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AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #642
“Origin of the Species, Part 1”
Writer: Mark Waid
Penciler: Paul Azaceta
Inker: Paul Azaceta
Colorist: Javier Rodriguez
“Spidey Sundays”
Writer: Stan Lee
Penciler: Marcos Martin
Inker: Marcos Martin
Colorist: Muntsa Vicente
Cover Art: Marco Djurdjevic
Variant Cover: John Romita Sr. and Marcos Martin
New York Comic-Con Variant: John Romita Jr., John Romita Sr., and Dean White
Be warned – there are SPOILERS ahead!
The Plot
Doctor Octopus enlists the aid of the supervillian community to seize Lily Hollister’s yet-to-be-born baby. Michele Gonzales is up to more wacky shenanigans. Peter, Carlie, Mary Jane, and Harry have an awkward coffee conversation. Lily bursts in, but is attacked by Doctor Octopus. Spider-Man intervenes, but Doc Ock is victorious and delivers the baby.
The Good
I had to reach pretty far into the ol’ colon to pull this one out, but there is actually something good about this comic. The covers are great! I couldn’t find the Romita Sr. cover to ogle, since shop owners love to price gouge on variants, and the Romita Jr. cover is a Comic-Con exclusive, but you really can’t go wrong either way – these are some beautiful covers.
The Bad
Unfortunately, everything between the front and back covers is abysmal.
Let’s begin with the most obvious problem with the issue: the plot. Waid leaves most of the details vague to create a sense of mystery, and while that does succeed in making the reader question what exactly is going on, it also creates a motivational problem for all the characters involved. Specifically, I wondered why some of the supervillains shown would play second banana to Doctor Octopus at all. Why would Mister Negative go along with this? Since when is the Molten Man evil again, let alone out and about as an active character? In a way, these are all throwaways – after all, as we saw in early previews, the Lizard was originally present, only to be scrubbed out and replaced by Vermin when the fans called bullshit – but the vague, handwave explanations provided by Ock’s promises aren’t satisfying enough to ignore the problem.
Another big problem with the plot is that the characters of Lily and Harry seem to enhabit a very vague space here. They haven’t been important players in the ongoing story since “American Son,” which ended over forty issues ago. Since that time, Norman has been exposed, beaten, and jailed. The Shocker makes a vague allusion to the fact that she’s broken out of “captivity,” but otherwise we get no clue about what she has been up to all this time, where, etc. Harry is similarly mystified, because he also says that she hasn’t been seen. While it is true that Harry was the main character in the recently-completed Amazing Spider-Man Presents: American Son miniseries (which I refused to read because I think that Brian “I Got A Job In Comics Because I’m Friends With Bendis” Reed is a terrible writer), this issue doesn’t even allude to it in an editor’s note, so I can only assume that whatever occurred in the mini is unimportant to this arc.
Unfortunately, while the fundamental foundation of the story is flawed, the other tapestries of the issue are just as horribly constructed. The scenes with Michele and Mary Jane are the two biggest culprits in that regard. In the former, Michele is holding a sale of Peter’s clothes to cover his portion of the rent. There are so many problems with this that it hurts to even think about it …
(1) Michele is a lawyer. In the last few months, she’s punched Peter in the face, held a shotgun to him, and is now selling his clothes without permission. Not only is this unreasonable, insane behavior, but all of these things are criminal and could lead to her being disbarred.
(2) Why is Peter still living with her? He could live at his Aunt May’s home, he could crash with Harry, or with Betty, or with many of the other half-dozen or so close friends that seem perfectly willing to help him out.
(3) Peter has been working regularly since he was a teenager. He easily qualifies for unemployment and should not be this poor. The fact that he refused to accept it back in the Rhino story is even more asinine.
Peter is acting like a complete schmuck, as he has from the very beginning of Brand New Day, just to satisfy some preconceived goal that defies all reasonable logic. As for the Mary Jane scene, we once again have a character spitting out the “Carlie is great!” company line that readers have long been irritated by. Mary Jane is only saying these words because the writers need to desperately convince us that Peter and Carlie should be together.
