The Reality Of Comics

It's interesting when modern storytelling ( like comics ) take on current issues. Most recently, Captain American issue #602 ( which is literally impossible to find outside of EBay ) had a developing story arch involving "government protests" that depicted, accurately, a Tea Bagger protest - complete with signage that could be seen at many rallies this past year. Naturally, conservatives were not happy with Marvel Comics holding a mirror up to them, so it will be interesting to see how Marvel Comics handles Peter Parker being unemployed.

Don't fret, the web-slinger will still be keeping New York City safe from Venom and Carnage and any number of other dastardly villains he's tangled with over the years. But beginning Wednesday, he's going to have to do it between trips to the unemployment line.

That's the day Peter Parker, Spider-Man's nice guy alter-ego, hears the words, ''You're fired'' from his cranky, long-suffering boss, Mayor J. Jonah Jameson. Worse still, Jameson not only sacks Parker, who makes his living as a photojournalist, he blacklists him with every news organization in town.

This of course raises all kinds of interesting questions:

-- How will Parker maintain his Spider-Man costumes? Dry-cleaning bills alone must run to several hundred dollars a year.

-- How will he keep buying the stuff he uses to spin those industrial-strength webs needed to hop from building to building? Surely he doesn't pick that up at the 99 Cents Store.

Wonder if there is going to be a double page spread showing Jim Bunning being an ass and Peter Parker losing his unemployment benefits?