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Comic book

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A comic book or comicbook,^[1] also called comic paper or comic magazine (often shortened to simply comic or comics) is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog (usually in word balloons, emblematic of the comic book art form) as well as including brief descriptive prose. The first comic book appeared in the United States in 1933, reprinting the earlier newspaper comic strips, which established many of the story-telling devices used in comics. The term "comic book" arose because the first comic books reprinted humor comic strips. Despite their name, comic books are not necessarily humorous in tone; modern comic books tell stories in a variety of genres.

American comic books[link]

Rulah, Jungle Goddess No. 24 (March 1949): An example of a non-superhero jungle-girl character. Cover artist(s) unknown.

Adventures into Darkness: Horror stories

Since the introduction of the comic book format in 1933 with the publication of Famous Funnies, the United States has produced the most titles, with only the British comic and Japanese manga as close competitors in terms of quantity of titles, though manga has many more followers and dwarfs American comics in readership.^{[citation needed]}

Cultural historians divide the career of the comic book in the U.S. into several ages or historical eras:

• Proto-comic books and the Platinum Age
• Golden Age
• Silver Age
• Bronze Age
• Modern Age

Comic book historians continue to debate the exact boundaries of these eras, but they have come to an agreement, the terms for which originated in the fan press. Comics as a print medium have existed in America since the printing of The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck in 1842 in hardcover—making it the first known American prototype comic book. The introduction of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's Superman in 1938 turned comic books into a major industry,^[2] and is the start of the Golden Age of comics. Historians have proposed several names for the Age before Superman, most commonly dubbing it the Platinum Age.^[3]

While the Platinum Age saw the first use of the term "comic book" (The Yellow Kid in McFadden's Flats (1897)), the first known full-color comic (The Blackberries (1901)), and the first monthly comic book (Comics Monthly (1922)), it was not until the Golden Age that the archetype of the superhero would originate.

The Silver Age of comic books is generally considered to date from the first successful revival of the dormant superhero form—the debut of Robert Kanigher and Carmine Infantino's Flash in Showcase No. 4 (September/October 1956).^[4][5] The Silver Age lasted through the late 1960s or early 1970s, during which time Marvel Comics revolutionized the medium with such naturalistic superheroes as Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's Fantastic Four and Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's Spider-Man.

The precise beginnings of the Bronze and Copper Ages remain less well-defined. Suggested starting points for the Bronze Age of comics include Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith's Conan No. 1 (October 1970), Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams' Green Lantern/Green Arrow No. 76 (April 1970), or Stan Lee and Gil Kane's The Amazing Spider-Man No. 96 (May 1971; the non-Comics Code issue). The start of the Copper Age (apprx. 1984-2000) has even more potential starting points, but is generally agreed to be the publication of Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Alan Moore's Watchmen by DC Comics in 1986, as well as the publication of DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths, written by Marv Wolfman with pencils by George Pérez. Another possible starting point is Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars, published in 1984.^{[citation needed]}

The Modern Age is generally accepted^{[by whom?]} as being from 2000 to the Present.^{[citation needed]}

A notable event in the history of the American comic book came with the psychiatrist Fredric Wertham's criticisms of the medium in his book Seduction of the Innocent (1954), which prompted the American Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency to investigate comic books. In response to attention from the government and from the media, the U.S. comic book industry set up the Comics Code Authority in 1954 and drafted the "Comics Code" in the same year.

Underground comic books[link]

In the late 1960s and early 1970s a surge of creativity emerged in what became known as underground comics. Published and distributed independently of the established comics industry, most of such comics reflected the youth counterculture and drug culture of the time. Many had an uninhibited, often irreverent style; their frank depictions of nudity, sex, profanity, and politics had no parallel outside their precursors, the pornographic and even more obscure "Tijuana bibles". Underground comics were almost never sold at news stands, but rather in such youth-oriented outlets as head shops and record stores, as well as by mail order.

Frank Stack's The Adventures of Jesus, published under the name Foolbert Sturgeon,^[6][7] has been credited as the first underground comic.^[6][7]

Alternative comics[link]

The rise of comic book specialty stores in the late 1970s created/paralleled a dedicated market for "independent" or "alternative comics" in the U.S. The first such comics included the anthology series Star Reach, published by comic book writer Mike Friedrich from 1974 to 1979, and Harvey Pekar's American Splendor, which continued sporadic publication into the 21st century and which Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini adapted into a 2003 film. Some independent comics continued in the tradition of underground comics, though their content was generally less explicit, and others resembled the output of mainstream publishers in format and genre but were published by smaller artist-owned companies or by single artists. A few (notably RAW) were experimental attempts to bring comics closer to the status of fine art.

During the 1970s the "small press" culture grew and diversified. By the 1980s, several independent publishers, such as Pacific, Eclipse, First, Comico, and Fantagraphics had started releasing a wide range of styles and formats—from color superhero, detective, and science fiction comic books to black-and-white magazine-format stories of Latin American magical realism.

A number of small publishers in the 1990s changed the format and distribution of their comics to more closely resemble non-comics publishing. The "minicomics" form, an extremely informal version of self-publishing, arose in the 1980s and became increasingly popular among artists in the 1990s, despite reaching an even more limited audience than the small press.

As of 2009^[update] small publishers regularly releasing titles include Avatar Comics, Hyperwerks, Raytoons, and Terminal Press, buoyed by such advances in printing technology as digital print-on-demand.

