AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #654
“Revenge of the Spider-Slayer, Part Three: Self-Inflicted Wounds”
Plotter: Dan Slott
Scripter: Fred Van Lente
Penciler: Stefano Caselli
Inker: Stefano Caselli
Colorist: Marte Garcia
“Rebirth”
Writer: Dan Slott
Penciler: Paolo Siqueira and Ronan Cliquet de Oliveira
Inker: Paolo Siqueira, Roland Paris, and Greg Adams
Colorist: Fabio D’Auria
Cover Art: Stefano Caselli and Edgar Delgado
Be warned – there are SPOILERS ahead!
Dan Slott’s second arc as solo writer concludes here! You know, except that he isn’t the only writer. Um … ON TO THE REVIEW!
The Plot
Picking up from last issue, John Jameson arrives on the space station (with a hidden octobot in tow), but he’s stranded there due to damage to his shuttle. Max Modell confronts Peter over his connection to Spider-Man, but Max mistakenly believes that Peter is actually only supplying Spidey with equipment. Max helps Peter build a device to short out the communication of Smythe’s drones, but the device has to be detonated remotely because it could also cancel Spider-Man’s warning sense. The Avengers continue to hold off the spider-slayers at the spa and Daily Bugle offices, while Jonah and company are racing from Andru Air Force Base to Manhattan. Phil continues to be a dick and uses the confusion to trap Randy underneath a beam. Spider-Man locates Smythe’s “mothership” over the Flatiron Building, which leads to a battle with the Scorpion. Meanwhile, Marla Jameson whips up a device to screw with the slayers at the spa, while Robbie has Power Woman and Ms. Marvel take him away from the Bugle (since the slayers were after him). Scorpion damages Spider-Man’s detonator, so Spidey has to activate the device manually. The shockwave from the emitter wipes out his spider-sense, but it also takes out Smythe’s drones and leads to an easy victory over Gargan. Everyone converges together in the streets, and the day appears to be saved, but Smythe has not been affected by the device and attacks. Spider-Man is incapacitated due to his lack of spider-sense, and Smythe tries to kill Jonah. Marla lunges in the way and is killed instead. Spider-Man quickly defeats Smythe in the aftermath, while Jonah has a moment of anguish.
In the backup story, Flash Thompson is bonded to the alien symbiote for the first time and is trained in the use of his powers as the new Venom. We meet his handlers, get the basics of his “tour of duty,” and learn about the dangers of the program.
The Good
If there’s one consistent plus for this arc, it’s the artwork. Once again, Caselli does a fantastic job in the main feature. He balances the light moments and the dark moments well, giving a ton of variation across his pages. Considering the wide range of emotional states in this issue, he does a good job with the faces here. Similarly, the backup story also looks pretty solid. Though I don’t think that the styles of the two pencilers meld together particularly well, the backup still has a solid look to it that’s easy to appreciate.
Though I didn’t care for the story, I have to give Slott (and Van Lente, to a lesser extent) credit for packing the issue with movement. There are a lot of scenes and a lot of action, and it’s a fairly dense read overall. Compared to a lot of books on the stands, I can’t help but feel like Slott and Co. are making much more of an effort to pack in as much as possible. Just look at the panel count on some of these pages – it’s almost shocking to see how much they’re cramming in there.
Plus, I really appreciate that the backup story completely spilled the beans on everything that we need to know about the new Venom, because frankly I wasn’t planning on picking up that silly “point one” issue next week. (Wait … what’s that, Brad? I have to review that issue? FFFFFUUUUU–)
The Bad
I LOVED the first part of this arc, and I was really looking forward to seeing it all play out. Now that it has, I am sorely disappointed at how illogical and just plain stupid this arc ended up being.
I already bemoaned how weak and ineffective Spider-Man has become in his own series in my review of the previous issue, and this issue cranks it up to eleven (or, for Don, OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAND!!!). Max Modell helps Peter build the device and actually does most of the work. Marla Jameson saves herself at the spa by working out a device to damage the spider-slayers. Scorpion smashes the remote detonator and forces Spider-Man to activate the device manually, damaging his spider-sense. Spider-Man gets his ass handed to him by a piece of shrapnel that even I would have seen coming. All of these things, individually, would be annoying. Piling them one on top of the other makes Spider-Man seem like a blubbering idiot. Again, I have to ask the question: he is supposed to be the hero of this book, right?
