Spider-Man: Blue is a comic book

Comic book

A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

 limited series

Limited series

A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....

 written by Jeph Loeb

Jeph Loeb

Joseph "Jeph" Loeb III is an American film and television writer, producer and award-winning comic book writer. Loeb was a producer/writer on the TV series Smallville and Lost, writer for the films Commando and Teen Wolf and was a writer and Co-Executive Producer on the NBC TV show Heroes from its...

 and illustrated by Tim Sale

Tim Sale (artist)

Tim Sale is an American Eisner Award-winning comic book artist. He is primarily known for his collaborations with writer Jeph Loeb.-Early life:...

. It ran for a total of six issues and has been reprinted in trade paperback form. Loeb and Sale had also worked on the limited series: Daredevil: Yellow, Hulk: Grey and Captain America: White which also chronicle their respective Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics

Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...

 characters in their formative years.

Plot

It is Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day

Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496...

, and Spider-Man

Spider-Man

Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...

 describes himself as feeling "blue". Gwen Stacy

Gwen Stacy

Gwendolyn "Gwen" Stacy appears as a supporting character in Marvel Comics' Spider-Man series. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, she first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #31 ....

, one of Parker's true loves, died a while ago, but he still feels blue for her to this day. So, Spider-Man recounts into a tape recorder

Tape recorder

An audio tape recorder, tape deck, reel-to-reel tape deck, cassette deck or tape machine is an audio storage device that records and plays back sounds, including articulated voices, usually using magnetic tape, either wound on a reel or in a cassette, for storage...

 how Gwen and he fell in love.

The series then recounts the events from The Amazing Spider-Man

The Amazing Spider-Man

The Amazing Spider-Man is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics, featuring the adventures of the fictional superhero Spider-Man. Being the mainstream continuity of the franchise, it began publication in 1963 as a monthly periodical and was published continuously until it was...

vol. 1 #43-48 and #63, though it switches time order and implies that Kraven the Hunter

Kraven the Hunter

Kraven the Hunter is a fictional character, a supervillain and enemy of Spider-Man appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Kraven's name is Sergei Kravinoff. He also appears as Xraven, with white-grey skin and red eyes, possessing the powers of X-Men. He is the half-brother of Dmitri...

, who appeared in #47, is behind all of the villains who attack Spider-Man. It retells Peter standing between Gwen and Mary Jane Watson

Mary Jane Watson

Mary Jane Watson, often shortened to MJ, is a fictional supporting character appearing, originally, in Marvel comic books and, later, in multiple spin-offs and dramatizations of the Spider-Man titles as the best friend, love interest, and one-time wife of Peter Parker, the alter ego of Spider-Man...

, berated by his friend Harry Osborn

Harry Osborn

Harry Osborn is a fictional character, a supporting character of Spider-Man in the . In addition to being Peter Parker's best friend, Harry was the second Green Goblin and is the son of Norman Osborn...

.

In the end, it is Valentine's Day, and Gwen asks Peter to be her valentine. Peter states how her death has scarred him. Her one-time rival Mary Jane taught Peter to love again, but he reveals how much he misses Gwen. Suddenly, he notices his wife Mary Jane listening. Instead of being angry, Mary Jane feels deep sympathy for her husband and tells Peter to say hello to Gwen from her and to tell her how much she misses her, too. On this note, the story ends.

Collected editions

The series has been collected into a single volume

Trade paperback (comics)

In comics, a trade paperback is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme from one or more titles...

:

• Spider-Man: Blue (softcover, 144 pages, May 2002, ISBN 0-7851-1071-2, 162 pages, hardcover, January 2009, ISBN 0-7851-3446-8)