Graphic novels[link]

In 1964, Richard Kyle coined the term "graphic novel" to distinguish newly translated European works from genre-driven subject matter common in American comics. Precursors of the form existed by the 1920s, which saw a revival of the medieval woodcut tradition by Belgian Frans Masereel,^[8] American Lynd Ward and others. In 1950, St. John Publications produced the digest-sized, adult-oriented "picture novel" It Rhymes with Lust, a 128-page digest by pseudonymous writer "Drake Waller" (Arnold Drake and Leslie Waller), penciler Matt Baker and inker Ray Osrin, touted as "an original full-length novel" on its cover. In 1971, writer-artist Gil Kane and collaborators devised the paperback "comics novel" Blackmark. Will Eisner popularized the term "graphic novel" when he used it on the cover of the paperback edition of his work A Contract with God, and Other Tenement Stories in 1978.

Digital graphic novels[link]

Comic book collecting[link]

This section requires expansion.

The rarest^{[citation needed]} comic books include copies of the unreleased Motion Picture Funnies Weekly No. 1 from 1939. Eight copies, plus one without a cover, emerged in the estate of the deceased publisher in 1974. The "Pay Copy" of this book sold for $43,125 in a 2005 Heritage auction.^[9]

The most valuable American comics have combined rarity and quality with the first appearances of popular and enduring characters. Four comic books to have sold for over $1 million USD as of December 2010, including two examples of Action Comics No. 1, the first appearance of Superman,^[10][11] both sold privately through online dealer ComicConnect.com in 2010, and Detective Comics No. 27, the first appearance of Batman, via public auction.

Misprints, promotional comic-dealer incentive printings, and similar issues with extremely low distribution also generally have scarcity value. The rarest modern comic books include the original press run of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen No. 5, which DC executive Paul Levitz recalled and pulped due to the appearance of a vintage Victorian era advertisement for "Marvel Douche", which the publisher considered offensive;^[12] only 100 copies exist, most of which have been CGC graded. (See Recalled comics for more pulped, recalled, and erroneous comics.)

In 2000, a company named CGC began to "slab" comics, encasing them in a thick plastic and giving them a numeric grade.

European comics[link]

Franco-Belgian comics[link]

France and Belgium have a long tradition in comics and comic books, called BDs (an abbreviation of bande dessinées) in French and strips in Dutch. Belgian comic books originally written in Dutch show the influence of the Francophone "Franco-Belgian" comics, but have their own distinct style.

The name la bande dessinée derives from the original description of the art form as drawn strips (the phrase literally translates as "the drawn strip"), analogous to the sequence of images in a film strip. As in its English equivalent, the word "bande" can be applied to both film and comics. Significantly, the French-language term contains no indication of subject-matter, unlike the American terms "comics" and "funnies", which imply an art form not to be taken seriously. The distinction of comics as le neuvième art (literally, "the ninth art") is prevalent in French scholarship on the form, as is the concept of comics criticism and scholarship itself. Relative to the respective size of their populations, the innumerable authors in France and Belgium publish a high volume of comic books. In North America, the more serious Franco-Belgian comics are often seen as equivalent to graphic novels, but whether they are long or short, bound or in magazine format, in Europe there is no need for a more sophisticated term, as the art's name does not itself imply something frivolous.

In France, authors control the publication of most comics. The author works within a self-appointed time-frame, and it is common for readers to wait six months or as long as two years between installments. Most books first appear in print as a hardcover book, typically with 48, 56, or 64 pages.

British comics[link]

Originally the same size as a usual comic book in the U.S. (although lacking the glossy cover), the British comic has adopted a magazine size, with The Beano and The Dandy the last to adopt this size (in the 1980s). Although the British generally speak of "a comic" or of "a comic magazine", and they also historically spoke of "a comic paper". Some comics, such as Judge Dredd and other 2000 AD titles, have been published in a tabloid form.

Although Ally Sloper's Half Holiday (1884), the first comic published in Britain, was aimed at an adult market, publishers quickly targeted a younger market, which has led to most publications being for children and created an association in the public's mind of comics as somewhat juvenile.

Popular titles within the UK have included The Beano, The Dandy, The Eagle, 2000 AD, and Viz. Underground comics and "small press" titles have also been published within the UK, notably Oz and Escape Magazine.

The content of Action, another title aimed at children and launched in the mid-1970s, became the subject of discussion in the House of Commons. Although on a smaller scale than similar investigations in the U.S., such concerns led to a moderation of content published within British comics. Such moderation never became formalized to the extent of promulgating a code, nor did it last long.

The UK has also established a healthy market in the reprinting and repackaging of material, notably material originating in the U.S. The lack of reliable supplies of American comic books led to a variety of black-and-white reprints, including Marvel's monster comics of the 1950s, Fawcett's Captain Marvel, and other characters such as Sheena, Mandrake the Magician, and the Phantom. Several reprint companies were involved in repackaging American material for the British market, notably the importer and distributor Thorpe & Porter.

Marvel Comics established a UK office in 1972. DC Comics and Dark Horse Comics also opened offices in the 1990s. The repackaging of European material has occurred less frequently, although the Tintin and Asterix serials have been successfully translated and repackaged in softcover books.

At Christmas time, publishers repackage and commission material for comic annuals, printed and bound as hardcover A4-size books; Rupert supplies a famous example of the British comic annual. DC Thomson also repackages The Broons and Oor Wullie strips in softcover A4-size books for the holiday season.

On 19 March 2012, the British postal service, the Royal Mail, released a set of stamps depicting British comic-book characters and series.^[13] The collection featured The Beano, The Dandy, Eagle, The Topper, Roy of the Rovers, Bunty, Buster, Valiant, Twinkle and 2000 AD.

