AMAZING
SPIDER-MAN #44PLOT: Peter and Mary Jane meet at the set of her movie for a talk. Doctor Octopus confronts Carlyle at the hotel he's staying. Peter's talk with MJ doesn't go well and upon hearing news of the battle he leaves Aunt May at the studio cafeteria to join the fray.
LIKES: Strong dialogue. Strong art. The usual since JMS took over this title. "The Amazing Lobster Man" is a funny bit. The scene of Peter leaving Aunt May to go off as Spider-Man is very effective. Ock's helping Spidey to save the innocent people from the hotel's wall collapse is a nice turn.
DISLIKES: Romita, Jr. really needs to work on his MJ. At least half of the facial expressions are way off. Straczynski made Rick Turk, MJ's co-star, such a transparent jerk that's it's unbelievable MJ what be so effected by what he says about the psychological profile of a super-hero's girl friend. Most of the issue is run of the mill fight scenes and we all know what's going to happen when Carlyle arrives at the nearby movie studio.
RATING 2½ webheads out of 5. All in all just OK making it one of the weakest of Straczynski's issues.
AMAZING
SPIDER-MAN #43
PLOT: Straczynski finally uses a
villian from Spider-Man's massive rogue's gallery and introduces a new one
to boot. The repercussions of Peter's failure last issue to meet Mary Jane
at the airport as planned are explored. Doc Ock is the old time baddie and
a corporate raider named Carlyle is the new one. Carlyle is now down on
his luck and sees the technology behind Dr. Octopus' powers as his way
out.
LIKES: Peter's new relationship with
Aunt May continues to enlighten and entertain and it's great to have M ary
Jane back. Let's hope they keep around this time. John Romita, Jr.
delivers his usual excellent work and like his father in the late Sixties
is the Spider-Man artist of the moment. Even in a business suit his Doc
Ock is menacing instead of frumpy as he is portrayed by many other
artists.
DISLIKES: I have a hard time that
Carlyle would want Ock's powers just to rob banks. The humor is too forced
in the scene at the airport with Peter and Aunt May. One area Romita,
Jr.is weak is his take on MJ. Most of the time he makes her too young
looking and much too skinny. He doesn't even get her face quite right
until the last page.
RATING: 3 out of 5 webheads. Even not
at his best JMS is still head and shoulders over what has come before
since the reboot.
AMAZING
SPIDER-MAN # 42
PLOT: Dr. Strange helps Spidey get to
the Astral Plane where he can battle the Shade and try to rescue the the
abducted homeless children. Meanwhile Peter Parker is to meet Mary Jane at
the airport where her flight has a layover.
LIKES: Straczynski's dialogue is super
sharp as usual. The scene with Spider-Man jabbering a mile a minute with a
stoic Dr. Strange is a jem. As with the climax of the Morlun arc JMS lets
Spidey use his brains to prevail showing he "gets" an important
element of the character. Too many times in Volume 2 all Spidey did was
try to outslug everyone he came up against. Romita, Jr.'s artwork is
terrific, especially on the glossy paper.
DISLIKES: While the ending tugs at the
heart strings, who didn't see tha coming a mile away? Spidey's little
detour in the Astral Plane was a bit of unnessecary mumbo-jumbo that I
hope doesn't foreshawdow any bizarrness JMS has planned.
RATING: 4 out of 5 webheads
AMAZING
SPIDER-MAN #41
PLOT: Spider-Man tracks down leads trying to find the identity
of the mysterious Shade who has been kidnapping homeless boys. This takes
him to a police lieutenant, a mentally unbalanced convict and a finally to
a mystical friend. Oh, and last issue we saw someone lurking in the
shadows as Spider-Man investigated the disappearances. Here he lurks again
and the mystery deepens as we find it is the occult book shop owner who
was aparently shot to death by the convict Spidey visits.
LIKES: This issue brims with sharp,
sometimes hilarious dialogue. Starting with Spider-Man's own thoughts
going through his talks with Jenny, Lt. Lamont, Aunt May and back with
Lamont in the prison mental ward. The return of the Spider signal was
welcome as was the deepening of Aunt May's reaction to discovering Peter's
secret identity. It's good to see that she hasn't accepted it as easily as
it seemed. Romita, Jr. turns in the usual terrific artwork. I got a real
kick out of the plot turn on the last page.
DISLIKES: I'm not going to nit pick
the story just to find something wrong. One personal dislike in general I
have is of these poster type covers Marvel now favors in most of their
books. While the images are very good and sometimes striking I like covers
which reflect something about the story inside.
RATING: 4½ out of 5 webheads: JMS has
really hit stride and settled into this book.
Amazing
Spider-Man #40
PLOT: Homeless recovering drug addict
boys are going missing and Jenny, the homeless girl Peter Parker
befriended a few issues ago, turns to him for help. May confronts JJJ
about his coverage of Spider-Man and MJ prepares to visit NYC. Spider-Man
discovers an ex-con who can dematerialize has been kidnapping the boys and
taking them to some other dimension or space for an as of yet unknown
reason.
LIKES: Straczynski has done wonders
with May, really making her a well rounded character instead of the old
bitty worry wart she's usually been portrayed. Her tricking the yammering
whacko off the elevator and remark about Peter's make-up are great
moments. Straczynski also makes better use of Peter's teaching job leading
to a Spider-Man adventure as he had in the past. This doesn't have the
afterschool special feel of the school shooter issue. The dialogue is
great and it's good to see Straczynski creating new advesaries instead of
relying on the old and at times overuesed rouge gallery.. I espicailly
liked the climax to the fight scene using the ricoheting garbage can lid
to take down the loud mouth adversary. That's classic Spidey using his
brains as well as his brawn. By the way, Romita, Jr.'s artwork is fabulous
as usual
DISLIKES: The bit with Aunt May going
to the Bugle drags on a little too long.
RATING: 4½ out of 5 webheads-with the
'Nuff Said issue and all the delays this good of a beginning of a new arc
is especially welcome
More Reviews:
Amazing
Spider-Man#35-39
