THE
SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN #41
TITLE: “One More Day” Part 3
WRITER: J. Michael Straczynski
PENCILER: Joe Quesada
INKER: Danny Miki
COLORIST: Richard Isanove
NOTE:
This story continues from The
Amazing Spider-Man #544 and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #24.
It will conclude in The Amazing Spider-Man #545.
P
The
spooky, redheaded girl claims to know of a way to save Aunt May.
She runs off, leaving our hero to follow.
En Route, Peter meets alternate versions of himself who never
became Spider-Man and never hitched Mary Jane.
They are all sad, lonely, pathetic men.
Spidey then encounters a mysterious woman in a red dress.
She describes the existence of an infinite number of Peter Parkers,
all whose lives have taken disparate courses based on minute differences
in their timelines. In nearly
all iterations, she explains, he winds up as a sad, lonely, pathetic man.
The lady in red reveals her/his self as Mephisto.
Mephisto takes Spider-Man to Mary Jane and offers them both a deal.
Aunt May will recover from her gunshot wound, but in exchange
Mephisto wants to take Peter and MJ’s love.
Should the couple accept, they will forget that they ever knew each
other, and Peter Parker will be doomed to end up a sad, lonely, and
pathetic man.
THOUGHTS:
A passionate subset of message board crusaders insist that this issue spells doom for everything we love about Spider-Man. It’s generally taken for granted, at least on the sites I visit, that Peter and/or Mary Jane will accept this deal with Mephisto, thereby erasing decades of stories from memory. Artist/editor Joe Quesada dislikes Spider-Man’s marriage, and would reverse it if he could, but I’m not convinced that it’s going to go down in such a transparently forced way. However, it’s hard to deny that Mephisto is being used as a surrogate for Quesada. I’m sure that I’ll have plenty to say about it next month, whatever happens. For now, I’m content to just wait and see. I try to enjoy the issues in front of me now rather than to judge them based on what I assume is coming next.
This installment is automatically better than the first two parts because stuff actually happens. The story doesn’t progress enormously, but we at least have a plot now. Even the inessential bits in the beginning are pretty interesting.
Near the end, Peter does his first
sensible thing in months and tells Mephisto to cram his bargain before
even hearing the terms. MJ
then proves herself the bigger moron by suggesting that they “at least
hear him out.” Because, you
know, Satan always has fair and honest deals to offer if you’d
only just hear him out! Right…
This is THE DEVIL we’re talking about
here. The Prince of Lies.
Make a pact with him to stop someone from dying from a bullet wound
at
Straczynski is well practiced at weaving
supernatural elements into Peter Parker’s humble world, so Mephisto’s
appearance is somewhat palatable if outlandish, incongruous, and
contrived. The demon seems to
come out of left field, but I found myself surprisingly engaged with the
story.
Quesada’s work on this storyline has
taken some flak, but the man definitely draws a sweet Mephisto.
It’s too bad he still can’t get Peter’s face right, though.
It doesn’t help that the title character spends the whole issue
with his masked pulled over the top of his head like some kind of weird
beanie.
The regular cover is an abomination, so
buy a copy with the variant cover by Marko Djurdjevic if you can.
ARE THE
No.
RATING:
3 out of 5.
That’s right. Average.
Not “terrible”. Not
“bring me Joe Quesada’s head on a pike”, but a passing grade.
This issue is an entertaining diversion that’s only held back by
slow pacing and characters who behave like idiots just to advance the
plot.
REVIEWED
BY: CrazyChris
The
Sensational Spider-Man #40
Title: “The Book of Peter”
Writer: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Artist: Clayton Crain
Plot:
Once upon a time, there was a rehash of Amazing Fantasy #15, only
with better art. The story
continued to summarize Spider-Man’s history, emphasizing the tragedies.
One day, while Peter vents his frustration on a helpless dumpster, God
pays him a visit. God looks like
he tried for a close shave with the lawnmower.
Peter
basically asks the Good Lord “why me?” (I would have asked him “why
mosquitoes?”), and the Heavenly Father responds by showing him a sample of
all the lives he’s saved. Everyone
has a purpose, you see.
The
story concludes in a hypothetical future where Peter and Mary Jane are
blessed and have two lovely children. How
sweet.
Likes:
-
A
whole issue by Clayton Crain? It
must be Christmas! I’m not
sure exactly what his technique is, but I think it involves some kind of
black magic, or at least a deal with the devil.
He truly make’s Spider-Man’s world come to life, and at the same
time he brings an elusive otherworldliness to the table that makes him the
perfect fit for this often-surreal book.
-
The
dialogue and narration are darn good, especially the clever biblical
allusions. For example, the
opening lines are lifted right out of Job, and there’s an interesting
comparison of the radioactive spider to the serpent from the Garden of Eden.
-
I
respect Aguirre-Sacasa for taking a risk with his final issue.
The best part about this series was that I never knew what to expect.
I’m going to miss that unique flavor now that the book is canceled.
D
islikes:
-
The
concept is very interesting, but I find the story a little bit too simple.
Maybe “familiar” is a better word.
Perhaps that’s just because the myth of man confronting God is so
engrained into our culture that any story like this will feel familiar, but
I might have found it more compelling if Aguirre-Sacasa strayed a bit
further from the template.
Favorite
Quote: “As it has been
in high school, so it will ever be.”
Rating:
3 out of 5, mostly for
the art. I liked the story, but
it didn’t live up to my local comic dealer’s ravings.
Sorry, guy from Time Warp Comics in
Reviewed
By: CrazyChris
The
Sensational Spider-Man #39
Title: “The Last Temptation of Eddie Brock”
Part 2 of 2
Writer: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Breakdowns: Rick Hoberg
Finishes: Stefano Gaudiano
Séance Art: Clayton Crain
Colorist: Matt Milla
Plot:
Eddie Brock murders his nurse with a scalpel at the behest of his
gooey hallucination. The monster
wanted to make sure Brock isn’t too squeamish to snuff out Aunt May.
Peter Parker and Madame Web (along with Mary Jane and Anna Watson)
stage a séance in the hospital’s lounge while Felecia Hardy guards the
door. Peter makes contact with
his Aunt’s consciousness by traveling into their shared memory of Uncle
Ben’s death. He begs May to
wake up, but she’s tired and ready to pass.
She tells her nephew to have lots of children and to make the rest of
his life count. Then this ... thing envelopes her and pulls her into the house that they’d been
standing in front of. May says
goodbye and the vision ends.
Brock can’t bring himself to pull May’s plug despite the
imaginary symbiote’s coaxing. Peter
is approaching the room, explaining to Madame Web that something else was
there with Aunt May in the vision, when his spider-sense fires off. He
barges in to find Eddie Brock slumping before a broken window.
Eddie tells Peter that their “friend” wanted him to hurt May, but
he “cut him out”. He spreads
his slashed arms Jesus-style to show Peter what he meant and leaps out the
window.
