THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #581
Have you ever had one of those reading experiences where you’re trucking along and everything seems to be firing on all eight cylinders and all is right with the world and then that one thought pops into your head that renders a lot of that enjoyment moot?
Well, that’s what happened to me with this week’s issue of Amazing Spider-Man.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #581
“Mind on Fire Part One: The Trouble With Harry”
Writer: Dan Slott
Penciler: Mike McKone
Inker: Andy Lanning
Plot
The mysterious Spider Tracer killer strikes again, this time luring Spider-Man to the scene and ending with the Wall Crawler needing to evade the authorities once again. The next day Peter joins Harry on a trip to New Jersey so that Harry can see his ex-wife Liz Allen and their son Normie. On the way Harry explains how his death was faked and what part his father played in getting him to Europe. Once they reach Liz’s house her step-brother, the Molten Man, flips out over Harry’s presence and does some serious damage to the place before finally confronting his ex-step-brother-in-law and Liz.
The Commentary
Based upon first impressions I was ready to give this issue a four and write about all the things I liked about it and truth to be told there was a lot to like. Sure I’m getting a little bored with the whole Spider Tracer Killer…thing, but that has to do with the fact that as a sub-plot it is a taking way too long to play out and the danger with that sort of storytelling is that if you play out a sub-plot too long the audience may not give a rip when everything is said and done. I mean this isn’t “Who is the Hobgoblin?” which is an example of a long running plot that was enjoyable, at least to me. This is, “Who is killing people and making Spider-Man look bad?” Is there a chance I’m wrong here? Sure and I really hope so, but overall this has been one of the less enjoyable aspects from the last year of Spider-Man.
Not as bad as Freak, but very little is.
I’d take the Hypno Hustler over Freak every day of the week and twice on Sundays.
I’m just saying.
Anyway, where Slott excels as a writer of Spider-Man is that he manages to convey to the reader what it is like to be Peter Parker. A lot of Spider writers do this but a select few get it right for me and in this issue Slott was among their ranks. Peter’s personal problems are the hallmark of the character, so when a situation comes up where, say, his best friend’s girlfriend has put some moves on him and he tries to defuse the situation and ends up getting shot down for his trouble, I like it because as much as Spider-Man is an action piece it is also soap opera. It may not be on between one and four in the afternoon and it may not have its own channel, but it is soap opera.
And there’s nothing wrong with that.
I also enjoyed the interaction between Peter and Harry. Slott did an excellent job here. I really felt that these two were friends; people that had been through much and were getting a chance to spend a little quality time together. I’m big on character so these scenes resonated with me and I couldn’t find much to pick apart with them.
It was during this scene that the major gripe I had on that previously mentioned first impression happened. I thought the revelation of how Harry came back from the dead was a little anti-climactic. Sure it made sense. When your Dad is the Green Goblin and he faked his own death it’s not too much of stretch to imagine the son getting the same treatment. Still it felt a little flat. The fact that Mysterio was involved was kind of cool though, but still. I don’t want to make a firm judgment call on this because something could come further down the pike and make me go, “Oh! Okay. I get it now.” For the moment, I don’t hate it but at the same time I’m not married to it.
So I finished the issue and enjoyed it and like the scenes with Liz Allen because I’m big on seeing old characters that have a lot of history resurface and found Normie’s private collection of Spider-Man heads to be extremely creepy and thought I had a good handle on how to write this review.
Then while I was at work today it hit me.
Liz Allen…has the Molten Man…in her house…with her son living there
Are you freaking kidding me?
Seriously?
I don’t care how rich Harry Osborne is. I don’t care that Raxton is family. In a world where super-beings have to freaking register with the government how can a former super-villain who takes the term “special needs” and kicks it up a notch just be hanging out in the freaking suburbs?
I don’t buy that.
I can’t buy that.
It takes a perfectly good story and very nearly ruins it. That is a terrible way to bring a villain into a story because even in a world of thunder gods and radioactive spiders this sort of thing is the straw that broke the willing suspension of disbelief’s back. It also made me completely rethink this issue and how I felt about it, which I didn’t want to happen because I am one of those fans that actually wants, nay needs to enjoy the books I read. At the same time when something is that glaring and when it just gnaws at my brain like this I can’t just let it go. This may not be a higher calling but I have to be honest about how I feel.
And Molten Man in the ‘burbs just doesn’t scan with me.
The Final Analysis
Despite some excellent artwork by Mike McKone and Andy Lanning (especially when it came to the Molten Man’s appearance) and generally liking the scenes between Peter and Harry I have to give this issue a three out of five. The whole Molten Man in Liz Allen’s house thing was a bridge too far for me and while I am not making a final judgment on the story as a whole because it isn’t over yet I have some problems with it going in. There is always the chance that the rest of the story will just blow me away and make me forget my initial misgivings, but for the moment I am not overly impressed.
