The Hidden Disasters

The Return of Peter Parker's Parents. This thing started up right when I was probably heaviest into comics (prior to now, as I've somewhat widened my horizons). It seemed like kind of a cool idea at the time: Peter's parents - thought dead in a plane crash twenty years ago - return, having apparently been in a Soviet prisoner of war camp, what with being secret agents and all. Peter's happy his parents are back, but kind of out of sorts, since they've been gone so long it's hard to relate to them. Aunt May's his parental figure now, after all. Still, he's trying to get to know them, and they're trying to know him, though his dad had kind of an anger problem.

Ultimately, Peter tells them he's Spider-Man, and based on a spider-sense tingle he gets the next time he sees them, decides Aunt May wasn't senile for insisting they weren't who they said they were. Of course, they turn out to be artificial life forms, created by the Chameleon to determine Spider-Man's identity, based on the theory Parker must know who Spidey is, what with all the photos he takes. Spidey shows up, big fight, the Mom-bot has developed real feelings for Peter and saves him from crazy Dad-bot, only to have her life drained by Vulture (via weird rejuvenator technology doohickey he stole a few issues earlier), who winds up being young as a result (until he's not anymore). Peter goes on a manhunt for the Chameleon, finds him, basically terrifies him into a coma, and finds out the now dead Harry Osborn was behind it all. Yikes.

Whew, give me a moment, that was a lot of suck. OK, maybe not. It started off kind of interesting, and I suppose it follows the Spidey adage that everything good must be offset by some bad and vice versa. But this was too much bad. This is the story that made Spider-Man dark, which is always a good idea. I mean, who doesn't enjoy reading comics where Peter Parker thinks of himself as "The Spider" (no mysticism required though, there is that), and tends to flip out during battles, pounding his enemies into mulch, and usually screaming about not letting anyone else he loves get hurt? Ugh.

But when people talk about the stories that almost wrecked Spidey, this one always seems to pass by without mention. Maybe because the Clone Saga kicked off about a year later, or because Maximum Carnage took place right in the middle of it, or because Harry Osborn died shortly before and took the spotlight. I don't know.

What are some other disastrous story arcs that seem to not receive the ridicule they deserve?