Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 8: Sins Past
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Artist: Mike Deodato Jr.
Sins Past does have a lot of problems, but does it really deserve its reputation as one of the worst comics of all-time?
Ranking: 3 stars
Over the years, I've come across many comics that receive heavy criticism, and THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN: SINS PAST was one that for a while, I never understood the hate thrown at it. I've seen this particular comic on dozens of most hated Spider-Man comics (or comics in general) lists, and I felt that the criticism was unwarranted as people hate it for one reason only: Gwen Stacy has an affair with Norman Osborn, aka the Green Goblin. Every review I've seen on this comic is usually just angry fans ranting about that one particular plot point, saying it's equally as bad as ONE MORE DAY, and I had to ask myself, why? The idea of a single aspect justifying hatred of the entire book felt extremely biased and unfair to me, as it seems to be the only part of the book they complain about, never going into further analysis. I had known the plot of the SINS PAST early on, and it went into it with an open mind as it always sounded intriguing to me, and the rest of JMS's Spider-Man had been sensational so far. Once I reached SINS PAST, I wanted to see if it really deserved all the hatred it's recieved. While the book was plagued by plot holes and discontinuity, it wasn't nowhere near terrible. Taking place after the death of Ezekiel, Peter Parker receives an ominous letter in the mail. Not only was the letter written by his former girlfriend Gwen Stacy, but the post card was dated the current year, whereas Gwen was killed years ago by the Green Goblin. As Peter ponders over the situation at Gwen's grave, he's suddenly attacked by two mysterious ninja-like figures, believing him to be responsible for Gwen's death. Spider-Man soon discovers that the two that attacked him are actually Gwen's twin children, Gabriel and Sarah, and that their father was Norman Osborn. Having inherited their father's goblin serum, Peter realizes that the twins are aging rapidly and will die prematurely. With the twin's out to avenge their mother's death, will Peter be able to save Gwen's offspring from dying, or will Osborn's insane vendetta against the wall crawler finally be accomplished? Long-time Spider-Man fans have bashed this book, claiming it to have ruined the legacy of Gwen Stacy, who was not only one of Spider-Man's most beloved girlfriends, but was tragically murdered by the Green Goblin back in the 70's. They felt that her having an affair with the Goblin resulting in twins not only ruined the classic THE NIGHT GWEN STACY DIED storyline, but also the legacy and reputation of her character. Go ahead and claim that I'm not a true Spider-Man fan for saying this, but in my opinion, SINS PAST wasn't that bad of a comic. I honestly didn't feel that JMS "ruined" Gwen's character and legacy, but this book wasn't all that good. I'm not saying that I hated the book, but I feel that it had a lot of problems that were impossible to overlook. I have been reading JMS's Spider-Man run for awhile now, and while some areas of it were unnecessarily complex, the dynamic on Peter's character and social life were so expertly handled, that I could overlook the problems and just have fun reading the story. SINS PAST was the first story of his run that his writing had serious flaws that prevented it from being a great comic. My biggest issue with the story was the amount of plot holes it contained. New plot twists are constantly introduced throughout the story, and they come out of left field with no explanation given to them. This is a problem that a writer should always avoid, as it undermines the the reader's ability to take the twist seriously, and creates a inconsistent mess. After Peter discovers that his attackers are in fact Gwen's children, Mary Jane suddenly reveals that she knows who their father is. Although she explains that she had known for years and kept it a secret, the revelation appears out of nowhere, which makes it harder to take it seriously. Peter discovers that the twins are dying as they inherited Norman's genetic healing factor, causing them to rapidly age. While the conclusion is logical as the twins have superhuman abilities and in continuity Gwen passed away less than a decade ago, Peter isn't given any time to speculate other theories on how this is possible. When Spider-Man reveals the truth to Gabriel and Sarah, he confronts Gabe's denial by revealing that Sarah trusts what he says. While her reasoning to why she trusts him makes sense, this reveal is sudden as well. I'm not complaining that the twists themselves are bad. I actually don't mind twists like the affair with Norman or the twins rapid aging, but they're less effective there's no build up or clues to them being possible. The author needs to build