AMAZING SPIDER-MAN # 655
- Writer: Dan Slott
- Penciler: Marcos Martin
- Inker: Marcos Martin
- Story Title: “No One Dies” Part 1 of 2: Awakening
Good news, folks! Spider-Man is actually in this issue beyond seeing Peter for a panel and Spider-Man for two pages of previews. So how was it? Read on and find out!
Plot
A funeral. A solemn vow. A hostage situation. No one dies.
The Commentary
Fair warning; I’m going to be fairly critical of this issue. That does not mean that I didn’t like it or that it wasn’t a good read or that the writing or art wasn’t strong or that it didn’t pull at the heart strings. My problems with the issue fall into the, “I started thinking about it,” category. So let’s start with the good and go from there.
The first ten pages of this issue were fantastic. Slott made the right decision by not putting any dialogue into the funeral scene which, to me, gave it a lot of power. I liked how they transitioned from Jonah to Peter by having Jonah begin shaving on one page and Peter putting the razor down on the next page. I am kind of puzzled why Peter is wearing the Spider-Man suit under his clothes and was about to make the joke that he might be expecting trouble at the funeral but to my mind Peter wore the suit so that both he and Spider-Man could be there since Spider-Man was there when Marla died. Seeing the various reactions of the supporting cast was great too and gave me the sense that this death had a lot of impact with everyone that knew Jonah. More than anything I liked seeing Jonah Senior reach out to his son and then seeing Jonah Junior reach back in the small way that he did. On that same page you see Jonah Senior, May, Carlie and Peter sitting together but Peter was still seen as being alone with the break in the panel.
In other words Marcos Martin rocked on with his socks on in this issue.
Things got trippier after that with Peter’s dream sequence. Marcos Martin continued to shine through this portion of the issue but here is where the story started to go off the rails for me. Not completely off the rails. This wasn’t a train wreck by any means and Slott did his best to show what Peter’s sub-conscious was making of Marla’s death and in certain instances, such as Marla telling Peter that since she isn’t a super-villain she must really be dead or the creepy image of Gwen with a broken neck, the dream sequence worked quite well. I was also impressed by the sequence where Peter is beating the Burglar to death and suddenly he looks down and there is Uncle Ben. It illustrated (literally) the point that if Peter gives into his anger and becomes a killer than he betrays all that Uncle Ben taught him. I liked that quite a bit.
There were other elements of this end of the issue that kind of bugged me. The first was seeing Uncle Ben. Yeah, I know. I just praised a scene with Uncle Ben and now I am complaining but I have my reasons. While it makes perfect sense that Peter would think of Uncle Ben at a time like this I also think that pulling the Uncle Ben card has become a cliché at this point. Peter feels bad about something let’s drag out Uncle Ben to hammer home that point. I guess I would like to see something different. Also I was confused by the whole, “Peter has only killed once” thing. I am by no means an expert on Spider-Man (though I am working on that) but I could have sworn he has killed before. Not in a bloodthirsty way but I seem to remember him being involved in the deaths of one or two other people. Third, was Marla really that big a part of everyone’s life? I mean I know she was Jonah’s wife and those that were close to him would be sad but this death is being treated like Aunt May died. Sure it was a dramatic moment but during Brand New Day Marla was played up as the long suffering wife and I really didn’t care for her all that much. I am not suggesting that because I didn’t have an affinity for the character that everyone should feel the same way but at the same time this smacks of a writer making a mountain out of a molehill for the sake of the story.
Parting Thoughts
Other than that I enjoyed this issue. While it feels like Slott is retreading some older material with Peter swearing that whenever he’s around, wherever he is no one dies it is as good an idea as any to hang the next few story arcs around. I dug the last two pages but at the same time I am also kind of worried that this new villain is going to end up being like a lot of other new Spider-Man villains; dull and kind of pointless. Time and the next issue will tell. On the whole I’ve enjoyed what Slott has been producing since the beginning of Big Time so I am feeling fairly positive about the title at the moment.
4 out of 5 webheads.
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Yea peter has killed before it happen in spider-man vs wolverine, though it wasnt on purpose though
this was a shit issue, but the next one looks promising
I liked it.
this issue was mediocre at best. This idea has been done many times before, and in much better ways.
I’m with you crutch!
