SINS PAST - The Worst Spider-Man Story Ever

ever since he first swung into the hearts and minds of a generation back in 1962 the amazing spider-man has had countless memorable comic book stories the tales of peter parker's trials and tribulations as the friendly neighborhood hero are some of the most well-known and popular in all of modern culture but for every craven's last hunt spider-man blue or if this be my destiny there are stories like the clone saga one more day or sins past since past is a story that has always fascinated and intrigued me whether you like or dislike the story it's unquestionable that sins past has garnered a legacy as one of the most controversial spider-man stories of all time reckoning one of the most infamous marvel comics moments and arguably diluting its legacy some 30 years later so in this video i want to dive into the history behind this untimely spider-man adventure and analyze the creative and editorial decisions that ultimately led to one of the most polarizing stories that marvel comics ever told before we continue though just a quick reminder to leave a like on this video if you enjoy it and subscribe to owen likes comics so you don't miss out on any future videos on june 10th 1973 gwen stacy the longtime girlfriend of peter parker the superhero known as the amazing spider-man was killed following a years-long battle between the wall crawler and his arch enemy the green goblin the feud reached fever pitch in the pages of amazing spider-man issue 121 as norman osborne kidnapped gwen held her hostage atop the brooklyn bridge before throwing her to her death this story has gone on to become one of the most iconic moments in the history of modern comic books forever changing the tone and landscape of spider-man's stories gwen was an innocent victim caught up in a war between these super-powered beings and it was this guilt that would fundamentally change peter parker's life in subsequent years in the decades since gwen's untimely death there have been a number of stories that further explored her legacy most notably jeff loeb and tim sales 2002 mini-series spider-man blue a comic which sees peter on valentine's day reflect on his life in the year since gwen's passing and ultimately choose to forgive himself and let go of his pain however in 2004 another chapter in this story was to be told this time penned by j michael strzinski the then current writer of the amazing spider-man comic series at this point in time strazinski was no stranger to the world of entertainment not only had he been writing comics for decades he also had a notable resume in television making his name as the creator of the sci-fi tv series babylon 5. he was approached by marvel in 2000 to take over the amazing spider-man comic series with his run beginning the following year starting with amazing spider-man issue 30 alongside artist john romita jr strazinski's run on the spider-man title started out incredibly strong as he and ramita crafted a now iconic story in the pages of amazing spider-man issue 36 paying tribute to those who had lost their lives in the september 11 attacks that took place three months prior much of strazinski's early spider-man run attempted to expand the character's status quo introducing new villains such as ezekiel and maulan as well as bold new steps for the character such as ant-may learning that peter parker is spider-man these early stories demonstrated how strzinski wanted to approach his spider-man run re-contextualizing and analyzing the core characteristics of peter parker that we've come to expect and this approach remained a central part of his next big story which aimed to re-examine the legacies of both gwen stacy and the man responsible for her death norman osborne in amazing spider-man issue 509 from august of 2004 the first chapter in this story began to unfold in this comic peter and his wife mary jane are celebrating her successful audition for a new play with aunt may as the mysterious letter arrives in the mail may picks up the letter somebody handing it to peter who discovers that somehow the letter is from gwen stacy peter opens it alone discovering a confession made by gwen prior to her untimely death however the details of exactly what she's confessing remain unknown later that night peter goes to visit gwen's grave attempting to comprehend both what the letter says and why he only received it now when he suddenly attacked by two mysterious figures peter manages to fight the pair off and escape returning home where he's consoled by mary jane the next morning an envelope is delivered to the house containing photos of the two mysterious attackers talking with aunt may and mary jane in the street with a note telling peter that they can kill them at any time peter then meets with nypd officer william lamont asking him to analyse the indentations on the back of gwen's letter hoping to find the missing pieces of her apology before he receives a phone call from someone claiming to have kidnapped aunt may rushing to the location where he believes may is being held peter is met only by a mannequin with a bomb attached to it the bomb explodes and as peter pulls himself from the rubble he's confronted once again by the mysterious figures from the graveyard who revealed their names to be gabe and sarah later that night peter meets again with lamont who tells peter that the indentations on the back of the letter reveal the rest of gwen's message while studying in paris prior to her death gwen became pregnant and birthed twins named gabriel and sarah this revelation shakes peter to his core with the wall crawler breaking into a lab to truly see if they are the children of gwen stacy as he's doing so he's actually confronted by sarah who reveals to him that gabe plans on killing spider-man as revenge for their mother's death peter returns home and is once again confronted by mary jane who has now read the entirety of gwen's letter peter swears that the twins couldn't possibly have been his as mj reveals that she knows who the true father of gwen's children is explaining how prior to gwen's death she overheard her arguing with norman osborne over harry who at this point of time had relapsed into substance abuse and when gwen asked norman to help with his son heard norman say that their children belonged to him peter stands back shocked as he slowly puts all the pieces together he realizes that this is why gwen was targeted by norman instead of mary jane or aunt may or anyone else close to him it wasn't only an attempt to get revenge on peter but also an attempt by norman to stop gwen going public about their affair the next day peter and mj talk as he realizes that by