Amazing Spider-Man #509
Sins Past Part One
Mary Jane is auditioning for a play and it’s not going very well at first until one of the producers tells Mary Jane to stop acting and tells the truth. When Mary Jane nails the lines the next time through, the producer asks her what she was thinking of. She tells him that she was thinking about her husband and how much she loves him.[1] The producer tells her that as long as she keeps performing like that, she’ll always succeed. Later Mary Jane meets up with Peter who is waiting her outside and tearfully tells him that she got the part. They then rush back to Aunt May’s to tell her the good news. The whole time, Peter can’t help but think how much he loves Mary Jane and how she completes him. While Mary Jane is telling them how she got the part, Aunt May goes to get the mail and is in for a shock. She calls Peter into the living room and shows him an old letter from Gwen Stacy that was mailed to him from France. Going up to his old bedroom, Peter opens the letter with shaking hands. In the letter, Gwen says that she has something very important to tell him but can say it in writing for fear that he’ll hate her for the truth. Unfortunately, there is only one page to the letter and whatever Gwen was attempting to tell him is absent from the envelope.
Later, while standing out in the back yard, Peter is asked by Mary Jane how he is doing. He tells her that he’s not doing well. He tells her that after comparing it to some other old letters he still had that it was for sure Gwen’s handwriting. He then recounts the time this letter would have been sent. Gwen had abruptly taken a trip to France while Peter went up to Canada to investigate why Doctor Octopus was interested in his Aunt May, which led to an unintended battle with the Hulk. Mary Jane can’t understand why Gwen didn’t say anything when she came back. Peter reminds her that at the time, Harry Osborn had just suffered a drug overdose and not long after that she was murdered by the Green Goblin.[2] However, he shows her the postmark on the envelope which reveals the letter was mailed recently, from New York City, convincing Peter that someone is messing with him.[3] Peter doesn’t understand who or why this would be done. He says that there are lot of things he has to take on stride as Spider-Man in order to stay sane but there are two lines someone can’t cross with him, the first is Mary Jane, the second is Gwen.
That evening the couple call it a night but Peter can’t sleep. Laying awake he thinks about how this is never easy for Mary Jane who has constantly lived under Gwen’s shadow since she died. Still, no matter what happens she stays with him and never complains. He thinks about how most normal women would have left a long time ago and though he doesn’t deserve Mary Jane, he tries every day to make up for it. Unable to rest, Peter decides to pay a visit to Gwen Stacy’s grave. In the pouring rain, he asks aloud what could have been so terrible that she couldn’t speak about it to him before her death? He would really like to know as he would have tried to help her no matter how terrible it was. Suddenly, Peter’s spider-sense goes off warning him that he is being watched. A male’s voice calls out to him and begins taunting Peter, asking him if he came to atone for his sins. Peter tries to keep the voice talking why he tries to pinpoint his location. While the voice is coming from the east, his spider-sense is warning him that someone is approaching from the west. He is then ambushed by two people, a man, and a woman, who have lightning-fast reflexes and enhanced strength to boot. They slash at him with knives, and Peter barely manages to evade most of the slashes. Realizing he’s at a disadvantage, Peter decides to flee and manages to escape by leaping onto a truck that passes by the cemetery. Watching Peter go, his two attackers are surprised by the display of agility but it makes sense to them. The man, removing his mask, says that it gives them an additional reason to kill Peter Parker, saying that if you are going to kill a man, you should find every reason you can get.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Aunt May, Mary Jane Watson, Gabriel and Sarah Stacy (unidentified)
Continuity Notes
Peter and Mary Jane are referred to as husband and wife here. However, not long after this, their marriage is erased from existence by Mephisto in Amazing Spider-Man #545. On this new timeline, Mary Jane would refer to Peter as her fiancee here.
There is a shit ton of exposition going on here see if you can keep up:
The secret truth that Gwen Stacy wants to divulge is that she was pregnant and gave birth to two twins as the result of an affair with Norman Osborn. Peter learns about the pregnancy in Amazing Spider-Man #510 and the affair in Amazing Spider-Man #512. This affair is pegged at happening sometime around Amazing Spider-Man #61.
Peter was in Canada investigating Doctor Octopus’ Aunt May in Amazing Spider-Man #119-120. However, he doesn’t learn the truth until Amazing Spider-Man #131 after Doc Ock’s failed attempt to marry May. As it turned out she inherited a nuclear power plant up in Canada from one of her relatives (seriously).
Harry Osborn had his drug addiction and subsequent overdose were detailed in Amazing Spider-Man #96-98. Harry later suffered a relapse in Amazing Spider-Man #120.
Gwen Stacy was murdered by the Green Goblin in Amazing Spider-Man #121.
At the time of this story, Peter’s trip to Canada/Harry’s relapse/Gwen’s death all happened roughly 8 years prior to this story.
The date on the postmark here is listed as June 23, 2004. This date should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616.
Continuity Errors
There is a typographical error when the postmark on the letter is displayed. When Peter first looks at the letter on page 7 it has a postmark of July 6, 1998. When Peter later shows it to Mary Jane on page June 23, 2004. The way the information on the postmark is displayed is also vastly different between the two pages. I guess this was to not give away the big reveal? Who can say.
