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The writer responsible for breaking up Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson is returning to Marvel's Amazing Spider-Man
J. Michael Straczynski is writing a new five-issue miniseries set in Spidey's past
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He’s a writer remembered for a fan-favorite run on The Amazing Spider-Man two decades ago — but this fall, J. Michael Straczynski is returning to Peter Parker for an all-new series set in the character’s past that promises to expand the entire Marvel Universe in ways no-one could see coming.
The five-issue Amazing Spider-Man: Torn, written by Straczynski with art from Pere Pérez, will be set during the character’s college era, complete with a supporting cast that has echoed throughout Spider-History: Harry Osborn, Mary Jane Watson, Flash Thompson and Gwen Stacy — the original, not the one with spider powers that bounced through the Spider-Verse in recent years, that is. The plot of the series is being kept under wraps, but Marvel teases that the series will see Spidey taking on classic bad guys and “a terrifying new villain and side of the Marvel Universe that will reverberate into the present from the past!”
In other words, if you want a glimpse at the future of Spider-Man, it might come from his history, as seen in this particular series.
“I am beyond excited to be working on this book,” Pérez said about the series in a statement from the publisher. “Being a long time Spidey and JMS fan, this gig is a dream come true. I expected to have fun drawing the Spider-Man action scenes, but Joe is writing such great dialogue scenes for Peter and the supporting cast that I’m enjoying those even more. To sum up, this book is fun, exciting, moving, and we even have a new villain!”
Straczynski's time as Amazing Spider-Man writer ran from 2001's #30 through 2007's #545, and included a number of significant stories in the character's history — not least of which is 'One More Day,' which led to a reboot of Spider-Man history and permanently broke up Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson's marriage. Additionally, he retconned in an affair between Gwen Stacy and Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin, in both characters' pasts. (Will that be referenced in Torn? The mind boggles.)
Despite both of these elements, he's still remembered fondly by fans as one of the most influential writers of the character in the past few decades. For those looking at the length of his time on the series and wondering, it should be noted that there was a renumbering of the Amazing Spider-Man series in the middle of his run there; he didn't actually write 515 issues. It jumped from #58 to #500 as the numbering was consolidated with the previous series in 2003.
Amazing Spider-Man: Torn #1, featuring a cover from Adam Hughes, will be released October 8.
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