Don't know if this has already been discussed here. I remember when it came out, but just now got around to reading a second-hand copy. It's pretty impressive. It's one of those reinterpretations of the events surrounding classic comics stories. In this case Peter Parker is shown recalling how he met and became infatuated with Gwen Steacy, back when he and the rest of his supporting cast were college students.

There are several superhero battles, but the main emphasis is on character. The characters largely come across as believable (Though the framing device--a married Peter making tapes to his deceased first girlfriend--borders on creepy). Oddly ,Gwen gets rather less time onstage than one would expect given her supposedly pivotal role. We're also told what a good-hearted and sweet person she was, but are shown relatively little of that.

I like the way the story handles themes of loss and of college-age adolescents maturing, or at least moving in that direction thanks to their experiences. The art does a good job of evoking a sense of memory, of seeing through Peter's eyes as he reaches back in his memory and filters the events through that.

Look carefully and you'll see various hints that the story is taking place in the late 1960s--when the original "Spider-Man" story arcs ran. For example we see posters to period movies like "2001". And Peter and Gwen are shown riding what is clearly a Honda Superhawk motorcycle, a legendary model of the 1960s (Robert M. Pirsig rode a Superhawk on the epic transcontinental bike journey that inspired Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. My dad and his younger brother rode one on a memorable high-speed journey up Mount Nebo). Although in Marvel Universe time only a few years have past, one gets the impression that Peter has decades worth of memories at this point.

I picked this up and read it for the first time recently. Beautifully drawn by Tim Sale. I agree with everything you've written there Daph. Really the story is quite light with lots of nice emotional touches. I too thought the tape recording thing was a tad weird. Strangely, while all characters are depicted fully and well, I thought Gwen was almost two dimensional.

You picked up on that too, huh? I wonder whether maybe the idea we're supposed to get is that the long-dead Gwen has become a kind of icon in Peter's memory--more a symbol of a first love than a fully-realized person? Where Mary Jane has changed and grown over the years, Gwen has been frozen in Peter's memory the way she was back then. And over time, as memory fades, only certain aspects of her have remained.

It occurred to me that it might have been intentional... like the myth of Gwen.

The more I think about it, the more it fits the way the story was told. Gwen has become a mythic figure for Peter.

I remember feeling it was so-so. Maybe I'll reread it.

I've very much fallen out of favor with whatsisname who wrote it.

I have enjoyed all of the Sale/Loeb Marvel collaborations. I hope they get around to finishing their Captain America project.

What's the hold-up on that, anyway?

It's a shame a brilliant artist like Sale has been paired with Loeb his whole career. Though I like Long Halloween and Daredevil Yellow.

Eh, seems like Sale's enjoying the collaboration, as they're close friends... besides, without it, Sale's career wouldn't be nearly what it is today.