Monday, May 22, 2023

The Woman Who Unmasked Spider-Man

 

In the fall of 1979, as he was beginning a teaching assistant position in the office of Dr. Morris Sloan, Chairman of Empire State University's Biophysics Department, Peter Parker met and became friends with Dr. Sloan's secretary--a young woman who, in time, began to see Peter as more than a friend, feelings which she struggled to see reciprocated.








As they began to spend more time together, the situation became complicated--just as it was with Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson--by Peter's responsibilities as Spider-Man, which all too often forced him to rush off from outings with this lady at a moment's notice, incidences which she couldn't help but take personally while Peter essentially treated those slights as something to be put on the back burner for the time being, if regretfully.











(And you've only seen the tip of this iceberg.)


We can debate the issue all day, and rightfully so, in regard to one person's hurt feelings weighed against what Peter accomplishes as Spider-Man in terms of a refusal to stand by while danger threatens innocent lives, while also factoring in the picture he presents to Sloan et al. as a slacker whose grades don't merit the efforts of those trying to help him. As for our distraught young lady, however, her storyline would continue without resolution for over three years before coming to a head in early 1983. Until then, however, readers were left to wonder: Just what did her writers have planned for her during this build-up? How long would she be presented as a casualty of unrequited love? Would these encounters between them come to constitute little more than a running joke?

A situation which has us running into yet another


Marvel Trivia Question


What was the story behind the strange saga of Debra Whitman?


For quite awhile, things between Debra and Peter continued as they had--Debra alternating between disappointment and confusion in regards to her feelings for Peter while still being receptive to his presence in her life, even as Peter continued to be aware of the fine line he walks with Debra. But things change for him at one point, and he resolves to pursue a more close relationship with her--only to find that Biff Rifkin, who's known Debra since college, has already stepped in in that regard.







As we can see, even with Biff in her life, Debra continues to have conflicting feelings, still wanting to see more in Peter's qualities and interest than what is apparently there. But soon enough, the inevitable happens, when Peter and Biff have an altercation over Debra's hurt feelings, and Debra's penchant for probing Peter's character leads to suspicions involving Peter's most deeply held secret--at which point, things finally come to a head for this growingly disturbed woman.






In a subsequent session, Debra's psychiatrist, Dr. Kuklin, solicits the assistance of the very man in Debra's life who is the cause of her current state of anxiety--including a possible "solution" which Peter dismisses out of hand, while beginning to question whether Debra's mental health is benefiting from Kuklin's care. Afterward, he decides to follow his own instincts, starting with gathering more information about Debra's fragile state of mind from the two people likely to have an inkling of what has gone wrong.






What happens next is obviously a dramatic decision on Peter's part in attempting to make things right with Debra and bring her back in touch with reality. And for Peter, it doesn't get more real than taking the only step he can think of taking. In doing so, he acts in accordance with Kuklin's suggestion after all, though with considerably higher stakes for himself.


It's a make or break moment, to be sure--but for Debra Whitman, it's a happy ending at last, thanks to Peter's gesture, after which she resolves to tie up the loose ends of her past and make a new beginning for herself.


What writer Marv Wolfman began in 1973 finally comes to a conclusion in 1983 with Bill Mantlo (and certainly a few more writers of both Amazing Spider-Man and Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man thrown into the mix). But despite appearances, Debra's story isn't over just yet.

COMING UP:

In fact, Debra will have another story to tell...



10 comments:

  1. The entirety of my knowledge concerning Ms. Whitman comes from Spider-Man Annual #14. Now I'm fully enlightened!

    Johnny Storm once commented on Peter's never-ending parade of lovely ladies swaying thru his life. Storm dubbed it, with great envy, "Parker Luck". Deb might not have the boisterous personality of most of Peter's girlfriends, but she is another "top-shelf female" (pardon the term).

    This predominant "Lovelorn Romance of Weeping Hearts" theme is why I only sampled issues of Spider-Man thru my life without officially collecting the title. Relationships and mushy stuff is a valuable part of stories, but Spider-Man always took it one lover's leap too far into daytime soap opera.

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  2. Granted, Murray, grouped together like this, the "lovelorn" tsunami presented here makes it seem as if way too much focus and time was spent on Peter Parker's personal life and the travails that ensued in juggling it with his "great responsibility." But, honest, in the 3+ years that this storyline took to reach fruition, there was also a good deal of Spider-Man to take our minds off of it. (Thank goodness!)

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  3. Biff Rifkin? You Americans have some odd names ;)

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  4. I suggest you stay clear of the film "Back To The Future" then, Colin, because Biff Tannen might be wanting to have a few words with you! ;)

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  5. Like Big Murr, my exposure to Ms Whitman, comes from one single issue...I'm slightly relieved that she didn't turn into a large-bosomed thong-wearing mutant valkyrie as a lot of Marvel women seemed to. That the writers kept from going the removing-glasses-and-"Good Lord, you're beautiful!" path is also to their credit.

    Just curious, though - what happened with that "most beautiful woman ever seen" that moved in down the hallway?

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  6. Murray, my understanding is the expression 'top shelf' has a different meaning in the US than on my side of the Atlantic. Not to go off on too much of a tangent, but I'm now curious how its used in Canada...

    -sean

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  7. Sean! "Top-shelf" means high quality, excellent. Most often used in the context of pubs and bars, it's where the premium, expensive booze is kept.

    I went to the dictionary and discovered the British usage. Porn?! I can imagine it derives from keeping the smut out the reach of the underaged adolescents. No wonder you likely raised an eyebrow at my using it in this context!

    (Puts me in mind of a longtime British friend. Even after all the years he's lived in Canada, he still fights a snicker when introduced to anyone named "Randy")

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  8. When I was in school there was a teacher called Mr Randay which got snickers too.

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  9. Weren't they marathons back then, Colin?
    Ba-dum tsshh.
    (A little joke that probably won't cross the Atlantic there)

    -sean

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  10. B Smith, the woman with whom Peter was so infatuated turned out to be... a little frightful, unfortunately. ;)

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