Spectacular Spider-Man (vol. 2) #26
Sins Remembered: Sarah’s Story Part 4
Arriving at Norman Osborn’s Parisian Mansion, Mary Jane Watson has come looking for Peter Parker and has run into Gabriel Stacy. Gabriel demands to know where her sister Sarah is, but Mary Jane doesn’t know. In extreme pain and delusional. Gabriel suddenly changes his tone, thinking that Mary Jane is his sister. He then picks Mary Jane up promising he’ll protect her and make sure nobody harms her ever again.
Meanwhile, Spider-Man — who has been looking for Sarah Stacy himself — has teamed up with Francois Benoit of Interpol. The two arrive at the Interpol satellite office. There, Spider-Man is allowed to look through the file Interpol had collected on the Stacy twins. It is thin as Interpol had only opened a file on the Stacy twins about a year ago, about the same time that the Black Hand criminal organization started showing up in the area. Spider-Man is surprised to see that they have a photo of Gwen Stacy just after she gave birth to the twins. Inspector Benoit explains that while the Stacy’s forged their passports as their ages didn’t match their official documents, but they used their real names which led them to find the photo.[1] Benoit explains that he will arrest Sarah and her brother for their assisting in the Black Hand’s criminal activities as their leader, Monsieur Dupres uses the money he gets from selling illegal drugs to fund terrorists. Spider-Man, unfortunately, doesn’t know where she is. Francois figures that she is going after Dupres since he put out a hit on her.
Although Benoit believes that Sarah won’t be able to get through all of the security features around Dupres compound, Sarah manages to get there through the sewers and slip past the armed guards and security cameras. Spider-Man points out that Francois is underestimating her, likely because they don’t have superhumans in France like they do in the United States.[2] Spider-Man suggests putting her talents to good use, suggesting that instead of arresting Sarah, bring her in to work for Interpol. That’s when one of the other agents enters the room and tells them that they found Mary Jane Watson.[3] He asks Spider-Man to join them because they have reason to believe that she is not alone at the Osborn mansion and she might be in danger. Putting things together, Spider-Man realizes that the person at the mansion is Gabriel and that Sarah has been hiding him there without his knowledge the whole time. Concerned for Mary Jane’s safety, Spider-Man swings off to rescue her. Meanwhile, Sarah is caught by Dupres guards, but easily overpowers them and when she finally confronts their boss tells him to stop harassing her family. When he refuses a gunfight breaks out.
Meanwhile, Spider-Man arrives at the Osborn mansion and tries to rescue Mary Jane from Gabriel Stacy. Gabe tries to keep Spider-Man at bay with his pumpkin bombs but manages to scoop up Mary Jane. Still thinking that she is his sister, Gabriel tells Mary Jane to come with him as the police arrive at the scene. When Mary Jane refuses to go with him, Gabe flies away on a goblin glider. Spider-Man then races to Dupres mansion where he convinces Sarah not to kill Dupres. She eventually drops her gun and breaks down crying. Later, when Interpol arrives, Spider-Man leaves Sarah in the care of Inspector Benoit, telling her that he will look after her from now on. Later still, Sarah meets with Mary Jane and says that she has accepted an offer to join Interpol who has agreed to assign doctors to try and find a cure for her condition while she works for them. She then apologizes to Mary Jane for kissing Peter earlier saying that she is not mentally well. Mary Jane points out that many of the most important people in history struggled with mental illness, however, their accomplishments was what made them special and figures that Sarah will prove her worth to the world soon enough.
That’s when Peter Parker arrives and he accepts Sarah’s apology for him as well. He then hands her the photo of her mother after she gave birth to Sarah and Gabriel. He then tells Sarah that her Gwen would be very proud of her right now. With Sarah in good hands, Peter and Mary Jane decide it is time to head home. On the flight home, Peter reiterates how much he truly loves Mary Jane and the two make amends. On his way home, Peter thinks about how they call Paris the city where people find love and disagrees with that sentiment. He thinks Paris is where you go to remember what truly matters. He figures that’s why Gwen chose to go there to give birth to her twins and what convinced her to come back to him before she died. He also thinks that Paris is called the city of light because it illuminates a path from your past to your future. He thinks about Sarah Stacy' then and thinks she has a very bright future ahead of her.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Mary Jane Watson, Sarah Stacy, Gabriel Stacy, Black Hand, Francois Benoit
Continuity Notes
Lots to unpack here what about the Stacy twins: As we learned in Amazing Spider-Man #509-514, the twins are the bastard offspring of Gwen Stacy and Norman Osborn. The paid had an affair sometime around Amazing Spider-Man #61. Gwen got pregnant and secretly gave birth to the twins sometime around Amazing Spider-Man #119. Sarah and Gabriel Stacy suffer from a condition where they age four times faster than normal people, hence explaining why they are adults even though they were born roughly eight years prior to this story per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616.
Spider-Man would be wrong in saying France doesn’t have any superheroes. There have been many, but most recently (at least as far as this story is concerned) were Les Heroes de Paris, who first appeared in Fantastic Four #541 (although that story takes place after this one, Les Heroes are depicted as a well established and known superhero team by that point)
Mary Jane is referred to as the wife of Peter Parker. However, not long after this story, their marriage is erased from existence by Mephisto in Amazing Spider-Man #545. In the altered timeline, Peter and Mary Jane would be referred to as an engaged couple instead of husband and wife.
