Flight To The Finish!
The Unofficial Spider-Man Newspaper Strip is a unauthorized self-funded continuation of the new discontinued ''Amazing Spider-Man''
daily strip published by Kings Features. It is plotted by Zarius and illustrated by various artists. It was launched on June 2nd, 2022. The first story picks up exactly where the original strip left off, with Peter and Mary Jane Parker arriving in Australia.
It can be read here, as well as Archive of Our Own
Due to the writer's interest quickly waning due to commitments to various other projects, including a separate Spider-Man comics storyline (which also had a similar newspaper strip style format), the unofficial strip quickly came to an end in January 2023.
The Unofficial Spider-Man comic strip provides examples of the following tropes:
- A Day in the Limelight: The third strip adventure "Diamond Absolutes" is one for Mary Jane, as she helps Doc Ock deal with his love life
- Beach Episode: Peter and MJ spend the last stretch of their Australian vacation at one of these in the second strip storyline.
- Blood Transfusion Plot: The flashbacks in strip five of "The Blood Between" reveal Uncle Ben gave a badly injured Norman Osborn one of these to help him
- Easter Egg: In the fourth strip of "The Blood Between" storyline, while searching for Aunt May in Harry's warehouse, Peter walks past a Hobgoblin costume, this was a deliberate nod to Harry's last official appearance in the newspaper strip back in 2015 where he was dressed as this character rather than as the Green Goblin
- Fanservice: Upon completing her heist, Felicia heads to the roof of the exhibit where she strips down to her underwear in order to change clothes.
- Mary Jane building sandcastles with Peter wearing a bikini while at a beach in Australia during "The Blood Between"
- Mary Jane stripping down to her undergarments and making love to Peter in the closing panels of the final strip adventure "Diamond Absolutes"
- Happily Married: Peter and MJ, just as they were in the original newspaper strip.
- High-Altitude Battle: Spider-Man and The Vulture for half of the opening story
- Hollywood Kiss: Peter and MJ in the back of a cab at the end of the first storyline, and again while in bed at the climax of "Diamond Absolutes"
- Impersonating an Officer: Felicia changes into a security guard's uniform after pulling off her diamond heist, hoping to escape the building in disguise.
- Loose Canon: The continuation reveals Peter knew Felicia Hardy in the strip's 'canon', despite the character never having appeared in the run of the original newspaper strip
- Mysterious Employer: The Vulture is working for another individual, who is closely monitoring events, we only see the back of him, although it's pretty clear from the character designs and other close up shots that it's meant to be Otto Octavius, aka Doctor Octopus
- No-Dialogue Episode: All of the serialized strips in the series run silently, an intentional artistic choice by the strip's writer
- Oh, Crap!: Aunt May's reaction when she spots the Green Goblin swooping in on her at the start of the second story arc, "The Blood Between"
- The One That Got Away: After Mary Jane reads in the paper of sightings of The Black Cat in Australia, Peter reminisces of the romantic partnership he shared with Felicia as Spider-Man
- Rooftop Confrontation: The second half of the opening story plays out like this after Vulture and Spider-Man intercept Felicia at the Diamond exhibit
- Vacation Episode: The first strip storyline opens exactly as the official newspaper strip ended, with The Parkers arriving in Australia for yet another of their many, many vacations, only for Peter to find the Vulture and Black Cat are also down under looking for a diamond.
- Wham Episode: Strip number three of "The Blood Between" storyline reveals an old family photograph depicting a younger Peter and Harry hanging out with Uncle Ben and Norman Osborn
- What Happened to the Mouse?: While the concluding chapter of the first storyline reveals Felicia's motivations for stealing the diamond, what Doc Ock and The Vulture wanted with it goes unexplained...until the events of the final strip adventure '"Diamond Absolutes'" where it's revealed Ock simply sought it as a gift to his girlfriend Anna-Maria Marconi
- What Might Have Been: The strip only managed three storylines before the author lost interest, but plans in it's early stages of development were for the Regent and the Spider-Man Unlimited costume to appear as well as a romance that would blossom between a multiverse-hopping Miles Morales and Gwenpool
- Whole Episode Flashback: Strip five of 'The Blood Between' chronicles how Uncle Ben chased off a bunch of thugs assaulting Norman Osborn and donated some of his blood to him after taking him to hospital
- Your Worst Memory: As Felicia reveals her motivation for stealing the diamond, we learn from a flashback that it had been previously stolen by her cat burglar father and gifted to her as a young child. When her father was later arrested, the diamond was returned to the authorities by Felicia's heartbroken mother as a helpless young Felicia was forced to watch.