The Max Modell scene made me want to scream. Honestly, I was expecting something like this to happen, but that doesn’t make it any better. The execution of it was simply maddening: Max comes to the conclusion that it’s impossible for one man to be both brilliant and super-powered, and thus Peter couldn’t be Spider-Man. That’s just plain dumb. Is it the work of the mindwipe? If that’s the case, it once again calls into question just how the goddamn mindwipe works, which after several years has still never been explained. This just sucks the drama out of the secret identity entirely, because it seems like NOBODY can ever discover his identity without being told. Additionally, Max must live a pretty sheltered life if he’s never heard of Reed Richards, Tony Stark, Hank Pym, Robert “Bruce” Banner, Victor Von Doom …
The Daily Bugle sequences made me want to pull my hair out. First of all, Phil is the most suspicious motherf***er on the planet. He constantly shows up with high-quality video of all sorts of stuff he shouldn’t, he’s always making evil-looking scowling faces, and the dude just seems like he’s always up to something. Yet, nobody ever suspects that something is wrong. But that’s a minor point compared to what happens with Robbie and Randy. Randy is pinned under a column and can’t move his legs, and Robbie has an epiphany that the slayers are after him. He goes to Power Woman and Ms. Marvel and tells them to whisk him away from the building, which they do immediately. So … what happened to Randy? It was clearly established that he was stuck pretty solidly. Why didn’t Robbie tell Ms. Marvel (who wasn’t doing anything, since Power Woman could carry Robbie by herself) to lift the column off of Randy? In fact, we don’t see or hear anything about Randy for the rest of the issue.
Speaking of Ms. Marvel, WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THIS PANEL?!
Of course, none of this nonsense can top …
The Ugly
… the complete clusterf*** that is the finale.
Spider-Man arrives at the scene with all the major players already gathered. Smythe’s ship explodes several feet away as Smythe jumps through the hull, sending a SINGLE PIECE OF SHRAPNEL flying that, of course, hits Spider-Man squarely in the forehead and concusses him. It’s not an immediate concussion, mind you – it’s the “only hurts the hero at the precise moment he needs to be active” kind of concussion that affects neither his ability to give some expository dialogue (which he does, immediately after getting hit) nor his ability to leap into action moments after somebody gets killed (which he also does). Really, Spider-Man is only incapacitated for the brief moments it takes for Marla to meet her fate. This is dumber than a bag of doorknobs, but I guess it was necessary to lead into the dramatic, major death:
Oh right, nevermind. They only killed off a very minor character that nobody gives a damn about.
Seriously … MARLA JAMESON? The absolute, number one reason that this issue – and the arc as a whole, really – fails is that we as readers have no emotional investment in this scene whatsoever, because the character that is killed barely registers on the radar. The entire arc builds to this one scene, and it completely and utterly fails on a dramatic level. Of all the characters that they could have killed off to create some kind of lasting ripple, they picked one that has barely appeared at all outside of her initial stories, save for her overly played-up appearances in the last few issues.
I’m not saying that it’s impossible to have a character that is only around briefly be killed off with a major emotional impact. Uncle Ben only appears briefly before he’s murdered in Amazing Fantasy #15, and it’s one of the most lasting deaths in comics. Look at a movie like The Lion King. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when Mufasa fell to his typically sanitized Disney death. We cared because we connected to the character in the brief time that he was present in the story. My favorite part of the movie Iron Man is when Tony comes across the dying Dr. Yinsen. The character was barely in the movie, yet his death carried a lot of emotional impact because of how well the character was written and especially because of the strong, sensitive performance by Shaun Toub as Yinsen. I can even admit that I cried in the theater when Uncle Ben died in the first Spider-Man film, even though (as a fan of the comics) I knew it was coming. This issue? I AIN’T SHEDDING A TEAR OVER THIS BULLSHIT.
