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

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Marvel Trivia Question

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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...