When have things been this bad for Spider-Man? ASM 698-699 Spoilers.

[Mister Mets]

Amazing Spider-Man #698 ended with Spider-Man trapped into Doctor Octopus's body, in a prison, hours from death. Things were slightly, but not much, better for the wall-crawler at the end of 699.

This got me thinking...

When have things been this bad for Spidey?

And is this essentially Dan Slott's version of the Amazing Spider-Man #32 cliffhanger?

[Kevinroc]

Are we talking bad for Spidey in particular? Because I'm pretty sure The Infinity Gauntlet situation was REALLY bad for everyone.

[devinofthedead]

Times were hard during SpiderMan 3. That movie almost destroyed him. Haha

[esskay]

Honestly, for me the time that felt the worst for Spidey was in Straczynski's first story with Morlun. Of course you know there's gonna be a way somehow - and there wasn't the same hype - but it was the story in which I most thought, "God, this is impossible!"

Second was the Bill Mantlo Doc Ock/Owl story in which the Black Cat got messed up. That was serious, realistic and personal.

698 was really great, but 699 was so cartoony - art and story both. When someone's supposedly got hours to live yet between them Pastepot Pete and Hydroman have the medical chops to roughly hook them up to a temporary life support system I don't buy it as genuine drama. Slott's stories are fun but I can't take seriously. He's put Spidey in mad situations - Spider Island, Ends of the Earth, that story in which New York was obliterated - and each time it gets fixed with some improbable slapstick science. This one will be the same - either next issue or sometime during Superior. Daft but fun. I'm not so worried about Peter this time. With Slott he's only about three hastily written pages from the status quo at any time, however precarious the position looks.

[bluebottle]

ASM #32 is a good example, because that was a pretty dire situation and a great cliffhanger, but the readers at the time knew the series was continuing so it was more of a "how is he going to get out of this one" than a "is he going to get out of this one".

ending the series at 700, launching a new Spider-Man with a (supposedly) different protagonist under the mask... I'd say Marvel definitely wants us to believe this is the worst it's ever been for Pete.

[stillanerd]

I would think Peter getting his own eye ripped out by Morlun and dying as a result of his injuries would qualify.

[esskay]

That is one of the things I sort of pretend didn't really happen (along with the robot parents).

(I sort of feel the same about Sins Past, just because it's such a ridiculous retcon - but I think it's a great idea for a story and I really wish that Stan Lee and Gerry Conway HAD set it up as a very very very slow burner.)

[Spiderman 1]

I gues from Lifetheft to the End of the Clone Saga was the worst:

Became old from the Vulture's attack.
Lost his "parents"... again.
Aunt May has a stroke.
MJ leaves him.
Gets poisoned and dies... Comes back to life thanks to one of his greates foes.
His clone returns.
Aunt may dies.
He goes to jail.
He looses his powers.
Gets beaten nearly to death.
Dies... and comes back to life with his spider powers on again.
Witnesses his "brother" die.
Looses his baby.

I mean, come on, now that's what I would define as rough.

[Mister Mets]

ASM #32 is a good example, because that was a pretty dire situation and a great cliffhanger, but the readers at the time knew the series was continuing so it was more of a "how is he going to get out of this one" than a "is he going to get out of this one".

ending the series at 700, launching a new Spider-Man with a (supposedly) different protagonist under the mask... I'd say Marvel definitely wants us to believe this is the worst it's ever been for Pete.

The reception to the issue is certainly different when we don't know what's coming next.

An excellent cliffhanger in Paul Jenkins's first Fusion story had Spider-Man believe that his back was broken. But with JMS writing the main book, where Morlun was kicking Spidey's ass, fans were reasonably sure Spidey would recover.

Slott took that luxury away from us with the last two issues.

[Xenon]

Any situation where he only had a few hours to live, really. The clone saga issue where he gets infected with a virus and only Doc Ock saving his life keeps him alive comes to mind cause I read it today. But even something like the issues where he had no powers or had a bomb strapped to his and Jameson's wrist pretty much qualifies.

[Lars C]

How about being "killed" and buried alive by Kraven??

[Patroklos]

Honestly, for me the time that felt the worst for Spidey was in Straczynski's first story with Morlun. Of course you know there's gonna be a way somehow - and there wasn't the same hype - but it was the story in which I most thought, "God, this is impossible!"

Second was the Bill Mantlo Doc Ock/Owl story in which the Black Cat got messed up. That was serious, realistic and personal.

698 was really great, but 699 was so cartoony - art and story both. When someone's supposedly got hours to live yet between them Pastepot Pete and Hydroman have the medical chops to roughly hook them up to a temporary life support system I don't buy it as genuine drama. Slott's stories are fun but I can't take seriously. He's put Spidey in mad situations - Spider Island, Ends of the Earth, that story in which New York was obliterated - and each time it gets fixed with some improbable slapstick science. This one will be the same - either next issue or sometime during Superior. Daft but fun. I'm not so worried about Peter this time. With Slott he's only about three hastily written pages from the status quo at any time, however precarious the position looks.

Agreed. I think Slott failed in conveying any sort of suspense or seriousness in Spidey's predicament, he basically solved the problem five minutes after he got into it and barely broke a sweat doing it. I realize that there might still be twists along the way, but as things stand now that nightmare Freaky Friday-scenario sure seemed to wrap up nice and easy when it really should have had the urgency and gravitas of something like Spidey's first fight with Morlun.

[Potty-Man]

What was the Amazing Spider-Man #32 cliffhanger?

[classicgmer]

I would think Peter getting his own eye ripped out by Morlun and dying as a result of his injuries would qualify.

This was the very first thing that came to mind for me.

[Scott Taylor]

When Gwen Stacy died, when Aunt May died, when Harry died, when Aunt May was dying during Back in Black, when Kraven "killed" him, when he went through "I am the Spider", and many others. Not saying its not a big deal that Ock took over Peter's mind, but he's been in bad situations tons of times before. Thats kind of the point of writing a dramatic character, put him in bad, hard to win situations that look hopeless and then save him.