AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #583
Writer: Mark Waid
Penciler: Barry Kitson
Inker: Mark Farmer and Karl Kesel
Story Title: “Platonic”
The Plot
Betty Brant spends the better part of a week trying to find Peter a girlfriend. During that time she ponders her friendship with Peter while looking forward to the birthday party she hopes he is planning. When her birthday arrives Peter shows up at her apartment with a DVD and Chinese food, she is disappointed until Peter explains that her decision to stay at the DB and some of the stories she has written since then has upset a good number of the people she considered friends. Peter manages to cheer her up though and her birthday is saved.
The Commentary
This story could have been a disaster. It really could have. While the final product was great the basic concept seemed kind of boring.
Well, maybe boring is a bit unfair. Small, character driven stories before a big, mega-storyline are somewhat old school for me. I got used to that when I was a teenager and followed the adventures of the other iconic hero in red and blue, so I appreciate where this story fits in the grand scheme of things. Despite those feelings this story is somewhat indicative of why the weekly format of this book is flawed. While it is cool to have a new issue of Amazing Spider-Man three times a month there is very little breathing room between stories. One rolls right into the other. If issue 580 had come out one month and then 581 and 582 came out over the next two months and then 583 came out this month there would have been enough time for the reader to digest all that had happened. Instead those four issues came out within five weeks of each other and that makes me as a reader feel like the stories are getting rushed.
Outside of those feelings I did like this story. Mark Waid is one of those writers that seemed born to write the adventures of Spider-Man, mainly due to the fact that he is so good with dialogue but also because he has a great sense of character. What made this story so enjoyable is the fact that Waid broke down what makes Peter such a great character by showing him through the eyes of one of his friends. This story was written from the perspective of Betty Brant; one of Peter’s oldest supporting characters and his first girlfriend. There is something to be said of how well that first love knows you or at least how well she thinks she knows you. The glue that held this story together was Betty’s internal dialogue. Waid pulled off a neat trick of making Betty’s doubts about Peter seem valid even though we know the real reason Peter is so flaky. It’s an old trick but Waid manages to make it seem fresh and I liked the story more because of that.
The reveal of why Peter showed up alone played out nicely as well, especially the way Waid paced out the “what really happened” moments with Aunt May, Harry and Robbie. The realization on Betty’s part was the pay off of the issue. Here is the woman passing judgment, even lovingly so, on Peter and then her foibles are thrust in her face and she is forced to not only deal with them but realize at the same time that the only person that is standing by her is the very same person she has been critical of. It’s not like I was excited by this. I wasn’t thinking, “Yeah, take that, Betty!” Far from it. I just liked the twist and how Mark made this supporting character more likable as the story progressed.
There were fun little bits of business strewn throughout as well. Betty and her friend getting drunk was an amusing sequence made even funnier by the fact that her thought panels were those of someone who had had too much to drink. I liked that a lot. I also loved the fact that the guy Betty is trying to set Aunt May up with is Jonah’s father. My hope…nay my dream is to see the cover of the issue where Jonah and Peter realize that there is a chance they might be related soon. Throw in a riff on the Step Brothers poster and it’s a done deal.
Not that I will ever watch that movie, but still. Just imagine Jonah and Peter in those same poses.
Comedy. Gold.
The Final Analysis
I was impressed with this issue. I really was. I wasn’t expecting much from the cover, which is by no means a shot against John Romita because I love the man’s art, but the whole “Tribute to Dating” thing, while cute, did not fill me with oodles of hope. This is one of those cases where I love being wrong. This wasn’t an Earth shattering, reality altering tale but it was character driven, funny and touching all at once.
And it had Barry Kitson art. I love me some Barry Kitson art.
4 out of 5 webheads.
Writer: Zeb Wells
Penciler: Todd Nauck
Inker: Todd Nauck
Story Title: “Spidey Meets the President!”
The Plot
Spider-Man helps out Barak Obama on the day of his inauguration.
