Amazing
Spider-Man #514 (#73)
“Sin Past-Part Six”
Writers: J. Michael Straczynski
Penciler: Mike Deodato Jr.
Inker: Joe Pimentel
PLOT: This is the final chapter of
“Sins Past.” Probably the most controversial storyline since the “Clone
Saga.” There have been plenty of ups and downs in this roller coaster
ride, but we finally get to the climax. Sarah has been seriously injured
after being shot last issue. There is a lot of blood loss, and Sarah’s
system has been rejecting any type of transfusion due to the genetic
structure of her body. Without “special” blood, she will die.
Luckily for her, Spider-Man volunteers to donate his in an attempt to
save her life. The transfusion will cause Peter to be weak and possibly
fall in and out of consciousness.
Gabriel finds the Goblin hideout that
Norman has set for him and his after they had supposedly defeated
Spider-man and Peter Parker. Norman offers a cure to the accelerated
growth problem, as well as added strength if Gabriel injects himself
with the serum left for him. The drawback is a lifetime of lunacy,
psychosis, and other types of psychological problems. Gabriel takes the
offer and dresses in the custom made Gray Goblin outfit left for him. He
then goes off to find Spider-man. A fight ensues when he reaches him,
but Peter is at a distinct disadvantage since he is weakened due to the
blood transfusion.
Sarah enters the scene and tries to
reason with Gabriel, but is attacked when she sides with Peter. As Sarah
dodges, she shoots at Gabriel with a gun stolen from a security officer,
and hits the glider. The glider explodes and sends Gabriel spinning into
the water. While Sarah is walking away, Peter blacks out of exhaustion.
By a nearby beach, a disoriented Gabriel crawls out of the water. He has
no clue who he really is.
LIKES:
- The art by Deodato and Pimentel is gorgeous and beautifully drawn. This has been the strong point of the story.
- I like the fact that Norman is in jail is finally acknowledged. I was worried they weren’t even going to bring this up.
- Great redesigned on the Goblin costume. The gray suit with the bright yellow eyes is chilling.
- I like the way they tie in Gabriel’s memory black out to Norman Osborn’s amnesia early in Amazing Spider-Man lore.
DISLIKES:
- The story arc ended with a whimper. Not really much action between Spidey and the Gray Goblin.
- It made little sense to me that Spider-Man’s irradiated blood would be accepted by Sarah’s genetically altered body.
- I’m still having a bit of trouble aligning the continuity issue and nailing down exactly when did Gwen sleep with Norman and around what issues did she have the children.
FAVORITE QUOTE: A defeated Gabriel speaking to a stranger on the beach. “My name…? I don’t… I don’t remember…I don’t remember…”
RATING: 4 webheads out of 5. A very good, well crafted story that kind of fizzled out at the end.
Reviewed by AC-WEB
(Ariel Chaidez)
Message Board: What did you think of AC-Web's Review? Discuss it on this thread on the Crawl Space Message board.
Amazing
Spider-Man #513 (#72)
“Sin
Past-Part Five”
Writers: J. Michael Straczynski
Penciler: Mike Deodato Jr.
Inker: Joe Pimentel
PLOT: Peter has a
problem. He knows that
Sarah and Gabriel are Gwen and Norman’s children and that they are
aging a lot faster than they should, which will cause their untimely
death. BUT Sarah and
Gabriel want to kill him because they because they believe that he is
their father, and that he killed their mother and abandoned them.
In attempt to reason with them, Spidey holds a news conference
directed at the twin.
He
tells them to meet him where he last saw their mother.
At the Brooklyn Bridge, Spider-Man unravels the multiple layers
of lies that Norman has fed the twins.
Sarah is more inclined to believe Peter, but Gabriel remains in
denial and attack Spider-Man. The
fight causes the police below to take action and begin shooting.
In the crossfire, Sarah gets shot.
Peter throws Gabriel into the water and takes Sarah to the
hospital. A defeated Gabriel goes to one of Norman’s hideout’s and
makes a shocking discovery: two goblins suits, one green and purple, and
the other one, black and gray.
LIKES:
- A beautiful cover by Deodato.
Great art overall, but the cover really grasps what’s going
in the book. Gabriel
attacking Spider-Man under the shadow of the Green Goblin.
- JMS does a wonderful job in capturing the
emotions of these characters. Last
issue, Peter Parker and MJ was under the emotional microscope.
In this issue, it’s Gabriel and Sarah’s turn.
DISLIKES:
- The twins seem a little bit more
sophisticated than a ten year old trapped in an older person’s
body, even if Osborn provided the best tutors available.
- The fight above the Brooklyn Bridge was a bit melodramatic. Maybe I’ve seen too many repetitions and flashbacks of Spider-Man #121.