Later, Brock awakens to find himself alive (saved by Spidey) and
chained to his bed. He still
sees the symbiote, but now he’s shown it who’s in charge.
Li
-
Folks
have always pegged Sensational as the horror-tinged sibling among the three Spider-Man
titles, but this is the first story by Aguirre-Sacasa I found truly
terrifying. Brock’s
hallucinations, his self-mutilated arms, and the last moments of the séance
should all send ice down any but the most callous of spines.
I never believed for a picosecond that Brock might actually kill Aunt
May, but the sheer psychological horror kept suspense levels pulse-quickeningly
high. It’s like an Edgar Allan
Poe story, only with Venom!
-
Clayton
Crain steals the show with yet another remarkable cover as well as a few
shiny interior pages. Every
panel that man draws is like a piece of candy from Santa.
Rick Hoberg did a good job drawing the rest of the issue, but I liked
Lee Weeks’ work last month a little bit better.
-
The
talk between Peter and Aunt May during the séance is so spot on that if
Aunt May had died in this issue, then I would have been perfectly satisfied
with the send off. May
alleviates Peter’s survivor’s guilt (an aspect of this whole scenario
which everyone but RAS seems to have overlooked) and lets him know that
she’s proud of him by saying much good would go undone if the bullet had
hit him instead. Many of these
same notes were hit back when Aunt May appeared to have died in Amazing
#400, but their conversation here goes in a different enough direction to
justify itself.
-
Until
now, Venom has never been worthy of his status as one of Spider-Man’s
greatest enemies. Stupid
motivations, weak characterization, and overexposure have kept Brock from
aspiring to anything more than a slobbering goofball with a gnarly costume.
This peek inside his head has helped make sense of the botched and
contradictory mess I spoke of in the review for issue #38.
The symbiote in Brock’s mind parallels the cancer in his body; both
have taken hold of and distorted the ostensibly healthy part.
Even without the alien, Brock’s psyche has been permanently
fractured. Heck, the symbiote
even fragments his name by calling him “Ed-die” as a way of driving the
point home.
-
When
Brock explains that he’d willingly execute the nurse for the high crime of
waking him up to draw blood, but would never hurt an innocent like Aunt May,
he exposes his own psychotic delusion of morality for what it really is.
Dislikes:
-
Why is
a convicted killer free to roam the hospital with no security?
Brock’s done time in prison since receiving his powers, so his
identity should at least be known to the authorities.
-
In Amazing,
Peter takes great care not to be seen in the hospital, but in this issue he
shows his face way too casually.
Favorite
Quote: Anna Watson: “So they call you the Black Cat because…?”
Felecia:
“Black bodysuits. Lots and
lots of black bodysuits.”
Rating:
5 out of 5 for both parts. “The
Last Temptation of Eddie Brock” is a must read for all comic books fans,
even those who’ve never cared about Venom in the past.
I cannot give it any less than my highest recommendation.
Aguirre-Sacasa fixed Venom.
Reviewed
By: CrazyChris
The
Sensational Spider-Man #38
Title: “The Last Temptation of Eddie Brock”
Part 1 of 2
Writer: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Breakdowns: Lee Weeks
Finishes: Stefano Gaudiano
Colorist: Matt Milla
Plot:
Having auctioned off the power-bestowing alien symbiote that gave him
the villainous identity of Venom, Eddie Brock finds himself dying of cancer
in the terminal ward of a
One
fateful day, Brock stumbles upon a very surprising reality: May Parker, the
aunt of his archenemy, Spider-Man, is checked into the exact same hospital.
“The symbiote” (really just the dark side of Eddie’s psyche)
tries to coax Brock into killing helpless, old Aunt May.
Will he do it? It looks
like he might try, because he slips on a baggy, nylon replica of the alien
costume.
Meanwhile,
in “B story” land, Spidey has a humorous exchange with a woman whom he
had rescued, and then goes to the psychic, Madame Web, hopping she can help
him reach his comatose aunt through a séance.
Snore.
Likes:
-
In order to make Eddie Brock a compelling
character again (if he ever was one), making sense of his historically mucky
characterization should be priority one.
Is he a vigilante protector of the innocent, or is he a sociopath
with the mere pretence of morality? Venom’s
popularity has always exceeded his strength as a dramatic character, so
several well-meaning writers have tried to flesh him out by adding their own
layers. The result was a botched
and contradictory mess, so how Aguirre-Sacasa deals with that problem is
paramount. I believe he
accomplishes this admirably by showing us how fragmented Brock’s mind is
even without the alien. At his
core, Eddie Brock is a man struggling to reconcile his Catholic faith with
his psychotic, homicidal tendencies. The
hallucinatory symbiote is the part of him that wants to give into that
bloodlust (think of it as a demonic Jiminy Cricket), and seeing the
interplay between those two personalities at least puts the past
contradictions into an understandable context.
-
This theme of duality is also reinforced by
the dialogue. For instance, many
of the lines given to the subconscious symbiote include repeated words or
phrases (“yes Eddie, we did, we did”; “here’s the bitter, bitter
truth”; “unwrap it, Eddie, unwrap it and put it on”; and “looking
good, Eddie, looking real good”) or parallelism (“did you think we were
through? Did you think you’d
be able to get rid of me that easily?”).
It’s too frequent not to be intentional, so Aguirre-Sacasa is
clearly using these literary devices to reflect Eddie’s dual nature.
-
The art, particularly the ink work, is
absolutely top-notch. Every
solid black object is rich and weighty, but with edges soft enough for the
color to really soak into every transition.
Thus, the blurred boundary between light and darkness in Eddie
Brock’s mind is given visual as well as literal representation.
Dislikes:
-
Aguirre-Sacasa introduces a couple of
questionable retcons into this issue. First,
we learn that Peter Parker took the photos which ruined Brock’s career.
This is a slightly more sensible reason for him to hate our hero than
the original “Spider-Man revealed my newspaper interview with a serial
killer to be a fraud by catching the real
killer” motivation, but I’m of the mind that Venom’s backstory is
already convoluted enough without adding to it.
I’m suspicious that this is just a way of making the comic book
Venom more like the movie Venom from Spider-Man
3, who hated “Peter Parker” first and “Spider-Man” only after he
learned that they were the same man. In
the comics, Venom has always wanted to kill “Spider-Man”, not
“Parker”.
-
The second revision, that Brock was attempting
suicide when the symbiote found him, is especially annoying.
It’s been established that, though Eddie wanted to kill himself at
the time, he believed suicide to be a mortal sin, so he was praying for
forgiveness when the alien came by to visit.
Tinkering with a few details here and there might be necessary to fix
the character, but this is one I thought was better left untouched.
There’s something about the idea of a man’s prayers being
answered not by God, but by what is in effect a demon come to possess him
that makes for a chilling horror story.
