Amazing
Spider-Man #508 (#67)
“The Book of Ezekiel: Chapter Three”
Writers: J. Michael Straczynski
Penciler: John Romita Jr.
Inker: Scott Hanna
PLOT: This is it.
This is the conclusion of JMS’s storyline that began three years
ago, as well as the end to the long journey of John Romita Jr. work on
Amazing Spider-Man. This
issue begins with a crazed Ezekiel standing over a wounded Spider-Man.
He again states he is sorry for having to take Peters life, but it
is the only way for him to survive. A
fight ensues, and Ezekiel injects Spider-Man with some type of drug.
Eventually, Ezekiel beats down Peter, chains him to an alter, cuts
his chest open which begins the bloodletting process.
Peters blood flows thru a channel in the design of a spider.
Ezekiel cuts himself and allows his blood run down the other side
of the channel until it meets with Peter’s.
This awakens the mystical spider that goes on to attack Peter, but
there is also another effect. The
combination of their blood allows Ezekiel to share the memories of why
Peter became Spider-man and vice a versa.
Ezekiel feels that he had attained this great power, but never used
it for the good of other people like Peter did.
Ezekiel then rushes back to where Peter is and sacrifices himself
to the spider. Ezekiel
seemingly perishes, and the Incan who helped Ezekiel helps Peter gets
free. In the end, Peter wants
answers to the way he got his powers.
Was it scientific in nature, or mystical?
The Incan chief does not give him a complete answer, but instead
states that it does not really matter because he still got his powers.
LIKES:
- JRJR art and cover is beautifully done.
JR goes out with a bang, and he will sorely be missed.
- After everything that happened, Peter’s
origin was not altered too much, which is good.
Why change something that ain’t really broke???
- I like the fact that even though Peter physically lost the battle to Ezekiel, he won the moral battle. Ezekiel finally made amends with himself and corrected his past mistakes by sacrificing himself.
DISLIKES:
- None of JMS’s characters stick around too
long, or belong a staple in the Spider-Man universe.
Whether it was Morlun, Shathra, Digger, The Shade, and Ezekiel,
they all seem to die.
- It kind of felt like the Ezekiel storyline was
rushed and suddenly came to an end.
After a long set up, I thought that there might be a long and
epic conclusion as well.
FAVOITE QUOTE: Editor to John Romita Jr. “Have a great vacation, John. We’ll see you when school starts again.”
RATING: 4 ˝ webheads out of 5. We finally get closure to JMS’s epic Ezekiel storyline. We can now move forward to the “Sin’s Past” storyline.
Reviewed by AC-WEB
(Ariel Chaidez)
Amazing
Spider-Man #507 (#66)
“The
Book of Ezekiel: Chapter Two”
Writers: J. Michael Straczynski
Penciler: John Romita Jr.
PLOT: The Gatekeeper Cometh, but what plans does he have for
one Spider-man?!? Peter
turned down Ezekiel’s offer to go down to Peru to fight this mystical
entity, and elects to stay in New York City.
This is not good news for NY, since it is now being overrun by
millions of spiders. After
saving Mary Jane from these icky spiders, Peter is finally found by the
Gatekeeper. He is engulfed
and bitten by hundreds and possibly thousands of spiders that send him
into a dream-like hallucination. The
answers to the reasons why Peter was originally bitten by a radioactive
spider, and why he got powers were finally given, and they weren’t by
coincidence. Also,
Ezekiel’s motives have finally come to light, and lets just say that he
never had Peter’s best interest in mind.
When Peter comes to, he finds himself in Peru with Ezekiel standing
over him. Zeke tells
Spider-Man that he is truly sorry, but only one of them will be allowed to
leave Peru alive.
LIKES:
- Finally, this first JMS epic is coming
together and to its conclusion. The
mystical and totem storylines that Peter has been involved with the
last three years are finally making sense.
- The Gatekeeper is not a traditional enemy that
can be punched or hurt. He
may not be an enemy at all.
- JMS was able to add to the origin of
Spider-Man without really changing anything to the main concept,
unlike that John Byrne.
- Awesome opening dream sequence with all those
spiders crawling out of MJ. Very
creepy.
- Some great artistic scenes by JRjr of the millions of spiders overrunning New York City.
DISLIKES:
- There was some continuity an issue when JMS went back to Peter’s origin, with regards to which supporting cast was around when Peter got bitten. But this could have been due to the fact that this was Peter’s hallucination and this is what he remembered.
RATING: 5
webheads out of 5. This was a
brilliant issue by both JMS and JRjr.
Having all the pieces coming together after the last few years
makes me want to go back and read each issue of JMS’s Amazing Spider-Man
run over again.
Amazing
Spider-Man #506 (#65)
“The Book of Ezekiel: Chapter One”
Writers: J. Michael Straczynski
Penciler: John Romita Jr.
Inker: Scott Hanna
PLOT: The long awaited Ezekiel story arc,
as well as John Romita Jr.’s final arc before he departs to other Marvel
books, is finally upon us. We
start in Peru, where Ezekiel goes to find an Incan ancestor, Miguel, to
what seems assist him in replenishing his spider powers.
Even though he helps him this time, he warns Ezekiel that he is no
longer welcomed, because if he comes back one or the other will die.
Ezekiel states he just needs a little to get Peter to help him, but
it may incidentally lead to his demise. Ezekiel makes his way back to New
York and encounters Peter. He
ends up at the Parker apartment where he eats dinner with Peter and Mary
Jane. Afterwards, Ezekiel
warns Peter that he is in a great deal of danger from his last and
greatest supernatural enemy yet, The Gatekeeper.