suspense and give clues when writing a mystery, as it keeps the reader interested in what is going on. But when the twists come out of nowhere, much of the suspense is thrown out the window, and it creates dozens of plot holes that are left unexplained. I could handle the numerous plot twists at first, but by a particular point it became repetitive and annoying. While I felt the numerous amount of plot twists created an inconsistent story, the idea for the story itself, actually doesn't bother me. People complain that Peter should have been the father of the twins, but because the Marvel staff opposed Spider-Man having premarital sex with Gwen, Norman Osborn was revealed to have been the father instead. While this heavily angered most Spider-Man fans, believing that it ruined Gwen Stacy's character, I took no issue with her and Norman having an affair. You can accuse me of being a bad Spider-Man fan for liking the idea this happening to Gwen, and that I don't understand the important impact her character has had on Spider-Man's mythos, but I'm honestly not offended by it. I actually believe that because the impact of her death was so large on both Spider-Man and the comics community, the affair creates an interesting dilemma for Peter to go through. Because his love for Gwen was equally as powerful as his love for MJ, discovering this knowledge increases the anger and pain he experiences. Because her children were fathered by his greatest enemy, struggle is all the more powerful. It gives Peter further reason to want to prevent her children from dying, as he does not want to lose everything he has left of Gwen to Norman's insanity. JMS isn't insulting Gwen Stacy in my eyes, but rather is increasing the power her impact on Spider-Man by having her be an unwilling pawn in the Goblin's madness, making Peter more determined to protect the legacy of the one he loves just as equally as Mary Jane. Despite many of the problems I had with the story, I could still get emotionally invested due to the weight and power of the ordeal. My defense of one of the most universally hated character revelations may come across as hypocritical as I bashed ONE MORE DAY for destroying the marriage between Peter and MJ, and Spidey fans feel that SINS PAST similarly ruined the relationship between him and Gwen. Unlike that abomination of a comic however, I feel that JMS put actual effort into this book, and was trying to create a well-thought out story, despite its flaws. What I really hated about ONE MORE DAY besides erasing the marriage, was that Quesada (hate...) was being selfish in wanting to separate Spidey and MJ, and the editorial staff was being lazy by claiming that (uses sarcastic voice) "a marriage is too hard to write." I was unable to look past the greed of Quesada and the laziness editors, as they put no effort in attempting to make ONE MORE DAY a good story. With SINS PAST I never got that impression, as while the book has serious problems in it's writing and pacing, I could see actual effort put into the story. If a story tries to be good despite not succeeding all the way, I can still enjoy it as the was genuine effort and creativity put into consideration. To compare this story to ONE MORE DAY is extremely unfair in my eyes, as SINS PAST tries to be good, while ONE MORE DAY doesn't know the meaning of the word (that Quesada, is why you fail...). SINS PAST, while definitely flawed, is nowhere near as terrible as fans have claimed it to be. The story was well-thought out, the dilemma's of the characters got me emotionally invested, and aspects that others found insulting, I found to be interesting as they increased the power of the character's struggles. But without build up, the plot twists take you out of the story more than they suck you into it, creating an inconsistent narrative with plot holes. Maybe if the story lasted longer than six issues, more time could have been invested into building up the twists, but I read that the project was heavily controversial among the Marvel staff, causing numerous parts of the story to be rewritten, which probably put JMS under heavy pressure to finish writing it. But I could still enjoy the story despite it's problems, as I felt that JMS put thought and effort into the story (unlike ...ugghh... ONE MORE DAY). If people are going to criticize the story simply for the affair, I'm not going to take it seriously. One scene ruining an entire book is a superficial argument. I need to hear if there are other problems that damage the book, as not going into further depth with their analysis makes their arguments appear more like whining than providing criticism. So while SINS PAST is clunky and has some serious problems, I could still find it entertaining for the effort invested into it. In my opinion, SINS PAST does not deserve to be listed as one of the worst comics of all-time. "Do what you feel in your heart to be right. You'll be criticized anyway." -Eleanor Roosevelt
