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Amazing Spider-Man #512
WRITER:  J. Michael Straczynski
PENCILLER:  Mike Deodato Jr.
COVER BY: Mike Deodato Jr. and Joe Pimentel
INKER:  Joe Pimentel
STORY TITLE: Sins Past - Part Four of Six
REVIEW: 
In Amazing Spider-Man #509, Peter received a letter from the late Gwen Stacy, his first real love, who died at the hands of the Green Goblin, Spider-Man's arch nemesis (in Amazing Spider-Man #121). The letter came from Paris in France and was written around the time that Gwen was in Europe (back in Amazing Spider-Man #119-120). In the letter, Gwen wishes to tell Peter something really important but the letter abruptly ends before Peter is able to find out what she meant to tell him. Peter is in disbelief and doesn't understand why Gwen didn't tell him what was so important when she got back from Europe. Later that night, as he visits her grave at the cemetery, he is "coincidently" attacked by two individuals; a man and a woman. They appear to be highly trained assassins and Peter barely escapes their attack; going as far as revealing his spider-like powers by leaping out of harm's way. When the male assailant takes his mask off, he bears a striking resemblance to Peter. It appears that they didn't know that Peter and Spider-Man were one and the same.

In Amazing Spider-Man #510, Peter receives a letter from his assailants in which they threaten to kill Mary Jane and Aunt May. Not wanting to alarm his wife and aunt, Peter remains silent about the content of the letter. Later, as Spider-Man, Peter pays a visit to Detective Lamont to get help in obtaining some latent handwriting impressions from Gwen's letter. After leaving Lamont, he calls his aunt to check on her. A male voice answers the phone and tells him that he has to make his way to a certain address in less than ten minutes or else Aunt May dies. Peter/Spider-Man web-slings as fast as he can and reaches the destination. As he approaches what appears to be Aunt May tied to a chair in the middle of the factory, his spider-sense goes ballistic and he realizes that it is a trap. He escapes a huge explosion that completely destroys the factory but he is partially caught in the blast. As he lies in the rubble of the factory, bruised and battered, the male assailant shows up and starts beating him to a bloody pulp. The intervention of the female assailant saves his life. The male assailant, however, vows to return and finish what he has started. Their names are revealed - the woman is named Sarah, the man Gabriel. Later that night, Peter/Spider-Man meets once again with Detective Lamont. The letter reveals that Gwen was pregnant when she left for Europe and that she had twins - their names: Gabriel and Sarah.

In Amazing Spider-Man #511, a distraught Peter tries to make sense of this shocking revelation. The scientist in him knows that it is impossible for Gabriel and Sarah to be Gwen's kids because if it were true, they would be children, not full-grown adult, such is the case here. As Spider-Man, he heads over to a Genetic Lab to perform some DNA testing using DNA left on the letter (by either Gabriel or Sarah) and DNA extracted from Gwen's grave during an earlier visit to the cemetery. While there, he is confronted, at gunpoint, by Sarah, who tells him that Gabriel doesn't want to just kill him but to make him suffer by killing everyone he loves. Sarah appears to hesitate when Peter asks her if she wants the same thing as her brother but she replies that the only way Peter can save the people he cares about is to willingly let her kill him right there, right now. Peter is literally saved by the bell of the DNA testing machine, which catches Sarah off-guard. Peter uses that opportunity to lunge himself at her and disarm her. He then pulls her mask off and is shocked to see that she looks exactly like her mother, Gwen Stacy. At that moment – almost on cue – a nearby window blows up, courtesy of a very impatient Gabriel, who had been waiting outside on a nearby rooftop. While Peter dives out of harm's way, Sarah storms out of the building and reunites with her brother, who immediately jumps to the conclusion that Peter’s presence at the genetic lab confirms that he is their father and that he deserted their mother and later caused her death. Back in the lab, Peter checks on the DNA results, which confirm that Sarah and Gabriel are indeed the children of Gwen Stacy. Later, when Peter returns to his apartment, he finds a very distressed Mary Jane waiting for him. MJ tells him that she found the letter and read it. Peter replies that it can't be his kids because Gwen and him never slept together. MJ believes that Peter is telling the truth because she knows who the real father of Gwen Stacy's children is.