Italian comics[link]

In Italy, comics (known in Italian as fumetti) made their debut as humor strips at the end of the 19th century, and later evolved into adventure stories inspired by those coming from the U.S.^{[citation needed]} After World War II, however, artists like Hugo Pratt and Guido Crepax exposed Italian comics to an international audience. "Author" comics^{[clarification needed]} contain often strong erotic contents. Popular comic books such as Diabolik or the Bonelli line—namely Tex Willer or Dylan Dog—remain best-sellers.

Mainstream comics are usually published on a monthly basis, in a black-and-white digest size format, with approximately 100 to 132 pages. Collections of classic material for the most famous characters, usually with more than 200 pages, are also common. Author comics are published in the French BD format, with an example being Pratt's Corto Maltese.

Italian cartoonists show the influence of comics from other countries, including France, Belgium, Spain, and Argentina. Italy is also famous for being one of the foremost producers of Walt Disney comic stories outside the U.S. Donald Duck's superhero alter ego, Paperinik, known in English as Superduck, was created in Italy.

Japanese comics[link]

This article may not properly summarize the main article. Specific concerns can be found on the Talk page. Please improve this article if you can.

The first comic books in Japan appeared during the 18th century in the form of woodblock-printed booklets containing short stories drawn from folk tales, legends, and historical accounts, told in a simple visual-verbal idiom. Known as "red books" (赤本, akahon^?), "black books" (黒本, kurobon^?), and "blue books" (青本, aohon^?), these were written primarily for less literate readers. However, with the publication in 1775 of Koikawa Harumachi's comic book Master Flashgold's Splendiferous Dream (金々先生栄花の夢, Kinkin sensei eiga no yume^?), an adult form of comic book originated, which required greater literacy and cultural sophistication. This was known as the kibyōshi (黄表紙^?, lit. yellow cover). Published in thousands (possibly^{[original research?]} tens of thousands) of copies, the kibyōshi may have been the earliest fully realized comic book for adults in world literary history. Approximately 2,000 titles remain extant.

Modern comic books in Japan developed from a mixture of these earlier comic books and of woodblock prints ukiyo-e (浮世絵^?) with Western styles of drawing. They took their current^[update] form shortly after World War II. They are usually published in black-and-white, except for the covers, which are usually printed in four colors, although occasionally, the first few pages may also be printed in full color. The term manga means "random (or whimsical) pictures", and first came into common usage in the late 18th century with the publication of such works as Santō Kyōden's picturebook Shiji no yukikai (四時交加^?) (1798) and Aikawa Minwa's Comic Sketches of a Hundred Women (1798).

Development of this form occurred as a result of Japan's attempts to modernize itself^{[citation needed]}, a desire awakened by trade with the U.S.^{[citation needed]} Western artists were brought over to teach their students such concepts as line, form, and color; things which had not been regarded as conceptually important in ukiyo-e, as the idea behind the picture was of paramount importance. Manga at this time was referred to as Ponchi-e (Punch-picture) and, like its British counterpart Punch magazine, mainly depicted humor and political satire in short one- or four-picture format.

Dr. Osamu Tezuka (1928–1989), widely acknowledged^{[by whom?]} as the father of narrative manga, further developed this form. Seeing an animated war propaganda film titled Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors (桃太郎 海の神兵, Momotarō Umi no Shinpei^?) inspired Tezuka to become a comic artist. He introduced episodic storytelling and character development in comic format, in which each story is part of larger story arc. The only text in Tezuka's comics was the characters' dialogue and this further lent his comics a cinematic quality. Inspired by the work of Walt Disney, Tezuka also adopted a style of drawing facial features in which a character's eyes, nose, and mouth are drawn in an extremely exaggerated manner. This style created immediately recognizable expressions using very few lines, and the simplicity of this style allowed Tezuka to be prolific. Tezuka's work generated new interest in the ukiyo-e tradition, in which the image is a representation of an idea, rather than a depiction of reality.

Though a close equivalent to the American comic book, manga has historically held a more important place in Japanese culture than comics have in American culture. Japanese society shows a wide respect for manga, both as an art form and as a form of popular literature. Many manga become television shows or short films. As with its American counterpart, some manga has been criticized for its sexuality and violence, although in the absence of official or even industry restrictions on content, artists have freely created manga for every age group and for every topic.

Manga magazines—also known as "anthologies", or colloquially, "phone books"^{[citation needed]}—often run several series concurrently, with approximately 20 to 40 pages allocated to each series per issue. These magazines are usually printed^{[by whom?]} on low-quality newsprint and range from 200 to more than 850 pages each. Manga magazines also contain one-shot comics and a variety of four-panel yonkoma (equivalent to comic strips). Manga series may continue for many years if they are successful, with stories often collected and reprinted in book-sized volumes called tankōbon (単行本^?, lit. stand-alone book), the equivalent of the American trade paperbacks. These volumes use higher-quality paper and are useful to readers who want to be brought up to date with a series, or to readers who find the cost of the weekly or monthly publications to be prohibitive. Deluxe versions are printed as commemorative or collectible editions. Conversely, old manga titles are also reprinted using lower-quality paper and sold for 120 ¥ (approximately $1 USD) each.

Doujinshi[link]

Doujinshi (同人誌^?, lit. fan magazine), fan-made Japanese comics operate in a far larger market in Japan than the American "underground comics" market; the largest doujinshi fair, Comic Market, attracts 500,000 visitors twice a year.