The Bottom Line
Slott completely wasted the interesting premise and strong opening chapter with this crappy installment – by far the worst issue of his run to date. 1 out of 5 webheads.
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“Georgie- I know…they hilarious on how “right wing” (if you will) they are.”
Not everyone shares you lovely views of the book.
#46
You still read Spider-man.
Just a question guys. I read the issues 2-3 times now and i never seen that the effect of the dampener were permanents. So, they might just bring back the spider-sense back next issue can’t they ?
Georgie- I know…they hilarious on how “right wing” (if you will) they are. That kid cracks me up and not mention I love visiting the crawl space!!! So why NOT read it? Right? I at least read a paragraph out of your “editorials”. I like to spread the love.
“Every time I read his reviews it’s honestly to laugh about how one sided he is.”
And still you read them so he must be doing something right.
@44
He gave some positive reviews at the begining of Big Time as well, not as high a 4.5 but noted he felt optimistic at the begining of the arc. Yes he still had some criticisms in those but no review should be without some critisicms unless the story is the greatest thing since watchmen and even that story has flaws.
Just because he gave the book a 4.5 once in the last I don’t know year doesn’t really change some peoples opinions that this guy finds ways to hate on everything about the book. Every time I read his reviews it’s honestly to laugh about how one sided he is.
So I guess when he actually DOES *GASP* like something from AMAZING Spider-Man…it should be worth noting. I guess.
“Can someone who actually likes ASM review this book? This guy is crazy.”
He recently gave one of the issues a 4.5. Funny how no one ever focuses on those… just the negative ones.
@41 Two-Bit Specialist–Which is perfectly okay if it still worked for you. And besides, its hopefully going to be interesting seeing how Peter copes with not having one of his more signature–if not inconsistently depicted–powers, since this puts him at a huge disadvantage when fighting bad guys since it was so tied into his agility, reflexes, speed, and overall fighting skills.
@stillanerd – Obvious to everyone except me, apparently.
@#26 Madgoblin–My thoughts exactly! And aside for raising those questions about the blindspot, the Peter/Max Modell scene is also incredibly flawed because it also sets-up Max to be the equivalent of Spidey’s version of Q from the James Bond films or Lucius Fox from Batman, in that now Spidey has a tech-savvy ally to help him build his gadgets and weapons. Granted, he’s partnered with scientists before, like Dr. Connors, Reed, Tony Stark, etc., but considering how Max is Peter’s boss and is apparently exempting Peter from Horizon’s “no weapons” policy, it makes Peter’s already all-too convenient job even more so. Furthermore, it’s this scene in particular is what utterly ruins the other “shocking twist” of Spidey “permanently” losing his spider-sense. Considering how heavy-handed the dialogue and look on Max’s face while he said it, it was all too obvious what was going to happen.
@38
Ah but thats thing Whistler everyone has different tastes and different things they like and don’t like. What you think is one of the best stories since the post clone saga stories another person might think is amongst the worst stories since whenever their previouse most hated period was.
All in all a reviewer is someone whose giving their opion on if they think the story was good or bad, their reasons why and hoping that atleast some people will find their review helpful. You should never go into a review simply expecting you’ll agree with it, nor should you jump to the conclusion that the guy reviewing it hates asm altogether simpy because he hated an issue you liked(espicially when he loved the begining issue of the arc) its simply opinion at the end of the day, nothing more nothing less.
Calling someone crazy is considered an attack around here? My bad I guess, tbh, at first I thought the above review was a joke,but then realised that the reviewer was being dead serious, which as i said, I thought was crazy, cos this issue of ASM kicked ass! Probone of the best issue’s of ASM since the post clone saga stories in the late 90’s, IMO.
“I don’t know if it was Slott writing it or FVL writing it or whatever, but they hit a note-perfect pitch with the dialog between Spidey and Jonah. ”
I think ( and someone correct me if i’m wrong) FVL is doing the scripting and Dan Slott is doing the plots.
“I love it, have a go at my opinion”
“I love it, have a go at my opinion then “whatever” at me as if you don’t really care”
I actually don’t care. I find it funny that you get so upset over a review that you feel the need to attack the reviewer over it.
