Amazing
Spider-Man #531
Title: Mr. Parker Goes to Washington
Part 3 of 3
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Penciler: Tyler Kirkham
Inker: Sal Regla
Plot: Spider-Man is knee deep in a
fight with the Titanium Man that began at the end of last issue. During
the course of this fight, the Titanium Man reveals that his organization
believes that if they kill Stark, there will be no one to defend against
the Superhuman Registration Act, and the government with take care of
the super heroes for them. Now, with the new handy dandy technology in
the eyes of Peter’s mask, all of this is recorded. So, Stark plays it
for the Committee, and then Spidey shows up in costume with a few very
compelling words. Of course, the Senators turn it into an example,
because his sworn testimony cannot be taken unless he removes his mask
and gives his name.
As they leave the hearing, Peter points out that the
Titanium Man’s arrival was timely, didn’t hurt anyone, and provided a
nice sound bite for the committee. He doesn’t directly accuse Stark of
anything, he just puts it out there. Tony denies it.
But then we see Iron Man setting down in the woods with a
briefcase. He hands this briefcase, full of money, to the Titanium Man.
We close on Peter falling asleep to the sounds of the T.V. news. After
he’s nodded off, they report that someone named Speedball is responsible
for a massacre in Stamford, Connecticut…
Likes:
- Once again, the art. I put the same disclaimer on this issue as the last: I am a Tyler Kirkham fan. The art may not be for everyone, but I will truly miss him after this issue.
- And another great cover in a row! This one’s actual amusing and speaks to the plot as well, which is rare these days.
- The idea of Tony hiring the Titanium Man was brilliant. His character arc has been great, especially considering it’s happening in Spider-Man’s book.
- Straczynski’s entire set up for the war has been absolutely fantastic. If the event itself is half as good as the prelude, we’re in for a treat!
Dislikes:
- Hmm, I, well that is to say, he didn’t, well…ah forget it.
Favorite Quote: Spidey to Titanium Man (who is Russian): “Come on…say “Moose and Squirrel.” Just once. You know you want to.”
Rating: 5 webs out of 5. And that’s a solid 5 for all three parts of this story. This was truly a flawlessly handled prelude to the Civil War. A joy to read in every respect.
Reviewed by: Morbius
Amazing
Spider-Man #530
Title: Mr. Parker Goes to Washington
Part 2 of 3
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Penciler: Tyler Kirkham
Inker: Jay Leisten
Plot:
We open up the issue with Tony and Peter boarding the plane
for Washington. Tony throws a primer on the Superhuman Registration Act
at Peter, and also tells him he’s created “version 2.0” of his new
costume.
When they land, Peter finds that his new suit is some sort of
liquid fiber that, more or less, acts like a non-sentient version of the
symbiote. It can camouflage itself to blend into the background, it can
change its form to look like the classic suit, the black suit, or what
have you. It can also make itself not there basically, leaving Pete
looking naked. Then he discovers his three new arms that spring out from
the back. They can grab things, or see around corners and such with some
high tech surveillance equipment.
Peter and Tony head to the closed hearing about the
Act, and we see the Titanium Man above reporting to someone that he has
no shot. The vast majority of the rest of the issue is some very good
arguments involving the Senate Committee, Tony, and Peter. To do those
arguments any justice at all, they should be read in their entirety, so
I won’t try to summarize here. But obviously, at this point Peter and
Tony are arguing against it.
As they leave, Tony is targeted by the Titanium Man,
and Peter quickly changes into costume and shoos Tony away so he can
fight. During the fight, the National Guard show up and think that both
Spider-Man and the Titanium Man are attacking the Senate building. The
issue ends with the Titanium Man flying away, and Spidey riding on a web
stuck to his foot.
Likes:
- I should start off by saying I am a fan of Tyler Kirkham. I have enjoyed his work at Top Cow for years, and I’m thrilled to see him guest penciling this title. His style may put off those not familiar with him, because it is rather unique and portrays Peter a bit younger than the current norm, but I found the issue’s art to be a real treat. But, I believe that is totally a matter of preference this time around.
- Garney’s only contribution to this issue, the cover, is spectacular. It’s great to see the first two covers featuring the new costume looking so amazing.
