AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #629
“With Great Power …”
Writer: Roger Stern
Penciler: Lee Weeks
Inker: Lee Weeks
Colorist: Dean White (with Matt Hollingsworth)
“Shed: Prologue”
Writer: Zeb Wells
Penciler: Chris Bachalo
Inker: Chris Bachalo
Colorist: Chris Bachalo
Cover Art: Lee Weeks & Dean White
Be warned – there are SPOILERS ahead!
It’s the earth-shattering conclusion! Literally!
The Plot
Continuing directly from last issue …
As earthquakes continue to rock New York, Spider-Man and the Juggernaut confront Captain Universe. After an explanation of his origin, the Enigma Force transfers to a new host to deal with the fault problem.
The Good
Lee Weeks hits the trifecta, turning in a third straight gorgeous issue. This issue, he has to draw surrealistic mindscapes, flashbacks, and underground fault lines, and it never feels forced. There is a grittiness to his work that is perfect for this kind of story. His inks are also to be commended here – they’re fluid for the indoor scenes and just rough and jagged enough in the action scenes to convey a sense of power. This might be my favorite take on Juggernaut.
While I have a lot of problems with the pacing (see The Bad), Roger Stern does a good job of tying this story into his classic “Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut!” He ties the origin of Captain Universe into that original story by placing him in the Financial District, which Juggernaut plowed through in The Amazing Spider-Man #229. We also get an explanation of how Juggernaut freed himself from being buried in concrete, which to my knowledge has never previously been explained. (He was buried by Spider-Man in The Amazing Spider-Man #230, and his next appearance was in Uncanny X-Men #183, two years later. And how’s this for symmetry – both of those issues were drawn by John Romita Jr.!) Stern also writes more quick and jabbing Spidey quips, which is how I like it. While I wonder about his placement in this story, there’s no denying that this is the Spider-Man we know and love.
There’s even a little call-out for people with sharp eyes and memories: the construction site in which the action takes place is being overseen by Atimor Demolition. Back in The Amazing Spider-Man #230, the construction site that serves as the battleground for the climax is overseen by Atimor Construction. That’s a nice touch. (Atimor, of course, is “Romita” backwards.)
Oh yeah, and seeing Juggernaut as Captain Universe is just really damn cool.
The Bad
I touched on it a bit in my last review, but the fit really hits the shan this issue in terms of pacing. The entire first half of the issue is a bunch of exposition. While I appreciate the detailed explanation of the origin and of the source of the earthquakes, and despite Weeks making the exposition interesting to look at, it’s just far too much. It brings the entire story, viewed as a whole, to a screeching halt. It’s also a pet peeve of mine – I hate talking heads, and this story brings that to a literal degree that I could have done without.
But there’s a bigger problem: Spider-Man’s role in the story. For the most part, he’s just standing around like a dope while Captain Universe and the Juggernaut are the main focus. This speaks to a larger problem with the plot, which is that it evolves into a story that Spider-Man doesn’t belong in. Spidey is, at his core, a street-level hero. He beats up dudes with mechanical arms and stops purse-snatchers, and he does it while trying to make sense out of his daily life. It’s a premise that’s beautiful in its simplicity. As anybody who listens to Clone Saga Chronicles knows (Yes, I worked in a plug for a podcast I’m on … you want to make something out of it?), I don’t like Spider-Man stories to have an overtly supernatural element to them. This is one of those stories. It’s all fine and good to have Spider-Man duke it out with people that have power levels beyond his – after all, “Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut!” is one of those kinds of stories – but once it turns into a “somebody needs to use the Enigma Force to repair damage to the underlying groundwork beneath Manhattan” story, it’s out of control.
I should also mention the backup. There, I mentioned it.
The Ug–
What, you want me to discuss the backup? Why?
It’s so short (4 pages) and insignificant that it doesn’t warrant much discussion. It doesn’t even boost the cover price. I can’t bring myself to put “not jacking up the price” into the plus column, but I guess that’s … something. By the way, has there even been a character running a research lab that ISN’T a jerkass? That would be a nice change of pace at some point.
**AHEM** As I was saying …
The Ugly
Here’s a quote from Captain Universe Juggernaut, while he’s repairing the faults beneath Manhattan: “These jagged surfaces … I … I caused this … all those months ago.”
MONTHS?! Are they for real? Are they trying to tell me that the span between The Amazing Spider-Man #230 and now, which is nearly 400 issues and around 28 years in real time, is only “months” in Marvel time?! I think we might be going a little far with the whole de-aging thing …
Come to think of it, that entire fault line subplot is pretty preposterous when you consider how long ago Juggernaut caused that damage.
The Bottom Line
This was a lackluster conclusion to what had been a pretty good Spider-Man story. The art holds this up above sea level, but at the end of the day it’s a big disappointment. 2.5 out of 5 webheads.
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Gerard,
As a co-director of a research lab, I would love to see someone in my field portrayed as anything other than a jerk.
Oh and congrats Wilson for getting your letter printed and getting a response from Stan Lee. Must be cool heh! ^_^
Months. LOL! High five Sano for not reading BND anymore. HIGH FIVE. Spectacular Spider-Girl, Spider-Man Fever and Astonishing Spider-Man / Wolverine next week. That’s what I’m typin’ ’bout! BND is a train wreck.
I noticed the “months” statement too….that is simply a case of the writers not doing THAT little bit of homework! And, in the usual Marvel style, a somewhat good storyline came to a very mediocre conclusion.
@Andrew: D’oh! What a dumb mistake! I’ll fix that.
@Javi: A previously-unseen dude named William Nguyen had the Enigma Force. Basically, he was a bystander in one of the buildings Juggernaut smashed through in Amazing Spider-Man #229. So yeah, they pulled an Eddie Brock. 😉
@Jon: As soon as I saw that, I recognized the name. And the Stan Lee reply must have been your geekgasm of the month!
@Mark: At this point, I’m going with the “it was a dumb mistake” explanation, quickly followed by the “Mephisto done messed everything up” explanation. 😛
Hmm… maybe Mephisto decided to move the original Juggernaut fight a few years later when it messed with the timeline?
(Yeah, I’m grasping at straws…)
But you know what makes this issue teh awsum? MY LETTER GOT PUBLISHED!!! Along with a reply from Stan Lee!!
I figured that something happened a couple months back in some other Juggernaut story that I did not know about.
so who had the enigma force before it moved to the Juggernaught?
Actually that’s 28 years, not 18. Which makes it that much worse. Three damn decades.
@Mark: Well, like I mentioned in the review, he appeared in Uncanny X-Men #183 about two years after he was stopped by Spidey. Since then, he’s been pretty active. Wikipedia lists dozens of appearances.
Spidey would have been about 24 back around 229 (second year grad student). “Years ago” would have been appropriate, but likely to cause other people to complain and moan.
The other thing is, what has Juggy been doing since then? I haven’t read up on the Avengers avatar story, but if he spent any time in an alternate dimension (where time flows differently), Marko may not be certain how long ago that was. 🙂
@Thrawn: I wish I could claim to have invented that bit, but it’s from a Toby Keith song. 😀
@WebbedSentry: That’s a real wallbanger. We can only assume it was a mistake, because it makes absolutely no sense.
Wait months?!?!?!?! So if we go with Tom Breevorts formspring of Spidey being in his late 20s, then he must be freaking old then when the ‘Cant Stop the Jauggernaut’ origionaly happened.
But thanks for the review, it was great 😀
“but the fit really hits the shan this issue in terms of pacing”
I like that Gerard. I may have to steal that in the future.
Good review. As seems to be turning into the case the last few weeks. Keep it up.