The significance of religion in Eddie Brock’s life is clearly not
lost on Aguirre-Sacasa; phrases of religious significance are used
throughout the story, even in the title.
Also, the symbiote persuades Eddie to kill Aunt May by appealing to
his religiosity: she wouldn’t have been delivered
to him if he wasn’t meant to off
her. So it’s curious to see
that aspect of his character deemphasized at such a critical point in his
history.
Funniest
quote: Woman: “That’s
it? ‘Call the
police’?”
Spider-Man: “What? I just
saved you -- what do you want me to say?”
Woman: ”I’m not sure, this is my first time being mugged and assaulted.
But don’t you want to know if I’m all right?
Aren’t you supposed to offer me comfort?”
Spider-Man: “… Are you all
right?”
Woman: “Well … yes. Thanks
to you.”
Scariest
quote: Symbiote: “So here’s the bitter, bitter truth, Eddie: no
one is truly innocent. Not
Peter, not his wife, not his aunt … else, they wouldn’t be here, like
lambs to the slaughter. And,
ultimately, a person’s guilt or innocence isn’t for us to decide.
Do the harvesting, Eddie, then let someone else sort the good from
the bad.”
Rating:
Too much of my opinion on this depends on how it ends, so I’m going
to hold off on scoring the whole story until next month.
Part of me hopes this truly is Eddie Brock’s last
temptation, because if he dies in the next issue then this story will have
been a powerful send-off. On the
other hand, if Venom can be utilized this well in the future, then I
wouldn’t mind seeing him again. See,
I’m starting to realize that most fans are wrong when they say Venom is at
his best when he’s portrayed as Spider-Man’s “opposite number”.
That description is true of the movie version, but the comic’s
Venom doesn’t work as our hero’s “dark reflection” because the real
duality is within himself. Venom
is Spider-Man’s Two-Face, not his Joker.
He’s the yin to his own
yang.
Reviewed by: CrazyChris
The
Sensational Spider-Man Annual 2007
Title: “To Have and to Hold”
Writer: Matt Fraction
Penciler:
Colorist: Paco Roca
Plot:
Peter,
in costume but with no mask, removes his hands from Mary Jane’s eyes.
SURPRISE! They’re at
the tip of the
Earlier, Mary Jane walks into the Coffee Bean and runs into Brady,
her old security guard from LA. After
sitting down, MJ visits flashback land where she, Peter, Harry and Gwen
visit the coffee shop for the first time.
Brady snaps her back into reality by revealing himself as an agent of
S.H.I.E.L.D. and threatens to arrest her unless she surrenders Peter Parker.
Meanwhile, at some empty diner, Peter meets with Detective Lamont and
tells the cop to take him in. He’s
had it with making the women in his life hide to protect him.
More flashbacks, and Lamont tells Peter that this falls outside both
his jurisdiction and his interest, and that Peter should think about what
him going to jail would mean for his wife.
MJ explains to Brady that she had always put on a party-girl façade
to mask her childhood pain. She
goes on to describe an episode when she made a mixtape for Peter and in
return the clueless nerd made her a tape of science lectures.
Mary Jane then tried to get young Peter to kiss her with mistletoe,
but the boy couldn’t summon the courage and ran away.
Flashback time comes again, only now we get to see the same scene
repeated from both Peter’s and MJ’s perspective. Brady
tells her she’s being a bit spacey for a woman looking at a 20-year
treason sentence.
Lamont gets a call from the feds to help with the Mary Jane situation
and he tells Peter
where they have her.
He orders our hero to go and never contact him again.
Back at the Coffee Bean, Brady reminds Mary Jane that they both felt
something between them back in LA, but MJ snaps back at him saying “one
drunk, lonely, almost hookup does not star-crossed lovers make”.
She recalls her first kiss with Peter and instructs Brady to arrest
her. Brady cuffs her and pulls
her away, but then notices the spider-tracer sitting on the booth.
MJ reveals that she wasn’t rambling, but stalling, and Peter comes
crashing through the window to heroically whisk his wife away.
They swing to the
Likes:
-
I
should hate this issue for so many reasons.
For one, I can’t stand specials written and drawn by anyone other
than the regular team (the last Ultimates annual comes to mind).
Also, I’ve explained in other reviews that these clip-show comics
with a lot of flashbacks to old issues tend to bore me.
I’m not old enough to get nostalgic about stories I just read in
Essential Spider-Man a few years ago and I’d rather venture into new
territory with the characters than retread old ground.
However, Mister Fraction did such an exceedingly good job writing
this issue that it worked. His
dialogue builds brilliantly on itself like poetry, and the use of captions
to reveal the characters’ thoughts during classic scenes like the airport
kiss add a potent new lair to what we already know.
This is what SSM #32 should have been.
-
The
controversy over Peter Parker being a married man centers around two points.
First, some say that the mag loses its soap opera tension with Peter
being hitched, and second, some Marvel higher-ups assert that the marriage
makes Spider-Man less relatable to his target audience.
I believe that this book proves both points wrong.
Issues like these demonstrate that the Spider-Marriage creates more
storytelling potential than it destroys, and Fraction’s characterization
invites us into these characters’ heads to reveal a basic humanity anyone
can relate to.
-
The
mistletoe-on-a-hat scene’s deft execution tempted me to rip that page out
and put it in a scrapbook or something.
It’s a good thing I don’t own a scrapbook.
I can’t say how well Fraction got into the adolescent girl’s
mind, but young Peter’s thoughts in this scene reflect exactly
what I and I think every other guy has been through at one time or another
while growing up.
-
This
issue displays Larroca at his best, and his emulation of John Romita’s
style for the flashbacks adds a nice touch.
Talking-heads dominate this issue through and through, but at least
those heads look alive and animated.
Dislikes:
-
A
couple of flashbacks near the beginning seemed to have no connection with
what went on in the present, and they came off to me as being awkward and
out of context.
-
I
might be missing something, but Lamont’s assertion that the SRA falls only
under federal jurisdiction seems to conflict with Detective Fogg’s dogging
of Spidey in the previous story arc.
Favorite
quote [if I have to pick just one]: Peter: “Face it, tiger… You
just hit the jackpot.”
Lamont:
Okay: one, don’t call me tiger, and two, you sound like a crazy person.
Rating:
4 ½ out of 5. Fraction has a
good handle on the characters and the writing skill to go along with it.
Marvel needs to give this guy a regular spidey title pronto.
Reviewer: CrazyChris
The
Sensational Spider-Man #37
Title: “The Strange Case of…” Part 3 of 3
Writer: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Penciler: Ramon Bachs
Colorist: Paul Mounts
Plot:
Calvin Zabo morphs into Hyde just as Spider-Man stumbles into the mad
scientist’s subterranean lair. The
walls of this massive brick chamber are lined with individual cells meant
for housing Zabo’s test subjects. The
only one still occupied is that of Jordan Harrison.