ACT 1: Peter is shocked that Mary Jane knows who the real father is. He asks her why she didn’t tell him until now to which she replies that she had promised Gwen not to say anything to him, fearing that the truth would destroy him. Even after Gwen was murdered by the Green Goblin, Mary Jane could not bring herself to telling Peter about Gwen's children. Peter asks MJ to tell him everything. Mary Jane begins to explain how it all happened. Flashback to the events of Amazing Spider-Man #121. Harry Osborn has a drug relapse and overdoses on LSD. Fearing that the whole situation might hurt his image if the media became aware of it, Norman Orborn, Harry's father, decides against taking Harry to the hospital. Gwen Stacy, who just got back from Europe, and Mary Jane Watson are at Harry’s bedside all day, trying to comfort him, while Norman has to deal with his stocks plummeting quite heavily (Norman does enlist the help of a doctor, who is sworn to secrecy about the ordeal, but the diagnostic is the same: Harry should be hospitalized). Gwen leaves Mary Jane with Harry to go talk to Norman about Harry's safety. Gwen makes her way to Norman’s office, where the latter is squashed into his work chair looking distraught. Minutes pass and Mary Jane begins to wonder where Gwen is so she too makes her way towards Norman's office. As she approaches his office, she begins to hear what appears to be a very heated argument. She eavesdropped on the conversation. What she hears next is without a doubt the biggest bombshell in the history of the Amazing Spider-Man series.

ACT 2: The father of Gwen Stacy's children is NORMAN OSBORN. Yes, Norman Osborn. While in Europe, Gwen gave birth to twins. Those twins were the result of consensual sex (9 months beforehand) between Norman and Gwen (so it seems anyways). Sex that took place at a time when Norman was troubled by all kinds of things going on in his life and for some strange reason, Gwen felt magnetically attracted to him so she gave up her virginity like a common whore. But she wasn't so keen as to give away her two kids to Norman quite just yet, which is what they were arguing about when Mary Jane overhead their conversation. In fact, Mary Jane tells Peter that she clearly remembers hearing Gwen yelling at Norman that she’d die before he'd lay a finger on her children, to which Norman replied that she should be careful what she wishes for (we, Spider-Man fans all know that her wish was unwillingly granted by Norman's alter-ego, the Green Goblin, when he pushed her off the Brooklyn Bridge). Questions as to the age of the twins are also answered by Mary Jane, who remembers overhearing Gwen mentioning to Norman that, although the twins were born two month prematurely, they had grown nine month's worth. Norman had replied that it was because they have Osborn's blood flowing in their veins but, we, Spider-Man fans, all know that it is surely a result of the Goblin Formula flowing in Norman's bloodstream. After MJ finishes up her story about how she learned about the twins, Peter starts realizing that so many things make so much more sense to him now that he has found out the truth. For instance, when Norman was thought dead, it was later revealed that he had actually been hiding in Europe. The truth is that he went there to take care of his children, not to hide. Why would a powerful man like Osborn flee to Europe to go into hiding while he could simply use his many connections to hide right here in the US? The answer is simple: his twins were now motherless and this was the perfect opportunity for Osborn to brainwash them to make them think that Peter was their real father, had abandoned their mother, and that it was he that had killed her. Peter also realizes that the reason Osborn was after him to become his heir in Amazing Spider-Man #25 (466) and Peter Parker Spider-Man #25 was that he probably had been telling his kids that Peter was their father, therefore he was trying to push Peter into becoming part of his family so that he would take his rightful place as their father. Of course, that didn't work so Norman kept quiet about them...until now.

Note from the webmaster: "I don't think Norman is their father. I think Harry is. First, there is no way, or proof so far, that Gwen would have slept with Norman, unless heavily sedated or drunk out of her mind. However, she may have slept with Harry, feeling bad that he had to go through the whole drug ordeal. Another thing that comes to mind is that perhaps Gwen was inseminated artificially against her own will by either Norman or Harry. Again, a bit far-fetched but nonetheless credible. This is a comic book after all. It actually makes a whole lot of sense that she would have been unwillingly inseminated artificially, especially by Norman. Norman did not like Harry very much and was constantly disappointed with him. It seems that Norman would have done anything to have another heir to take the mantle of his company and alter ego. On the other hand, if Gabriel and Sarah are Harry's kids, then the altercation between Norman and Gwen makes a lot more sense now. While they were fighting, Norman referred to Sarah and Gabriel as his kids but perhaps he was only saying that because he saw them as his kids although they were Harry's. It does sound a bit absurd, but think about it for a minute. Since little Normie has been born, Norman has tried hard to influence his upbringing. He's tried numerous times ever since to eliminate Liz Osborn and gaining custody of Normie. Spider-Man stopped him dead in his tracks every time but that didn’t stop Norman from trying over and over again. One last thing, it wouldn't surprise me that Norman is so ashamed of Harry that he preferred lying to Gabriel and Sarah, telling them that Peter was their father, rather than telling them the truth, which is that Harry is their father. One thing is for sure. Norman Osborn is crazy enough to do this."

ACT 3: Furious about the whole situation, Peter becomes enraged and begins trashing the apartment right in front of Mary Jane. After he settles down, he tells Mary Jane that if the twins are still continuing to age prematurely, that he must save them, or else they will die. To be continued.