Orphaned whenever his parents died in a car accident, Peter Parker was formally adopted by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben at the age of six. A young prodigy with a keen interest in science, Peter's education was highly encouraged by the two, even as they struggled to make ends meet out of a tiny apartment in Queens. Due to their hard work, Peter never went without, whether it was getting food on the table, a roof over his head, the latest microscope and test tubes, or even the occasional video game. And with his neighbor Gwendolyne Stacy as a constant companion, Peter Parker's early life was as close to idyllic as one could get.

Until high school. Qualified to enroll at Midtown High due to consistently good grades, Peter discovered that his fellow alumni lived under parents of a very different tax bracket. Despite doing what he could to fit in, the nebbish Peter suffered from social anxiety in addition to his aptitude for science and chemistry. In essence, he was the perfect target for bullying by the likes of Eugene 'Flash' Thompson and his oafish sidekick, Guy Gardner. Even Gwen, a cop's daughter, couldn't hope to save him from constant harassment. Nor could the other school pariah, Harry Osborn, who most of the students blamed for the economic difficulties caused by the company of Harry's father, Oscorp Industries. Peter earned Harry's friendship just by being one of the few who didn't harbor any resentment.

In fact, it was due to this connection that Peter got a rare opportunity after entering his Junior Year - a potential internship at Horizon Laboratories, the startup that had been founded by Peter's scientific idols, Otto Octavius and Curt Connors. Peter was so ecstatic to be working with two of the greats that he devoted himself entirely to the menial work allotted to him over maintaining his grades, much to the chagrin of Ben and May. But Peter was determined to make something of himself, primarily to make them proud in the first place. Though he had to admit that he hoped the work would lead to something more lucrative - despite their attempts to hide it, Peter had noticed the many overdue bills and rent notices.

If it didn't, photography was his backup plan. Knowing that a local tabloid called The Daily Bugle awarded cash prizes to anyone who could bring in shots of something their editor considered worthy of the front page, Peter wondered if any of the experiments that Dr. Octavius or Dr. Connors were developing would make for a photogenic story. His curiosity was piqued even further when the two began to get secretive about a new acquisition. Kept under lock and key, available only to someone with a clearance card, the apparent specimen was dubbed "OZ_001" on all of the forms related to it. With Ben and May's debt mounting, Peter became desperate enough to try something drastic. Sneaking out after hours, he took a train down to the lab in the middle of the night and stole Dr. Connors' keycard from the lab coat he always left at his desk. Armed with his camera, he was ready to snap as many photos of OZ_001 as possible if it meant enough money for them to make rent.

What he found in the containment room was underwhelming. Seemingly, nothing existed inside a small glass cube except a blotch of dark liquid. But whenever Peter snapped a photo of it anyway, the liquid reacted, coming to life and forming a series of aggressive tendrils that frightened Peter enough to immediately knock over another container, shattering it without paying much attention to what was inside. As he made his way out of the lab, feeling equally guilty and frustrated that he had barely anything to show for his efforts other than a close encounter with some black sludge from a monster movie, he felt something prick the back of his hand. Waving away something crawling on him, he saw what looked like a multi-colored spider dart onto the pavement below before disappearing.

The nausea hit him immediately. He began to have violent chills, his vision blurred, and the world spun around him. It was on pure instinct that he managed to make his way down to the subway, finding himself aboard a car back to Queens. All that mattered in Peter's mind was getting home before Ben and May could discover he was gone, a fate even worse than this mystery illness. By the time he reached his destination, he was in a daze. So much so that whenever he stepped off the platform and reached street levels, he didn't notice himself wandering into traffic. By the time the car was barreling toward him, Peter barely had time to react - so he just closed his eyes and leaped. Whenever he opened them, he was suspended several feet off the ground, clinging to a brick wall on the other side of the street.

There was no way this was real, the bewildered teenager thought. He had to be hallucinating. And yet as he attempted to get himself down, he ended up crawling upwards. Sticking to the wall as if he were a human insect. Overwhelmed with the possibilities, Peter returned home and slept the rest of the night away like he'd never slept before - to the point that by the time he woke up, the weekend had passed. Explaining to Ben and May that he'd come down with something, Peter made up an excuse about doing more work for Dr. Octavius to go out into the city and test his newfound abilities. He seemed much stronger, alot faster, and incredibly agile. He moved with precision, to the point that he could scale the cables of the Brooklyn Bridge without much concentration. And whenever Peter found himself getting too close to the edge, a buzzing in the base of his skull sharply alerted him to the danger.

Superpowers. Peter could hardly believe it, and yet had no idea what to do with it. On his train ride home that evening, he overheard an ad play before a fellow passenger's YouTube video. It was for a local wrestling promotion in the city. Win $3,000 for lasting three minutes in the ring with Crusher Hogan, the "Bonesaw". Peter's mind raced with possibilities, notably how he couldn't possibly enter such a competition without getting recognized. So he stopped off at a novelty shop in the Bronx and purchased a cheap overhead mask, added a blue hoodie over his red blazer, and drew a large spider on the front in permanent marker. He figured that if he had the proportionate abilities of the arachnid that bit him, he might aswell capitalize on it.