Spidey
attempts to plow through the glass wall to free his former pupil, but
unfortunately it is “special, unbreakable glass”.
Clutching his shoulder, the webhead asks who’s behind all this and
Meanwhile,
the Black Cat brings in the last of the doppelgangers and detective Fogg
tells her to give Spider-Man a message:
Hyde
charges at and misses nimble Parker, hitting the unbreakable glass instead
which cracks it a bit.
Spidey
shoots webbing into Hyde’s eyes, but the brute just tears it off along
with his eyelids. The combat
continues until
As
Likes:
-
The little moral twist at the end definitely kept this issue from dipping into mediocrity. Although some of the dialogue about people “embracing their dark side” was a bit cheesy, the theme successfully deepened the plot beyond the freaky, sci-fi horror show it began as. I really want to see more of
-
Hyde tore off his own eyelids. So sick. So awesome.
Dislikes:
-
Ramon Bachs’ effort here doesn’t quite cut it for me. Climactic throw-downs between heroes and villains should be thrilling and unique, not bland and generic. Here’s something I never thought I’d say: this issue would have been better if Angel Medina drew it. As much as I can’t stand the way that guy’s characters look, at least his fight choreography is brilliant. Or, better yet, why not just make Clayton Crain the regular artist already? Let’s face it, that’s what everyone wants. His cover for this issue is freaking gorgeous, and I’d pay an extra dollar if every page on the inside looked like that.
Favorite
quote:
Rating:
3 out of 5. Take a fun
story, add ugly art, mix in some just-bad-enough-to-be-charming dialogue and
sprinkle on a beautiful cover. Stir
well and you’ve got a typical issue of The Sensational Spider-Man.
The
Sensational Spider-Man #36
Title: “The Strange Case of…” Part 2 of 3
Writer: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Penciler: Ramon Bachs
Colorist: Paul Mounts
Plot:
Our hero trying to talk some sense into yet another mutated
Spider-Man imposter, who insists the webhead is just jealous because chicks
dig extra eyes. Eventually,
Spider-Man convinces the freaky boy to come with him to Doctor Connors’
apartment. The good doctor
assures Spidey that a live subject will expedite the antidote’s
development.
Later,
Detective Fogg reviews the evidence in front of a cell full of doppelgangers
whom the genuine article delivered. Connors
arrives with a transformation-halting vaccine, but the “Spider-Men-Lite”,
as they’re called, refuse because they’d rather die than go back to
their old lives.
The
next day, Reed Richards shows Peter a tracking device he found surgically
implanted into the first doppelganger. Peter
knows he can use it to trace its origin.
Before he leaves, Reed offers his condolences for what happed to Aunt
May. Peter begins to retort
snidely, but reconsiders midway and says thanks.
The
webhead starts to zero in on Calvin Zabo’s lair, where the mad scientist
is explaining his evil plot to a tape recorder.
He’s baffled that a teenager, like Peter Parker was when he
received his powers, would use such a gift for good, so he’s collected
young men in similar circumstances to conduct a sort of super-human
“nature versus nurture” experiment.
When
he’s done ranting, the villain sees Spider-Man approaching on a security
camera. Unsurprised, he picks up
the potion which will transform him into his bestial alter ego: Edward Hyde.
Likes:
-
Zabo’s motivation is interesting, and I enjoy seeing some of the less direct consequences of Peter unmasking. Also, unlike most so-called “mad scientists”, this one’s actually following the scientific method. He has a control variable, a hypothesis and everything!
-
Peter’s reaction to Reed’s condolence was a fascinating character moment that I don’t instantly know what to make of. Did he realize, at very instant, his new, badass, back-in-black attitude might be hurting people who are just trying to help? Or is he realizing that he doesn’t need to reject Reed’s friendship just because he’s a fascist who’s ruined his life? Maybe it’s a bit of both.
-
Dislikes:
-
There’s no reason to waste 3 pages on recap when there’s already a whole page dedicated especially for that in the front of the book. There’s plenty of pointless filler even beyond that. It seems like all of Aguirre-Sacasa’s stories have just enough substance to fill out two-and-a-half issues, so the middle chapters in his three-parters always suffer.
-
The homeless boys’ rationale for not wanting to take the antidote doesn’t even ring remotely true. RAS needs to do better if wants me to believe someone would willingly accept such a grisly and painful death no matter how dire his or her life’s circumstances are.
Favorite Quote:
Reed Richards: “Susan and I want you to know that you and your family are in our thoughts and our prayers.”
Peter: “If one more person
tells me how bad they feel… … I … appreciate that, Reed.
Every little bit helps.”
Rating: 3 out of 5. Good enough.
The
Sensational Spider-Man #35
Title: “The Strange Case of…” Part 1 of 3
Writer: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Penciler: Angel Medina
Inker: Scott Hanna
Colorist: Dan Kemp
Plot:
Spider-Man appears to thwart a burglar on a roof somewhere,
but, lo and behold, it isn’t a crook at all!
It’s really just an undercover cop setting a trap for the
webslinger! Spidey surrenders,
but when the cop in charge takes off his mask … it isn’t even really
Peter Parker! It’s just some
random kid named Ethan! HA!
At
his interrogation, Ethan explains that he’d run away from home and one day
a man in a car simply pulled up and asked him if he’d like to be a super
hero. Next thing he knew, he
woke up in a room with his captor studying him while he developed
Spider-Man-like powers! He
decided to take a swing at fighting crime after his eventual release.
Later,
the real Spider-Man (who’s looking quite spiffy in his black costume)
decides to pay Ethan a visit in his cell.
When he gets there, he finds that the boy has begun to mutate into
something even uglier than everyone else drawn by Angel Medina.
The guards are alerted, and Spider-Man tells them to call ahead to
the hospital. He swings off with
the monster-boy.
Predictably,
the police use this opportunity to set yet another trap, but the joke’s on
them because Spidey hands Ethan off to Reed Richards on a nearby rooftop.
Even though Spidey is on the run, Reed is still there for him.
Ol’ Webhead’s next stop is Curt Connors’ place, where he asks
the good doctor to analyze the fluids on Ethan’s blanket.
Meanwhile,
another kid dressed up as Spider-Man swings across buildings on a rope.
Wanna guess what happens? SPLAT!
In the lower east side, the mad scientist in the car approaches his
next victim: Jordan Harrison (y’know, the kid from #28?).
The villain reveals himself to be Doctor Zabo, AKA Mister Hyde!
He tells
Likes:
-
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa has set up a very fun
and original story here. After
all the unmasking and civil warring, a normal Spidey story is as refreshing
as a sip of cold tea on a summer day by the beach.
Never mind that I don’t tend to like stories about people turning
into gross things, because this looks like it will be a pretty cool
adventure.