FAVOITE QUOTE: Spider-man
talking to the twins atop the Brooklyn Bridge. “No. No tricks.
Just the truth.”
RATING: 4 webheads out
of 5. Not as good as the
emotional roller coaster last issue, but it is still a very good issue.
I wonder what other surprises JMS has up his sleeves.
Reviewed by AC-WEB
(Ariel Chaidez)
Message Board: What did you think of AC-Web's Review? Discuss it on this thread on the Crawl Space Message board.
Amazing
Spider-Man #512 (#71)
“Sin Past-Part Four”
Writers: J. Michael Straczynski
Penciler: Mike Deodato Jr.
Inker: Joe Pimentel
PLOT: Wow, talk about one of the most
emotional Spider-Man issues I have ever read. This issue centers
entirely on Peter and MJ having a very frank discussion over some
information that MJ has been holding onto about Gwen Stacey. And this
bit of information is that Gwen confided in her that Norman Osborn is
the father of her twins. These twins have Norman’s blood, which has
caused them to have super human strength, but also, grow faster than the
regular human being. The worst part of this, according to MJ, Gwen slept
with Norman willingly and had an attraction towards him. This was a huge
bombshell for Peter, and he reacts as many of the readers of this issue
feel. He feels denial, anger, reasoning, and finally acceptance.
LIKES:
- This is a Spider-Man story for the ages. JMS has crafted a story that Spider-Man will probably be talking about for years to come.
- The wide ranges of emotions are greatly illustrated by Deodato and wonderfully scripted by JMS. A very powerful and moving book.
- The issue brings up many of the issues that fans have been discussing, such as the fact that the twins should not be as old as they look.
DISLIKES:
- I feel like many fans do, that JMS is destroying the image that we have had of Gwen. But then again, I have to keep in mind that these are fictional characters we are talking about and that this story is not yet finished.
- Cover is misleading, as neither Gabriel nor Sarah are in this issue.
FAVORITE QUOTE: Flashback of Gwen talking about Norman Osborn. “…and I felt so badly for him, but, at the same time, under it all, there was this strength, this magnetism…”
RATING: 5 webheads out of 5. I may not agree with a lot of what is going on in this issue, it cannot take away that this is one great story that JMS is concocting. The evidenced is in that this has been one of the most talked about story arcs that I can remember, and that has to be one of the author’s goals. We got two more issues left, and there have been enough twist and turns to make anybody dizzy. Lets see how this story winds down.
Reviewed by AC-WEB
(Ariel Chaidez)
Message Board: What did you think of AC-Web's Review? Discuss it on this thread on the Crawl Space Message board.
Amazing
Spider-Man #511 (#70)
“Sin
Past-Part Three”
Writers: J. Michael Straczynski
Penciler:
Mike Deodato Jr.
Inker: Joe Pimentel
PLOT: A perplexed Spider-Man is still
reeling from the information Lt. Lamont provided him on the contents in
the back of the one page letter he received from Gwen.
Peter decides to do some tests to be certain the twins are
Gwen’s kids. He goes back
to Gwen’s grave to exhume some of her DNA.
He then crosses that with the DNA from the licked envelopes he
received from the twins. Before
he finds the results, Gwen’s daughter Sarah shows up to tell Peter to
give up before her brother kills him and all the people he loves.
When Sarah becomes distracted, Peter takes the opportunity to
attack and unmask her. To
his surprise, she looks almost identical to Gwen.
Sarah’s brother, Gabriel, comes to her aide and they escape.
Peter confirms what he feared, they are Gwen’s children, and
they believe that he is their father.
Back home, MJ rips open the results of the letter.
When Peter gets home, MJ apologizes for opening the letter and
explains that she knows who the father of Gwen’s children really is.
LIKES:
- This storyline has one blockbuster turn
after the other. We
finally confirmed what we already believed to be true, Gwen had
children!!! Now, who is
their father, and why do they look older than they should be???
- It’s wonderful to have the cover art
coincide with the story inside again instead of using the generic
and pin-up style covers.
- I like the way JMS used Peter’s scientific mind to work out the problem of Gwen’s children.
DISLIKES:
- I’m all for introductions of new
supporting cast, but I’m not really interested in Mary Jane’s
acting partners. They
are pretty bland and forgettable so far.
- Sarah waiting for Peter at that particular research lab is pretty over the top even though they staked out a few other labs.
FAVORITE QUOTE: MJ
telling Peter why she knows that he and Gwen were never intimate
“Because I know who the real father of Gwen Stacy’s children is.”
RATING: 4 and ½ webheads out of 5. Great issue over all, except for the few pages devoted to MJ’s acting. This is one hell of a cliffhanger that JMS has left us with.
