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Some Mackie Issues

When I went to pick up my copy of Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane (which will get it's own blog entry), I decided I'd finally buy a few issues from Howard Mackie's run on Peter Parker: Spider-Man, the one before the '99 reboot. Mackie gets a bad rap, much of which comes from the aforementioned reboot, which is considered by many to be one of the worst periods in Spidey history, if not the worst. The stick of that particular Spidey era came from a writer who admitted to being burned out on the character, tons of editorial interference, and just plain horrid writing. Outside a few issues here and there, I understand it was pretty bad. Before the reboot, he put out some nice stories. I enjoyed the issues he did when Ben Reily was Spidey and though I didn't like John Romita Jr's art at the time, I've come to have a huge appreciation for his style now.

The Mackie issues I picked up were before the reboot era. I bought two and both were in the dollar bin. The first that I read was PPSM #82. We've got Spidey dealing with an riot on campus, which circles around people's fear of mutants. I'll get right to the point; this issue sucked. I'd hoped I would like it, but it sucked. Paul Stacy is a d-bag and the mutant hate group thing doesn't seem done anywhere near as well as it is in the current pages of Amazing Spider-Girl. I agree with the reviewer of SpiderFan.org of this issue. I would have scored it the same, had I reviewed it.

Thankfully, PPSM #94 was a much better read. Spidey and Jill Stacy are investigating the murder of Joey Z, and it's bringing them both all kinds of trouble. Even without knowing why the Kingpin or Ox was involved, this was one was pretty entertaining. For those not in the know, Joey Z was a dude that Norman Osborn killed and set Spidey up to take the blame. Spidey is haunted by his death, even though he never knew the guy, and Jill thinks that if she can find out about Joey, she'll find out who Spidey is and know just how her cousin, Gwen died. At the end, Spidey shows up at Jill's place to have a chat about her cousin. I wasn't crazy about the hinting at a possible relationship with Peter and Jill, but hey, we all know where that went and it didn't take away my liking of this issues. One of Mackie's better efforts.

Comments

Tommy said…
Paul Stacy is indeed an A-hole, and the sad thing is, that never changes.

The last I remember seeing him was in the Green Goblin storyline in Amazing Spidey (Vol. 2) #25.

The real sad thing with Jill, is despite what progress there should have been at the end of that issue dedicated to Joey Z, that completely goes out the window when you see her in Vol. 2.
August 23, 2008 at 7:03 AM
Reggie White Jr. said…
That sucks. A lot of good stuff was tossed out in the vol. 2 reboot. MJ was modeling AGAIN. Ugh. Her being a psychology major sounds a 1000 more interesting. More proof that Marvel is afraid to do anything truly new.
August 23, 2008 at 10:18 PM
Tommy said…
Yeah, I wish they didn't just drop that development for Mary Jane.

It was even more awesome considering how she got 1st-hand experience in the field just from being around Spidey.
August 25, 2008 at 9:41 AM
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