Chapter 1
"Out of the three Spider-Men, he's the ugliest!"
"What a loser!"
"No progress at all!"
"Other Spider-Men solve problems; he just creates them!"
"..."
A cacophony of harsh criticisms echoed in Peter Parker's mind, making him open his eyes in frustration.
He didn't know what was wrong with him.
Ever since a few days ago, when a spider web inexplicably appeared in his mind, these voices started haunting him from time to time.
"Spider-Man? Are they talking about me?" Peter muttered, clutching his head as he stumbled into the bathroom. He splashed water on his face to clear his mind and stared at his reflection in the mirror.
About a month ago, during a school science field trip, he was bitten by a spider.
That night, he spiked a high fever.
When he woke up the next day, his body was no longer ordinary.
Over the next week, he pieced together what had happened: he'd been bitten by a spider and somehow gained spider-like abilities.
But he had no idea what to do with these powers.
Maybe he could be like the heroes on TV—Iron Man, Captain America—and become a world-saving superhero?
Peter had seen the Sokovia footage, which happened around the same time he was bitten.
The sight of the Hulk battling a giant Iron Man suit was even broadcast live! Because of that, many of his classmates thought the Hulk should be killed.
Later, the Hulk disappeared—either taken away by Iron Man or secretly locked up somewhere.
At first, Peter worried he might end up like the Hulk. But his admiration for the Avengers and his desire to be a hero pushed him to embrace his powers.
So, he dug out an old costume from his school drama club, added some high-tech polymer fibers, and crafted his own hero suit!
—Just like Iron Man's armor, the Hulk's shorts, or Captain America's star-spangled suit.
Peter saw this suit as his signature!
Following strange formulas that popped into his head, he secretly used school lab materials to create ultra-tough synthetic webbing and web-shooters.
And so, he became a friendly neighbourhood hero. Some called him Spider-Man, Spider-Boy, or Spidey because of his costume and web-slinging abilities.
While opinions about him were mixed, and many thought he was meddling, Peter loved it.
But things changed a few days ago.
After that strange web appeared in his mind, odd voices started haunting him.
Though he couldn't see who was speaking, Peter had a strange intuition that the voices were indeed talking about *him*!
"But why are they talking about me?"
"Other Spider-Men? Are there others like me?"
Peter wiped the water from his face and collapsed back onto his bed.
He forced himself to sleep—it was 3 a.m., and he had important things to do tomorrow!
Tony Stark, the famous Iron Man, had sent a letter saying he'd visit Peter tomorrow!
"Why would Mr. Stark want to see me? Did he figure out my real identity? Is he inviting me to join the Avengers?" Peter thought excitedly, slowly closing his eyes.
As his eyes shut, the massive web in his mind reappeared.
But this time, it was different!
On the web, at one of the intersecting threads, a strange glowing point appeared!
"What's that?"
Curious, Peter focused his consciousness on the glowing point.
The next moment—
"Ah!"
He felt his consciousness yanked out of his body and sucked into the glowing point!
---
"Where am I?"
When Peter came to, he was no longer in his bed at home but in a cramped, dimly lit room.
In front of him was a makeshift table made of boxes, covered with photos and a pile of documents.
"Ah!"
Peter yelped again.
A nerve in his brain trembled violently. Looking closely, he saw a glowing neural thread slowly reaching toward the glowing point on the giant web in his mind.
When the thread connected with the point, a flood of memory fragments surged into his mind!
It was 1933, and New York was in the grips of the painful Great Depression.
After crossing the wrong people, his Uncle Ben Parker was tortured and killed by Norman Osborn, the city's biggest extortionist, the "Green Goblin."
The Green Goblin then turned his dark, sinister attention to Aunt May and Peter himself, intent on killing them.
Thankfully, they were saved by Ben Urich, a photographer for the *Daily Bugle*. Impressed by Peter's character, Urich took him under his wing as an assistant.
During a recent undercover mission to photograph a deal between the Green Goblin and a criminal gang, Peter was bitten by a spider that crawled out of a cursed spider statue they were trading. In a vision, he met Anansi, the Spider God, and gained mysterious, powerful new abilities, becoming Spider-Man!
But with these powers, he uncovered darker truths.
For instance, Urich, whom he respected, was secretly extorting the Green Goblin's gang, taking hush money from Osborn to cover up their activities!
Recently, Urich told Peter he planned to expose all the evidence he'd secretly collected on the Green Goblin.
Peter didn't know why Urich suddenly had a change of heart—maybe his conscience finally kicked in?
But that same night, Urich was shot dead in his home by J. Jonah Jameson, the man he'd contacted to publish the exposé!
Fortunately, Felicia Hardy managed to steal Urich's hidden evidence during the chaos and handed it to Peter.
From Felicia, Peter learned some truths.
Both she and Urich knew he was Spider-Man, and it was because of this that Urich decided to expose the Green Goblin and bring him to justice.
But Felicia warned him not to trust Jonah!
Peter couldn't believe it. He still remembered Jonah's words when Urich first brought him to the *Daily Bugle*:
"There are a million heartbreaking stories out there, Parker. But in this miserable era, none of them matter—until *we* make them matter!"
"I can give them facts and data, but Ben's photos make them *feel* it!"
"I'll tell our readers how to feel about the garbage situation this city's in!"
"This dark era needs someone to stand up, to shine a light on the darkness within the darkness! Your Uncle Ben and Aunt May were those people, and I, J. Jonah Jameson, am one of them too!"
Could someone who said such things really be untrustworthy?
Was this era *that* dark?
Tl/N : Like it? Add it to the library...