But hey, if you think that’s priceless….
I have to disagree, I thought it was a really solid issue to the end of another fun story arc. The artwork is consistently great, the dialog is fun and in-character, the pacing is on-point, and it has a really well done ending. As for your complaints:
-Yes, Spider-Man is still the hero. Who took out Scorpion? Who took out Symthe? Who sacrificed his well-being and powers to save lives across NYC by forcefully activating the sensor? That’s right, SPIDER-MAN. As for the shrapnel, that shit look pretty darn fast. After years of easily dodging attacks, I don’t think its out of the ordinary for Spidey to get smacked across the head. It’s something he’s gonna have to get used to.
-I agree about the Max Modell scene. A lot of heavy-handed foreshadowing and bringing more attention to the clusterfuck that was OMD/OMIT. Weakest scene in the issue.
-Randy got really suspicious with Phil last issue. In the middle of a giant attack by superpowerd bugs, its kinda odd to start throwing around suspicions anyway, dontcha think? Eventually, Phil and Randy are going to have it out, or he’ll be exposed, or something. I like where this sub-plot is going, and I love the half Goblin-face that shows up when he does his Evil Peter Parker thing. As for Robbie and Randy, Robbie was pulled out of the building immediately. Suddenly flying through the air at high speeds being chased by an army of killer cybernetic ants kinda makes you forget things. I’m sure he’s fine though.
-Superheroes being conveniently unable to do anything until he actually CAN for dramatic effect its just one of those superhero tropes you just gotta roll with. It’s old as time itself, and there’s examples of it in pretty much all your favorite Spidey runs. As for Marla, I don’t really care about her. She’s isn’t anyone’s favorite supporting cast member. When she died, I was shocked by not initially saddened or hurt. But the last page really sold it for me. I don’t know if it was Slott writing it or FVL writing it or whatever, but they hit a note-perfect pitch with the dialog between Spidey and Jonah. I feel like this could be the start of a major change in one of comic book’s greatest supporting cast members, and coupled with the change in Spider-man’s power set, I’m anxious to get the next issue in my hands(plus, Marcos Martin artwork! Thank you, Spidey editors for consistently great artists).
This was my favorite issue so far of this run. I absolutely loved it. And I can’t wait to see what happens now that Spidey lost his Spider Sense!
I love it, have a go at my opinion then “whatever” at me as if you don’t really care, this of course after accusing me of having an agenda. Priceless.
Lets table the ‘Agenda’ stuff folks.
Whistler, please don’t attack Gerard.
“You’re funny. @ 29: Careful, some may accuse you of having an agenda”
Considering the fact that you’re throwing a fit over a review, you’re the one with the agenda.
Whatever…..
@28: You’re funny. @ 29: Careful, some may accuse you of having an agenda 🙂
1 out of 5 is ridiculously low
“You do???? I’m shocked.”
You sound like you have an agenda.
You do???? I’m shocked.
#19 – on the matter of the mind wipe – it isn’t so much that Max came to an absurd conclusion because that was indeed Slott’s explanation (in the FF team-up story back in the 590’s) – however, in recent issues (written by Slott as well) Peter is worried about Carlie and Max figuring out his secret identity. If the mindwipe still works – then why is Peter worried if they only way they will dope it out is if he unmasks in front of them? Is the mindwipe still working or not? Since we’re talking about the same author for all of these stories referenced, then there needs to be a definitive explanation.
@#21 Go read the CBR review, they like ASM there no matter what. Personally, I agree with this review.
@Fred: GOOD?! I gave issue 652 a 4.5 out of 5 and recommended it to everyone that had dropped the book as a great jumping-back-on point! That’s a huge promise that I now regret due to the crappiness of this issue.
Seriously, I can’t win with some of these goddamn people.
“Can someone who actually likes ASM review this book? This guy is crazy.”
You have not been reading Gerard’s reviews then, because if you have, you would have notice that he gave a good review for the first part of this storyline.
Power Woman? Isn’t that the OTHER Power Girl who lives on Earth-2????
