Sensational Spider-Man 33.1

[CrazyChris]

I picked this up today to see what type of Spider-Man story Tom Defalco would write given the chance. It was lame.

The story is told from Carlie Cooper's point of view, features the red Vulture as the antagonist, and takes place roughly in 2009 continuity, before Carlie and Peter began dating seriously. Now that you know you aren't going to read this, you should have no qualms reading the additional (not very detailed) spoilers below:

While Spider-Man's fighting the puke-Vulture, Carlie Cooper stumbles onto a human trafficking operation in a shipping yard and hopes to boost her career by solving the case. Her aspiration is to leave the Crime Scene unit and become a detective. Unfortunately, the FBI has taken jurisdiction so she has to do her investigation under the radar. She gets Peter to help her find leads and Peter figures out the guy behind it all is some business man. The business man is employing the Vulture and sends the Vulture to take Carlie out. Vulture ambushes her and that's our cliffhanger.

This really did nothing for me. While a Carlie-oriented story is intrinsically unappealing to me, I do keep an open mind because I think any character can be made compelling given the right writer. And who could be better than Tom Defalco, the guy who gave Mary Jane much of the backstory and added dimensions that make her so popular? Unfortunately this story does not add that much interest to Carlie Cooper. She's very much the stereotypical fictional cop, who plays hero and ends up getting chewed out by her superior from behind a desk at the end of the day. I'd liked to have known more about what makes her tick. Wasn't her father a police officer? Why not go into that, or other aspects of her inner world, if you're going to dedicate a whole story arc to a side character?

And why set this story in a stale period of continuity, too recent for the story to be a retrospective but to far in the past for anything that happens to be relevant? Maybe if the story was set in the present time it could have been interesting as showing how recent events look through an alternate set of eyes. That can't happen with this story. Also, this story can't really expound upon Carlie's relationships with relevant characters, because this is set in a time where Carlie barely knew any of the characters we care about. To her, Peter Parker is just her photographer friend in this story. Her interactions with the red Vulture aren't relevant because (I believe) that character is dead already.

Has this story been in the can for three years, and Marvel's just now decided to publish it?

An arc in Garth Ennis's Punisher MAX tackled the same subject matter in a much more thought-provoking and emotional way. Go read that instead. This story is just a dumbed down, mediocre rehash of that same territory.

Oh, and the art is hilarious. Apparently, Carlie got breast implants that she only decided to keep for this one story arc.

What are your opinions, everyone?

[dornwolf]

Her interactions with the red Vulture aren't relevant because (I believe) that character is dead already.

Yup he dead alright, thanks to Greg Ruka and The Punisher. Heck I think it's the most interesting thing done with Frank during Rukas run other than making him look like Big Boss.

[CrazyChris]

Big Boss from Metal Gear?

[dornwolf]

Big Boss from Metal Gear?

Yup, Snake Eater era Big Boss. If you look at the Omega Effect arc where Frank is all covered in bandages I swear he looks just like Big Boss

[Mr. Noodle]

Welllp, I guess publishing this was better than whatever else they might have done with it. Make a few bucks, I suppose. Off a support character almost no one liked, battling a villain no one liked, who is dead now.

[dornwolf]

Welllp, I guess publishing this was better than whatever else they might have done with it. Make a few bucks, I suppose. Off a support character almost no one liked, battling a villain no one liked, who is dead now.

From a marketing stand point it's pretty smart. 50th anniversary, revive old titles and have well known writers in Spider-man's history work on them. Heck even the Point One is used nicely. Why the hell they focused on the character nobody likes and a dead villain

[Mr. Noodle]

Oh, the script had probably been long bought and paid for. Probably on the supposition that Carlie was going to be the next big thing. But then the audience decided it didn't like Carlie, partly because of her being a Mary Sue that hadn't earned the regard Marvel heaped on her, and partly because of the thick way they promoted her. So why waste the money? They burn off a script this way.

[NickMB]

Oh, the script had probably been long bought and paid for. Probably on the supposition that Carlie was going to be the next big thing. But then the audience decided it didn't like Carlie, partly because of her being a Mary Sue that hadn't earned the regard Marvel heaped on her, and partly because of the thick way they promoted her. So why waste the money? They burn off a script this way.

I doubt it was bought to "make Carlie the next big thing". I imagine it was because they wanted to have a few stand-alone stories in their back pocket to fill an issue of ASM if the thrice-monthly BND schedule started to go off the rails. And it was never used during BND so, yes, they're getting some use out of it now. I haven't investigated closely whether the other 50th anniversary issues are a similar premise or not. (i.e. generic stories taking place during the BND era that could serve as fill-ins)

[Donomark]

Yeah the book just screamed "WROTE THREE YEARS AGO" during the era where Spider-Man really was trash. Not that the issue itself was horrible, but forgettable.

Just like Chris said, comics these days are so reliant on television series cliche ideas for stories that nothing's fresh or exciting anymore, at least to me.