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Peter Parker: Spider-Man (Collected Editions) #1
Peter Parker, Spider-Man, Vol. 1: A Day in the Life
The human side of everyone's friendly neighborhood Spider-Man takes center stage in this collection by hot talents Paul Jenkins and Mark Buckingham. After coming to grips with the second greatest personal tragedy in his young life, Peter Parker reexamines his life and role as Spider-Man. His friendship with fellow super hero the Human Torch is explored, and Spidey's alter ego, Peter Parker, takes a stab at stand-up comedy. In addition, the wallcrawler must face down the sinister Sandman, but not with his fists -- rather, he must face the hard reality that he may be responsible for his enemy's fatally degenerative condition. Funny and poignant, these tales put a humanistic spin on the life of the man behind the mask, a life that's not so much different than yours or mine.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
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83 people want to read
About the author
Paul Jenkins
1,288 books158 followersPaul Jenkins is a British comic book writer. He has had much success crossing over into the American comic book market. Primarily working for Marvel Comics, he has had a big part shaping the characters of the company over the past decade.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 12, 2020
This was a darker take for Spider-man but a tasteful one.
First off the 3 part Chamleon storyline was a interesting way to go. I never much thought of the villain and to see him displayed here, with actual depth, made me second guess everything. His ending was really well done and gave a lot of interesting ideas for Peter. I also really enjoyed the issue about Peter visiting Uncle's Ben's gravesite and just chilling there. It had a really sweet ending too.
The other stories range from decent to good. A story of Sandman ends in a much darker way than expected but also some happiness. Kind of a fun story and interesting style to go with. Another one documenting what Happen to Gwen while also focusing on Spider-man and then Peter's view points. All good stuff.
While it can be wordy and some of the art outdated, I enjoyed a good amount of this book. Enough to try out the 2nd one for sure. A 3.5 out of 5.
First off the 3 part Chamleon storyline was a interesting way to go. I never much thought of the villain and to see him displayed here, with actual depth, made me second guess everything. His ending was really well done and gave a lot of interesting ideas for Peter. I also really enjoyed the issue about Peter visiting Uncle's Ben's gravesite and just chilling there. It had a really sweet ending too.
The other stories range from decent to good. A story of Sandman ends in a much darker way than expected but also some happiness. Kind of a fun story and interesting style to go with. Another one documenting what Happen to Gwen while also focusing on Spider-man and then Peter's view points. All good stuff.
While it can be wordy and some of the art outdated, I enjoyed a good amount of this book. Enough to try out the 2nd one for sure. A 3.5 out of 5.
October 18, 2014
This is a dark book that swings too far to an extreme in Spider-man's world. Personal problems and even personal tragedy have always been part of the Spider-man world but this book takes this to an extreme.
In some ways, you can't quite blame Paul Jenkins for this because Marvel mashes together a three part story from the Spider-man magazine Webspinners from 1999 with Jenkins earliest work on Peter Parker Spider-man a year later. Both visit similar themes and are somewhat redundant when shoved into the same trade.
The first three part story "The Scoop" is somewhat inane with the Chameleon going around in a ski mask and being emo in the first two parts with the last part of the story being Spider-man sitting around recalling all the tragedy in his life including the deaths of Captain Stacy and Gwen Stacy.
Jenkins first work on Peter Parker Spider-man in Issue 20 has his moaning and crying at the grave of Uncle Ben about the unhappiness of his life and the death of Uncle Ben. To be fair, he had good reason for this as he was deeply depressed after his wife had apparently been killed. And so the sadness and grief in Issues 20 and 21 were appropriate in the context of the original comics. In this trade, it means we start out with five consecutive issues of almost pure depression.
At the start of Issue 22, we get to see Jenkins potential beyond merely showing Spider-man depressed as Peter goofs off and has a moment's reprise.,,before getting see the Sandman reach an ignominious end that's as depressing if not more so than the Chameleon's.
Then we see Issue 26 which is a great premise that has police officers sharing their thoughts on Spider-man including opinions and some fun mini-stories. Of course, as Jenkins is writing it, it also revisits the death of the Stacys. Although there's a fair bit of lighter stuff thrown in to give a more balanced portrayal.
In the end, this book isn't so much bad as it is unpleasant. Even accounting for how Marvel's decisions in printing this trade account for many of its shortcomings, Jenkins delves too much into Spider-man's past. However, Marvel amplifies this by collecting so many depressing stories in the same book.
