I confess i still like the Death of Jean DeWolff storyline, but Osvaldo Oyola points out a lot that is problematic with it, especially regarding how it handles the politics of crime.

I don't think all of his criticisms have merit. For starters, PAD's also done a story where Peter lets the criminals go for no real reason. But more generally, I don't think that the Death of Jean DeWolff in general is more problematic than any other superhero story set in New York. The larger problem is that when comics started doing stories with New York substitutes, like Metropolis and Gotham, gangs in New York belonged to a variety of ethnicities. By the late 1960s, for a variety of historical reasons, two thirds of gangs in New York were black and Hispanic. So superheroes fighting crime acquired implications with respect to blacks and Hispanics that it didn't have at the start of the superhero genre.

Thanks once again for sharing the link to my work!

As for Michael's criticisms on my criticism, I can't say I quite get it. I didn't make the claim it was more problematic than other superhero stories set in NYC, but was indicative of the problems because of the specific way it tries to allude to a racialized urban crime narrative while trying to make it de-racialized. Sure, there are gangs and criminals of all ethnicities/races - but the narrative of urban decline has a particular racial slant.

I welcome you to swing by the blog though if you want to discuss more in the comments there. I am always looking for more response and back and forth.