Reviewed by AC-WEB
(Ariel Chaidez)
Amazing
Spider-Man #510 (#69)
“Sin Past-Part Two”
Writers: J. Michael Straczynski
Penciler: Mike Deodato Jr.
Inker: Joe Pimentel
PLOT: One of the most intriguing
Spider-Man storyline in years continues.
A befuddled Peter Parker ponders why he was a target of
assassination while visiting Gwen’s grave, and wonder’s what the
heck is going on with the mysterious note he received.
Lucky for him, MJ brings up the point that the first page of the
letter may have the second page indented in the back.
But before Peter is out the door, he receives another anonymous
package. This package has
two photos: one of a man helping Aunt May with groceries, and the other
with a woman asking MJ for directions.
The picture of the man and woman are blackened out, and there is
a letter stating that they could get them whenever they wanted.
With that in mind, Peter has Aunt May stay with Aunt Anna.
Afterwards,
Spider-Man goes out to seek Lt. Lamont.
He asks Lamont to help him by taking the letter to forensics and
try to trace what words are hidden on the other side.
Spider-Man webs a layer of steel to the other side so that it
wouldn’t be read. While
doing the analysis, Lamont asks the forensics expert to analyze a strand
of webbing for future purposes. Spider-Man
call’s Aunt May to check on her, but the line is intercepted by the
mysterious stranger who is at Anna’s home.
The stranger lies to Peter and tells him he has kidnapped Aunt
May, and he needs to get to where she is at in ten minutes.
Spider-Man rushes thru New York, to the address given not a
second too soon. When he
arrives, he finds a mannequin looking like Aunt May, which then blows
up.
The mysterious man, named Gabriel, and his
sister, Sarah, attack a wounded Spider-Man.
Sarah is able to pull Gabriel off of Spider-Man, but not before
he promises to inform Peter why they will kill him in the near future.
Spider-Man picks himself up to meet Lamont, where parts of the
missing letter are revealed.
LIKES:
- This storyline has me at the edge of my
seat. I can’t wait to
see how it unfolds.
- I like the way JMS is preparing a future
story by having Lamont take a strand of Spidey’s web to analyze.
I wonder how that will fit in with future storylines.
- Deodato’s art is rock solid.
It’s a joy to view his art on the pages of Amazing.
DISLIKES:
- How many times has Aunt May been kidnapped
or threatened to be kidnapped???
- Why would the twins ease up on their attack
and not kill Parker when they had the chance???
- Why the heck would Peter keep MJ or Aunt May
around after receiving those threatening pictures.
FAVORITE QUOTE: Spider-Man
after being blown up and beaten up by the twins “I don’t
understand…what did I do? What…what
did I do…?”
RATING: 4 and
½ webheads out of 5. I
wonder what kind of twists and turns the following issue has in store
for us Spidey fans.
Reviewed by AC-WEB
(Ariel Chaidez)
Amazing
Spider-Man #509 (#68)
“Sin Past-Part One”
Writers: J. Michael Straczynski
Penciler: Mike Deodato Jr.
PLOT: The Ezekiel saga has come and
gone. This issue introduces
a new storyline, as well as a new artist in Mike Deodato Jr.
The beginning of the issue has MJ auditioning and getting the
part for a play at a small theatre.
While having breakfast at Aunt May’s, Peter finds that an old
letter from Gwen Stacey was mailed to the house.
The letter was written from France, where Gwen was before coming
back to New York and ultimately dying.
The letter is very cryptic, and only one page was sent.
The one page informing Peter that she had something VERY
important to tell him. Peter
suspects that someone is messing with him, and sent it to him now on
purpose. On a visit to
Gwen’s grave, two masked assailants attack Peter.
They want to punish Peter for his past crimes, which are
currently unknown. They
were unaware that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, until he uses his powers
to get out of the situation.
LIKES:
- Even though I am one of JRjr’s biggest
fans, I would be lying if I did not say that I loved Deodato’s art
in his debut issue. It
will be a transition period, but Deodato does add a breath of fresh
air.
- I can hardly believe my eyes.
A Marvel book in the year 2000 actually catering a story on
continuity from many decades ago.
- You can color me intrigued with this issue. JMS has got me hooked and guessing on how this story will turn and evolve.
DISLIKES:
- Uggg…Bring back the classical Amazing
Spider-Man logo.
- The drawing of Spider-Man on the cover doesn’t look remotely like the build of Peter Parker in the book, which is a good thing. Tone down on the crazy muscles on top of muscles, Mike.
FAVORITE QUOTE: Masked
stranger to Peter Parker “Come to apologize for your sins, Parker?
Because if you did…you’re too late.
Way too late.”
RATING: 5
webheads out of 5. This was
an excellent start to a new storyline that is bound to have serious
ramifications to Peter Parker’s life.
Reviewed by AC-WEB
(Ariel Chaidez)
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