See also[link]

Comics portal

• Cartoon
• Comics Studies
• Comics vocabulary
• Webcomic
• Digital comics

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Kern, Adam L. (18 December 2006). Manga from the Floating World: Comic book Culture and the Kibyôshi of Edo Japan. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Asia Center. ISBN 978-0-674-02266-9. 
• Inge, M. Thomas (1979). "Comics as Culture". Journal of Popular Culture 12 (631). 
• Martin, Tim (2 April 2009). "How Comic Books Became Part of the Literary Establishment". Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/5094231/How-Comic-Books-became-part-of-the-literary-establishment.html. 

External links[link]

• Grand Comics Database
• The Comic Book Database
• Comic book Reference Bibliographic Datafile
• Sequart Research & Literacy Organization
• Comic Book Resources
• The Comics Ninja
• Comic Art Collection at the University of Missouri
• The Comics Journal
• The Comics Reporter

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Gwendolyn "Gwen" Stacy^[1][2] appears as a supporting character in Marvel Comics' Spider-Man series. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, she first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #31 (December 1965).

A blonde college student, Gwen was originally the first love of Peter Parker (Spider-Man) before the introduction of Mary Jane Watson. The Green Goblin (Norman Osborn) killed Gwen in The Amazing Spider-Man #121 (June 1973). Both the decision to kill Gwen and the method in which Marvel implemented it remain controversial among fans, but the death became a pivotal point in both Spider-Man’s history and in American comic books in general. Many point to Gwen's death as the end of the so-called Silver Age of comics.^[3] Spider-Man writers and fans disagree about who is the character’s "one true love;" Gwen or his subsequent love-interest Mary Jane. The character was ranked 89th in Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list.^[4]

In the 2007 feature film Spider-Man 3, Gwen is portrayed by Bryce Dallas Howard. In the upcoming reboot The Amazing Spider-Man she will be played by Emma Stone.

Fictional character biography[link]

Background[link]

Gwen first appears in The Amazing Spider-Man #31 (December 1965). Peter Parker meets Gwen while both study as undergraduates at Empire State University.^[5] Initially, with Aunt May in the hospital, Peter feels troubled and ignores her advances; insulted, she dates both Flash Thompson and Harry Osborn. Gradually, however, a romance develops; Gwen, a science major, seems to appreciate Peter's intellectual personality. In the comic books, their relationship begins almost immediately after a relationship between Peter and Betty Brant ends.

Their relationship almost ends before it begins. A mind-controlled (police) Captain George Stacy, Gwen's father, gets into a fight with Peter, which Gwen observes. Thinking Peter attacked her father, she halts the relationship. Gwen eventually learns the truth and she and Peter reconcile. Their romance becomes more complicated when Gwen's father is killed by falling debris during a battle involving Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus (The Amazing Spider-Man #90). Gwen blames Spider-Man for his death, which sets their relationship back for a while. Gwen leaves for Europe to cope with her loss. She wants Peter to ask her to marry him and convince her to stay, but his guilt stops him from proposing.

Peter goes to London to see Gwen, but is forced into action as Spider-Man and leaves without seeing Gwen. Gwen eventually realizes her error in trying to pressure Peter into marriage, so she returns to New York and they get back together.

Death[link]

In The Amazing Spider-Man #121 (June 1973), by writer Gerry Conway and penciller Gil Kane, the Green Goblin (Norman Osborn, who has identified Peter Parker as Spider-Man) holds Gwen Stacy captive on a tower of the George Washington Bridge. Spider-Man arrives to fight the Green Goblin, and when the Goblin throws Gwen Stacy off the bridge, Spider-Man catches her by her leg with a string of web. He initially thinks he has saved her, but when he pulls her back onto the bridge, he realizes she has already died. In shock and anger, Spider-Man nearly kills the Green Goblin in retaliation, but in the end chooses not to do so. The Goblin still seemingly dies when he is impaled by his own goblin glider in an attempt to kill Spider-Man, and Norman Osborn would not return for nearly three hundred issues.

The death of Gwen Stacy had an enormous impact in the world of comic-book fandom.^[6] Before her, except possibly as part of an origin story, superheroes did not fail so catastrophically; nor did a loved-one of the superhero die so suddenly without warning. Because of this, some fans and historians take the death of Gwen Stacy as one marker of the end of the period they refer to as the Silver Age of Comic Books.

In the real world, physicist James Kakalios shows in his book The Physics of Superheroes that, consistent with Newton's laws of motion, the sudden stop would have killed Gwen Stacy.^[7] The comic book Civil War: Casualties of War: Captain America/Iron Man (2007) concurred that the proximate cause of death was the sudden stop during a high-speed fall. An issue of Peter Parker/Spider-Man revisits the issue, and further confirms that Gwen died of a broken neck due to the use of the webbing.

During a battle with the Sinister Twelve, the Green Goblin captures Mary Jane and takes her to another bridge, throwing her over the side just as he had Gwen; however, this time Peter succeeds in saving MJ by using multiple web-strands, providing her with enough support to avoid any fatal injuries.^[8]

After death[link]

Gwen Stacy's death has enormous repercussions. Mary Jane Watson feels the loss of Gwen deeply and becomes a more serious person. Gwen's death also draws Peter and Mary Jane into a closer friendship, and eventually to romance.

The Green Goblin's murder of Gwen Stacy greatly elevates his status in Spider-Man's rogues' gallery. Before her death, Doctor Octopus had seemed Spider-Man's primary nemesis, but Gwen's death pushed the Green Goblin into that role.

