Spider-Man: Life Story Annual #1 explores the life of J. Jonah Jameson
The life story of J. Jonah Jameson and his Spider-Man obsession will be told in August
Back in 2019, writer Chip Zdarsky and artist Mark Bagley teamed up for Spider-Man: Life Story, a limited series which approached Peter Parker's life and career as Spider-Man as if it had continued in real-time for nearly sixty years since his 1962 debut. Now, the creative team will reunite for another telling of Spider-Man's career, Life Story style – this time from the perspective of none other than J. Jonah Jameson.
Zdarsky and Bagley will look back at Jameson's life and career (in other words his 'life story') through the lens of his obsession with Spider-Man in August's Spider-Man: Life Story Annual #1.
"J. Jonah Jameson will do whatever it takes to make the world see that Spider-Man is nothing but a threat and a menace. Will the decades of his obsession bear fruit for Jonah … or be his destruction?" reads Marvel's synopsis for Spider-Man: Life Story Annual #1.
"Just like the original series, this special issue will offer a thought-provoking retrospective of the entire history of Spider-Man as if he had aged in real time since his 1962 debut, reframing Spider-Man's greatest adventures, his tragic romance with Gwen Stacy, and his most iconic villains against the backdrop of key moments from each decade," it continues. "And now, readers will see Spider-Man's groundbreaking history told from a different point of view…"
Interestingly enough, Zdarsky is the writer who had Peter Parker reveal his identity as Spider-Man to Jameson in the mainstream Marvel Universe in 2017's Spectacular Spider-Man #6, which has drastically changed the relationship between the two characters since.
"Working on the original Spider-Man: Life Story was a dream come true for me," Zdarsky states in the annual's announcement. "But the problem with the miniseries was that I didn't have the room to properly tell the life story of one of my all-time favorite characters: J. Jonah Jameson! Getting the chance to revisit this universe with Mark again has been an absolute blast!"
Spider-Man: Life Story Annual #1 is due out August 4, with a cover from Zdarsky himself, seen here. Stay tuned to Newsarama for Marvel's full August 2021 solicitations later this month.
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I've been Newsarama's resident Marvel Comics expert and general comic book historian since 2011. I've also been the on-site reporter at most major comic conventions such as Comic-Con International: San Diego, New York Comic Con, and C2E2. Outside of comic journalism, I am the artist of many weird pictures, and the guitarist of many heavy riffs. (They/Them)