt in Spider-Man Noir, when he takes up a gun against a villain that would harm May. We see it again in the Back in Black arc, from the pages of Amazing Spider-Man, when Peter vows to come back and kill Wilson Fisk upon the moment Aunt May stops breathing.

The way I understand it, this willingness to murder speaks volumes. If you know anything about Spider-Man, you know that he does not kill. Not on purpose, if he can help it. I’ll admit, it’s a pretty common vow that superheroes take. The difference to me is that Spider-Man has remained one of the only heroes who has upheld this vow with such vigor and passion from his start to his present. To the point that, in the arc Ends of the Earth, he commits to the sentiment that while he’s around, no one dies.

Other characters comment on how ridiculous this is, and how impossible it would be for Peter to succeed in achieving that goal, but he just hangs his head and commits. He makes a promise to himself and it doesn’t matter what other people think of it, because they don’t understand. They don’t understand what it’s like to have immense power and hold yourself to an immense responsibility.

This also isn’t him being facetious. It rips him apart morally when he considers that he might have been responsible for a death even by inaction, or merely acting too slow.

Yet he throws this dilemma out the window for one person. Aunt May is the only woman to cause Peter Parker to love so fiercely that he would forget who he was in order to save her. He would sacrifice everything he is to protect her. In the pages of Ultimate Spider-Man we see him do just that. He dies in the arms of Aunt May and his last words are “I saved you. I did it…” He dies knowing he protected the person who means the most to him. He acknowledges that he couldn’t save Ben, or Norman Osborn, but he could save Aunt May.

This is the love that inspires young readers to be proud of their love for their mothers. It’s the relationship that idolizes innocent and unconditional love. Also, it’s the reason I buy my mother flowers and chocolates on Valentine’s Day.

See you next time, Reader.

Let’s talk Mysterio. But first, here’s the description of Spider-Man: Far From Home on IMDb’s official site as of today:

“Peter Parker and his friends go on summer vacation to Europe, where Peter finds himself trying to save his friends against a villain known as Mysterio.”

Do I have to point out “against”. How do you save your friends against someone?

All prepositions aside, let’s get down to talking about Spidey and his nemesis, Mysterio! When you consider Mysterio on your first go, you might think something along the lines of, ‘He’s not a big deal. Just some failed stunt man turned special effects artist who is down on his luck with some villain-esque bravado.’

Then you might think, ‘Oh wait, this is the guy who tricked Wolverine into killing all of the X-Men single-handed.’

It’s hard to imagine, but both of those are accurate. He’s a small time guy who started off as nothing more than a bother to the ol’ Web-Head in issue #13 of Amazing Spider-Man when he started out running around in Spider-Man’s get-up to steal a big bag of cash. I googled it. Then I read the issue. Verified facts are cool, kids. Go us!

Though it turned bleak for Spider-Man during his first encounter with the man-who-wears-a-fish-bowl-on-his-head, Mysterio is thwarted and sent to prison. Much to the chagrin of J.J.J.

With this fateful issue, Mysterio does achieve a slot in Spidey’s ever-growing roster of rogues. When you think back, in 1964 this was a pretty short list. Even so, he’s managed to keep his head afloat in the long years since his first appearance by being such a unique and interesting character. But a hero? Don’t be fooled by the trailers, true believers. My bet is that he’s up to his old tricks again. In the Spider-Man: Far From Home trailers we’ve seen so far, Mysterio looks like he’s out to do good, fighting off a big water monster-man, who may or may not be a villain known in some small circles as Hydroman.

So, could he turn out to be a genuine hero? Not a chance. Only J. Jonah Jameson himself would be fool enough to believe that one.

Rather than worry about whether Mysterio will turn out to be a villain after all, I am much more eagerly waiting to see just how Pete’s friends will be saved against Mysterio. Will they be resting their heads on his shoulders when Spider-Man swings in? Maybe it’s a back-to-back kind of set-up, where everyone is facing outward and Mysterio is supporting the group.

I suppose we’ll just have to wait and find out when the movie hits theaters.

Until then, Readers. Thanks for swinging by.

Before I jump into it, Reader, and I mean all of it, I feel as though I need to establish a little credibility here. Take it or leave it, this is my attempt to show you that I’m a True Believer. Whatever that means to you. I should preface this with the fact that one, it’s 2 a.m., and two, I do hope that I remember all of this correctly. If I goob up a fact, or if you have an opinion about something I’ve written here, I’d love to hear from you. In the mean time…

Let’s talk Spider-Man 2099.

Created by Peter David and Rick Leonard, this book ran for some time in the ’90’s, then picked up again every once in a while over the following decades so fans could check in with how the character was holding up.

The first arc, lasting about three issues, tells the story of a young scientist by the name of Miguel O’Hara. Fun thing about Miguel, he’s got our buddy Spider-Man’s DNA on file. Flash forward a few panels, the head of the company that Miguel works for, Alchemax, doses him with a drug that changes the DNA of anyone who uses the drug. It literally re-writes a craving for the drug into the person’s DNA. This was all part of a plan to keep Miguel as an employee of Alchemax as they are the only developer of the drug.

Miguel attempts to fix his situation by re-writing his new tainted DNA with a copy of his own DNA that was also on file. His plan would have worked, too, if a shadowy figure hadn’t swapped Spidey’s DNA file into the machine at the last second.