-
The cliffhanger is great, and I’m pretty
stunned that
-
Hyde isn’t a villain I’m very familiar
with, and the “scientist who turns into a monster” trope is trite, but
he is certainly diabolical to a sufficient degree.
I like it when bad guys are written as being very evil, because that
way it is more satisfying when they finally get taken down.
Dislikes:
-
Close your eyes and imagine that the real
world looked like Angel Medina’s art.
-
It would have been nice to see Peter show off
his scientific skills in this issue instead of having him delegate all the
brainy work to others.
Favorite
Quote: Doctor Connors: “You don’t need to explain anything.
Of course I’ll analyze the fluids on this blanket.”
Rating: 3.5 out of 5. Personally, I’d have asked a lot more questions before going anywhere near the fluids on that blanket.
The
Sensational Spider-Man #34
Title: “Nothing Can Stop the Rhino”
Writer: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Penciler: Sean Chen
Inker: Scott Hanna
Colorist: Dan Kemp
Plot:
Felecia Hardy, the Black Cat, inquires the Parker women behind their
motel hideaway about her ex-lover’s physical status.
Though neither of them, especially not Aunt May, appears happy to see
her, they divulge that the man of the house is fully recovered from his bout
with the Rhino and is off doing superhero-y things someplace else.
Felecia lets them know she’ll be seeking payback from the pachyderm
and speeds off on her brand new motorcycle.
The
Puma calls Felecia to say he’s tracked the Rhino down to Battery Park,
where he’s drunk as hell. On
her way there, Felicia visits flashback land to reflect on the bond with
“Spider” she’s had ever since he saved her life from Doctor Octopus,
and how that bond wasn’t severed when Peter dumped her for loving the mask
but not the man behind it. She
recalls letting the Kingpin give her bad luck powers in a daft attempt at
winning Peter’s affections, and the self-loathing which followed.
Just before the
Rhino can mash a trio of irritating sailors into puddles of sticky man-goo,
the Black Cat dives in for the save and initiates a heart-to-heart with her
would-be opponent. She tells
that him that she’s realized she’s been nothing more than Peter’s
“irrational, sex-driven, psycho ex-girlfriend” for too long, and just
like she doesn’t have to be that way, neither does the Rhino have to be a
rampaging idiot. Apparently the
Rhino follows her logic, because he lumbers off hiccupping peacefully.
Later,
when MJ asks why she let the Rhino get away, Felecia hints that she may have
placed a tracker on the villain for the Punisher to follow.
MJ asks Black
Cat if she’d like to leave a message for Peter.
After mulling over the usual list of clichéd bad-girl catchphrases,
Felecia says no, she has no message at all.
Likes:
-
When I first heard that Black Cat beat the
Rhino in this issue by talking him down, I figured I’d be in for a
disappointing anticlimax when I’d finally get around to reading it myself.
After all, shouldn’t this be an action-packed pallet cleanser after
the last two incredibly deep issues? How
much depth could Aguirre-Sacasa even get out of Felecia Hardy?
A lot, as it turns out. RAS
took the premise of a hero taking off his mask and turned it into a story
about coming to terms with one’s identity in general.
Up until now, Felecia has defined herself almost solely based upon
her relationship with Spider-Man. More
than that, she’s defined it based on what Spider-Man represents in her
mind instead of the man he really is. But
now that he’s revealed his face to the world, the distinction between
Peter Parker and Spider-Man has disappeared.
This combined with Felecia’s admission that he doesn’t think the
same way about her has forced her to seek a healthier, more real foundation
for her identity.
-
In that light, her confrontation with the
Rhino really couldn’t have ended in a better way.
It developed RAS’ thesis on Felecia’s character and gave her an
opportunity to control a situation with he brains.
I smirked a little when she told the Rhino that he didn’t have to
be such an easily manipulated lackey when she was so blatantly manipulating
him. I kind of felt bad for the
Rhino; the poor oaf didn’t stand a chance.
-
Felecia’s interaction with Mary Jane and
Aunt May was very well done, realistic and interesting to see play out.
May exhibits more hostility than usual, which makes sense.
What must she think knowing her good little nephew used to run with a
woman like that? MJ is more
civil, but it’s obvious she isn’t interested in becoming friends with
Felecia any time soon.
-
For once, I have absolutely no complaints
about the art. Sean Chen stepped
it up this time for a very visually exciting issue.
The action scenes are really good, and I especially like Chen’s
rendition of the Rhino. He also
manages to capture the script’s very subtle but very important emotional
notes. And let us not forget yet
another gorgeous cover by Clayton Crain.
Dislikes
-
I’m a little sick of flashbacks now and,
though they made a few important points, the ones in this issue weren’t
quite as interesting or enlightening as those from the Aunt May issue.
Favorite
quote: Felecia: “Thank you, Spider--Peter--whatever you want to
call yourself. For taking off
your mask and reminding me it’s never too late to figure out who you
really are.”
Rating: 4 out of 5. This book is better than Amazing Spider-Man. There, I said it.
The
Sensational Spider-Man #33
Title: “Wounds”
Writer: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Penciler: Sean Chen
Inker: Scott Hanna
Plot:
That pesky pachyderm, the Rhino, has pulverized poor Peter Parker and
the now-barely-breathing clump of spider-pulp clasped in Aunt May’s arms
reminds the old lady of how little life has changed since when she’d hold
the boy as he’d cry through the night. A wanted man, Spidey can’t be
hospitalized, so May sends Mary Jane to the pharmacy for supplies while she
nurses her nephew back to health in their temporary motel “home”.
In the interim, Aunt May recalls when Peter, as a child,
broke his arm after falling from a tree he’d been coaxed into climbing by a
friend. Though Uncle Ben attempted to explain that these things are
inevitable and will ultimately strengthen Peter, May became panic-stricken
and refused to leave the hospital while Peter healed.
Back in the present, the Rhino curses himself for not getting
paid in advance by his now-incarcerated employer, the Chameleon. Elsewhere,
while Fox News reports on Spider-Man’s “perhaps well-deserved” pounding,
Black Cat and the Puma suit up to avenge their ally.
Back at the motel, though Peter is fully healed and in high
spirits, Aunt May contemplates her less-than-sunny conclusions about the
accumulation of pain that is life.
Likes:
- Unlike last month’s issue, this one really did teach me something new about the character it focused on. As much as I love Straczyski’s younger, sassier reinterpretation of Aunt May, this portrait by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa rings even more true. Hey, I don’t mind seeing different takes on characters so long as they’re all compelling. Contrary to JMS’ Aunt May, who in ASM #536 describes life as the inevitability of hard times which we only survive for the moments of joy in between, Aguirre-Sacasa writes May’s outlook on life as “an accumulation of pain and wounds.” They both seem equally pessimistic at first, but when one sees the pain in life as times which eventually pass and give way, albeit temporarily, to better things, it is a much better thing than pain which accumulates. This version of May is weighed down by baggage which will remain on her shoulders until the day she dies no matter how many ASM (Vol. 2) #38-style conversations she has, and is thus a more tragic and realistic character.
