Before Spider-Verse, There was "The Other"

Let me take you back in time, it's December 2005 and a potentially huge Spider-Man event is about to start. Sound familiar? Some of you out there may not recall but as Spider-Verse is now underway, some of you may be wondering just what is Morlun's reasoning behind his fear of Earth 616. In Amazing Spider-Man #9 Daemos and Verda of the Inheritors are seen to be taunting Morlun over his lack of enthusiasm to enter the 616 world. we the readers saw for ourselves in Spider-Man 2099 #5 the hesitancy displayed by Morlun as he gazed into the portal and saw 616 Miguel O'Hara, but yet he showed fear over entering the portal and into the 616.

In Amazing Spider-Man #9  AU spider's told Peter he was the chosen one, as he was the only Spider-Man that had faced Morlun and lived. More than that Peter is the only Spider-Man that had killed Morlun, although to be fair Morlun has killed Peter so current score has it at 1-1.

So back in 2005 J M Sraczynski, Peter David and Reginald Hudlin. Along with artwork by Mike Wieringo, Pat Lee and Mike Deodato Jr. collaborated on a storyline that was as large in scale as Spider-Verse is today.

The 12 part arc was multi-crossover event between Amazing Spider-Man #525-528, Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man #1-4 and Marvel Knights Spider-Man #19-22. the premise of the story line was to re-introduce Morlun back into Spider-Man's world following their first encounter back in Amazing Spider-Man Volume 2 #30.

The Other Begins with Peter Parker being haunted by dreams of impending death, his own impending death, and is also plagued by hallucinations of Morlun, during an encounter with The Tracer, Spider-Man suffers a minor gunshot injury to the shoulder and is treated by a confidant Doctor recommended by Captain America. shortly after his treatment the doctor contacts Peter to inform him that his blood work indicates that he is dying from an unexplained illness that is unknown to science. and that it's unknown how long he has left. the next few parts of the story arc follow Spider-Man on his journey to find out how to cure what it is that's causing his body to degenerate. As well as exploring the character relationships between Peter and Mary Jane as they both come to terms with Peter's increasingly likely death. 

This side of the story arc is beautifully emotive and reading it you feel the sense of fear from the characters. Spider-Man has faced death before but usually at the hands of antagonists that he can outwit of put through a wall with his fists, for the first time however here he was facing a fight that he knew he could not win and that seemingly he was going to die. the writing for these opening few issues of the arc was well written as we see the weight of the burden placed on both Peter and Mary Jane, as they struggle to keep a balancing act of what little time they have left together and Peter's sense of responsibility that keeps him continuing as Spider-Man.

There are some issues that really shouldn't have been part of this arc however. by that i mean the apparent non essential issue when Peter Mary Jane and Aunt May got to Latveria, break into Doctor Dooms castle and use his time machine to go back to the day Peter's parents leave him with May and Ben Parker.  That particular issue just comes across as filler and for me doesn't really serve any purpose for the overall arc. 

The other aspects are whilst Peter and the Avengers are trying to seek a cure or at least some knowledge into the illness, Morlun is always in the shadows waiting for the right time to strike

This happens in Amazing Spider-Man #526, whilst out on patrol Spider-Man spies Morlun. Unsure as to whether he is a hallucination of real, Spider-Man is hesitant until Morlun tells him it's time.

What follows is one of the most brutal fights depicted in the pages of a Spider-Man book. Showing why Spider-Man is the hero he is. As even against insurmountable odds he jumps into battle without a thought and battles for his very life. The excellent artwork of this issue provided by Deodato Jr is beautiful the narrative needn't even be on the page as the visuals provide all there is to say about the moment of this battle.The culmination of which sees Spider-Man beaten nearly to death

The final panel of the issue shows a nearly dead Spider-Man bloodied beaten with an eye missing as Morlun Stands over him waiting for Peter to die.

It's during the pages of Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #3 That Peter Parker is declared Dead for the first time in the character's history in any meaningful way. and yet as he lies on the mortuary slab he is still capable of one more heroic feat. 

Morlun attends the mortuary intent on feeding upon the Spider-Totem that resides within Peter Parker. As he stands there Mary Jame spies him and in an attempt to protect her dead husband's corpse, Morlun fends off MJ's attempts and moves menacingly towards her intent of enduring she joins her husband in death. 

A primal scream emanates from Peter's body and it rises, driven by 'The Spider' with the body's last essence of life Peter attacks Morlun and the hunter becomes the prey. 

MJ looks on horrified as Peter devours Morlun who seemingly crumbles to dust. before Peter succumbs to death, but not before a touching and emotional farewell with Mary Jane. the poignant ending of this issue shows Iron Man carrying Peter Parkers body towards Avengers tower wrapped in sheets.

The rest of the story arc then kinda loses it's way a bit after the emotion of what came before, and the rest of the arc centre's on the aspect of Peter's resurrection a couple of issues later. which to my mind serves as a wasted opportunity. at no point does anyone question who or what Morlun was, and how he was able to infiltrate the hospital. In fact the story from this point on appears to be littered with inconsistencies and inaccuracies which take the reader out of the story.

For example there is a moment when for no reason the story moves to Flash Thompson attending an interview at the school where Peter teaches. during the interview Peter's name in mentioned and Flash states he hasn't seen "Puny Parker" since they were at high school. which is clearly a fallacy as Peter and Flash had at that point been friends for a number of years.

There is also the case of Spider-Man's new powers that manifest as a result of Peter embracing the "Other" in the resurrection phase. as it's never made entirely clear whether Peter's new powers such as Stingers and night vision as well as organic webbing are the result of him accepting his metamorphosis from the Other or a result of when he was transformed into a Man-Spider during Paul Jenkins story "Disassembled" a few years earlier in the book Peter Parker Spectacular Spider-Man. 

As such reading "The Other" the reader is left a bit confused about the events that have taken place. It's this disjointedness that has led to "The Other" being classed as a missed opportunity and a blot on J M Staczynski's run in my view. Another inconsistency is why Morlun doen't seek to geed on Jessica Drew who features in this story arc and is just content with killing Spider-Man. after all isn't Spider-Woman now at threat in Spider-Verse?

and that brings us full circle of sorts, as i started this as a brief update as to the reasons as why Morlun is fearful of Earth 616, then again wouldn't you be is every time would visited a particular place you died there?

And so now that part 2 of Spider-Verse is imminent we can hope that Dan Slott doesn't fall foul of the problems that plague "The Other"


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