When he got to the arena the next day, there was one problem. The name that he'd chosen sucked. The fight promoter openly winced whenever Peter suggested 'The Human Spider' as his moniker, so there was a slight alteration that made all the difference. Announced as "The Sensational, The Spectacular... The Amazing Spider-Man!", Peter's masked alter-ego entered the ring to audible groans and boos for his small stature. But "Spider-Man" quickly put them and his opponent in their place, performing incredible acrobatics and a flurry of dodges that made the audience as astonished as Crusher was enraged. By the time that the three minutes were nearly up, Spider-Man decided to stop playing around, laying Crusher out with ease and getting declared the winner by TKO.

Of course, it was never going to be that simple. Despite an effective victory, Peter was handed a hundred-dollar bill and told to come back when he got a better costume. Angrily demanding the rest of his payment, the promoter seemed indifferent to the young man's threat and told him that security would be along if he didn't leave. Despite knowing that he could take anyone that was thrown at him, Peter decided to be the better man - though not entirely. Whenever he reached the elevator, a commotion had stirred up from the promoter's office. Someone ran out with a large bag stuffed with cash and a gun. The promoter and a security guard yelled out to stop the thief, but Peter simply stood aside and allowed him to escape. When asked why, Peter simply shrugged, mimicking the indifference he'd received.

Dr. Octavius and Dr. Connors, meanwhile, had reviewed the security footage of Peter attempting to get a shot of OZ_001, not to mention the fumbling of the cage belonging to the genetically enhanced spider. While Octavius wanted to bring in the police, Connors talked him down enough to simply fire Peter for the incident. Dissuaded by this, in addition to getting stiffed at the arena, Peter had decided he'd had enough abuse when Flash and Gardner began their usual routine. Knocking Gardner out with a single punch that sent the elder student flying, Flash attempted to charge "Puny Parker" only to receive a broken arm for his troubles. Horrified at what he'd done, Peter ran off and soon found himself dodging repeated calls and texts from Ben and May, clearly worried but rightfully angry. Deciding to lay low at Harry's place, Peter was surprised to learn that Osborn was throwing a party while his father was away on business. Settling in, he partook in his first alcoholic beverage, even flirting with a drunken Mary Jane Watson, the witchy goth girl who had threatened to cut Flash if he ever touched her.

It didn't take long for Ben Parker to show up at the front door. Forcibly dragging Peter out and embarrassing him infront of many of Midtown's most popular kids, Ben spent most of the ride home bitterly chiding Peter for his behavior, the fight, and the downward slip in his grades. He didn't know what was happening to his nephew and he didn't care: he was becoming a man, Ben argued, and men had responsibilities. Peter finally snapped, blaming Ben and May for keeping him sheltered all his life, forcing him to have to try harder to make friends. Despite clearly being rattled, Ben didn't want to hear it. The important thing at Peter's age was wielding the power to shape who he was becoming, and "with great power, there must also come great responsibility."

But Peter was too overwhelmed to listen. Storming out of the car before they could reach the apartment, the teenager utilized his powers to disappear before Ben could hope to follow. Making his way to Gwen's, he explained everything to her - barring a few key details - and broke down, expressing immense regret for the way he'd spoken to his uncle. Seeing that he was truly upset, Gwen managed to calm him down enough to see sense and realize that he owed it to Ben and May to tell them how he felt. What she didn't know is that he ultimately decided, then and there, to reveal everything to them. The sneaking out, the break-in, the spider, the powers. Everything. Leaving Gwen's apartment with renewed purpose, he entered the lobby of the building - only to find police officers stationed outside his door.

They were consoling a hysterical May. By the time Peter approached and demanded to know what had happened, her face said it all. Something terrible had happened to Ben. Captain Stacy, Gwen's father, approached from behind and confirmed the news: a carjacker had overtaken Ben in the city. They struggled, his uncle had been shot, and he didn't make it. Unable to properly take in the news without succumbing to a primordial lust for revenge, Peter calmly asked if they knew where the carjacker was. Captain Stacy revealed that he had officers chasing the stolen vehicle through Midtown. Without a second's hesitation, Peter ran out into the night and produced his wrestling costume. He made a vow that Spider-Man would be the one to put an end to that chase - if not the life of the man who'd stolen Ben from him.

Locating the chase with ease, Spider-Man landed on the hood of the car and smashed the engine in half. The vehicle went careening off the street and into the side of an abandoned tenement. The carjacker stumbled inside, a gun at the ready, unsure of what he saw take his new ride apart. But he found out fast, as Spider-Man leaped down from the ceiling and overtook him, rendering the murderer unarmed and beating him to a near pulp. Before Peter could deliver the killing blow, however, a police light revealed the carjacker's face. To his horror, it was the same man whom he had refused to stop from robbing the wrestling promoter. Uncle Ben would have been alive if Peter had acted responsibly, and the blame lay solely with him. Leaving the heavily injured criminal for the police, Peter escaped from the scene and allowed Ben's final words to him to echo through his mind: With great power, there must also come great responsibility.

