About Heroes

Writer: Peter David
Penciler: Mike Wieringo
Inker: Karl Kesel

This one issue story was amazing. Titled, “Weblog”, the reader is taken through the life of a lonely girl named Vanna. Vanna has an internet blog talking about how she believes Spider-Man is stalking her. In high school, the Vulture shows up and attacks the football field, and Peter changes into Spidey under the bleachers. Vanna thinks our hero was a peeping tom, only looking up her skirt. Later on in her life, she takes a field trip to a museum in town. The Looter shows up, wanting to steal a meteorite. Spidey shows up to stop him, and is thrown into the girl’s bathroom where Vanna is. She thinks Spidey is only staging these so called “super-villain fights” to impress her. She still thinks he’s a creep. Later on, Vanna is on the beach and the Sandman attacks. Once again, Spidey shows up to save people. Vanna, on the other hand, thinks he’s only there to check her out in a bikini.

Vanna finally has enough and gets a restraining order on Spider-Man. The judge scoffs at this but tells her that she can have a small restraining order if it will make her feel better. Jonah Jameson learns of this and wants to do a story on her. Peter Parker walks in and is ordered to take her picture. She tells Peter he looks familiar, but Peter assures her that they have never met. Vanna gets her front-page story about the restraining order on Spider-Man.

Years into the future, an old woman sits alone feeding pigeons. Another woman sits down and tells Vanna it’s been 40 years since she made the front page. The woman tells Vanna that the restraining order was a stupid, pointless move. The woman explains how Spider-Man wasn’t stalking her, and he would save anyone in the city without hesitation. Vanna looks shocked and asks her who she thinks she is. The woman replies “his widow” and throws a bloody Spider-Man mask at her. The mysterious woman is MJ, now an old woman. She tells Vanna she wasted her life. Vanna never got married or had kids, and lives alone in her parent’s home with her cats. MJ states how selfless and loving Spider-Man was, and how pathetic Vanna is. MJ leaves, and Vanna admits she only thought Spider-Man was stalking her because she thought he liked her and was giving her attention.

Thoughts/Comments:
WOW! This is one of the best single-issue Spidey stories I have read in years. Not since Paul Jenkins have I enjoyed a one-story issue. The characters all felt real, and the ending was moving and beautiful. Learning Vanna only did all this for attention was bittersweet, and it shows how lonely she was all through her life. If you love Spider-Man, I recommend this issue and series. Peter David is the man! A+!