- The tone of this entire issue is balanced flawlessly. There is an air to Tony at the beginning that he is a bit pensive, but the overall atmosphere is still that of a lighthearted Spider-Man issue. Then, when we move into the Senate hearing, things all have the proper weight to them, and this feeling extends all the way up until Peter comes crashing into the Titanium Man in full costume, when his sense of fun returns full force. Brilliantly done.
- All the arguments made in this issue make absolute sense, and they’re for both sides. This is what we were promised with the Civil War from the beginning, no clear right or wrong. And if Millar handles it as well as Straczynski does, it looks like Marvel will deliver in full force.
Dislikes:
- I’m not sure why we needed a suit upgrade already. I’m really alright with it, because Tony and Peter made the proper remarks about the speed in the issue itself, it just felt kind of funny.
Favorite Quote: Peter, after being surprised by his new arms: “I’m so going to kill him, I – OOOH, I can see into the next hotel from here…”
Rating: 5 webs out of 5. The Road to Civil War absolutely could not be handled better.
Reviewed by: Morbius
Amazing
Spider-Man #529
Title: Mr. Parker Goes to Washington Part 1
of 3
Writer: J. Michael Staczynski
Penciler: Ron Garney
Inker: Bill Reinhold
Plot: The unveiling of the new costume is here, as Tony calls
Peter down to his lab to show it to him. Instead of me telling you it's
capabilities, I'll let Tony tell you. "I've incorporated mesh webbing
that can allow you to glide for short distances, heat resistant kevlar
micro-fiber that can resist small calibur bullets, built in fire,
police, and emergency scanner, audio and visual amplification, including
infrared and ultra-violet, carbon filters in the mouth area to keep out
toxins, and a short range GPS microwave communication system, all routed
through a computerized control system in the titanium chest piece."
Whew. Then Peter plays the voice of the audience, and asks what the heck
happened to MJ's broken arm, to which Tony gives a very long scientific
answer about the first aid he did. After which, the fourth wall is
shattered when they look out at the reader with a look that says "Come
on, question me again." Now it's off to the races as the "Iron
Spider" makes his public debut. There's a long scene where Peter shows
off and tests all the enhancements on some random baddies making a get
away on the expressway. It's really quite a fun scene, but a full
descrption would be useless at best. It ends, of course, with Spidey
catching the bad guys and turning them over to the cops.
Back at home, Pete and MJ dine with Tony, and find out the
real reason behind the new costume. Tony tells him that there may be
dark times ahead, and he wants Peter by his side, no matter what. After
a little speech about how much Tony's done for him, Peter swears. He's
with Tony, no matter what. Tony tells him they're going to Washington,
and gives him a memo from the Senate Metahuman Investigations
Committee...
Likes:
- Where to start, this was a very well done issue. The best place to start then, is the cover. Bryan Hitch's "Iron Spider" cover is one of the most truly beautiful covers I've seen in a long time, and is worthy of being the iconic first image of the new costume. Hopefully this cover will be respected and remembered for years to come just like the cover of Secret Wars #8.
- This is Ron Garney's first issue, and he does a very competant job. He doesn't match up to Deodato, but I didn't expect him to. What he did was deliver a solid performace from panel to iconic panel. This was a big issue, and he stepped up with some solid, story serving art.
- JMS is already showing with just the first Road to Civil War issue that he can handle an event much better by himself than with collaborators. After The Other I was looking for something better in these pages, and I certainly found it. This is the perfect beginning to the Civil War in every way. And it had a big job to do, being the very first Road to Civil War comic for Marvel.
- As always, the humor was perfect in this issue, injecting Peter's sense of fun into the test run of this new costume.
- There was also some really great interplay with MJ to be had here, which I really appreciated and thought it added to the read very well.
- JMS' characterization of Tony Stark is getting better by the minute, and he's really doing Mark Millar a favor for when the Civil War revs up. This is in all respects a prelude, but it's a flawless one.
Dislikes:
- While I was amused by the explanation of MJ's broken arm, I'm not sure that breaking of the fourth wall was really appropriate or necessary there.
Favorite Quote: Peter, Tony: "Heat vision?" "No." "Rocket boots?" "When you're old enough to drive." "Aw, daaaaaad, c'mon..."
