Spider-Man: Blue
Spider-Man: Blue by Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale
Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale have built a well-deserved reputation as chroniclers of early chapters in the lives of iconic superheroes. Their two Batman volumes, The Long Halloween and Dark Victory, are mystery masterworks. Superman For All Seasons was so good that Loeb got hired to write for the Smallville TV show.
Their work for Marvel hasn't been as eye-popping, though. Daredevil: Yellow was pretty good, but for the most part, Spider-Man: Blue left me pretty stale, and I think I know why. Gwen Stacy.
So many of todays comic pros grew up in the days when Gwen Stacy was the it girl, Spider-Mans's girlfriend, the woman he was meant to be with. Then, in a stunning act for comics of the 1970s, she was killed off. As those readers became the creators, a wave of Gwen nostalgia was kicked into high gear.
Problem is, I'm a child of the 80s, by which time there was a new "it" girl, Mary Jane Watson. She was the love of Spider-Man's life. She was the woman he wound up marrying. But over and over again, the writers at Marvel seem to keep churning out these long, aching love letters to Gwen Stacy. I can appreciate her place as a character and as an important chapter in Spider-Man's history, but she's not a character I've ever really felt for.
Out of all these love letters, Spider-Man: Blue is probably the best done. It's written well and Sale's artwork, as always, is beautiful. Any one of the covers in this series has poster potential. But for all that, it's just not for me. Gwen Stacy fans, this one is for you. As for the rest of us, I'm waiting for the days when Spidey fans who grew up with Mary Jane start writing the stories.