Can someone who actually likes ASM review this book? This guy is crazy.
“I found myself wondering will he lose all of his anger towards super-powered types as Marla asked, or will he become a tyrant of a mayor put the Superhero community in the firing line in all new ways”
Here is the thing, “The Walking Dead” is a well written book that deals with strong multi-levels of characterization. Amazing Spider-Man does not deserve to be mention next to that book. its not even in the same planet of quality. Second, when a character dies in “The Walking Dead”, their are ramifications that changes the characters for the better or worse and you see that. There is also emotion and lost. In Amazing Spider-Man today, there are no such thing as ramifications or emotion or lost because they need to stay on formula to please lazy writers who can deal with characters growing up. We are not going to see a major change in Jonah, you know why? Because they need him to be a constant pain in Spider-Man’s butt and they will not change the so called formula for Jonah to change. Yes, he show some levels and change in a few issues but they will change him right back to the same old Jonah who hates Spider-Man.
When change happens in “The Walking Dead”, its real change. When change happens in Amazing Spider-Man today, its a gimmick that last a few months to get a short sales spike.
Wow I have to completely disagree with this review, I thought this issue was great. I think a lot of the things that are complained about in this review are nitpicky or wrong.
In the end, it was Spider-man being unselfish and risking his own powers and well being that saved everyone, including the Avengers…which yes, makes him a hero.
As for the whole thing with Max’s conclusion about Peter and Spider-man, that is how the mind wipe works…it was actually explained a while ago (back in the issues with the Fantastic Four) that if someone found clues their mind would automatically come to some other conclusion, which is what happened.
The Phil thing is very nitpicky….if you’re going to go this route, then Peter was pretty fishy always getting all of those photos he got and people should have known he was Spider-man when his Spider-sense went off and lines appeared above his head and half a mask appeared on his face…oh wait those are things only the reader can see, just like with Phil.
And the whole point with Robby and Randy was Robby was trying to get the Spider-slayers away from there so Randy (and the others) would be safe…I’m sure someone went and got help for Randy once it was safe for someone to actually go in there and do it.
As for Marla’s death, I disagree with you there too. Her death is going to have a huge impact on JJJ, who is a major character to this book. Just because you don’t care about a character doesn’t mean that their death won’t be important to the story (or to other readers, I’ve always liked Marla personally).
I do, however, agree with your Plot and The Good portions of the review 🙂
Without going too far into spoilers for the Walking Dead, there are character deaths in that book that shock/upset me. Even characters I don’t care about. Now the walking dead is a mature book so can do horrific death scenes, to keep Spider-man all ages character deaths almost have to be silly cliches, and noble sacrifice to avoid the attention of the holy than thou media.
Now in the Walking Dead, when a character I don’t care about dies, I am more concerned about how their death will effect a character I do like, as often they have some connection to a main character. I think this is the way to view this. Marla’s death will obviously have a big impact on JJJ. Her parting words are obviously meant to set up a new status que for Jonah. I found myself wondering will he lose all of his anger towards super-powered types as Marla asked, or will he become a tyrant of a mayor put the Superhero community in the firing line in all new ways.
As for the lose of Spider-man sense, I’m ignoring this as it will likely be forgotten in a few months anyway, and different writers use the power differently anyway. It only works when the story needs it to, and without it he still too down the Scorpian and the Spider-Slayer in a single blow.
Sooo Flash is the new Venom? huh…i’m assuming that the symbiote has given him legs…which i’m a little lukewarm on, since he lost his legs in service to our country…that was quite a cross to bear for him…now it seems like he got a get-out-jail-free card from that sacrifice…or is there some stipulation that im missing? i didn’t read the book, was Brock mentioned/considered at all by the team that created the Flash-Venom? Wont this symbiote give Flash cancer as well (eventually)?
“we as readers have no emotional investment in this scene whatsoever, because the character that is killed barely registers on the radar” – I think a lot of longtime readers will strongly disagree with that statement.