- RAS does a masterful job of harmonizing his take on Aunt May with her typical portrayal as the caricature of a loving-but-senile fussbudget. It’s implied that May’s excessive doting is overcompensation for her own insecurities regarding her parenting ability. She projects an image onto Peter of a fragile boy who is at the complete mercy of the world around him and doesn’t allow her nephew to take any personal responsibility for what happens to him. Could May’s coddling be the reason Peter grew up so scrawny and awkward in the first place? That’s a thought which hadn’t entered my head prior to reading this.
- The quality of RAS’ writing has stepped up as well. The cheese is completely gone, and the over-the-top similes are replaced with domestic metaphors and imagery which suit a May-centered story very well. I really must stop underestimating Aguirre-Sacasa because although he is inconsistent he has proven himself a very strong and versatile writer.
- As usual, the single best thing about this issue is the cover by Clayton Crain. This is the best one yet: it’s eye-catching and somewhat disturbing.
Dislikes:
- Visually, this issue isn’t exciting to look at. The art team’s product is sharp but bland. Granted, the script didn’t give Sean Chen much interesting to draw, but if Mark Bagley can make 20 straight pages of dialogue in Ultimate Spider-Man seem dynamic and vital, then nobody has any excuses. That isn’t to say Mr. Chen is doing bad work overall, and next issue’s showdown between the Black Cat, Puma, and the Rhino promises to be as much a treat for the eyes as this issue was for the mind.
Favorite Quote: Narrator: “Yes, Aleksei, that was stupid.”
Rating: 4 out of 5. I’ve given this book four points before, but this is the first time they’ve been awarded for good, deep storytelling and not just quirky fun.
Reviewed By: CrazyChris
The
Sensational Spider-Man #32
Title: The Husband or the Spider?
Writer: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Penciler: Sean Chen
Inker: Scott Hanna
Plot:
A reoccurring nightmare haunts Mary Jane. In it, she is trapped
center-stage in the Roman Coliseum while her husband’s enemies jeer from the
stands. The emperor is Tony Stark and Gwen Stacy is his queen. Madame Webb
instructs her to choose between two doors. Behind one is a man and the
other houses a spider. She picks incorrectly.
Apparently, the recent events have been getting to Mary Jane and
Aunt May more than they’ve been letting on. MJ goes out for some fresh air
and soul-searching. Meanwhile, Spider-Man battles the Rhino.Mary Jane
arrives at the bus depot and takes note of departure times for buses leaving
town. A lady on the street recognizes her as “Mrs. Spider-Man”. This
causes her fist to clench. Knowing she needs to discuss her woes with
someone who can relate, she phones Sue Richards and they arrange to meet at
the wax museum.
On the way there, Mary Jane stops by the playhouse. She’s been
fired from Macbeth because of the Nazi-controlled bees she tends to attract.
Sue tells Mary Jane to toughen up and draw strength from the
memory of the moment she first realized she was in love with Peter. That
moment, MJ recollects, was when Peter lashed out at her shortly after Gwen
died. Instead of running away, she stayed by his side.
MJ returns to the front steps of the Parkers’ motel room and in
her mind she is back in the amphitheater. This time she tells Madame Webb,
who is now speaking in Aunt May’s voice, that she made her choice years ago,
for better or for worse, and opens a door to find Peter waiting with open
arms. Unfortunately, what she finds in reality when she opens the motel
door isn’t so pretty. Aunt May is on the floor holding a severely beaten
and blood-splattered Spider-Man.
Likes:
- The cover is fantastic. Clayton Crain’s talent borders on supernatural and I wish he could do the interiors more often.
- Sean Chen’s drawings have proportions that resemble those of human beings, which automatically make them an improvement over Angel Medina’s. The clean art style and bright, sharp colors, give the book a glossy and vivid feel. Still, something about the art that I can’t quite put my finger on seems a bit flat. Regardless, I’m more than happy to have Chen on this book for another couple of issues.
- Mary Jane’s resentment at going from superstar to someone in the shadow of her husband makes a lot of sense. Her career is effectively over now that people recognize the very real danger that she brings, and her life as a celebrity in her own right has ended as well. I’m glad that angle is being explored a little because it is something I’ve been wondering about.
- I like the way MJ and Sue’s friendship is being presented. All of MJ’s friends are either dead or crazy now, so it’s good to see she has someone to talk to. I hope this fresh and unexpected relationship continues to develop.
- The ending has me very intrigued. One thing though: If I’m meant to believe the Rhino was able to beat Spider-Man up that bad, there had better be a good explanation as to how that clumsy buffoon was able to even land a finger on Spidey in the next issue.
- This may or may not be an actual complement, but RAS’ writing is melodramatic to the point of hilarity. The man has a way with similes. In Mary Jane’s nightmare that “weighs on her like a winter coat”, the stands of the amphitheater are “like sacrificial temples built to dark, hungry gods”, the obscene shouts of the audience are “like bamboo sticks jabbing in her ears”, and the whole experience is “like Halloween and a Yankees/Red Sox game and a Madonna concert all in one.” I swear I did not make that up.
Dislikes
- It appears RAS’ strength is in over-the-top action stories, not low-key character spotlights like this. While I think it is important that writers stretch themselves to become more versatile, this particular effort is not very successful. In order to justify shifting the focus from Spider-Man himself, issues like these have to be extremely well done. They must force us to rethink the character we thought we knew. There isn’t much here which fits that bill. All the flashbacks felt more like commentary on stories from the past than a deep exploration of MJ’s character, and even though the ending was supposed to seem like some grand epiphany, it didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know.
- Mary Jane’s portrayal in this title seems a bit inconsistent with that in Amazing. Over in the other book, she’s shown as being at her strongest, but here the stress has worn her down to the point where she’d consider skipping town on both Peter and Aunt May. Both interpretations make sense, but it looks like the two different creators are pulling her character in two different directions.
Favorite Quote: Lady: “Aren’t you her? That actress? You know … Mrs. Spider-Man?”
Mary Jane: “No, that’s someone else. I look like her, but I’m not an actress, I’m not…”
Lady: “Yeah, you do look like her … but now that I’m up close, she’s prettier.”
Rating: 2 ½ webs out of 5. Marvel Editor-In-Chief Joe Quesada’s notorious comments regarding his distaste for Spider-Man’s marriage have put the couple at the forefront of every fan’s mind, so this issue could have been something very compelling. Unfortunately, RAS merely goes through the motions. There’s nothing either sickeningly bad or particularly impressive about this issue. My minor gripes and mild praise cancel each other out, leaving a score that’s right in the middle. The Rhino plot might develop into something interesting, but this issue is entirely inessential.
