Thursday, October 22, 2015

Peter Parker: Babe Magnet


And you thought the Thing had women admirers. Ben Grimm has nothing on Peter Parker, who, like, Ben, has been known to have women vying for his attention--though there were occasions when it seemed the vying might lead to open hostilities!

Peter's difficulties (yeah, we should all have such problems) go as far back as high school, when a not-so-friendly rivalry developed between Peter's girlfriend, Betty Brant, and his classmate, Liz Allan. It was dislike at first sight.



And if you thought things were just going to ease off between these two--I'm sorry, but have you met women??



If Liz and Betty are any indication, you can generally tell how well one rival is doing by the amount of fuming the other one does--and Betty seems to have fuming down to a science.

Fortunately for the innocent bystanders, who usually tend to go out in public without thinking to don flak jackets, the rivalry between Betty and Liz is rendered moot when a third bombshell is added to the mix--the vivacious Mary Jane Watson, a girl Peter has yet to meet but, even waiting in the wings, makes enough of an impression on these two to make them realize that their days are numbered when it comes to their chances with Peter.





It's around this time that Betty begins dating Daily Bugle employee Ned Leeds--and when MJ finally makes the scene, readers were probably asking themselves "Betty who??" At the same time, Peter's eye (along with that of just about every guy at the "Coffee Bean") was also wandering in the direction of Gwen Stacy--and though MJ tended to gravitate toward any guy who could provide a fun time, even she began becoming a little jealous when Ms. Stacy found herself in Peter's orbit. Nor was Gwen about to play second fiddle in even a friendly rivalry.






Of course, things didn't always go so smoothly for Peter in the love triangle department--especially when Ms. Watson was around to complicate matters. For instance, a war zone in your own apartment is never a good thing.





Oh for the days of fuming, eh, Peter?

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