The Jackal, Miles Warren in disguise, a former professor of Gwen's, was secretly in love with her. Following her death, Warren had grown increasingly insane and adopted the persona of the Jackal.

In the fourth and final issue of the miniseries Marvels (April 1994), photographer Phil Sheldon befriends Gwen Stacy, who has absolved Spider-Man of any blame for her father's death. Gwen's simple faith in heroes convinces Sheldon of the purpose of the "Marvels" (superheroes) - to protect innocents such as Gwen. He resolves to write a book to praise the heroes and what they should mean to humanity. But the Green Goblin kidnaps Gwen and holds her hostage to ensure that Spider-Man will challenge him. Sheldon, frantically following the resulting chase in a taxi, arrives at the George Washington Bridge in time to see Spider-Man fight the Goblin and to see Gwen accidentally knocked off the bridge and killed, despite (and tragically because of) Spider-Man's desperate attempt to save her. Sheldon's faith in the Marvels is shattered and he retires, but not before passing on the body of his work to his assistant Marcie.

Clones[link]

Approximately two years after her death,^[9] Gwen Stacy reappears in Amazing Spider-Man 144 (May 1975), perfectly healthy but with no memory of the time since her death. The Jackal has managed to create a clone of Gwen, and uses her as part of a plot against Spider-Man in the original Clone Saga. At the end of that story, Gwen’s clone leaves to find a new life for herself.

In the 1988 crossover "The Evolutionary War", the High Evolutionary, who had once been Miles Warren's teacher, captures Gwen's clone. In the process, he discovers that Warren had not in fact cloned her, but had instead created a genetic virus (the "carrion virus") that transforms already living beings. Spider-Man investigates Warren's old laboratory and identifies Carrion as a genetic weapon developed by Warren. Another former student of Warren's, Malcolm McBride, is infected with the virus and becomes the second Carrion. The High Evolutionary identifies this Gwen Stacy to Spider-Man as in fact not a clone but a woman named Joyce Delaney whom Warren had altered.

During the second Clone Saga, Gwen Stacy's clone, now married to a clone of Professor Warren named Warren Miles, sees a copy of Peter Parker's book of Spider-Man photos, Webs, and remembers (to an extent) her real history, and returns to New York City. During this storyline, she again disappears from Spider-Man's life. It was recently revealed that the Gwen Stacy clone introduced in Amazing Spider-Man #144 was in fact the second Gwen clone that Miles Warren created and has been living in London under the name Joyce Delaney. This clone was murdered by the Gwen Stacy clone known as Abby-L.^[10]

Another Gwen clone appears in The Amazing Spider-Man #399 (March 1995). This clone believes she is the real Gwen. She dies from clone degeneration in Spider-Man vol. 1, #56 (March 1995), the next issue of the story arc.

Deadpool vol.3, #0 (December 1998) reveals that the evil geneticist Arnim Zola obtained samples of the DNA of various superhumans for cloning purposes. These experiments, discovered by the mercenary Deadpool, also involve four clones of Gwen Stacy. Zola allows Deadpool to take the four Gwens to his San Francisco base of operations, where they serve and entertain him. They later die in a plane crash.^[11]

Spider-Man: Blue[link]

Gwen and (to a lesser extent) Mary Jane become the focus of the critically acclaimed^{[citation needed]} Spider-Man: Blue, a 2002 limited series by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale that retells the beginning of Peter's relationship with the two women.

The frame narrative has Peter, several years after her death, on Valentine's Day recording a voice "letter" to his dead love.

Dead Girl[link]

In the 2006 limited series X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl, Gwen, along with Moira MacTaggert and Mockingbird, appear in Heaven as members of the Dead Sisters' Book Club. They assist Doctor Strange, Dead Girl, and a small group of dead heroes on a mission to the lower depths of Hell.^[12]

[edit] Sins Past and Sins Remembered

The story arc "Sins Past" by J. Michael Straczynski in The Amazing Spider-Man #509-514 (August 2004 - January 2005) reveals that Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin's alter ego, fathered twins, a boy and a girl, with Gwen Stacy, to whom she gave birth while in France shortly before her death. She vowed she would raise them with Peter and refused to allow Norman access to them. Seeing her as a threat to his potential heirs, the Green Goblin killed Gwen Stacy. Norman Osborn then raised Gwen's two children, a boy and a girl named Gabriel and Sarah. Due to Norman's enhanced blood, the twins aged about 2 to 3 times faster than normal and became adults within the span of a few years. Osborn told them that Peter was really their father and was responsible for their mother's death.

The twins then attack Spider-Man, and he subsequently deduces their true identities. However, in seeking to confirm it, Peter goes to Gwen's grave and digs up a sample of her DNA to compare to the twins' DNA. Spider-Man tells Mary Jane about his initial encounter with Gabriel and Sarah, whereupon Mary Jane reveals that she knew about Norman's involvement with Gwen. By the story's end, Peter has told the twins the truth. Sarah believes Peter and concludes that he would never have dug up Gwen's grave to acquire a DNA sample if he thought there was even a chance that he was their father — but Gabriel does not. Gabriel takes the Green Goblin formula and briefly becomes the Grey Goblin. His glider explodes when it is shot by Sarah and he washes up on a beach with no memory of what happened.