Commentary
I really don’t have too much to say about this story. It wasn’t bad. It had some amusing moments and was more of a shout out to President Obama than anything else, so on that level it worked. You can’t really judge something like this as if it were a standard story because it was conceived as a stunt. This isn’t Spider-Man selling out to Mephisto. This is the people at Marvel acknowledging the fact that the new President publicly admitted to being a fan of Spider-Man.
Oh, and selling a whole bunch of comics. But the acknowledgement was part of it.
The Final Analysis
A fun little story with only one hiccup in the form of one of the Secret Service guys suggesting they settle things with a game of one-on-one. Todd Nauck’s art is getting some heat online but I really liked it. Then again I have always liked Nauck’s art and he captured the fun and free spirited nature of the story. Overall a neat little story that gave this particular issue a lot more attention than it normally would have.
Oh and to the people at Marvel and by people at Marvel I mean Steve Wacker. Send a copy of the Obama cover to Brad Douglas, the webmaster for this site. He does a lot to promote Spider-Man and didn’t get one. Call it your good deed for the year.
4 out of 5 Webheads.
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I love watching heroes, it started from boring to a good tv series now. During the first few episodes, Was like, its another xmen clone. But now its thrilling, hope the new season will be out sooner.
Plus: Betty Brant, Gwen Stacy, and any other woman in Peter Parker’s life can’t measure up to or equal Mary Jane Watson. MJ is a good, cheerful, caring, positive, strong woman and is the most beautiful fictional female character in comics. She is also the most attractive red-head along Rayne from Bloodrayne, Joseph Linsner’s “Dawn”, Chastity, X-MEN’S Rogue, and Jean Grey. Out of every woman’s name I have ever heard of, Mary Jane Watson is the perfect name above any other female’s name. The One More Day and Brand New Day storylines are embarrasements to Spidey, his comics, and his true long-time devoted fans. Those comics shouldn’t be read and sold in stores. The art is totally awesome and may be some of the best in these story arcs, but it doesn’t replace what kind of characters Peter and MJ were and what the Spidey comics were before this new status quo.
It doesn’t matter to me how great Mark Waid is at dialogue and character. He is one of those untrustworthy and unworthy members of that “so-called” Spidey-braintrust team that leads Disrespectful, Unethical Joe Quesada. Joe and His team ruined Peter and MJs’ ethical morals period and broke up the most popular and unique comic marriage in Spidey’s and any other heroes’ history; neither of the team members deserve to helm any of Spidey’s stories. Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Mary Jane Watson are REALLY GOOD CHARACTERS AND DON’T MAKE DEALS WITH SATAN NO MATTER WHAT AND SHOULD NEVER DO THAT BECAUSE IT IS WRONG BY ANY STANDARDS AND MEASURES. The only stories that should be read are any of the old classic 1962-1999 Spidey comics and Ultimate Spider-Man, Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, and Spider-Girl. Marc Guggenheim said in an interview that he pitched for the One More Day storyline that Mary Jane could be raped then murdered; for him to say this is very low, inhuman, and wrong. I would never think like that whether it’s concerning reality or fantasy. Would anyone who reads my reply agree with Marc? And I wouldn’t understand why anyone would agree with him and Joe Quesada.
Action is his reward!! Yeah go Petey go.
Hurrah for the new status.
Comedy gold indeed!
poor Fred. I believe Green Lantern is a good book.
“I’ll play the optimist here and say yes.”
If you feel that way then more power to you but I’m not seeing it.
Fred: Anything is possible. Weirder things in life have happened. Is it likely? Maybe not. Is it possible? I’ll play the optimist here and say yes.
“They take it home, read it, like what they see and come back again to get more books because they got into what they read.”
Do you really think that’s going to happen? Come on….
is that really stan lee?!
