The first true love of Peter Parker/Spider-Man's life was Gwen Stacy, before her tragic death in the eponymous story, "The Night Gwen Stacy Died," told across The Amazing Spider-Man #121-122. While Peter has found love with other women, Gwen's death has never quite stopped haunting him.
Many Spider-Man fans have drawn fan art capturing both the innocent love of Peter and Gwen and the former's grief at being unable to save her. Let's count down the most effectively tearjerking of these pieces.
10 In Mourning
This piece by Troianocomics mimics the art style of John Romita Senior, who drew the majority of The Amazing Spider-Man issues that chronicled Peter and Gwen's relationship. This drawing centers around the iconic image of Spider-Man holding the fallen Gwen bridal-style, while shadows of the past haunt him.
Most obviously, there is Gwen's killer, the Green Goblin, as well as Harry Osborn, the Goblin's son, whose drug overdose prompted the misplaced vengeance of Gwen's murder. Peter also recalls happier times with Gwen, while most tragically, he remembers Gwen's father Captain George Stacy. With his dying breath, Capt. Stacy had asked Peter to protect Gwen. Parker remembering him means the hero is clearly aware of how deeply he has failed.
9 Web of Love
This piece by Dannith is a fairly simple composition, an unmasked Peter and Gwen holding one another with a webbing background, but the piece is no less effective for it.
The art employs an anime-esque stylization, particularly noticeable with the rendering of Peter and Gwen's faces. Moreover, the piece seems to take place in the continuity of The Amazing Spider-Man films, given the Gwen of the comics never knew Peter's secret identity.
8 Wheelchair
In both comics and film, Gwen's death was the result of a snapped neck, upon being thrown several stories and suffering whiplash from Spider-Man's web catching her. This piece from JudithEstelle offers a glimpse at a reality wherein said snap didn't prove fatal.
Merely stricken with paralysis in this turn of events, the Gwen seen here seems to have settled back into life comfortably, aided by Peter remaining faithfully by her side.
7 Photographic Memory
This commission by Adam Hughes is an extreme close-up of Peter, only his finger-tips visible, looking mournfully upon a photo of Gwen, with even the reassuring caption likely providing little comfort.
The grey-infused color palette is a fitting stylistic choice, not just because it fits the somber mood of the drawing, but because of what it infers of Peter's mindset. The ultimate tragedy of Gwen's early death means he can't even find the happiness, or color, in the memories he made with her while she was still alive.
6 Grave
Johanna The Mad directly recreates a moment from the final minutes of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, as Peter visits Gwen's grave day-after-day.
The drawing makes similar use of color (or lack thereof) as the piece above, with the black-and-white reflecting the sapping of joy from Peter's life. Considering he had already lost his parents and Uncle Ben by the time he and Gwen were ripped away from one another, it's understandable why Peter would be feeling grey at this moment.
5 Role Reversal
On Earth-65, it was Gwen Stacy who was bitten by a radioactive spider and became a superhero, known alternatively as Spider-Gwen, Spider-Woman, and Ghost Spider. Continuing the role reversal, the Peter Parker of Earth-65 is the one who dies and whose tragedy motivates Gwen's heroics from there on out.
RibkaDory recreates this moment, originally witnessed in both Edge of Spider-Verse #2 and Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, showing that sometimes, relationships simply aren't meant to last.
4 Together In Two Worlds
RibkaDory also drew this happier piece, depicting two photos of Peter and Gwen, the top one of the couple on Earth-65, the bottom of the two on Earth 616.
The greatest strength of the art is how it makes the two pairs of Peter and Gwen distinct from their counterparts though still recognizably the same people. Though both photos in the piece are of happy times for Peter and Gwen, there is still a bittersweet quality given what the ultimate outcome of both relationships would be.
3 Ghost
With the teal-white void background, MiseryChan puts the focus squarely on Peter and Gwen themselves, who are rendered in an angularly stylized but still recognizable fashion. What gives this piece its emotional power is Gwen's transparent glow, making it clear that this is set after her death. It is likely only Peter's imagination of her.
Beyond the obvious sadness, there's an even more dispiriting implication. Peter carries the memory of Gwen with him after her death, but memories, especially those of someone long passed on, are fleeting and intangible.
2 Haunted
This piece from ProtoKitty offers a similar set-up as the previous one, with Peter's memories of Gwen personified by a specter in her visage. Unlike the preceding piece, Peter has his back turned and Gwen hangs over him, fitting given how her death has cast a shadow across his life since.
Like some of the others on this list, the drawing uses muted colors appropriate for the sense of mourning embodied by the imagery. The art as a whole manages to be three-dimensional without being quite photo-realistic; the shading on Peter's face and Gwen's wavy hair blowing in the wind are the most effective at bringing the art to life.
1 Photo Board
Photographs are a prominent motif in the pieces listed here, since, given his profession, they'd be Peter's easiest way of remembering Gwen. Des Taylor takes this to the extreme, with the piece being a collage, presumably made by Peter, of photos of Gwen.
The individual photo that stands out the most is the top one of Peter and Gwen together on Bow Bridge in Central Park, both for capturing the two young lovers in a moment of bliss and for grounding the art in a real-life part of NYC. Overall, Taylor emulates the penciling of John Romita's Spider-Man drawings but with far brighter colors. This gives the piece a bubbly feel as if the photos capture not just the events of happier, simpler times but the mood of such memories as well.