Spider-Man: Blue #3
Anything Goes
Peter Parker continues to record his memories of the time he and Gwen Stacy started their romance. He realizes that he is getting to a very complicated part of the story as it involves the time when Mary Jane first entered his life. He understands that someone listening to this recording might wonder what the point of making a recording about one beautiful woman when he’s going to talk about a completely different beautiful woman. He tells whoever is listening that he can’t explain how much he loved Gwen Stacy without also talking about Mary Jane Watson….[1]
Peter recalls the day that he was going to introduce Mary Jane Watson to his gang of friends, he did so as a kindness to Anna Watson, Mary Jane’s aunt. Mary Jane had arrived at the diner first and began introducing herself to everyone before Peter arrived. By the time he did, the men were completely floored to discover that Mary Jane was with Peter Parker. Gwen Stacy, on the other hand, was instantly jealous. Mary Jane then pulled Peter away to have him buy her a cup of tea. As they go, Flash admitted that he didn’t get it how a girl like that could be with Peter Parker. That’s when Gwen pointed out that what Flash knows about Peter Parker couldn’t fit a thimble. That’s when they caught a news report about a sighting of the Lizard at Penn Station. A woman of excitement at the time, Mary Jane suggested that Peter take her to check the place out and dragged him out by his tie. Reflecting back on this moment, Peter admits that it was insanity showing up with the “oh girl” after Gwen was just starting to notice him. However, he concedes that with Mary Jane Watson, everything goes.
Continuing his recollection he remembers how they arrived on the scene to find the police had cordoned off the station. Needing to get in, Peter was pleasantly surprised when Mary Jane distracted the officer guarding the cordon so Peter could slip by. Peter then changed into Spider-Man and entered the station where he quickly found Martha and Billy Connors. After listening to her concerns, the web-slinger promised Martha that he would find her husband and went into the subway tunnel to find him. There, Spider-Man was ambushed by the Lizard, and while the pair struggled, a subway train starts barreling toward them. Unable to break free from the Lizard’s grasp, Spider-Man leaps up to the ceiling, slamming it hard enough for the Lizard to let go. Unfortunately, the pair landed on either side of the passing subway train. That’s when a mysterious figure called out to the Lizard from the shadows, offering to lead the creature to safety as they both want to kill Spider-Man.[2] After discovering the Lizard escaped, Peter changed out of his costume and returned to Mary Jane and told her about the photos he managed to get. She kisses him on the forehead for a job well done and even refers to him as her guy. Peter doesn’t know what to make of this, particularly when Mary Jane decides to head off seeking fun elsewhere when Peter told her that he needed to get the photos to the Daily Bugle.
Spider-Man eventually tracked the Lizard down to Curt Connor’s lab where the creature was trying to find Connors’ notes on the lizard formula on a quest to restore reptiles as the dominant species on the planet. After a brief battle, Spider-Man threw the Lizard into a cylinder of liquid nitrogen. The sudden cold put the Lizard into a state of hibernation long enough for the web-slinger to inject him with the cure. That’s when Martha and Billy were arriving and by the time they enter the lab, Curt is back to normal.
Later that evening, Peter Parker returned home to find Harry Osborn sitting on the porch outside. Harry explains that while his father is still recovering in the hospital his apartment in the city is unoccupied.[3] Harry has decided to move in and had come to ask Peter to be his roommate. Peter is flattered and promises to run it by with his Aunt May first. That’s when Harry revealed that he was interested in Mary Jane and wanted to know what their standing was. Peter told Harry that Mary Jane was just a friend. When he got up to leave, Harry thanked Peter for the tip on Mary Jane and then pointed out that Gwen has had her eye on him. That came as a shock to Peter, who didn’t hear when his Aunt May called out to him to tell him his dinner is getting cold.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, the Lizard, Mary Jane Watson, Harry Osborn, Gwen Stacy, Flash Thompson, Martha Connors, Billy Connors, Aunt May (voice only)
Continuity Notes
As mentioned before, I’m of the mind that this narrative was recorded between the events of Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #50 and 51. See my explanation in the previous two issues notes for more details. The events of this story occur around the events of Amazing Spider-Man #44-45. Per the Sliding Timescale, the events in this story take place about eight years prior to Peter recording his narrative.
The man in the shadows is Kraven the Hunter as we’ll see in Spider-Man: Blue #6.
Norman Osborn has been in the hospital since Spider-Man defeated him as the Green Goblin in Amazing Spider-Man #40.
Fitting Continuity
As mentioned in previous summaries for this series, the continuity in these stories requires some real creativity in order for them to fit into pre-established continuity. I went at length with my thoughts on this in the past two issues. The TL;DR version is that these stories are told from the perspective of Peter Parker when the original stories were told in the third person. I have posited that Peter’s recollections are a little mixed up because he’s trying to recount battles he had as Spider-Man from eight years ago and is focusing on his romance with Gwen Stacy.
This story is based on the events of Amazing Spider-Man #44-45, which saw Spider-Man clash with the Lizard. When adapting this story Jeph Loeb made some changes and a lot of the events in this story are different or condensed, likely for narrative pacing. As I’ve said before, it seems like Peter is confusing events and as such the chronology of this story is going to be all over the place.