Over the next few days, Miguel starts to notice some things that aren’t quite right with himself. He’s got fangs for one thing, and his eyes are so sensitive now he has to wear sunglasses even in some well-lit rooms. Another thing about this new change he’s got going on, his forearms are itching like crazy.

Antics ensue, and soon Miguel finds out that that itching in his forearms is due to the spider-silk sacs that were developing under his skin.

Alright, now we’re all caught up. Also, now you know I’m not just a nut for the one Spider-Man. My love bridges gaps across universes, space and time. Regardless, I am a little picky. The thing about Spider-Man 2099’s webbing, besides the fact that it’s organic, is that he doesn’t do the whole pressing of the palm thing to shoot webs. All he needs to do is lower his hand slightly, and flex the new muscles around those forearm silk sacs to shoot a nice web. The webbing even comes out from the top of Miguel’s wrist.

So now we come to the nerd card. Let’s talk Ultimate Spider-Man. And no, I’m not talking the comics created by Bendis and Bagley. I’m talking about the cartoon. The one where Drake Bell lends his voice to the web-slinger and Nick Fury plays a prominent roll in Peter’s adventures. There’s a story arc in the show based around the spider-verse event that took place in the Spider-Man comics in 2014. This is great and all, bringing story lines from the comics to TV and movies, but they, the creators of the show, make one fatal flaw. When Spider-Man 2099 shoots a web in the show, he presses his fingers to his palm as if he’s shooting web from a web shooter.

This bugs me for two reasons. And no that’s not a pun. Spiders aren’t bugs. They’re arachnids.

Reason one: Aforementioned web sacs. The creators made a choice to screw with a small and interesting fact about a character that has a super interesting origin. There’s your pun.

Reason two: The reason they did it. There are only two possible reasons I can think of that might explain why the creators of this show might have made this creative choice. They either didn’t take the time to research the character or, even worse, they chose to change this aspect because they thought it wouldn’t make sense to the viewer if Spider-Man 2099 shot web from the top of his wrist.

I say this second one is worse because they are putting out a show that is meant to attract younger viewers, but if they think for one second amateur to seasoned fans won’t be watching, too, then they have lost sight of what Marvel is, and should be. To me, and loads of other fans out there, Marvel represents a world that holds no bar against age, race, gender et cetera. The creators of this show are cutting their losses and generating garbage just to make sure the character has a prime time slot.

If you need an example of a quality animated series that understands its fans, watch Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. There are so many fun nods to their grown fans that it keeps you wanting to come back episode after episode. And it’s such a fun and interesting show that it attracts new viewers young and old. It only went on for those two seasons, but because of all the Easter eggs and nods to the comics, the re-watch value is immense.

I plan to talk about all of Spider-Man’s other cartoons and so many more comics on this section of the blog, so if you enjoyed this definitely come back for more. If you’re looking for something a little more down to Earth, there is a lot more variety on the other sections of this blog. Regardless, and as always reader, I hope you enjoyed your time here at my attempt to hold the universe together. Until next time.

Hello reader.

I’ve been considering something for a while. It starts here. If you haven’t realized by now, I am a HUGE Spider-Man fan. Despite this, I’ve been using this blog primarily for thoughts and stories and the like that help me to understand the universe around me. I’ve even toyed with the idea of building a completely separate blog based on my love for the Web-Head. In the end, I’ve realized that, through Spider-Man and what he represents, I am better able to understand the universe around me.

The idea came to me about a week ago, while I was standing in an unbelievably noisy room with a whole bunch of people around me. In order to pull myself out of the hot, sweaty room and into happier thoughts, I went to one memory that still holds a special place in my heart.

This moment took place in The Superior Spider-Man issue 31. Peter Parker is FINALLY transported from the buried rubble off his subconscious back into the driver seat of his own body… spoilers. Never mind, it’s over a year old. If you haven’t read it, read it. I can’t do it justice.

Anyway. Peter is in his old costume and racing off to meet his old nemesis, The Green Goblin. Well, when he shows up to the fight, ol’ Greenie Meanie thinks it’s still Otto Octavius running the show behind Peter’s eyes. And he’s loving it, by the way. Norman Osborn is getting the biggest kick in the world out of knowing Otto’s biggest achievement when no one else figured it out. So he’s really laughing it up.

Until…

The quip. Norman is breaking everybody’s hearts going on and on about how Otto will have nothing left when the night is over, and Spidey comes right back and says: “Except the dignity of knowing I never carried a man-purse.”

Spidey is back in every way, and starts the battle in the way only he can. No pretenders here, sports fans. The Amazing Spider-Man is back! And this hits Norman like a slap in the face. I can still see his stunned face when I close my eyes.

I’ll tell you, reader. When I was stuck on that hard floor, drowning in deep, thumping base and humid bodies, I was laughing. Because, even though I was pretty uncomfortable physically, what with the overbearing crowd and probably almost going deaf, I was enjoying myself with the happy thought of my hero returning to the stunned face of an over-grown bully.

There you go. That’s why I made Web-Head’s Corner. It’s a section of my blog that I am primarily posting content about Spider-Man. Stories, my own fan-girl moments, new understandings, even just something along the lines of, “I’ve been enjoying thinking about this lately.”

It’s pretty simple, when I get down to it. I’m giving my hero a little corner of my home, my universe, because he helps me hold my universe together when I need him most. If you stop by, and if you enjoy what you find, I hope you can make this your corner, too.

Until next time, reader.