And so it began. Using his keen scientific intellect to develop a pair of wrist-mounted spinnerettes and crudely developing a red and blue costume that obscured his features, Peter Parker devoted his life to righting the wrong of his greatest mistake. He'd use his powers to help others before himself, to make a difference in society like his aunt and uncle had always wanted - even anonymously. As far as he was concerned, Peter Parker was only half of his existence now. Because the other half would be taking to the skies above New York, delivering justice.

Or as he'd put it, in his first declaration...

"Lookout. Here comes The Spider-Man."

Spider-Man’s one of the coolest characters in comics, with one of the richest histories and supporting cast of characters. He’s a no-brainer for a game like this, and I don’t really intend to reinvent the wheel. He’s already got everything there, so why try and tinker heavily with the formula? My goal is to just try and build him up as organically as possible. When the game starts, he’ll have been fighting crime for six months and have yet to face off against any superhuman adversaries. Infact, he’ll have yet to really make a splash in any way, apart from locals recognizing him as ‘that spider-guy’. From there, he’ll gain the experience needed and interact with, I hope, plenty of other would-be heroes to really inspire him to up his game.

The only villains I’d want to build into my concept explicitly are Green Goblin, Lizard, Doctor Octopus, Mysterio, Vulture, Chameleon, and eventually, Venom. Everyone else would be free game for anyone to use, provided you’d do me the courtesy of lending me a few of yours to trade. I know Spidey’s not exactly known for working on teams (Avengers notwithstanding), but I'm very open to collaboration. We can even discuss some of the other spider-related people, with the caveat that Peter's just beginning.

John was born May 10th 2006 to Mary-Anne Constantine and Thomas Constantine, alongside his stillborn twin brother, Jacob. Mary-Anne died during the birth, and Thomas, now a widower with a dead son, never forgave John. John wouldn't understand his father's hatred - but Cheryl, his older sister, would, and did her utmost to shield him from what she could all her life.

For seventeen years, the bond between Cheryl and John would form an impenitrable barrier against Thomas' hate, a bubble of compassion and love to retreat into no matter what baseless punishment their father meted out; a bubble made only stronger by the addition of Gary Lester and Francis Kramer to their alternative family. The four formed a powerful union of friendship, each individual guided and guarded by the other three, pursuing interests both independently and collectively, treading the new and old that surrounded them. The darker aspects of art, Punk and Emo, Horror and the Occult, let them explore the darkness of their own lives in measured, controlled environments, binding them with a common pursuit. In each other they found safe harbour.

Until Cheryl disappeared.

The absence of one splintered those remaning. Gary turned to vice, pushing his mind to oblivion rather than suffer the hole; Francis fled to London, abandoning memories now turning sour; John found his psyche fracturing completely, growing obssessive and fevered, now subject to Thomas without shelter. When the investigation stalled, and then closed, John threw himself from the Ethelfleda Bridge, and after being fished from the Mersey River, was sectioned to Ravenscar Psychiatric Hospital.

Two years later and nineteen years old, John has been remanded from Ravenscar to temporary residency. Cheryl is still gone, and John is still haunted by her absence. Thomas is to the wind, absconded from the family he had grown to hate so much. His old and only friends are scattered, burying their pain in the intervening years. But fresh spectres are beginning to re-open old wounds; will John lose what little fragile mind he has left entirely? Or will he strive to finally put old ghosts to rest?

My drive behind bringing John back into the mix is to rekindle my drive for writing in general. After a long period of struggle and burnout at work I now find myself facing into a lot of free time, and to that end I want to re-discover my passions and hobbies, and begin a slow-but-steady road back to some manner of happiness. Please understand my character submission is predicated on a real possibility that I will not be able to immediately overcome these barriers.

This story for Constantine is, I think, one of my best; mapped out from start to finish with (I feel) a strong narrative and a core thread of emotion, it brings a humanist side to John that I think in recent years has been lost behind the Liverpool con-man bravado and the occultist flash-magic. John Constantine is a man with sadness and heartbreak at his core, and I think the idea of him as a wretched, pitiable figure who'd rather just have a normal life but is inexorably forced - one way or another - to face into tragedy after tragedy is one left by the wayside in many incarnations and appearances.

The use of the Absolute ident is no accident or embellishment, either; the central principle of DC's new run is to retain the core traits and pillars of the characters while stripping away something previously thought vital: Bruce's wealth, Kal-El's upbringing with the Kents, Flash's connection to the Speedforce. My Constantine - my Absolute Hellblazer - is a John without Astra, without magic; and yet, calamity somehow even more profound has struck him down, and John will have to rely on deals struck with others and the strength of his own wits to claw himself back from the Hell he will find himself mired in.