The
Sensational Spider-Man #31
Title: The Deadly Foes of Peter
Parker: Part Three of Three
Writer: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Penciler: Angel Medina
Inker: Scott Hanna
Plot:
Whilst the real Peter buzzes Liz Allan’s doorbell, an imposter, the
Chameleon, checks into the Avengers Tower with Aunt May. The masquerading
miscreant nods as the May points out how far a cry the high security is from
when Uncle Ben would leave every door unlocked. When they arrive at the
Parker suite, the Chameleon rips out the phone line while Aunt May prepares
oatmeal raison cookies in the kitchen.
At the Allan house, Liz lambastes Peter for never confiding his
identity in her even after all they’d been through together. Just as Peter
finishes explaining himself, little Normie enters the room saying he pulled
his ropes off. Our hero then realizes he’s been set up. The Molten Man
crashes through the wall ready to fight and Scarecrow and Will-O’-The-Wisp
soon join the fray as well. To make things more interesting, The Black Cat
shows up too.
As a matter of course, a huge fight scene kicks off, leaving
much of Liz’s house trashed in the process. The two D-listers go down
easily, but the Molten Man proves himself a challenging opponent. After a
struggle, Spider-Man manages to defeat him using his recently enhanced
strength and new costume. Molten Man confesses the Chameleon masterminded
the plot and is targeting Aunt May. Liz tries to explain she had no choice
but to cooperate with the ambushers because they were threatening her son,
but Spider-Man tells her she better be gone before the police arrive lest
she’s mistaken for a villain.
Back at Parker HQ, the Chameleon enjoys some
pre-homicide cookies, at which point Aunt May informs him Uncle Ben always
kept the doors locked and her nephew hates oatmeal raison cookies. She’d
suspected he was an imposter from the onset; a mother always knows. She
also tells the iniquitous imposter she’s slipped arsenic into his cookies
and he falls to the ground.
Spider-Man crashes through the window ready to fight, only to find his enemy
already incapacitated. Aunt May explains she actually only drugged the
Chameleon with Mary Jane’s Ambien.
The two take a moment to reflect on their new status quo. Aunt May says
they’ll make it through this like they always do, but Peter reminds her not
all of them always make it.
Likes:
- Where is the corny and obvious dialogue? What happened to the long-winded narration? Was that actual suspense I felt? If not for the name on the title page, I’d be convinced someone new wrote the script. But no, RAS remains and renders all my previous complaints nonexistent. I’ve gotten what I’ve begged for since taking on this series: a little respect for my intelligence and not the spelling out of every character’s thoughts and motivations. Illustrative of the improvement is when the Black Cat tells the Scarecrow to go ahead and gas her because she’s already survived her worst fear. We aren’t don’t need to be told what she means; those of us who followed the “Evil Men Do” miniseries get that rewarding feeling of being in the know and those who haven’t get an incentive to explore deeper into the backstory. Readers are engaged either way.
- The centerpiece fight scene was brilliantly scripted. I don’t know if more credit is due to RAS or Medina, but making a simple brawl in a house seem this thrilling can’t be an easy task. It’s downright cinematic.
- RAS executed May’s side of the story just as well. I found the ending very surprising and funny, though I was a bit scared for the moment it seemed Aunt May had murdered the Chameleon. This is a shining moment for the feisty, self-reliant interpretation we’ve been seeing of Aunt May since she was brought back. I appreciate that characterization because someone who has been through as much as she has can’t be weak and certainly isn’t stupid.
- Miscellaneous things that made me happy: Liz’s reaction to Peter’s secret identity felt real and made sense; Liz thinking Peter was joking after he explained his origin was hilarious; Peter utilized his new powers without introducing superfluous new ones; and the colors are nice.
Dislikes:
- I’m sure Mr. Medina is an extremely talented artist, but the style he’s chosen still doesn’t work for me and I’ve resigned to the fact it never will. Maybe when he returns from his three-month break he’ll tone down the mutated proportions, but I doubt it.
- Peter seemed to be a little too hard on Liz, especially since she really did have no choice. He was in a state of extreme distress, so I can forgive him for being a little irrational, but still…
Rating: 4 webs out of 5. All-in-all this was a perfectly paced, action-packed story with a great ending. It satisfied me not just as the last chapter in a good story, but as an individual issue as well. This is my favorite of the three parts, but my low opinion of the art keeps it from breaking the 4 web ceiling.
Favorite
Quote: Chameleon: "You ... You..." (faints with a "THUNK!!")
Aunt May: "Mercy. What were you going to call me, I wonder..."
Overall Arc Rating: 3.5 webs out of 5. Your enjoyment of Sensational Spider-Man may very well depend on how much of a Spidey geek you are. It’s a book for the fans, and RAS serves that market well by integrating continuity and filling each issue with underused villains. A story like this is clearly not going to be groundbreaking, and it could probably have been one issue shorter, but it was fun and exciting nonetheless.
The
Sensational Spider-Man #30
Title: The Deadly Foes of Peter Parker:
Part Two of Three
Writer: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Penciler: Angel Medina
Inker: Scott Hanna
Plot:
Peter Parker
confronts Electro, whom he located in an art museum using his suit’s
tracking ability (new power #7,043), and demands to know what all the
villains are plotting. Electro asserts he isn’t part of it, but Peter scans
his vitals (#7,044) to confirm he is lying. Millions of dollars worth of
art is blasted to pieces in the ensuing battle before our ever-resourceful
hero decides to end it by draining Electro’s power and shocking him with
feedback (#7,045).
Meanwhile, Swarm descends upon Mary Jane’s rehearsal. Thinking
quick in the resultinh chaos, MJ activates the sprinkler system to weigh
down Swarm’s bees. One of her fellow actors finishes the job by bashing the
creature’s sku ll in with a prop weapon.
Elsewhere, the Chameleon talks to himself to make sure he
doesn’t forget his own completely logical motivations. He is upset that the
whole world knows who Spider-Man is after he had put so much effort into
figuring it out himself. He decides snapping Aunt May’s neck will make him
cheer up.
Black Cat chews Spider-Man out for not talking to her before
unmasking. The webslinger apologizes and asks her to help watch his and his
family’s backs now that it is impossible for him to keep a low profile. A
call from Liz Allan interrupts their discussion. She tells Spider-Man that
Molten Man has abducted her son and that he should hurry to her house. It’s
a trap; Molten Man, Scarecrow and Will-O’-The-Wisp are inside preparing an
ambush for our hero.
Aunt May is greeted outside Stark Tower by someone she
thinks is her nephew, but is actually the Chameleon in disguise. They enter
together, the nefarious villain grinning malevolently.
Likes:
- Aguirre-Sacasa’s reverence for continuity is shown through little touches like Electro referencing his mercifully short-lived costume change in the late 90s and the nods at events from the Chameleon’s past. There is a tendency among modern writers to gloss over characters’ rich histories for the sake of streamlined storytelling, but RAS is able to reward readers who’ve been paying attention over the years in a way that feels natural. It is obvious that he cares about the character as much as we do, and that sense of enthusiasm makes a big difference in how enjoyable the book is.
- It’s always great when a writer does justice to underexposed villains. The Chameleon comes across as especially evil and psychotic, and the other baddies are colorful and cool despite how absurd they are. It is impossible to take a man made out of bees in a purple cape seriously, but RAS doesn’t try and instead has fun with the idea.
- There are two great cliffhangers. I’m sure Spidey can handle the villains waiting for him but I’m really curious to see what happens with Aunt May.
Dislikes:
- The pace slows down significantly with this issue. If such a simple story is going to be spread out over three issues, then each one should be packed cover-to-cover with exciting moments. Instead, there is a lot of padding in the form of boring dialog and unnecessary splash pages.
- Is Peter daft? Provoking Electro, one of his most powerful and dangerous enemies, in the middle of a crowded museum is inexcusable. There was no immediate danger that he knew of, so the literally millions of dollars in irreplaceable property damage and risk to civilian life could have been avoided if he had just waited for Electro to go someplace less populated. With Civil War’s Stamford incident still fresh in his mind, one would think he’d know better.
- The amount of new abilities Spider-Man’s suit has is starting to get out of hand. I’d rather RAS have him use established powers in interesting ways instead of making up a new gizmo as a cop-out for any situation. The fact that the suit could easily have a built-in anti-Molten-Man ray and Scarecrow repellent kills a lot of suspense. If cover art is any indication, Spidey only has the suit for one more issue. Lets hope we can see it really pushed to its limit before it is gone.
- The art style doesn’t appeal to me. I thought the heroes and villains in action looked great in the last issue, but this time they all look far too deformed. I suppose one could argue the exaggerated look fits the story’s tone, but it isn’t my cup of tea.
- My previous reservations about Aguirre-Sacasa’s wordy writing are amplified. I wish he’d just take it easy and trust his artist to pull more of the storytelling weight and not rely so much on text. I’m trying not to be peevish here, but when a panel is a picture of Mary Jane running and Swarm following her, I don’t need a caption that says “Mary Jane runs and Swarm follows her”.
Favorite Quote (of all time!): “These are bees and wasps controlled by a dead Nazi scientist’s reanimated skeleton.”
Rating: 3 webs out of 5. This was a bit of a letdown after the last excellent issue. The first half is a barrel of fun, but everything after that just felt like padding and set-up. It is effective though, because I want to buy the next issue to see what happens. My opinion of this book remains generally positive, but I’ll probably never warm all the way up to this creative team’s style.
The
Sensational Spider-Man #29
Title: The Deadly Foes of Peter Parker:
Part One of Three
Writer: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Penciler: Angel Medina
Inker: Scott Hanna
Plot: Mark Raxton,
the reformed Molten Man, chats with the insidious Chameleon on the bleachers
of a little league baseball game. Raxton is given the choice to either aid
the guileful criminal in crushing the now-unmasked Peter Parker or watch
Electro murder every child on the field, starting with the one he mentors.
He is effectively coerced.
The scheme already commencing, we find Spider-Man locked in
combat with the diabolical Scarecrow. After Spidey’s new costume
neutralizes his adversary’s airborne hallucinogens, the most fearsome foe of
all, Will-O’-The-Wisp, joins the fray. Forgetting this fiend’s
intangibility, our hero dives through him and is defenestrated. Though
temporarily blinded, he manages to use his suit’s gliding power to save
himself. By the time he gets reoriented, the villains are gone.
Peter phones Mary Jane at her rehearsal and instructs her to get
home, for evil is clearly afoot. She refuses to cancel her life for every
nutcase who might come after her and hangs up, unaware that Swarm crouches
in the rafters above.
Elsewhere, Felecia Hardy vents her frustrations over Peter going
public to her new flame, the Puma. Before, being one of the few that knew
Spider-Man’s identity was special and intimate, but now it has been
cheapened. Trying not to take it personally, Puma comments that it seems
she is still in love with the Spider.
While Spider-Man seeks counsel from Madame Webb, whose
clairvoyance is clouded by apocalyptic visions, Liz Allan is in her home
pouting over pictures of the old gang. Suddenly, Molten Man walks into her
room and says he is sorry.
Likes:
- As much as I love the grave political and emotional stories dominating Amazing Spider-Man right now, sometimes high-flying action, crazy stunts, and ridiculous villains are all it takes to satisfy. This issue delivered those beyond my expectations. The plot deals with the obvious consequences of Peter’s unmasking, but it doesn’t take itself too seriously. Rather, it is packed with something Spidey comics have been lacking lately: old fashioned fun.
- Involving such a huge cast keeps the story and the art very interesting and Aguirre-Sacasa is true to every character he uses. Chameleon shows us how evil he is by threatening children, MJ is expectedly stubborn, and Felecia’s reaction to Peter’s “outing” makes a lot of sense.
- Medina’s art during the “in-costume” bits can be quite impressive. The battles, the characters, and the scenery all look larger than life and the action is choreographed into a visual roller coaster ride. I’d actually go so far as to say that out of the three main artists, Medina’s is my favorite version of Spider-Man’s new costume. Most of the villains look striking as well. The last page’s picture of Molten Man is the best I’ve seen of that particular character.
Dislikes:
- On the other hand, there are areas in which I don’t care for the art much at all. The first offender is the cover. I’ve read this issue three times and I don’t remember any part where a gorilla puts on Spidey’s costume, so the freakish muscles on top of muscles look is unnecessary. I’m also not a fan of how Medina draws uncostumed humans. This is solely a matter of personal taste, but his style is just too exaggerated for me. Some characters, Felecia especially, look downright ugly.
- I take a few issues with Aguirre-Sacasa’s writing style. The dialog is a bit too wordy and unrealistic for me. Why does Spider-Man explain how his costumes’ filter works to Scarecrow? Isn’t it best to keep his enemies guessing? It seems like every character’s thoughts and motivations need to be declared out loud. Absolutely nothing is left to the reader’s interpretation and that makes the book less engaging.
Favorite Quote: Peter: “Oh, God. What visions, Madame Webb?”
Madame Webb: “No God, Spider-Man. Storms of fire and hell … rivers of damnation … but no God anywhere.”
Rating: 4 webs out of 5. I must say I enjoyed this issue a lot more than I thought I would. It isn’t a deep, complicated story, but it is a blast to read.
Past Reviews
Senational Spider-Man #23-26
Marvel Knights Spider-Man # 13-21
Marvel Knights Spider-Man # 6-12
Marvel Knights Spider-Man # 1-5