GWEN STACY: Disposable Beauty
Scifi News From The Web
Create a winning woman and kill her.
In the Amazing Spider-Man’s galaxy of the Marvel (comic book/animated) Universe, pretty blonde Gwen Stacy, like a moon, orbited romantically Peter Parker’s planet for several years—progressively from 1965 to 1973—until the creators responsible for her welfare hurled her into an arbitrary black hole of no return. The decision to do so is still notorious—in the comic book industry and among its fandom—after all these years.
Gwen Stacy’s fate set an industry precedent artistically and morally rotten to its core: make a good character vulnerable enough to succumb to the ultimate “punishment”: death itself. Years later, other characters were—permanently or otherwise—killed off: Jason Todd (one of the Robins from DC’s Batman comics); and, of course, incredibly, Superman himself; etc.
Art’s most noble purpose is to portray life “as it ought to be.” One of the foundational glories of comic-book, super-hero storytelling is its reliance on benevolent-universe premises. Good heroes battle evil villains and the former win. Justice triumphs. An artist who creates along these lines challenges the good in a variety of clever ways, but ultimately and always champions it. Happy endings are the stone-written rule. Only a fool would desire otherwise in life; why reflect anything else (or less) in art?
Others choose to apply malevolent-universe premises to art. For instance: bad things can and do happen to good people in life. Reflect these things in art. Glorify evil. Promote chance over choice. Etc. To what end do such incomparably fine inspirations lead? In this case: to death. And worse: not only is a beautiful, innocent, sweet, and caring woman killed , but she dies at the end of a web shot (in an attempt to save her) by her lover himself—the hero Spider-Man. Heroes need to suffer, too, in a malevolent universe. But such is life itself, right?
Bullshit.
The characters and art in this video either are or reflect the property of Marvel Entertainment. Please refer to www.marvel.com for more information. I would request any Marvel rep viewing this video to accept it as a thoughtful “historical” review of a(n) (in)famous character and her fate in the Marvel Universe. This is my second and FINAL Marvel-related video. The inclusion of its featured images aspires to no commercial ends whatsoever. If anything—although it was not my intention—the images may help promote, in a benign way, a product I hold dear…yours. If, in the end, you have any legitimate professional concerns about this upload, please send me a detailed private message and I shall respond promptly. Thank you.
Thanks a mil for viewing, folks.
Questions or comments are sincerely welcome. Lewd or derogatory comments will be snapped at the neck (of course–sigh).
The “Gwen Stacy Years” creative credits include: writers Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, and Gerry Conway; and artists Steve Ditko, John Romita, Sr., and Gil Kane.
Author: northbreed1
Keywords: Marvel Comics Spider-Man Peter Parker Gwen Stacy Steve Ditko John Romita Gil Kane Stan Lee Gerry Conway
Added: July 29, 2008
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