Psychochronography (Noun):
The Study of the influence of cultural environment on the
mind or behavior.
[In
singular] The historical environment of a particular narrative, typically long
form, considered with regard to its influence on the mind or on behavior.
Origin:
Early 21st century: riff on the term
psychogeography (The study of the influence of geographical environment on the
mind or behavior).
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| It was a dark and stormy night... |
30 years ago today, Peter Parker
(alias Spider-Man) died. He was shot in the face by Sergei Kravinoff (alias
Kraven the Hunter) on October 10
th, 1987 on a Queens rooftop (the
building was torn down a few years ago and replaced with an Apple Store).
Shortly after assassinating Parker, Kravinoff proceeded to move the body to his
compound, where he was buried with the epigraph “Here Lies SPIDER-MAN/ Slain by
THE HUNTER.”
Once Parker’s remains were disposed
of, Kravinoff proceeded to wear a Spider-Man costume of his own and deal out
vigilante justice for two weeks under the guise of “The Spider.” Surprisingly,
there was only one fatality in his brutal quest to destroy crime (a John Doe
who remains unidentified). Near the end of his crusade, Kravinoff captured
noted cannibal Edward Whelan (alias Vermin) and moved him to his compound, where
he proceeded to torture him in an electric cage. Shortly afterwards, Kravinoff
freed Whelan who was brought into the United States Maximum Security
Installation for the Incarceration of Superhuman Criminals (alias The Vault) by
Detectives DeMatteis and Zeck. Later that night, Kravinoff would commit suicide
by sticking the rifle he murdered Parker into his own mouth and pulling the
trigger.
The body of Parker was left
undiscovered for those two weeks, until his wife (Mary Jane Watson), fearing
the worst of her missing husband, saw him miraculously unharmed in the window
of her apartment in Brooklyn.
For the past 30 years, numerous
historians and armchair detectives have wondered how Mr. Parker was able to
survive being drugged, shot in the face, and buried six feet under for two
weeks. Many have suggested that the drugs Kravinoff used on Parker made him
hallucinate the shot to the face, however several pieces of forensics data made
shortly after Kravinoff’s suicide (including, though not limited to, an armature
photograph of the event, a bullet casing matching Kravinoff’s rifle, and
several samples of brain matter belonging to Parker found within the area)
indicate that Parker was indeed shot in the face. Parker’s limited regenerative
abilities would not be able to sustain him for two weeks underneath six feet of
dirt (let alone heal the aforementioned brain matter) nor would the drugs
(Tabernanthe Iboga) keep his lungs at a pace slow enough to preserve oxygen for
that long.
Equally, there’s the matter of how
the drugs got into Parker’s system in the first place, given his innate “Spider
Sense.” Some have noted that, prior to his murder, Parker was last seen at the
wake of one Joe Face, a man Parker met only two or three times for
conversations about what Doctor Otto Octavius (alias Doctor Octopus) and Wilson
Fisk (alias the Kingpin) are planning. At the wake, Parker seemed
uncharacteristically tense (“like a ****ing maniac,” one witness described, “I
wasn’t too surprised to see him breaking limbs those weeks later. Thought he finally snapped”) before providing
the funds for a decent funeral for Mr. Face (said funds were provided by that
month’s rent).
It is the duty of this psychochronography
then, to use our fourth dimensional vantage point (where all these stories are
fictions made up of contradictions) to understand why Peter Parker had to die
and how he brought himself back to life. Of what happened in that long October
of 1987. And what all of this has to do with the mysterious appearances of the
ghost of William Blake inside of an Apple Store in Queens five hours ago.
(Next Time: From #0 With Love)
[Photos: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore, Brian Boland, and
John Higgins]