In the original story, Mary Jane doesn’t meet the rest of the gang until after Spider-Man’s search for the Lizard at Penn Station. Mary Jane’s insistence that they go to the scene at Penn Station is more like how Mary Jane convinced Peter to take her to the scene of the Rhino in Amazing Spider-Man #42. In the original story, Peter was at Penn Station dropping his Aunt off to catch a train to Florida. Another omission is the fact that Peter’s arm is injured by the end of Amazing Spider-Man #44 that he is fighting with a bandaged arm as Spider-Man in the following issue. In the retelling above, Spider-Man does not appear to suffer such an injury.
Another change is that Spider-Man confronts the Lizard at his lab and uses liquid nitrogen to freeze him. In the original story, the pair fight in a trainyard and he defeats the creature in a refrigerated railcar, webs up the Lizard, and carries him back to Connors’ lab and cures him that way.
Lastly, Harry asking Peter to be his roommate happed in Amazing Spider-Man #46, and they had that conversation in Harry’s car not on the stoop of Peter’s home. Also, Harry hadn’t bothered asking Peter about Mary Jane as the two already were seen on a date near the end of issue #45. Also, Peter and Harry had that discussion before Aunt May returned from her vacation.
Placing this issue into Spider-Man continuity is going to require a lot of creative placements. Comparing this issue to the Amazing Spider-Man stories they are based.
Chronology
Amazing Spider-Man #44 (ASM #44) Page 1-5, Panel 4: Peter Parker drops off Aunt May at Penn Station for her trip to Florida. Curt Connors is waiting for his family to arrive and realizes he is starting to transform into the Lizard again. Marth and Billy arrive. Curt flees into the subway tunnel and transforms into the Lizard.
Spider-Man: Blue #3 (SMB #3): 1-10: Mary Jane arrives at the Silver Spoon ahead of Peter and beings introducing herself to their friends. His being late could be attributed to dropping Aunt May off at Penn Station. Peter and Mary Jane see the news broadcast (by this point, the news would be reporting on the Lizard sighting) and go to the scene, Mary Jane helps Peter sneak past the police cordon.
ASM #44 Page 5, Panel 5 to Page 6, Panel 1: Peter spots Martha and Billy among the crowd and decides to approach them as Spider-Man.
ASM #44 Page 5 Panel 6 to Page 6 and SMB #3 page 11 are congruous as they are both scenes where Spider-Man meets up with the Connors and assures them he'll find Curt.
ASM #44 Page 7-Page 8, Panel 3: Spider-Man enters the tunnel and recounts his first encounter with the Lizard.
SMB #3 Page 12-15: Spider-Man battles the Lizard in the subway tunnel. Kraven helps the Lizard escape.
ASM #44 Page 8 Panel 4-Page 9 panel 1: Spider-Man finds the hole into the subway tunnel into the sewers. Goes back to the Connors, sees them off in a cab. Peter changes out of his costume.
SMB #3: Page 16: Peter catches up with Mary Jane. She kisses him on the forehead. She leaves when he says he needs to go to the Daily Bugle.
The rest of ASM #44: Peter goes to the Bugle, tries to get Jameson interested in the Lizard. He returns to the Silver Spoon, reintroduces everyone to Mary Jane (one could assume that a proper round of introductions where needed after he and Mary Jane abruptly left earlier) Spider-Man is lured into battling the Lizard, his arm gets injured and taped up. Goes home, Mary Jane calls, he tells her he can’t go out.
Amazing Spider-Man #45 (ASM #45) Page 1-18, Panel 4: Peter deals with his sprained arm. Searches for the Lizard. Battles him in the train yards. Defeats him in the refrigerator car. Takes him back to Connor’s lab in a webbing cocoon and begins trying to cure him while Martha and Billy arrive at the door.
This is where things need to get creative. SMB #3 Page 17-20, Panel 1. The Lizard is ripping up Connor’s lab. Spider-Man freezes him with liquid nitrogen long enough to inject him with a cure. You need to ignore the first-panel showing Spider-Man arriving, also you should ignore the fact that Peter’s arm isn’t bound up. I slot this part of the story here because Panel 3 on Page 18 of ASM #45 has a tense moment where Connors is emerging from the cocoon of webbing and Spider-Man wonders if he’s back to normal or still the Lizard. My placement suggests that he comes out as the Lizard leading to the second freezing (liquid nitrogen would work a lot better than a refrigerator car)
ASM #45 page 18 panels 5-Page 19, panel 1 and SMB #3 Page 20 Panels 2-5 are congruous as both feature the Connors family being reunited and Spider-Man departing.
The rest of ASM #45: Peter catches Harry and Mary Jane out on a date. Goes home and is given a meal by Anna Watson. Has a temper tantrum about how hard life is being Spider-Man.
Amazing Spider-Man #46 Page 1-19 Panel 2: This has to come next. because it sets up the last sequence in SMB #3. Spider-Man defeats the Shocker. Harry makes his first offer for Peter to move in, Peter says he has to check with his Aunt May. Peter also stops wearing the arm sling. Page 19, Panel 3 shows Peter waking up the next morning so…..
SMB #3 page 21-22: Peter returns home, finds Harry waiting for him. He reiterates his offer for Peter to move in, also confirms if it is okay to go on dates with Mary Jane.