He tells Peter he has two options, stay where he is and fight him,
but he will put many people, including his loved ones in danger.
The other option is for Peter to go to South America with Ezekiel,
and together they will work to defeat this enemy.
In another part of the city, The Gatekeeper begins to take his
form.
LIKES:
- We finally start unraveling the mystery of
Ezekiel after many years of wondering what his true intents are.
- The Gatekeeper has a very dark and ominous
presence, and I would have not guessed that he is composed of spiders.
- Mary Jane finally came clean about her
deception to Peter when she spoke to Aunt May about her trip to L.A.
- Top-notch artistic effort by John Romita Jr. The page with Spider-Man’s past enemies while JMS has been on board Amazing is great, as well as the last page when The Gatekeeper is revealed.
DISLIKES:
- Even though I like the idea of MJ moving out
of the movie studio, I’m not too crazy about her singing showtunes.
I would rather have her move out of the whole entertainment
business.
- Even though I like that the Ezekiel storyline is coming to a close, I don’t like that it has taken this long. I hope I won’t be disappointed.
RATING: 4 webheads out of 5. Good start to a storyline that has been highly anticipated and which has high expectations.
Amazing
Spider-Man #505 (#64)
“Vibes”
Writers: Fiona Avery & J. Michael
Straczynski
Penciler: John Romita Jr.
Inker: Scott Hanna
PLOT: Fiona Avery continues to take the
reigns of Amazing Spider-Man for a third straight time.
After a pretty good two-parter, featuring Loki, Avery gives us a
self-contained issue. Mary
Jane decides it is time to get back to her acting, and Peter has a hard
time saying good-bye. (Who can blame him after the last time MJ left to
pursue her career). In LA,
MJ’s reception for a role is not what she expected and is practically
dismissed. MJ lies to Peter
and told him that the reason she did not take the job was because the pay
was bad. Peter, alone in NY,
decides to put on the webs and go out as Spider-Man.
He helps the police stop a bike thief, who turns out to be a
juvenile with a gun. Spider-Man
talks him into turning himself in without a fight, and there is a reunion
between the juvenile and his father at the end.
LIKES:
- John Romita’s artwork was the only great thing about this issue. Especially the page where Spider-Man is upside down, trying to read one of those big clocks.
DISLIKES:
- This issue was pretty much a filler issue if I
ever saw one. Worthy of
spanning the pages of Unlimited Spider-Man instead of Marvel’s
flagship title. (Come on, Spider-Man HELPED the police stop a bicycle
thief).
- MJ is lying to Peter, and that is no good.
I thought that was one of the reasons for their separation
(Byrne era) and they were going to stop that.
- Also, MJ needs to give up her acting/modeling
career, which probably won’t happen until JMS is no longer writing
Spider-Man. This is just
not a profession that mainstream readers can relate to.
RATING: 1 and ˝
webheads out of 5. A very
bland filler issue to say the least, which should not happen to one of the
top ten comic books in the industry.
JMS is back, and I can honestly say I’m looking forward to his
Ezekiel story. It’s sure to
be more exciting than this issue, which isn’t saying much.
Reviewed by AC-WEB
(Ariel Chaidez)
Amazing
Spider-Man #504 (#63)
“Chasing
a Dark Shadow” Part Two of Two
Writers: Fiona Avery & J. Michael
Straczynski
Penciler: John Romita Jr.
Inker: Scott Hanna
PLOT: In this second and last part of
“Chasing a Dark Shadow”, Spider-Man and Loki finally battle it out
with Morwen. We find out that
it was no coincidence that Morwen took the body of Tess Black as its host,
for she was drawn to this body because she is one of Loki’s many
children. Loki shows emotions
towards Tess and does not want to see her hurt.
He first tries to accept the power Morwen wants to give Spider-Man,
but when she declines, the battle begins. Loki
has Spider-Man battle Morwen while he tries to draw her out using
telekinesis. They succeed,
and Morwen is exorcised from the body.
Loki makes sure Tess does not remember the events and has her move
to a different location. Loki
also thanks Spider-Man and tells him that he owes Spider-Man a favor.
He also wants Spider-Man to keep an eye out for Tess, and contact
him via a sacred rune if he is needed.
LIKES:
- The cover is one of the best Spider-Man covers
that I have seen in a while. Great
penciling, inking, and colors by everybody involved.
- A good two-issue arc by Avery.
It’s rare that you get one of these quality shorter arcs
these days.
- Great banter between Loki and Spider-Man.
In where some of JMS’s jokes fall flat, Avery was able to
have Spider-Man play off of Loki well.
Never in a million years did I think that these two characters
would interact this way. I
wonder if Loki will play another part in Spider-Man future?
It sure set that scenario up.
DISLIKES:
- Loki seemed kind of weak for being a godling
that gave Thor a run for his money on plenty of occasions.
- Morwen seemed too easily defeated after being
pumped up as a very threatening villain.
- All this chaos magic and spider trickster
stuff made no sense to me. How
is Spider-Man a born agent of chaos and who are her masters that have
been watching him??? I
have no freakin’ clue.
RATING: 3 and ˝
webheads out of 5. A very
solid and entertaining story, but I was left scratching my head on a few
occasions. Maybe JMS will
explain some of this magic stuff in words we can understand.
Reviewed by AC-WEB
(Ariel Chaidez)