Mr bailey 1st I would like to start by saying I love your podcast especially the death of superman episode. But I thought I had made my point clear but I will restate it. I normally love it when new readers come to the comic book shop infact I have promoted it and brought gaggles of my friends to comic shops and they now continue to go to those shops. But this issue of spider-man will not promote new readers its sole purpose is nothing more than jumping on Barrack Obama’s bandwagon and making a quick buck on his name. the way this comic was handled in the media also disgusts me because people who don’t know comics should talk comics just like people who are ignorant of politics shouldn’t speak politics. But I truly believe this issue will get huge numbers on spider-man but just for this one single issue. It wasn’t written to promote readership it was only written to make a buck. I cant even really be optimistic and say that this is marvel genuinely cares about the history made now that America has a African American president. Fact of the matter is if barrack obama hadn’t said spidey was his favorite superhero we wouldn’t have this issue. And look now Savage Dragon is trying to the same its like hey lets make the same kind of money. Seriously now at my local shop this alternate cover retails at $75 anyone who pays that in this economic era is deserving of pity.
I understand the point you were trying to drive to me but I just feel like this isn’t going to have the desired effect. To me this will be a very forgettable issue that suffered from lackluster art and a incredibly moronic story and they yet again have ruined the Chameleon for me.
ironspiderman1983: So new people coming into the comic shop is a bad thing? I mean I understand your frustration but let’s look at it this way; a person who normally doesn’t buy comics comes into the shop in their area and buys this issue. They take it home, read it, like what they see and come back again to get more books because they got into what they read. Or they buy the book, their son/daughter/niece/nephew reads it, likes what they see (for whatever reason) and gets into Spider-Man. It might be a long shot but it still might happen. While the mainstream press jumping on a story like usually does little for long term sales you never know. This might be the catalyst to getting new readers into the shops.
Cougars? Come on man, messing with MJ’s line borders on sacrilege.
“Nooooooooooo!!!!!!! Joey Q…. please…. stop…. please…. MJ….. WHY!!!!???”
Just so you know, I didn’t buy the Savage Dragon book either.
This book was awful and proved that BND happen in order for Peter to play the field and for the writers to live out their childhood fantasies. It was a disgrace and the Obama cover is a sad desperate attempt to try to get new readers.
One thing we must all remember. Marvel is a business first, so anything they can do to boost their profit, they can do it without seeking the approval of its fans…unfortunately.
It’s not any different than Erik Larsen having the Savage Dragon meet Obama…no matter what he says, his goal was to sell more comics, IMO.
Hey, Mike… is that pic of Obama posing in front of that Superman statue still up somewhere on the Superman Homepage?
“Oh and to the people at Marvel and by people at Marvel I mean Steve Wacker. Send a copy of the Obama cover to Brad Douglas, the webmaster for this site. He does a lot to promote Spider-Man and didn’t get one. Call it your good deed for the year.”
Hi, I’m Brad Douglas and I approve this message.
forgot one thing anyone who actually spent more than cover price on the alternate cover got ripped and wasted potential gas money. waste of paper and money
Ok ima be the bad guy here. This issue wasn’t worth the trees killed to manufacture the paper that this issue was printed on. While the main story wasn’t horrible(wasn’t great either) the back up story just drags this issue down. To me, this issue was motivated on the idea that if we jump on the obama bandwagon we can make a quick buck. Quick buck achieved cuz apparently there is a 3rd printing on the way. To be honest it made me kinda sick to see people in my comic shop who have no interest in comics whatsoever. Normally that’s something I would welcome but this time it was not the case this issue will not create readers it will not create interest in spider-man it does nothing but sell one issue out by leeching off the success of Americas first African American president. I want to be perfectly clear now that I am not a racist cuz im sure if you read up to this point you probably think im some kind of die hard republican who hates all races not the case im a Puerto Rican American with no political ties and spent my entire child hood in military communities where you intermingle with people from all races and learn to see past skin color. I just feel the motivation for this issue was wrong it was a way form marvel to make a quick buck and make Spider-Man sell better numbers even if it is for just 1 issue. AT LEAST they didn’t waste a good writer or artists talents on that back up story. Ugh imagine if they made romita jr waste his talents on such a bad back up. Sorry if im ranting but I feel like I have to vent about this issue.