Rating: 5 webs out of 5. Perfectly handled debut of the new costume and the ideas of the Civil War in every respect. Well done.
Reviewed by: Morbius
Amazing
Spider-Man #528
Title: The Other - Evolve or Die
part 12: Post Mortem
Writer: J. Michael Staczynski
Penciler: Mike Deodato
Inker: Joe Pimentel
Plot: Tony is suspicious, as well he should be. He's running tests and asking questions to try and make sure that this is indeed Peter Parker. We find that Peter doesn't remember anything from the hospital attack except Morlun screaming, which eases Tony's mind. An impersonator would say he remembered everything to be extra convincing. They meet MJ in the hall, and she hands Peter his last remaining costume, which is falling apart at the seams (a detail I would be well impressed to see reflected in the other two Spidey titles). Tony goes off to work on Peter's "rebirthday present," and Peter eases MJ's mind about his health. But as he's hugging her, we see the bestial Spider-Man from his cacoon vision reflected in the mirror instead of him.
Spidey goes off to make his rounds, but his costume really is coming apart, so he goes to Leo Zelinsky, the costume maker that we haven't seen for 28 issues. As Leo's about to fix his shirt, there is a boom and a power outage, so Spidey swings away shirtless to find a collapsed apartment building. He gets everyone out from under a collapsed wall, and finds out that the mandatory little girl is still trapped inside, because what would a collapsed building be without a trapped little girl?
Spidey goes into the dangerous building, and it's new power time. He remembers what the bestial guy said about undiscovered power, and next thing you know he has night vision. He sees in the same green as an infrared lense. Next he finds a another stray wandering around the building, but he can't leave yet since he hasn't found the little girl. So he shoots a webline for the guy to follow out of the building. Spidey realizes he can feel vibrations through the web, so he makes a full on spider web and crouches in the middle of it. Just as a spider can feel something in his web, he feels the vibrations coming through the walls of the little girl trying to scrape at her walled prison. He quickly finds her and gets in the cliched collapse situation. Since he's going to need both hands, he decides to see if she'll adhere to his back the way spiders carry their young. And that she does. Next he finds that his arm hair is very sensitive to the direction of a little breeze, which points him the way out. They, of course, make it out alive.
The daring rescue garners actual good press for the webslinger, which makes a good segue into Peter and MJ on the couch watching the news. He tells her that he may have more power than he ever imagined if he just opens himself up to it. MJ tells him that the rebirth gives him another advantage, a fresh start. She says that he's the same guy, but there's Peter now and Peter then. And Peter now isn't responsible for all that guilt of Peter then, and so he doesn't have to worry about it anymore.
We pan out to Tony listening to their conversation through a pair of headphones. He apparently has them bugged. After listening in on their conversation, he says to himself, "Yep. It's him all right." Then he gets back to work on a mysterious gold metallic spider.
Likes:
- The conversation at the beginning between Peter and Tony is classic JMS Spidey dialogue, which is a good way to open up this last chapter.
- Once again, Deodato rocks the house, so to speak.
- The new powers are interesting, if used well.
- This suspicious, almost Batman style paranoid side of Tony is interesting to see and a good set up for the Civil War storylines.
- There is definitely a mystery and ominous feel to parts of this issue regarding what's happened to him that, hopefully, promise more interesting stories to come.
Dislikes:
- The Other? What happened to that little detail? No mention of The Other or even a small panel of the cacoon at all in this issue. It's as if it never happened. You could literally go from the last issue of ASM to this one and not feel like you're missing anything.
- Moreso, this doesn't feel like the final chapter to a huge crossover event. It's more like a fill in issue that happens to have some power milestones. Not epic by my standards.
- A "My daughter is trapped in that collapsed building! Please help me Spider-Man!" scenario? Please.
- If this speech of MJ's about Peter letting go of his guilt sticks, we're in for all out character destruction. Spider-Man is defined by his guilt, letting him get over it totally is to change the character totally. Really, I was cringing as I read her speech.
- All in all, an unsatisfying end to an unsatisfying crossover.
Favorite Quote: Spidey: "Wait here." Leo: "Did you think I was planning to go to a hoedown? In these shoes?"