I was surprised that the death of the Hornet at Wolverine’s claws got a nod.
I’ll never forgive Mark Millar for that one.
i hated the artwork. everyone else seems to like it. oh well….
Sir Jig-a-Lot, I have read the first ESSENTIAL SPIDER-MAN and enjoyed it quite a bit. I’ve also read the famous “non-code” issues and random issues here and there. So at some point I will read them all.
Thanks, two-bit. I either overlooked that on her wiki page or its just left off for some reason.
Nice Review.
Personally I think it’s the best issue of Spidey in years!!
Loved all the old callbacks. From Charlie,Scourge,Nathen,Lance,Ned,Etc,Etc,Etc……….
Spider-man Vs Wolverine was one of my favorite comics as a kid. And the Aftershocks of what happened in the issue was only addressed a couple of times, and mostly dealt with Ned Leeds as the Hobgoblin.
The ending of that issue with Mary-Jane was a very powerful scene.
Nice to see a callback to Peter still haunted by Charlie’s death.
I think the ending was only a reaffirmation of Spidey and his war on crime.
Nowhere did I get the idea that Spidey was going to start killing people to protect the innocent. That’s just not Peter.
There was one thing I was confused about. Hopefully someone here can explain it.
The ghosts seemed to be encouraging Peter to kill inorder to save innocent lives.
Then Uncle Ben made clear that if Peter kills on purpose he will no longer be honoring Uncle Ben’s memeory.
So when Peter vows that no one will die because of him, is he declaring he’ll kill to save innocents, or that no one, even the bad guys, will die…isn’t that what he does anyway.
I really like the Mysterio arc from last year, and that arc made it clear Peter doesn’t have it in him to be a killer. When he thought he’d killed that thug he broke down.
Which still leaves me to wonder whether those issues still count as Slott admitted on last week’s WordBalloon ep that anything pre-OMD is officially ”old continuity” now.
Mike – In regards to your question about Marla, There were quite a few stories where she was a major in Amazing Spider-Man & PPTSM in from the dawn of the eighties. Particularly under Roger Stern’s pen. I know you said in podcast #128 that your ASM collection started from 252 onwards. Dude you are missing out on arguably the definitive and best Spider-Man stories post the Lee/Ditko/Romita era of the sixties. I’d recommend grabbing the back issues from #’s 222-251. Also the Stan Lee plotted ASM Annual #18 which is the wedding of JJJ & Marla.
Wow. I had completely forgotten that Jackpot annual existed. Now I remember, dammit.
@Brian – There are two Jackpots. The first one, Sara E. (sorry, can’t remember) was the registered hero at first, but she decided to stop and let Alana Jobson take over. Alana died in a Spider-man Annual during BND (the one that made CrazyChris stop reviewing the title, if I’m correct). Sara is back to being Jackpot but with a new costume and new civilian I.D. (Alana Jobson).
Good review, Michael. Very fair. One thing I’d like to point out that Slott did a lot of justice with is the Captain Stacy scene. One thing that was never explored in the classic Spidey stories was how Pete let Captain Stacy down. Someone who confessed he knew Pete was Spidey and asked him to take care of Gwen.
Martin definitely brings out the best in Slott, that’s for sure. This is hands-down my favorite Spidey ish since Big Time started.
Pete initially put the suit on because, let’s face it, it’s reflex for him to put it on. He took it off because he holds Spider-Man partially responsible for her death, in that he wasn’t able to save her. He wasn’t going to allow Spider-Man to attend the funeral.
2 Thats exactly why I liked the issue as well. It seems in comics nowadays though the villain has to kill someone to be taken seriously. Ive always wondered why Peter wasnt more torn up by all the death. Its nice to know he is. This is how Peter should be portrayed.
Wow. He did leave that behind. Damn. Totally missed that.
Nice review. I found the Uncle Ben and Gwen scenes really disturbing. Totally believe that those would be nightmares Peter Parker has though.
Glad to finally see some sort of emotion finally out of Peter concerning all these deaths that have been happening. Since Brand New Day I haven’t really felt that Pete has been accepting all the losses that have been going on. Was that Jackpot in the scene with all the people that were murdered? Did she die at some point?
Great review! One thing though Peter took the Spider suit off and didnt wear it to the funeral