The chase and “birth” scene is disgusting, illogical, and downright obnoxious. The Shocker uses his powers like Electro. Spider-Man refers to Tombstone like an inept goon, even though he is anything but. Spider-Man is made to look like a chump again. Ock forcibly rips out the baby, snaps the umbilical cord, and holds the baby in a way that would mean instant death (not supporting its still-fragile spine correctly). It’s all just so wrong.
The Ugly
However, nothing about this issue is as wrong as the art. Just … the art. My God.
Look at how fat Spidey is!
I simply don’t have the room to post everything that makes my eyes bleed here. Here’s a quick anecdote to illustrate the point. Friend and site contributor Bertone called me last night to talk about this issue, and we went on for at least ten minutes, going page-by-page, making fun of how crappy the art is. We could find something wrong with nearly every panel, from the fact that Spider-Man seems to have gained 50 pounds since his last appearance, the fact that Betty Brant looks like Michele Gonzales with lighter skin, the fact that Harry Osborn sometimes looks like Dexter Bennett with the Osborn cornrows, the fact that Mary Jane looks like a Ukranian prostitute, the clumsy fight choreography, and the number of “What the hell is happening here?” moments. But nothing, nothing, is worse than Azaceta’s terrible rendering of Carlie Cooper. Unfortunately, since we live in a world with far too much political correctness and sanctimonious declarations of what is offensive and what isn’t (despite the fact that I am part of the group that would supposedly be offended), I can’t tell you what I really thought about this rendition.
The Bottom Line
I hate this issue with a fiery passion, like a mouthful of Atomic Fireballs and Hot Tomales with no water in sight. 0 out of 5 webheads.
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I for one and sick of Paul Az… working on ASM. Lilly flying in on the glider brought the preggo count to two from what I saw. Good lord what happened to Spidey? Did Homer Simpson take over for him in this issue? The art is so sloppy, get someone else on this book STAT!
I agree, the art was atrocious throughout the issue, and the story was quite a headscratcher and very rushed.
One thing I did like though: I never thought I’d see a pregnant woman ride a goblin glider. That was pretty cool.
Wow. Spidey does look fat and completely out of proportion in that panel. And what is with that MJ? IS that MJ? Sure doesn’t look like her. That chick is ugly.
That Romita Sr. cover is pretty good, and I love Marco Djurdjevic’s cover art, although that is clearly from that Spider-man poster he did not too long ago. He’s done wonders with this kind of stuff for the Avengers and the X-Men as well.
See full image here: http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/307/spidermanroguesgallery.jpg
I was really not too satisfied with this issue.
I think that BND really lost it around issue 600 or more simply since Slott stopped writing the book regularly. Even if if I’m still behind with the series (I haven’t read the Kraven story and OMIT), I really see the difference between the Slott issues which a/ make sense most of the time, b/ develop the characters. Strangely the Waid issues are possibily the poorest… This issue seems to prove that point once more. Looking forward to post BND Spidey and hopefully one day a post Quesada / OMD-OMIT Spidey too.
When I first saw that caption of MJ I thought:what the hell?! That´s not MJ! And that scene where dock ock snapped the umbilical cord was just disturbing. It looked like he killed someone for cryin out loud!! This has to be the worst drawn ASM issue ever.It´s quite sad when you think about it.
I’ve been wondering how long Marvel is going to keep the BND era around. They claim it’s ending but it ain’t dead until the marriage is back. After so much backlash and sales drops why are they in their right minds deciding to print this bullshit? If your trying to sell the BND era to us Marvel your suppose to provide well written, well drawn, not the complete opposite. But alas Marvel is failing to revive a dying abomination. Do us a favor and let it take it’s last breath.
As for the review, I disagree on a couple points:
1. I’m guessing you have never been unemployed. Waiting in line to sign up for unemployment is one of the most embarassing and humiliating moments of my life, and I was unemployed due to no fault of my own. I avoided getting unemployment for as long as I could. Asking other people to crash with them or asking for handouts is a pride killer and very embarassing. What they are having Peter do is actually DEAD ON with how I lived during that period of my life and how all of my coworkers who lost their jobs did as well (and sadly some are still doing). Also, this isn’t really anything new, Peter has never liked to take handouts and has tried to avoid relying on Harry or others for monetary support, if anything, you could complain that this just rehashes past Spider-man stories.