In some ways, you can't quite blame Paul Jenkins for this because Marvel mashes together a three part story from the Spider-man magazine Webspinners from 1999 with Jenkins earliest work on Peter Parker Spider-man a year later. Both visit similar themes and are somewhat redundant when shoved into the same trade.
The first three part story "The Scoop" is somewhat inane with the Chameleon going around in a ski mask and being emo in the first two parts with the last part of the story being Spider-man sitting around recalling all the tragedy in his life including the deaths of Captain Stacy and Gwen Stacy.
Jenkins first work on Peter Parker Spider-man in Issue 20 has his moaning and crying at the grave of Uncle Ben about the unhappiness of his life and the death of Uncle Ben. To be fair, he had good reason for this as he was deeply depressed after his wife had apparently been killed. And so the sadness and grief in Issues 20 and 21 were appropriate in the context of the original comics. In this trade, it means we start out with five consecutive issues of almost pure depression.
At the start of Issue 22, we get to see Jenkins potential beyond merely showing Spider-man depressed as Peter goofs off and has a moment's reprise.,,before getting see the Sandman reach an ignominious end that's as depressing if not more so than the Chameleon's.
Then we see Issue 26 which is a great premise that has police officers sharing their thoughts on Spider-man including opinions and some fun mini-stories. Of course, as Jenkins is writing it, it also revisits the death of the Stacys. Although there's a fair bit of lighter stuff thrown in to give a more balanced portrayal.
In the end, this book isn't so much bad as it is unpleasant. Even accounting for how Marvel's decisions in printing this trade account for many of its shortcomings, Jenkins delves too much into Spider-man's past. However, Marvel amplifies this by collecting so many depressing stories in the same book.
August 3, 2017
Shows the best of Spidey's storytelling history, in that it gives you the sense of a long, convoluted history before clearing that out to deliver solid done-in-ones. Probably not the best for somebody just wanting to get into the character, but it makes for great intermediate reading. Jenkins has a solid handle on Peter Parker's voice, the self-pity and charm coming through in equal doses. The art is good enough for a second-tier Spidey book. Sean Phillips, JG Jones, Mark Buckingham and Joe Bennett probably aren't ASM material, but they work really well with what they're given. Buckingham especially makes a great team with Jenkins. I'm very fond of this run, and this trade paperback is one of my favorites.
February 27, 2021
Art was fine, nothing extremely remarkable.
But Paul Jenkins writes really good comics. It might get a bit solemn for Spider-Man at times, but at this point in his arc Peter is depressed. He's literally lost everyone he cared about except for Aunt May and he is a Hot Mess. Yet Jenkins doesn't forget he's writing Spidey, so we get that fantastic scene of Peter singing Bohemian Rhapsody, naked in his apartment, eating ice cream directly from the tub.
Jenkins is not only great at highlighting the human aspects of superheroes, but also supervillains. Never have I been sadder by a baddie's death than when the Sandman tries to write a letter to his mom, fails, and asks Peter to write one for him.
First good supes comic I've read in a while!
But Paul Jenkins writes really good comics. It might get a bit solemn for Spider-Man at times, but at this point in his arc Peter is depressed. He's literally lost everyone he cared about except for Aunt May and he is a Hot Mess. Yet Jenkins doesn't forget he's writing Spidey, so we get that fantastic scene of Peter singing Bohemian Rhapsody, naked in his apartment, eating ice cream directly from the tub.
Jenkins is not only great at highlighting the human aspects of superheroes, but also supervillains. Never have I been sadder by a baddie's death than when the Sandman tries to write a letter to his mom, fails, and asks Peter to write one for him.
First good supes comic I've read in a while!
July 9, 2019
This was a very depressing collection. It was realistic. Maybe a bit too realistic.
June 15, 2020
This is some of Paul Jenkins's earliest work on Spider-Man. A Day in the Life is a little uneven, but the best stories in the collection are good enough to shrug off the others.
July 9, 2013
Overall a good read (if a bit wordy at times) with highlights including an excellent three-issue Chamelon story, a talk with Uncle Ben, and a day in the life of New York’s finest.
January 15, 2016
This book was a big Spidey downer. Too serious for the web slinger. We all know his tragic past. This was 100 or so pages of him whining about it.
September 13, 2018
read as issues #20-26
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews