Spectacular
Spider-Man #05
“The Hunger”-Part V
Writer: Paul Jenkins
Penciler: Humberto Ramos
Inker: Wayne Faucher
PLOT: In the final issue of “The
Hunger” storyline, we find Spider-Man and Eddie Brock having a
heart-to-heart. Brock
explains to Spider-Man that he has a tumor on his adrenal gland since
before he met up with the symbiote.
The doctors gave him three months to live, as well as dying an
agonizing death. Eddie
was going to commit suicide not because of Peter Parker, but because
of his cancer. The
symbiote joined with Brock, saved his life for the time being, and fed
off of his adrenaline after Peter first cast it off.
But even after all this, the symbiote still preferred Peter,
which caused Brock to hate Peter even more.
He did not want to lose the suit to Peter, and die because of
it. Brock’s becomes
sick and he passes out. Instead of Spider-Man taking him to the
hospital, he takes him to search for the symbiote.
Brock eventually loses his pulse, and Peter confronts the
symbiote. He tells the
symbiote to take over Brock’s body in order to revive him, otherwise
not only will Brock die, but the alien will as well because Peter will
not accept him. The
symbiote informs Spider-Man that it is pregnant.
The symbiote pleads, begs, and fights for Peter to take him
back, but is forced to take Brock back when Spider-Man web-slings him
into the alien’s tendrils. Brock
is revived and overtaken by a bitter alien symbiote that curses
Spider-man for giving it a life of pain and sickness.
In the end, Spider-Man wonders if he has solved a problem or
created more.
LIKES: I liked the revamp to
Venom’s origin. The
jealousy and anger that Brock has for Parker makes more sense now,
rather than Brock being exposed as a liar in a news story.
The cancer angle is an interesting one that was unexpected
before the start of the storyline.
DISLIKES: Jenkins has written two
great story arcs in the Green Goblin and Venom arcs, BUT in both
cases, the bad guy is allowed to walk away free.
All the fighting Spider-Man did, and the symbiote continues to
be out on the loose. Shouldn’t
he have gone after him??? Also, I know Peter is not the type of person
who kills, but he is also no doctor.
When Brock was on his dying, I think the smart idea would have
been taking him to the hospital.
If the doctors would have saved him, great, but if he dies in
the care of the hospital staff, it was meant to be.
Also, I think the art wasn’t as powerful as last issue.
Many of the panels were awkward and hard to make out.
RATING: 2 and ½ webheads out of 5.
I was hoping for a stronger finished, but was disappointed.
It’ll be interesting to see what angle Jenkins takes on Doc
Ock and his new look.
Reviewed by AC-WEB
(Ariel Chaidez)
Spectacular
Spider-Man #04
“The Hunger”-Part IV
Writer: Paul Jenkins
Penciler: Humberto Ramos
Inker: Wayne Faucher
PLOT: In this second to last issue of
“The Hunger” storyline, we find Spider-Man being consumed by the
alien symbiote, who was formally bonded with Eddie Brock to form
Venom. Spider-Man is
putting up a fight, but doesn’t seem to be able to get the alien
suit off of him. The
Human Torch finds Spidey, but is unable to help him out.
Spider-Man reaches out to grab a hold of some electric cables
in order to stop the alien from consuming him, and succeeds in
knocking both he and the symbiote out.
The Torch takes the two to Mr. Fantastic, where they try to
find a way to completely separate the two.
Sue Storm uses her powers to temporarily stop the alien from
again taking over Peter, and we find what the special relationship
between Peter and the symbiote is.
Peter’s spider-sense causes a strong surge in his adrenaline,
and the symbiote became addicted to this adrenaline when he first made
contact with Spider-Man, making the separation from its host almost
intolerable. Reed
Richards comes up with an injection to block the flow of Peter’s
adrenaline from reaching the alien. While given the injection, Peter
temporarily receives memories of the alien symbiote, and we begin to
understand why the symbiote has behaved the way it has.
The alien reacts violently to the injection, breaks through
Sue’s force field, and exits the building.
Eddie Brock goes to his final confession, and Peter eventually
finds him. Peter tells a
defeated Eddie Brock he is taking him to jail.
Brock dismisses this, and tells Peter he has cancer.
LIKES: This storyline is getting
better and better with each issue.
There is a lot of action in this book, with many suspicions
being verified, such as Brock having cancer.
The most interesting part of the book is getting insight of the
alien symbiote’s thoughts. One
can actually feel sadness for the alien suit, and better understand
his past actions. It
acts like a strung out junkie, alone and isolated, with no support
system anywhere around. One
can also feel sympathetic to Eddie Brock and all he has been through.
He has been used and sucked up dry, being left a broken man
with nothing to really live for.
The letter written to Detective Garret really allows the reader
to also understand some of the difficulties Brock has been faced with.
Pretty powerful stuff when you think about it.
The art was beautifully done.
The way Ramos draws out his flashback were amazing.
The black and white, and highly defined panels added greatly to
the book.
DISLIKES: There really isn’t much
to dislike. If I had to
pick something, maybe it would be Peter’s reaction to Eddie Brock
once he finally finds him at the end.
Spider-Man now knows more about what he, Brock, and the
symbiote have gone through, but instead of approaching Brock with some
sort of understanding, he is making jokes about Brock spending time
behind bars.
Reviewed by AC-WEB
(Ariel Chaidez)
Spectacular
Spider-Man #03
The Hunger-Part III
Writer: Paul Jenkins
Penciler: Humberto Ramos
Inker: Wayne Faucher
PLOT: This issue begins with
Spider-Man explaining to Detective Garrett who is behind the string of
assaults, as well as his theory on what Venom is and has become.
Detective Garrett decides to publicly announce that a warrant
for Brock has been issued, but he will give Spider-Man a couple of
days to try to stop him before the NYPD does.
Eddie Brock watches this news on the television and becomes
upset and frustrated with the suit. He
knows that he can't live without the suit, but also knows that the
suit no longer wants him. The
suit comes in and merges with Eddie, and they go off in search for
Spider-Man. When they
eventually find him, they duke it out for a while until it seems that
Spider-man has defeated Venom. Spider-Man
is finally able to talk to Eddie Brock.
Brock informs him that this fight is no longer between them
two, and that their grudge is over. He
tells Spider-Man that the suit is in full control, and Spider-Man is
stepping into a trap. The suit
then begins to surround Spider-Man. It tells him that he wants to go
home, and reunite once again with Peter Parker.
What happens next, I guess we'll find out in the next issue.
In between this issue, we find Peter helping Aunt May paint.
Aunt may informs Peter the she and Liz Osborn have decided to have
Flash move into Peter's downstairs apartment, along with a full-time
nurse. Peter and his apartment neighbors help in on the move, and
Peter and Flash have some alone time.
LIKES: I know I've been dogging Ramos
on his art style for a while now, but I'm beginning to enjoy the art
more and more. There is a
beautifully done scene when Brock is lying on the washroom floor in
pain and anguish. The angles
that Ramos uses make this scene even more powerful.
Jenkin's story continues going strong at the midpoint of this
story arc. It really seems that
we may be seeing the end of Eddie Brock, but only time will tell.
DISLIKES: I think it was pretty
inappropriate for Aunt May and Liz to make the decision the Flash will
be living under Peter's apartment without talking to him first.
I'm sure Peter would have agreed to it, but common courtesy
would be to ask him. Also,
Flash is always drooling due to the fact that he is in a coma, but
couldn't someone please wipe him off???
RATING: 4 and = webheads out of 5.
A very strong issues with just a few minor complaints.
Jenkins's continues his stellar writing, and Ramos's artwork
seems to be fitting the story a little bit better now.
Reviewed by AC-WEB
(Ariel Chaidez)
Spectacular
Spider-Man #02
“The Hunger-Part II”
Writer: Paul Jenkins
Penciler: Humberto Ramos
Inker: Wayne Faucher
PLOT: Venom and Spider-Man have a
tussle by the train tracks. At
this point it seems as if the alien symbiote is firmly in control of
Eddie and is doing all the talking.
The alien seems to want Spider-Man to accept him, and tells him
that he is always on the alien’s mind.
Spider-Man rejects Venom and they fight until a train runs Venom
over. We later get a
glimpse on the relationship between Eddie and the suit.
Eddie no longer wants any part of the suit, but the suit seems to
be holding on to Eddie only out of need.
The suit convinces Eddie to jump out of building in order to feed
off his adrenaline. The
alien saves Brock before they hit the floor.
The suit threatens to kill Eddie in due time, but not now.
The alien also makes the revelation that they are both dying, but
the symbiote is dying of hunger. Spider-Man
finds out that Detective Garret is on the case and decides to go pay him
a visit. They exchange
information, and it turns out that the recent attacks of innocent people
do have something in common. They
were all cancer patients, their records had been stolen from the
hospital, and all their adrenaline had been taking them leaving them in
a coma. Peter informs the detective that he believes that Venom is
involved, but not Eddie Brock. He
believes the suit is looking for a new host.
LIKES: Jenkins continue to put new
wrinkles on the old relationship between Venom, Spider-Man, and the men
beneath the suit. I can
almost feel bad for Brock, as he seems to be a prisoner to the alien
symbiote. It is revealed
that both Eddie and the suit are both dying.
I’m going to speculate that it is not just coincidence that
Eddie Brock is bald and that the alien going after cancer patient. I
believe Eddie may have developed cancer, and this has changed not only
him, but also the suit. Jenkins
also explored the relationship between Liz and Flash.
Liz is torn between her duty as a friend to care after Flash, and
her duty to run her corporation. Aunt
May has a suggestion, which she did not reveal this issue.
There is also a very cool section in the book where Jenkins
describes how Peter’s spider-sense works more in depth.
DISLIKES: First, MJ is back with Peter,
but nowhere to be seen in the last two issues.
If we have not seen her by now, we won’t see her until probably
the end of this six-issue arc. The
art did make some of the fight scenes very hard to follow.
Also, I know that one of Humberto’s strength is drawing scenes
in the rain, but it seems that it is raining in almost everyone of the
issues he pencils.
RATING: 4
webheads out of 5. The plot
thickens, more curveballs are thrown, and Jenkins continues writing at a
top level. I feel the only
weakness so far continues to be the art.
Ramos and Spider-Man just don’t click, IMO.
Reviewed by AC-WEB
(Ariel Chaidez)
Spectacular
Spider-Man #01
“The Hunger-Part I”
Writer: Paul Jenkins
Penciler: Humberto Ramos
Inker: Wayne Faucher
PLOT: Paul
Jenkins is back, and is starting up his new Spectacular Spider-Man book. This
first story revolves around a familiar alien symbiote and his host, Eddie
Brock. A vampire type monster
has been running around NYC and attacking innocent people by puncturing
above their kidneys and stealing their adrenaline, thus leaving them in a
coma. This has caught the
attention of the NYC police, especially a Detective Neil Garret, who is in
charge of the case. In
between this story, Jenkins introduces us to neighbors, who live in
Peter’s apartment complex, as a new supporting cast. One
of the more light hearted ones is an Aussie by the name of Big John, who
does a great job on comic relief. A
plot thread, which began in Peter Parker regarding Flash Thompson and his
accident, also continues in this new series.
Flash continues in a coma and is under the watch of his friend, Liz
Allen. The doctors take the bandages off Flash’s face, and we find that
there are no permanent physical scars.
Only the mental scars remain.
While out on patrol, Spider-Man encounters Venom, but he is very
different from the last time they met.
Venom has devolved in a hideous way.
He is no longer acting out of revenge, greed, or jealousy, but out
of need. Venom states that he
is in a state of constant hunger and that there is no more Eddie Brock
before he lashes out at Spider-Man.
LIKES: After a long break, Jenkins is
back on the Spider-Man books, which is always a good thing.
The addition of a supporting cast revolving around his apartment
complex is an interesting one that had not really been explored yet.
Venom is also downright creepier than ever in this story-arc.
He is no longer made out to be Spider-Man opposite equal, as the
suit seems to be in firm control of Eddie Brock.
Even though the links to Venom and the assaults have not been
directly linked yet, I pretty much assume that he is the carrying out
these attacks, but the question remains why.
Detective Garret will undoubtedly play an important role in
figuring that out.
DISLIKES: The
Venom series and this current story arc in Spectacular seem to be very
similar, and they are going on at the same time.
It would have been better if one story ended and the other one
began, which would make more sense. I
am still not a fan of Humberto Ramos, and continue to miss the days of
Bucky. But the good thing is
that Ramos’ art is not making the book less entertaining for me.
Also, this book does not seem like the start of something too
fresh. It feels like a
continuation of Peter Parker: Spider-Man
RATING: 3 and ½
webheads out of 5. Not
the blockbuster that I was expecting, but entertaining none the less.
More and more answers are sure to come in the following issue, but
more and more questions are sure to follow.
R