REVIEW: Spider-Man: Life Story Hardcover
In the Spider-Man: LIfe Story hardcover collection, which is available now at your local comic shop, we get the complete story by Chip Zdarsky, Mark Bagley, John Dell, Andrew Hennessy, Frank D’Armata, Matt Milla, and Travis Lanham, including the annual (starring none other than J. Jonah Jameson).
Spider-Man: Life Story
Let’s get one thing out of the way first: this hardcover collection is gorgeous. Here’s what it looks like with its dust jacket on:
Photo: Avery Kaplan.
And here’s what it looks like with its dust jacket removed:
Photo: Avery Kaplan.
Beyond the outstanding presentation of the book itself, I am pleased to report that Spider-Man: Life Story is an amazing tale that should not be missed by any fan of Marvel’s most famous wall crawler!
If you aren’t familiar with the concept of this story, let’s catch you up, Marvel Blog True Believers: this is a retelling of Peter Parker’s story, but one that begins in 1962 and then shows time passing at the same rate it does in our world.
Photo: Marvel Unlimited.
While this means that we do get to see important historical events throughout the past half-century, such as the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001, the real allure here isn’t the American history we get to see pass by, it’s Parker’s personal history.
Photo: Marvel Unlimited.
In this story, Parker grows old, and so does everyone around him. They have kids (who age into actual adults), and eventually… they die. By giving these characters full and conclusive character arcs, we get to see a Spider-Man story that really feels like it stars a living version of Peter.
Secret Wars. Photo: Marvel Unlimited.
Plus, it’s interesting to see how Spider-Man’s most important events across the decades, like Clone Saga, Secret Wars, and the Superior Spider-Man, are remixed to fit into this story.
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The Superior Spider-Man. Photo: Marvel Unlimited.
While there is a web filled with Easter Eggs for anyone who has read a lot of Marvel Comics to hunt through while reading this story, it would also be an enjoyable graphic novel for any reader, even those unfamiliar with Parker’s history. And while I prefer to read the story in this paper format, all of Spider-Man: Life Story is also available to read digitally on Marvel Unlimited.
Spider-Verse vibes in Life Story. Photo: Marvel Unlimited.
Have you had a chance to check Spider-Man: Life Story out? What did you think, Marvel Blog True Believers? Let us know in the comment section!
