As all fans of the 1990s Spider-Man Animated Series know (and as we have pointed out in a number of articles), the final season of the series ended on a cliffhanger, with Mary Jane Watson (who had only recently reunited with Peter Parker after she was seemingly killed after their wedding. It turned out that the Mary Jane Peter had married was a clone) disappearing into a dimensional warp. Spider-Man went after her, and that was the end of the series.
Luckily, this December, John Semper Jr., the creator and showrunner of that series, is going to finally resolve that cliffhanger the same way he would have had the show been renewed for a sixth season in Spider-Man ’94 Annual #1 with artist Alessio Cammardella. In a recent CBR interview about the new project, he noted:
As far as the Peter and Mary Jane story is concerned, it’s very much wanting to give closure to all the fans who have wanted that for a very long time. It’s funny, when I ended the series, for me, I was very much into sort of the Joseph Campbell monomyth, and the series for me was the story of Peter and his personal growth. And really, the whole getting together with Mary Jane was kind of an afterthought. I didn’t think it was that important.
And I left that tiny little door open, as I said, in case Fox came to me and said, “We want to do 13 more half-hours.” I thought, “Oh, good. I’ll pick up with Peter finding Mary Jane.” I didn’t realize what kind of trauma it was going to cause for millions of children across the world that I didn’t give them closure. So this is my gift to them. This is me giving them that closure.
Marvel has been nice enough to provide us with a CBR exclusive first look at some pages from the project!
What is the Solicitation for Spider-Man ’94 Annual #1?
SPIDER-MAN ’94 ANNUAL #1
JOHN SEMPER (W) • ALESSIO CAMMARDELLA (A)
COVER A BY NICK BRADSHAW COVER B BY WILL ROBSON COVER C BY TBA (1:25)
JOHN SEMPER RETURNS TO REUNITE SPIDER-MAN WITH MARY JANE!
Last year, we brought you a continuation of the acclaimed Spider-Man: The Animated Series — now, a tale thirty years in the making, original showrunner JOHN SEMPER returns to bring his vision for the reunion of Peter and Mary Jane to the page! Joined by artist ALESSIO CAMMARDELLA, the team brings to life the moments directly after the season-six cliffhanger for Spider-Man: The Animated Series and before the SPIDER-MAN ’94 comic series! You’re not going to want to miss this one, Web-Heads! You’ve waited long enough!
32 PGS./ONE-SHOT/Rated T …$4.99 (With Digital Code)
What Happens in the Spider-Man ’94 Annual Preview Pages?
One of the major players in the Spider-Man Animated Series was Madame Web, who Semper joked about in our interview by noting, “I pretty much had free rein to do whatever I wanted. And by the time we got to the end, when I told him I wanted to use Madame Web, and again, I’ve talked about this many times, he was not happy because he said, “I can’t make a toy out of an old broad.” And one of my greatest achievements was that he ended up making a Madame Web toy! So we had a good working relationship.”
As we see here, Madame Web plays a major role in this story, as well…
We see Spider-Man chasing after Mary Jane into the dimensional void, but she falls just out of his grasp. Reminscent of how Spider-Man was JUST unable to save Gwen Stacy in Amazing Spider-Man #121 (Semper is a fan of the classic Ditko/Lee/Romita era, and that presumably extended to when Romita was inking Gil Kane with writer Gerry Conway for “The Death of Gwen Stacy”).
We see that the storyline involves some sort of time travel, as Spider-Man is in what looks to be Victorian England. Could this story possibly tie into Jack the Ripper?
Finally, we get a glimpse of some of Spider-Man’s villains, primarily Mysterio and the Harry Osborn Green Goblin. It is likely that the Norman Osborn Green Goblin will be involved in this story, as well.
These are some tantalizing first look pages for a project that fans have waited DECADES for, and now only have to wait a little over a month to see how it all ends (while, of course, keeping things open for MORE stories in the future)!