"Sins Remembered," a follow-up story to "Sins Past" (published in The Spectacular Spider-Man (Vol. 2) issues #23-26, December 2004-March 2005 and written by Samm Barnes with art by Scot Eaton) spins directly out of the events of Amazing Spider-Man #509-514. Spider-Man locates Sarah in Paris, where Sarah has her brother (suffering from amnesia) restrained in her home. With the help of Spider-Man and Interpol, Sarah helps build a case against a criminal called Dupres in exchange for the government's help with her rapid-aging disease. However, during this time Gabriel escapes and has yet to be seen again. This story arc was later collected as a trade paperback in 2005 as The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 5: Sins Remembered (ISBN 0-7851-1628-1).

Straczynski later stated that he originally wanted to make Peter Parker the father of Gwen's kids but the editors vetoed the idea. They felt that it would age Peter Parker too much if he had two adult children. The whole creative and editorial team then decided that Norman Osborn would be the father.^[13] In an e-mail to popular comic book website Newsarama, Straczynski claimed that he regretted the version of Sins Past that went to press, and that he had hoped to "retcon" it out of continuity during the events of the recent One More Day storyline: "I wanted to retcon the Gwen twins out of continuity, which was something I always assumed I could do at the end of my run. I wasn't allowed to do this, and yes, it pissed me off."^[14] In the original plans for One More Day, the story would have ended with Gwen Stacy being resurrected by Mephisto's reality-warping spell along with Harry Osborn, but it was eventually decided to let her remain dead.

Other versions[link]

In the two-issue mini-series X-Universe which detailed what happened to the rest of the Marvel Universe during the Age of Apocalypse, the Green Goblin never killed Gwen Stacy; instead she became the bodyguard of Donald Blake, who, in this reality, had never become the Mighty Thor. Sometime later in the mainstream universe in X-Man #37, the Age of Apocalypse version of Gwen is pulled from her reality to the mainstream Earth's George Washington Bridge, much to Spider-Man's shock.

In the House of M storyline, in which the Scarlet Witch alters reality to make mutants the ruling class over humans, Gwen was never killed. Instead, she married Peter Parker, and the couple had a young son. She had become a scientist, a savvy businesswoman, and a peace activist – and had a decidedly hostile relationship with chemical weapon developer Norman Osborn. Mary Jane Watson, a popular actress in this reality, played Gwen Stacy in the film adaptation of Spider-Man's life story. Gwen and her father read textual accounts of their deaths in the main universe, though they believe this simply to be the morbid imaginings of Peter Parker, who is suffering from mental health issues.^[15]

Gwen Stacy first appeared in Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #53 as a new student of Midtown High. She had transferred from her previous school after the Torino Gang, a powerful New York mob, began harassing her in an attempt to keep her father, police captain George Stacy, from arresting members of their gang. However, the Torinos continued to harass Gwen at Midtown, prompting Spider-Man to help the police take down the gang.^[16] Like her father, Gwen believes Spider-Man is a hero. She subsequently began participating in a "Spider-Man Appreciation Society" designed to foster better public opinion of Spider-Man.^[17] Gwen is also attracted to Spider-Man's alter ego Peter Parker; although she openly flirted with him, Peter began dating a different girl, Sophia "Chat" Sanduval, which made Gwen very unhappy.^[18] Later, Gwen was brainwashed by Emma Frost into believing she was dating Peter. Gwen's brainwashing wore off (or was undone by Emma), but Gwen now believes her relationship with Peter ended when he chose Chat over her,^[19] causing her to treat Chat very coldly. She has since warmed to Chat, however.^[20] Recently, Gwen began a close friendship with Carter Torino who is the grandson of the head of the Torino Gang.^[17] Their relationship is complicated by the fact that Gwen's father is still trying to take down Carter's criminal family.^[21]

In the limited series, Marvel Zombies Return, Gwen of 'Earth Z' is still a college student out with her friends Mary Jane and Harry Osborn. The zombiefied Spider-Man travels to this earth and, despite his best intentions, turns the Sinister Six. They then slay and partly consume Gwen and her friends. To stop the spread of the virus, zombified Spider-Man obliterates the bodies.^[22]

Issue #1 of Spider-Man: Fairy Tales follows the fairy tale of Little Red Riding Hood. Gwen Stacy has been previously killed by the wolf. Issue #4 is an adaption of Cinderella with Gwen as Princess Gwendolyn. She falls in love with the masked "Prince of Arachne," who is revealed to be Peter Parker, servant to Sir Osborn, but is killed during a fight between Osborn and Parker.

Gwen Stacy first appears at the end of Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #5.She is the new girl at school and quickly becomes close friends with Peter Parker. In Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #9, Peter and Gwen take their relationship to the next level by sharing a tender kiss, much to the dismay of Mary Jane. They date for a time, though Gwen breaks up with Peter when she learns that Mary Jane is the girl he truly loves. MJ, attempting to fix this, breaks up with Peter and reunites with Harry, but Peter cannot commit to Gwen and she is unwilling to accept him as a friend and not a boyfriend.

In the fourth issue of the comic book based on the Spider-Man Unlimited animated series, Spidey encounters a Counter-Earth version of Gwen Stacy. She helps him escape a hidden paradise known as "The Haven".

In this mini-series, Gwen Stacy again appears as the girlfriend of Peter Parker. Norman Osborn again kidnaps and attempts to kill her as a part of a plan to intimidate Peter. In a twist, the powerless Peter (with a limb crippled from a spider bite) manages to save Gwen from falling to her death.

