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Past Imperfect
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The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 8: Sins Past
J. Michael Straczynski, Mike Deodato Jr.
Marvel, 2005
Rating: 3.3
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Posted:
June 4, 2005
By
The Gentleman (exclusive
to Shaking Through)
With Sins Past, J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5,
Rising Stars) continues his quest to inject new dimensions into the
Spider-Man mythos by taking well-established elements and taking them in
unforeseen directions. But he arguably goes a step too far: In Sins Past,
the wall-crawler is beset by a mysterious pair of attackers with a serious mad
on for him -- turns out (Spoiler Alert) that they're the grown-up
children of Peter Parker's long-dead ex-girlfriend Gwen Stacy and Norman Osborn,
also known as Spider-Man's arch-nemesis the Green Goblin.
This is a controversial storytelling decision, particularly given blunders like
the infamous "clone" storyline of a decade ago (look it up). It's certain to be
a topic of debate among diehard Internet Spider-fans for a long time, and this
reviewer must say that it strains credibility (the idea that Gwen Stacy would
ever have slept with the overbearing father of one of her friends is iffy at
best, as is the notion that Peter's wife, Mary Jane, who knew about it, would
have kept it secret so long after Gwen's death).
And then there's the idea that in all of these years of pitched psychological
battle, the mentally unbalanced Osborn has never once decided to pull this pair
of aces from his sleeve. He's been nurturing their hatred of Spider-Man for
years, and he's never revealed their existence before now, if for no other
reason than to further screw with his opponent's mind? Especially as he's become
more and more unstable in recent years?
But while the wisdom of such a story choice is questionable, Straczynski does
manage to wring some effective drama from the set-up. From the sibling
antagonists' first strike and cryptic clues to the big revelation and Peter's
struggle to help save them (turns out Daddy's accelerated genetic makeup is
aging the pair prematurely, leading toward certain early death), the writer sets
a steady, suspenseful pace and rarely lets up. And Mike Deodato's artwork helps
to hold the reader's interest, although it fluctuates -- action scenes feel
rushed, as opposed to a moving, tearful confrontation between Peter and Mary
Jane.
The execution is better than the premise -- except toward the end, which resorts
to melodrama. This approach is fine if the reader prizes only craft -- the
creators' ability to churn out over-the-top, penny-ante dramatics. But in a
genre that already relies on a pretty sturdy suspension of disbelief, a high
level of consistency in the world of the story is paramount. As Robert McKee
points out in his invaluable Story, fantasy worlds -- and the Marvel
Universe definitely qualifies -- must be even more internally consistent. That's
a test that Sins Past doesn't quite pass, and it's only Straczynski's
skill as a craftsman that keeps this storyline from being a fiasco. It remains
to be seen how (or whether) he brings it to a satisfying conclusion.
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