3 out of 5 webheads.
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This issue made me wonder how many deaths Mysterio has had a role in faking.
good review, bad issue.
the way Harry was resurrected was very similar to the way Norman was resurrected. only this time Norman pays and fakes Harry’s death. they just tossed the Mysterio into action to make it a bit interesting.
your point about Molten man being kept in Liz’s house is a good one but i think it is not that big of an issue.
I am not so letdown by Mark Raxton at the Osborn house. It was done before, (back in the Spectacular series in the mid 1980’s), so this is not new ground or a deal breaker for the story. Lazy, yes, but not to bring down the story. What ruined it for me was the best the braintrust could come up with on Harry’s return is he faked his death, this time with Mysterio’s help? Poor Harry, always repeating what his father did.
I was one over the years that always thought Harry faked his own death, but it took this long and just hashed together with the BND reboot. I know, Marvel has a mayonaisse jar with “ideas”, (probably written by fan letters) and they randomly pull them out and ta-da, we have a story. Is there anything lower on the ladder than anti-climatic?
Because leaving a child alone and a man who can melt things and/or people have a lot in common.
Oh, and in a story where the authorities are constantly trying to capture Spider-Man, who is unregistered, it is not a leap to think if they knew where a guy was that they wouldn’t go get him.
What if he doesn’t want to register? I think in matters of fiction we often forget that peopletend to do syupid things because people tend to be stupid things. Not to compare a real life tradegy to a comic book but last year a UK family lost a child because they left her alone to eat a meal across the way {it was a holiday camp], not bad people, not bad parents, just two people who made a mistake.
A flaw in the logic of a character doesn’t have to be a flaw in the writing.
I see your point about the one thought popping into your head. For me, though, a bigger one would be why would Pete be hanging out so long with Harry without knowing the full details of his return? THAT makes far less sense to me. Since “everything still happened”, Harry did set up robot duplicates of his parents to drive him crazy. There have been WAY too many deaths and returns and doppelgangers for Peter to accept a resurrected Harry without learning the FULL details before letting him back into his life. Plus, who doesn’t feel cheated by still not seeing Harry’s initial return? Sure, they made their peace in the last seconds of Harry’s life, but he still had to deal with Harry’s attempts from beyond the grave. A lot went down before Harry died between the two and it would take quite a bit of time to going back to being best buds like they were later on in college. I know Peter is great at forgiveness and seeing all sides of someone’s motivations, but that is a lot of baggage to deal with. How many times had harry gone nuts and tried to kill him? JR, where are you? I am dying to hear your thoughts!
Good review, though.
Michael, my general point is that she wouldn’t have to deal with the Molten Man. With his abilities the government that tells super beings that they have to register would have to take responsibility, especially if a child is involved.
Very good review, Mr. Bailey, and a good point about the Molten Man staying in Liz’s house, especially with her son around. You also touch upon a point about Harry’s “resurrection” that I think seems to underscore one of the bigger problem the “braintrust” has had since the new status quo began. As CrazyChris mentioned, it’s not so much how things like Harry coming back that are the problem but rather the way the creative teams approached it. There were quite a few unanswered questions that One More Day raised and rather that giving the readers hints to those answers over the course of the year and 36 issues, they put them off until later while they focused on telling “new old school Spider-Man stories” that piled new story threads on top. Much of the revelations that Harry gives could have easily been told or hinted at in earlier issues, and there’s one moment which would have been better seen in an earlier issue rather than told about in this issue. And as CrazyChris also pointed out, in the case of Harry Osborn, Marvel didn’t even have an answer worked out when they decided to bring him back. After all, as JMS summed up Joe Quesada’s attitude, “It’s magic. We don’t have to explain it.” Now, as a result of putting these unanswered questions off, the creative teams are now forced to do “info-dumps” like this one. Still, it’s better late than never, I suppose.
Thanks for keeping us updated, Michael. This issue has gotten a fairly mixed reception. I think part of the problem is that the creative team has witheld the answers to this type of mystery for so long, with no defensible reason (other than they haven’t worked the answers out themselves yet, which the assistant editor admitted), that now that we’re getting the answers, no one still cares.
Where else would she have him? And he’s not a villian anymore and hasn’t been one in a long time.
Nice review
I agree about the unlikeliness of keeping a MOLTEN Man inside your house close to your child
I need to see where they go with this story, because Harry’s resurrection just seemed to be a normal part of conversation and anti-climatic