DeMatteis's Marvel

J.M. DeMatteis continued to work for Marvel after the 1980s, particularly on the Spider-Man franchise, where he further mined the characters' relationships for intense emotional drama (particularly centered around Peter's best friend and occasional Green Goblin, Harry Osborn). He also got drawn into one of the most notorious Spider-Man storylines, the seemingly never-ending Clone Saga, which confronted Peter Parker with numerous genetic duplicates, launched series starring new, derivative characters, and, for a time, told readers that the Peter Parker they had been following for years was actually a clone. None of this was really DeMatteis' fault, nor was it his finest hour.

He has returned to Marvel repeatedly since the 1990s, sometimes importing the humorous approach he developed with Giffen and Kevin Maguire (a Defenders miniseries), sometimes revisiting Eighties and Nineties storylines (particularly those involving Spider-Man). But he would never maintain such a long, close association with the company as he had had in the 1980s. To the contrary, he has developed a career in comics that is not beholden to any one company, even going as far as founding his own line, Spellbound Comics, using KickStarter to launch his new, creator-owned works in the "DeMultiverse," in 2022. Marvel Comics in the 1980s gave DeMatteis the opportunity to hone his craft; in return DeMatteis gave Marvel a set of gifts that were not all immediately appreciated; some of them have aged less gracefully (The Defenders, Captain America), while others are still recognized as significant contributions that are still being read today (Moonshadow) as well as being continually referenced by subsequent writers (Kraven's Last Hunt).

Those gifts included a focus on interiority that was already starting to vanish from Marvel's pages, and an emotionality and attention to trauma matched only by Claremont's X-Men. Perhaps most unusual was the earnestness that DeMatteis' was so often able to make work, combined with a whimsical sense of humor that meshed well with an unashamed sentimentality and unwavering devotion to his own vision of spiritual growth. As mainstream comics headed into a more cynical era, DeMatteis insisted on delivering comics with heart.

Next: Chapter Two: Back to the Basics: John Byrne and Walt Simonson

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