2. I don’t believe Ock forcibly pulls the baby out, I’m guessin it was born and then he grabs it (she was far along into labor). Suggesting he pulls the baby out with his mechanical arms seems illogical and would more than likely result in the death of the baby. I did think that scene with him cutting the umbilical cord was a little much though, I could have done without that.
I am, however, with you on the art. The art was just terrible. That is all I care to say about it. I actually liked the story though, other than a few things you mentioned (Tombstone, Mr. Negative, and Carlie things), it wasnt’ perfect, but it was much better than OMIT and I think it is setting up what could be a good story.
I agree. This does look horrible. Why would Peter live with a sociopath woman as her? Ever since BND it’s had sucky plot lines. I think Peter should wake up from a coma and realize the whole deal with his Aunt getting shot and Mephisto is a big long nightmare. That’s the only way I think they will ever make good on it. And making spidey a Totem-power person is a cop-out. Come on? Keep it radioactive, or genetic.
Eh. I saw a page where Ock told her to shut up. How about Ock go into labor and see how quiet he would be. You’re right, he was obnoxious. And why does the lady have horns? She’s a goblin, yeah, true but come on, she looks a sheep from science fiction movie. Atleast paint her face green like she took the Goblin Enhancer thing. Couldn’t Ock just steal some cloned Spider-man stem cells instead of this baby to ‘cure’ him?
Gerard –
Just wanted to say to say that I really enjoy your reviews and that I really hope you can continue to review this title.
Thank you Marvel. At last I can say I’ve seen Doctor Octopus perform a vaginal birth. They get an added point for showing him snipping the umbilical cord with his tentacle.
+1 OMD/BND writers.
It’s more Charlie Brown than Peter Parker (just look at that pullover) – a full on spider-stinker. I had a peep in the comic shop, and the ol’ spider-sense told me the ish’ was gonna be a howler. The story was dreary and downright stupid in places (the undiscovered spidey suit!), but the artwork is A.W.F.U.L – Peter looks different in every panel, with a touch of Barack Obama in some shots or fat then thin (check out his padding when selling the camera).
How did it get past quality control: And there’s five more issues of this fan art gone bad to come. Unreal!
Ugh. “Electric” = Electro. Oops.
I’m really shocked at how poor Paul Azaceta’s artwork is here. I know some people have their disagreements about him, but I think his artwork in the electric issue was pretty cool.
I’d like to see him on something like Daredevil instead of Spider-man though.
You didn’t even mention how Carlie is very “present”. Was that a misspelling? Did MJ mean pleasant or was it her way of saying Carlie is into current thing
Thanks for making my ego grow from being name-dropped two reviews in a row.
Who is this Gerald you speak of Extreme Spider?
That Art… Man That Art. Please Don’t Tell Me In The Scene Where Spidey Is Saying “Tell Me She Isn’t Giving Birth! Tell ME She Isn’t Giving Birth In Menace-Form!!
On The Plus Side Nice Review Gerald Hope To See You Sticking Around… Get It? I Said Sticking Cause It’s A Spider-Man Site And Spidey Sticks To Wall…. I’ll Just Stop Talking Now…
I don´t buy this crap anymore. I just download it from megaupload…and I still think that reading this crap for free is still expensive…
Well he does have a point. That drawing of Carlie looks pretty awful.
I can’t believe how fat Spider-Man is in this. Where’s the freaking editor? And didn’t Peter and Michelle bury the hatchet? And MJ says “She know’s there’s more to life than just herself.”, it’s called being an adult. They aren’t in high school anymore.
I’ve not read it (I’m taking a break from Modern Comics after OMIT) but the Azteca art just looks awful.
I like John Romita’s cover
I like John Romita’s cover
I normally like Paul Azaceta’s artwork… but this… was … not his best work.
In Soviet Union, prostitute does not accept money as it is a tool of the bourgeoisie ruling class to keep the means of production out of the hands of the Proletariat.