Rating: 3 webs out of 5. There's nothing really wrong with the issue as a stand alone, but as the end of The Other it just doesn't cut it.
Reviewed by: Morbius
Amazing
Spider-Man #527
The Other - Evolve or Die part 9:
Evolution
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Penciler: Mike Deodato
Inker: Joe Pimentel
Plot: We start with Iron Man doing a sweep of the area around Avengers Tower for whatever jumped out of the window in the previous issue (Marvel Knights Spider-Man #21). When he communicates with the folks still at the tower, we find out MJ believes Peter may still be alive, which we know from the last issue that Captain America does as well.
Next we go back to the cacoon we saw at the end of the previous issue. Inside is Peter going through a freaky spider dream sequence. He first sees a very large spider devouring his dead loved ones, and then a shadowy figure in a tree starts talking to him. It says that he never understood the Spider, even rejected it. It says that making the Spider his costume and his name was a way of externalizing it, making it something he could take off. "But now," it says, "the Spider...has taken you off." Then we see the shadowy figure, and it's a bestial version of Spider-Man. Think Spider-Carnage, but cool. It goes on to say that Peter only noticed the powers that were exciting, and superficial. It suggests that Peter has more power in him that he simply never bothered to find.
The bestial Spider-Man goes on to plant seeds of doubt as to the nature of what's going on here. It says that the man died, but the Spider did not. And the Spider awoke to be reborn. "But the question remains...reborn...as what? And perhaps just as important...why?" It says that this time, this new life, Peter must embrace the Spider and all it's gifts that he's denied before. He must "embrace The Other." The huge spider that was eating all Peter's dead friends at the beginning of this vision then grabs Peter and eats him. This segues into Peter breaking out of the cacoon, disturbingly naked.
Cut back over to Avengers Tower, where MJ and May tell the Avengers that they're finally ready to let go of the body, revealing it's been five days. Just as they're about to go do whatever it is they're going to do, Peter walks in the door. They all go have dinner in a very not shocked sort of way, where Cap and Tony basically say "Oh yeah, we figured you were probably regenerating anyway." Tony also tells him that he threw away all his costumes but one, thus granting a really over convenient reason for Tony to do a suit redesign.
Late that night, Peter leaves MJ asleep in bed and goes to the room where his old skin is still being kept. He thinks of what the bestial Spider-Man said about what exactly was reborn, and takes his wedding ring from his old hand, placing it on his new one.
Likes:
- Well, at least we finally get some substance to this whole story. Is it as deep as it's trying to be? No, but it is something.
- I know I say this for every ASM issue of The Other, but thank God for Deodato! He truly shines in this crossover.
Dislikes:
- Again, it's trying to be deeper than it is. A lot of this stuff pretty much leaves me cold.
- That was the least amount of surprise for a ressurection ever! Really, just walking in and having dinner 5 days after you die is pretty lame.
Favorite Quote: MJ: "What I loved in Peter was inside, and nothing can kill that."
Rating: 3 webs out of 5. I may not have been incredibly impressed by the substance, but points for having any.
Reviewed by: Morbius
Amazing
Spider-Man #526
Title: The Other – Evolve or Die
Part 6: Reckoning
Writer: Reginald Hudlin
Penciler: Mike Deodato
Inks: Joe Pimentel
Plot: This is a full on battle issue. It’s Spidey vs. Morlun, and it gets ugly. The only thing that really needs to be noted here is that – sit down for this – Morlun rips out and eats Spider-Man’s left eye. We end the issue with Spider-Man laying beaten and very bloody.
Likes:
- Yay! Mike Deodato! He’s always great, but it seems like even more of a treat when it’s coming right after Pat Lee.
- Hudlin is playing to his strengths a lot more here. He does the action well, and even his narration seems better in this issue. Thankfully he ended his month with a bang.
Dislikes:
- Well, that all depends on how they handle the loss of the eye, now doesn’t it?
Favorite Quote: JJJ: “Cripes, finish him off, Spider-Man! Before you wreck my whole office!”
Rating: 4 webs out of 5. Much better work from Hudlin, great Deodato art, and a possible Spidey milestone. Not bad at all.
Reviewed by: Morbius
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