Ultimate Gwen Stacy[link]

In the Ultimate Marvel continuity, Gwen Stacy first appears in Ultimate Spider-Man #14 (December 2001) as a teenage girl at Peter's high school. In this continuity, she has amber eyes, wears punk-style clothing, and is rebellious.^[23] In her first appearance she gives a rousing speech on 'super powers'; in the next issue she pulls a knife on Kong, a classmate who was bullying Peter. She is suspended from school temporarily. Gwen becomes friends with Peter, which leads Mary Jane Watson to believe that Gwen is vying for his affections.

Gwen is later taken in by Aunt May after her father, police captain John Stacy, is killed by a burglar wearing a Spider-Man costume. Her estranged mother does not want to take her in. Her living in the Parker house creates more tension between Peter and Mary Jane, and leads to their temporary break-up. Peter's relationship with Gwen is further complicated by her hatred of Spider-Man, whom she blames for her father's death. When Peter finds his friend Eddie Brock, Gwen confides in him about her feelings of isolation. Eddie then tries to kiss her and Gwen is shocked.

When she eventually learns that Peter is Spider-Man, the angry Gwen pulls her father's gun on him. Fortunately, he manages to convince her that he is not to blame for her father's death. Gwen runs off but returns, explaining that she is just really mad at everything at the moment and that she wouldn't have really shot him, a fact Peter already knew because his spider sense didn't go off despite Gwen's wrath. Gwen then agrees to keep his secret.

Gwen Stacy dies in Ultimate Spider-Man #62. Before her death, she made peace with Mary Jane and assured her that she never had romantic feelings for Peter, and that she considered him just as a friend. She is killed by Carnage, a vampiric monster made by the splicing of genetic material from Peter Parker, his father, and Dr. Curt Connors. Although Peter is not in the area when she dies, he still feels some responsibility for her death, as he allowed Dr. Connors to use his genetic material for experimentation. His guilt makes him decide to retire as Spider-Man for a while, but eventually he takes up his hero identity when his responsibility for the innocent becomes too great to overlook.

At the end of the arc, there was an issue that dealt with Gwen's death. Flash makes an off-color remark about Gwen's passing, and it infuriates MJ to the point where she physically attacks Flash. It is revealed that Flash had a crush on Gwen all along.

A girl seeming to be Gwen Stacy appears in Ultimate Spider-Man #98. Says Ultimate artist Mark Bagley, "Gwen’s return is integral to the Clone storyline and is basically a way to rock Peter's world...again."^[24] In this issue "Gwen" appears to have no memory of her "death" and believes she was in a hospital, from which she has escaped. In issue #100, after a raft of revelations, the stress of the situation enrages "Gwen" and she transforms into what appears to be Ultimate Carnage before leaping out the window.

In the next issue, "Richard Parker" claims that "Gwen" should not have met Peter at all, and was merely an experiment in stem cell research. This Gwen/Carnage fights with the Fantastic Four, Nick Fury, and the Spider-Slayer drones, until she is knocked unconscious by a beam of light, and taken into custody. In issue #113, Norman Osborn as the Green Goblin causes a massive prison break from the Triskelion. An inmate appearing to be 'Gwen' walks out amidst the chaos, disappearing in the shadows. It has been revealed that the creature posing as Gwen Stacy is still the original Ultimate Carnage that Spider-man faced earlier in its run. After "devouring" Gwen, this incarnation of Carnage has gone on to mimic her "essence" and now believes itself to be Gwen Stacy.^[25]

During "War of the Symbiotes", Gwen/Carnage's back story in the Triskelion is revealed. It is shown that Gwen has been taking some form of therapy with Tony Stark. However, when the Green Goblin broke out of the Triskelion, Gwen escaped and went to Peter Parker's house in a confused and terrified state, with Carnage's face on her body. During an exchange between Peter and Gwen, Eddie Brock attempts to attack Aunt May and retake his symbiote. In a rage, Spider-Man engages Venom on a nearby rooftop. During the fight, Gwen is shown to be able to use her symbiote to fight off Eddie but Eddie reabsorbs his symbiote along with the Carnage symbiote rendering Gwen Stacy an average girl. After SHIELD intervenes, SHIELD Director Danvers states that Gwen will remain in SHIELD custody. Peter and May argue for her to come back to live with them, with Tony Stark supporting the Parkers. In Ultimate Spider-Man #129, the Parkers are now helping to rebuild Gwen's life. Six months after "Ultimatum", in Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1, Gwen is living with the Parkers again and seems to be dating Peter. However, circumstances involving the Chameleon made Gwen realize she made a mistake dating Peter and she breaks up with him.

Early in the series, Ultimate Spider-Man #25 (October 2002) paid homage to Gwen Stacy's death in the Earth-616 continuity, although Gwen herself was not involved. The Green Goblin tossed Mary Jane off the Queensboro Bridge, and Spider-Man caught her leg with his webbing, just as with Gwen. The issue ended with a cliffhanger: when Spider-Man pulled Mary Jane up, she appeared to be either unconscious or dead. The cliffhanger was resolved in the next issue when Mary Jane awoke in #26, uninjured.

[edit] What If...?