Besides the real power of a death in fiction is how it effects others. All the example you give above are quite so moving because of the effect they have on the main characters in the story – Simba, Tony Stark, Peter and aunt May. If a Mustafa dies alone in the forest does anyone care?
Did Marla look Asian to anyone else?
I’ll repeat what I said on my Twitter about Spider-Man losing his spider-sense, because it bares repeating: This won’t last long.
I wish the same could be said for the post-BND status quo.
@#12 reader – Hey, now. That’s my girl you’re talking about. 😉
Sucks that Peter lost his spider-sense, he’s almost as useless as Anya now.
@butters911, Good point. This story was hyped up and Smythe is taken down with one punch? Kinda lame.
We didnt really get a satisfying conclusion in regards to Smythe. I guess we just assume that last punch knocked him out and he was taken to jail off panel?
I agree with Gerard. In fact i would go as far as to say that i thought the book was awful. Beautiful art wrapped around a badly written story with the emotional weight of a paper bag. Dan Slott is getting worse with his story telling and the whole death of Maria was a waste of time because we really don’t have an emotional connection with her at all and the whole losing his spider sense thing only shows that Slott has no ideas left. At the very least Brand New Day had an excuse for its bad writing with the multiple writers but there is no excuse for this.
I have to say I guess I enjoyed this issue more than you did Gerard. It was pretty good in my opinion. The only error I agree on is that Phil really is a stuck up mother f***er for how he acts in this issue and especially everyone apparently forgetting about Randy. Yeah, I didn’t care at all about Marla’s death but on the plus side; for me anyway; I sense some possible character development for Jonah. I did like how Slott wrote Jonah at the end of the issue.
As for the Venom backup story, I liked it. The art was nice, the story behind what were going to see is good and I look forward to eventually seeing Spidey and Venom together. Or him face Carnage… but I’ll explain that in my review once I’ve written it. MUAHAHAHAHAHA! -AHEM- 🙂
So he STILL can’t win a fight on his own? Take the Amazing out of the title.
Ah! even better.
@Brian Bradley: I took it as a double meaning, applying to both Jonah and Spider-Man himself (since he detonates the device that wipes out his own spider-sense).
Also, I just noticed the title of the story, ‘Self-Inflicted Wounds’… obviously has some pretty deep meaning for Jonah there. Very fitting but I didn’t pick up on right away.
Interesting, I actually enjoyed this issue. I think you focus too much on who was killed instead of, who that death affects. I don’t care about Marla either way, but what her death does for Jonah as a character is going to be huge, and hopefully have lasting ramifications. I think if Spider-Man sans spidey-sense becomes a lasting issue it will make for an interesting story. That is by far his most unique and important power, and I think that piece of shrapnel hitting him in the head was pretty significant cause he has a point saying that he normally would have seen it coming, and how often do we see him get blindsided? I hope that becomes a problem, because Spider-Man with no Spider-Sense is a completely different story. He’s going to have to start relying on those inventions that Modell is going to provide him (kind of weak) and rely on his inside information from his cop girlfriend (weaker if this essentially makes him Batman).I like the story overall as a whole though, excited to see what comes up.
Good review either way, you got your point across. I was seriously just writing about the dark and light settings of the colors in my latest Ultimate review, you beat me to it.
Figures Mockingbird would be knocked out early on in the fight, and I can’t believe they’re actually calling Jessica Power Woman.
Well, it was explained in issue #591–a story by Dan Slott no less–that the ONLY WAY anyone can figure out Peter is Spider-Man is if Peter unmasks in front of someone, or if someone unmasks him. Seems like Slott thought readers would forget about his own story where the blindspot was explained.
And I agree about Marla’s death. As I said over on the message boards, Marla’s death seems to follow a similar pattern that Dan Slott did with Roderick Kingsley–bring back a character from relative obscurity just to kill that character off. The only difference being that at least Marla was still the comics (albeit barely), had enough panel time in “Big Time” long enough to have some significant character interaction (at least to help give Peter his new job), and didn’t actually go out like a chump. And good observation about how convenient it was for Spidey to loose his spider-sense and be taken out just long enough for Marla to be killed.
I, for one, am kinda sad to see Marla go. :'(