By Spoilers ahead for Spider-Man The Other Chapter 6-8. 
The toughest thing to do with ongoing comic book serials is build suspense around the titular character. We can't really ever expect Superman or Spider-Man to die; usually it's the supporting characters that can be placed in jeopardy. Spider-Man: The Other is designed to break that formula, but it also breaks all the conventions surrounding Peter Parker's origin. When J. Michael Straczynski first took over Amazing Spider-Man, he introduced the concept that Peter wasn't really a scientifically based hero, but that he had some connection to mythological Spider-Gods. I remember when we first heard about this on Warren Ellis' Delphi message board; Ellis thought this was hilarious. I never cared for this idea. As corny as it was, I liked the whole radioactive spider thing. Straczynski's reinvention smacked of Alan Moore's "The Anatomy Lesson" wherein Swamp Thing was recast as a plant elemental instead of a swamp monster. Why did I buy Moore's hypothesis more than JMS? Somehow it all fit reasonably into Swamp Thing's history, of which there were only 40-odd issues at the time, counting volumes 1 and 2. I can't quite put my finger on why Moore can do it and JMS cannot, except to say that I prefer Moore's writing and pacing.
Chapter 6-8 of The Other have been so awful that I think Marvel has finally Jumped the Shark with Spider-Man. Peter Parker, dying of some mysterious disease, gets into a fight with Morlun (another Spider-God mythological character). After taunting him for several issues, Morlun has a big showdown with Peter in Amazing Spider-Man 526, but this isn't any ordinary slugfest, it's a fight to the death. Morlun plucks Peter's eyeball from his skull in a Tarentino rip-off (from Kill Bill Vol. 2). And then Morlun proceeds to beat Peter over and over again with his bare hands, leaving him looking like road kill. Whoa! Is Rick Veitch suddenly drawing Marvel Comics? I can't believe this level of violence is in mainstream comics now. Peter is taken to a hospital, where we get some soap opera wailing from Mary Jane. Morlun reappears, attacks MJ. Peter rises up out of bed, morphs into a giant Spider-Thing and kills Morlun. Then he dies. No heartbeat, he's gone. How will they get out of this one? Even though I thought it was crap, I had to find out (which no doubt makes Marvel happy).
Marvel Knights 21 has the answer: Peter's dead but he's getting better! After another round of soap-opera wailing from Mary Jane, Aunt May, and the Avengers, we discover that something broke out of the room where Peter's corpse was stored. His body is ripped down the middle. Something burst out from inside and scurried away into New York City. Then we get a clumsy JMS lesson about a spider that can "die one time" and use his old body as a cocoon to rejuvenate. This is also reminiscent of how Swamp Thing first regenerated his own body in the Anatomy Lesson. Except this seems cheaper. By saying "one time only" they are making a promise that it will never happen again. Push the button, reset everything, nothing has really changed, except that Peter is a Spider-Thing, which is kinda yucky. I feel sorry for Mary Jane. Who wants to be married to a human spider? Maybe when they are lovemaking one night, Peter will accidentally poison her.
Why did I like the Anatomy Lesson better? Maybe it's because Moore's hypothesis fit perfectly into Swamp Thing's history without contradicting too much. Maybe it was because I had the sense this was permanent change and it would lead to more exciting events. With The Other, I'm having visions of Fonzie water-skiing now. Why is this crap selling so well? Is it the multiple cover frenzy? I honestly think the Clone saga with Ben Reilly was better. Nuff said.
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