In "What If" Volume 1 number 24, Peter manages to save Gwen by jumping after her rather than catching her with a web-line. In doing this, he was able to cushion her from the impact as they hit the water and subsequently give her CPR. In the aftermath of this rescue, Gwen sees him without his mask and after explaining himself to her, Peter proposes to Gwen. She accepts. In a subsequent confrontation with the Green Goblin in his apartment, Norman Osborn finally fights off his evil side for good upon seeing his son Harry move to protect him; realizing that he cannot kill his own son, Norman returns to normal.
During a battle in the warehouse, an escaping Goblin mails to "Spider-Man's second greatest enemy" (J. Jonah Jameson) proof of Spider-Man's real identity. On the day of Peter's wedding to Gwen, Jonah has published the expose and uses it to acquire a warrant for Peter's arrest, thus forcing Peter to escape from the police mere moments after his wedding to Gwen. The shock of her nephew "being that awful Spider-Man" causes Aunt May to have a heart attack as well. As the issue ends, Gwen departs with Joe 'Robbie' Robertson, who promises Gwen that they will do whatever they can to help Peter and quits the Bugle.

In "What If Spider-Man Had Kept His Six Arms?," Spider-Man (whose six-arms mutation was permanent here) was able to prevent Gwen Stacy's death.

At the very end of Peter David's "What If: The Other" one-shot, Peter Parker, now calling himself "Poison," uses part of the Venom symbiote attached to him in a resurrection of Gwen Stacy. She takes the appearance of Carnage.

In other media[link]

Television[link]

• Gwen was deliberately excluded from the 1990s animated series, as the creators felt they could neither allow her to live nor deliberately include a character who was going to die. As a result, a variant of the bridge scene occurs with Gwen replaced by Mary Jane. Both Mary Jane and Green Goblin are cast into a dimensional void in the forty-first episode of the series. Gwen Stacy did appear in the episode "Farewell Spider-Man" voiced by Mary Kay Bergman. She appears as the fiancée of the high-tech armored Spider-Man (resembling Iron Man) from another universe.

• Gwen Stacy appears in the animated television series, The Spectacular Spider-Man, voiced by Lacey Chabert. Gwen is portrayed as Peter's best friend, though she would like to be his girlfriend. Her appearance and personality appears to be partially influenced by Debra Whitman, though Debra also appears in a minor role. She gains an internship at Dr. Curt Connors's laboratory at Empire State University with Peter and Eddie Brock. After Peter seemingly runs out of the Connors's Lab, where Gwen, Eddie and Martha Connors are attempting a serum which will restore Curt's human side after he transformed into the lizard, Gwen becomes angry with him; she forgives Peter in the episode "Competition". In the episode "Reaction," Peter (as Spider-Man) ends up saving both MJ and Gwen. She then decides to talk to Peter about Harry's condition, as he is taking the Globulin Green formula. In the episode "Intervention," after a symbiote-controlled Peter blows her off, Mary Jane gets Gwen to admit to her true feelings for Peter. In "Nature vs. Nurture," the finale of the first season, Eddie Brock becomes Venom, ties up and gags Gwen, and then suspends her from a large balloon during the Thanksgiving Day parade, hoping that she will fall to her death. While Spider-Man battles Venom, the webs holding Gwen to the float eventually snap and she is sent hurtling to the street, but she is saved when her classmates use the now-deflated balloon to catch her. In the final moments of the episode, Gwen kisses Peter for the first time, making Peter realize his unknown deep feelings for her. In season 2 however, Liz Allan's own growing affections for Peter leads him to start going out with her instead, much to Gwen's dismay. Gwen is later kidnapped by Electro and Vulture and used as a hostage by the Master Planner, who forces her father to do as he says before she is saved by Spider-Man. She soon finds herself the center of the returned Harry Osborn's attention, and winds up his girlfriend. When Venom outs Peter's identity, she finds the entire concept hilarious. Peter and Gwen are soon mobbed by a gang of reporters, several of whom believe her to be "Spider-Man's Girl." When the Green Goblin takes control of New York, Peter and Gwen finally talk, and agree to end their respective relationships so they could be together. However, the series ended before the relationship began.

Film[link]

• Gwen Stacy is portrayed by Bryce Dallas Howard in Spider-Man 3. She is a potential new love interest for Peter Parker, serving as an unintended rival to Mary Jane Watson. Gwen is a classmate and lab partner of Peter, who (as Spider-Man) rescues her early in the film from a construction crane accident. She kisses an upside-down Spider-Man which causes MJ to become angry and hurt. As Peter is at the top of Dr. Connors's quantum mechanics class, he tutors her. She considers Peter a genius and is very fond of him. She is also friends with Eddie Brock, who took pictures of her so Gwen could be a model. his relationship is short-lived, as Peter Parker, under the influence of the symbiote, steals her from Eddie; he dances with her at the same jazz club where MJ works, but Gwen realizes that Peter is doing this to make MJ jealous, so she apologizes to Mary Jane, and leaves. Peter makes amends with Gwen since she is later present at Harry Osborn's funeral.

• Emma Stone will portray Gwen Stacy in The Amazing Spider-Man. Her character will be Peter Parker's main love interest in the film. She is first seen in the trailer working at Oscorp, where Peter gets bitten by the spider. She subsequently develops a crush on him. It is suggested in a trailer that Gwen might know that Peter is Spider-Man as she is seen to be appearing to patch up a wound.

Video games[link]

• Gwen Stacy, along with her dad is briefly mentioned in Spider-Man: Edge of Time. When the futuristic Peter Parker reveals his plans to Spider-Man 2099, he mentions he can save the lives of Uncle Ben, Gwen Stacy, George Stacy, and countless others.
• Gwen Stacy will appear in The Amazing Spider-Man based on the film.

See also[link]

• The Night Gwen Stacy Died
• Spider-Man supporting characters
• Portrayal of women in comics
• Women in Refrigerators

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Grand Comics Database
• The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
• Physics of Superheroes 1 - Death of Gwen Stacy