inheriting norman's altered dna gabe and sarah will have grown up abnormally at such a fast rate and as such will likely die prematurely peter vows to find a way to help them as they're the only piece of gwen left alive the story concludes with peter confronting the twins attempting to prove to them that norman osborne is their biological father while sarah believes peter gabe refuses to accept this stating that norman had taken care of them and raised them after their mother's death gabe attacks peter with the pair tussling for control suddenly as police arrive on the scene they attempt to shoot gabe only to miss and accidentally hit sarah instead sarah falls from the bridge as the three watch on in a moment eerily similar to gwen's death as peter rushes down the side of the bridge to save her catching her just in time as gabe escapes as peter rushes sarah to a hospital gabe traverses through the sewers until he stumbles upon norman osborne's secret lair complete with goblin costumes for both himself and his sister gabe dons the costume and injects himself with the goblin formula smashing through the hospital window on his glider and taking spider-man with him peter manages to wrestle himself away from gabe as the pair land on hospital roof where sarah is waiting for them holding a gun she attempts to talk sense into her brother who unfortunately is too consumed by rage to listen and instead fires on her from his glider sarah dodges the bullet shooting back and ultimately causing the glider to explode and gabe's body to fly off in the explosion peter struggling to still get to his feet watches as sarah walks away unable to stop her from vanishing into the unknown the final page of the comic reveals gabe's fate with his body washing up on a nearby beach as he slowly comes to he's helped by a group of strangers who ask him his name with the former goblin unable to remember his own name or how he even ended up here for a number of reasons that you might understand since past has gone on to become one of the most divisive and controversial spider-man stories of all time critics of this series often argue that its major wreck on the existence of gwen's children and the secret affair between her and norman osborne massively damages the legacy and the character of gwen stacy gwen's legacy has always been something well preserved by marvel in the years since her passing with the character often being treated as the embodiments of innocence in the marvel universe this was best demonstrated by kirk yousseik in his seminal miniseries marvels when he wrote that superheroes weren't here to win the approval of the petty and small-minded they were here to save the innocent to save people like gwen it should be noted though that although since past was written by j michael straczynski the events that took place throughout this story weren't necessarily his original plans and instead a series of compromises made between himself and marvel's then editor-in-chief joe casada astrozynski noted on twitter in 2018 that wasn't the original story peter was going to be the father of gwen's kids marvel said that ages peter so let's make it norman instead the fans will go nuts i didn't quite realize what they meant when they said that now strazinski's initial pitch which would see gabriel and sarah be revealed as peter and gwen's long-lost children would likely have proved less divisive than them being norman osborne's however due to marvel's then editors being seemingly obsessed with the notion of peter not appearing too old for his readership an issue that would ultimately result in the retconning of peter and mary jane's marriage in the 2007 storyline one more day this version of sins past was scrapped and replaced with the story that we ultimately received and although this alternate idea serves to be a fascinating insight into what this story could have been since past ultimately has to be judged as the story it turned out to be although i think there are a number of interesting ideas at play throughout this story overall it's difficult to argue that sins past is anything other than an unfortunate misstep for marvel and a story that only serves to unfortunately convolute and diminish the significance of one of the company's most famous and powerful moments it's a story that even marvel were quick to distance themselves from with the events of sins past rarely being referenced in any spider-man books that came after it with strzinski even pitching that the story be reckoned out of continuity during the events of one more day in the end though i do find this story to be deeply fascinating and a cautionary tale for anyone attempting to wreck on and add new dimensions to classic comic book stories while the intentions behind sins past weren't necessarily bad in execution this comic only served to detract from the impact of one of marvel's most seminal moments and continued to hover over the characters of spider-man gwen stacy and the green goblin like a dark cloud for many years after it ultimately since passed is one of the biggest missed opportunities in modern comic book history and much like its name suggests might be best left in the past hey everyone thank you so much for watching today's video i hope you enjoyed it if you did please make sure to leave a like on the video leave a comment down below as well let me know your thoughts on everything we talked about in today's video i can't wait to hear what you have to say as always if you like this video and you want some more there should be some other videos on screen right now and if you're new to owen likes comics please consider hitting the subscribe button on the notify bell so you stay up to date with all of the new videos we release on the channel if you want to help support me and help me make more videos you can go to patreon.com owen likes comics and you want some more of me you can follow me on twitter just at owen likes comics again thank you all so much for watching today's video and i will see you next time so until then take care and keep reading

Channel: Owen Likes Comics

Views: 153,867

Keywords: Owen, Likes, Comics, Owen Likes Comics, spider man, sins past, peter parker, gwen stacy, green goblin, marvel comics, comic books, marvel comics explained, comic books explained, marvel comics history, comics explained, amazing spider-man, norman osborn, gwen stacy death, j michael straczynski, Mike Deodato, joe quesada, back issues, gwen stacy norman osborn, gwen stacy twins, one more day spiderman, spiderman, mary jane, spider-man (comic book character), video essay

Id: m9qUwfPb8wU

Length: 13min 50sec (830 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 10 2020