Alright, it happened. You got me with this one, Slott. Spider Island ends on a note I feel good about. Despite a weak beginning, I loved this issue. I’m probably more surprised than you are!
Spider-Island Part 6: Boss Battle
Written by Dan Slott
Pencils by Humberto Ramos
Inks by Victor Olazaba & Karl Kesel
Colors by Edgar Delgado
Letters by Joe Caramanga
In my review of ASM #671, I observed in my conclusion, “Unfortunately for the good guys, [The Queen] seems to have entered Final Boss mode.” Eerily prophetic, huh? I had no idea what the next issue would be called.
But I’m happy to say that the “final boss” is not what this issue really focuses on, and that’s lead to the best issue of Spider-Island by far. It gets off to a rocky start, for sure, and a few pages in Slott had me convinced I was going to hate this, but he switched gears fast and had me hooked for the rest of the story. 672 is finally a Slott story about the aspects of Spider-Man I love: his ingenuity and determination, and the supporting characters who help keep him grounded. MJ shines in this issue like she hasn’t since the Brand New Day began, and I think anyone who, like me, really misses the role she used to play in Peter’s life will be smiling by the end of this issue.
It began with a bit of a jolt. I must once again conclude that the awkward opening is related to a Venom crossover I didn’t read. I know this is par for the course with events, but Spider Island has felt particularly disjointed to me as I’ve tried to follow it without buying every single tie-in. I don’t know how Venom and Steve found The Queen, they’re just attacking her as soon as things get rolling. Sure, their defeating her is the catalyst for her transformation, but couldn’t she have just transformed automatically at the beginning of the issue so we could have skipped this and spent more pages on the good stuff?
That already had me frowning a bit, but I was really turning up my nose two pages later when Reed explained why MJ’s transformation was so much slower than everyone else’s. Now don’t get me wrong, the excuse that her “years of being so… close… with Mr. Parker” is stupid, but that’s not what was making me twitch. (And anyway, this a universe where radiation can make people invincible, so…) It was MJ’s crack that, “A Peter Parker immunity? I wish.” Biting sarcasm raced through my mind as I imagined sticking it to this scene in my review. I figured this was it, all that I’d slogged through Spider Island for: more editorially forced division of the old couple by suggesting that MJ would badmouth Peter behind his back to his friends in the Avengers and FF. I mean, it’s a crack, not a serious insult, but this is the way that embittered divorcees speak, not ex lovers who parted on amicable terms.
But as I kept reading, I noticed that something incredible was starting to happen. This was before MJ even came swinging back into action. Pages went by and I had the sense that what I was reading was a solid, focused, efficiently told narrative without padding or holes. I kept waiting for a sudden switch to a page of something like… I don’t know, what team hasn’t appeared in Spider Island yet? Howabout Avengers Academy? And then all the characters would say their names and explain who they are, and then we’d switch to the Daily Bugle or something and I’d get dizzy.
It’s amazing, but that never happened. I had almost forgotten that when Slott focuses on telling a coherent, action-packed story about Spidey kicking ass and solving problems, he can really hold my attention and make me laugh too. Pete’s interaction with Kaine in this issue is great, and I don’t really mind that it seems like this should be Ben Reilly, because frankly I’m not a big fan of either character so I’m not terribly invested in their past characterizations. I’m sure that for Reilly fans, the fact that Kaine is sort of acting more like Ben than himself is just adding salt to the wound, but it doesn’t change that this is genuinely amusing stuff. I laughed out at their argument over who got the stealth suit. (“Can’t believe there were times I asked Aunt May for a little brother. Still don’t see why you get–“) I also really appreciated the strong sense that Pete is level-headed about his clones existing by now and takes it humorously like he does most things. The guy has seen just about every strange thing you could dream up at this point in his life, so let’s write him that way.
Figured I owe you a few, Tiger.
But it’s Mary Jane who really steals the show. I’ve mentioned in my past two reviews that MJ was clearly being set aside for something, and expressed a lot of hope that it would make the final issue more exciting. I never would have guessed how strong it would actually be, though. Mary Jane’s always been such a powerful character because of her ability to stand by Peter, keep him grounded, and give him the support he needs to keep doing what he does. An argument could be made that giving her his powers puts her on his level and ruins that aspect of the relationship. Slott could have ruined it, and I was afraid after reading MJ’s wisecrack at the beginning of the story that he would. Instead her powers play directly into the overarching point of Spider Island. After all, isn’t the whole idea here to emphasize that Spider-Man is Spider-Man because of Peter and not because of his powers?
MJ’s the best person in Pete’s world to remind him of that fact, and I really think it was an extremely good move on Slott’s part to have her play that part. I was genuinely touched as she inspired Pete to use what really makes him potent to take down the Spider Queen: his mind.
I’ve had a long-standing theory that Spider-Man is Marvel U’s equivalent of Batman in one particular way: the prep-time theory. In case you’re the one person on the internet who hasn’t heard it, it’s that Batman can take down any enemy, no matter how strong, if given sufficient prep time. The point is to emphasize that the character possesses a special kind of brilliance that allows him to take apart situations and problems mentally and find the weakness to exploit in any opponent, regardless of “powers.” I had assumed from the get-go that emphasizing this aspect of Spider-Man’s character was the ultimate point of Spider Island, by “de-powering” him in the sense that, if I may quote from The Incredibles, “when everyone is super, no one will be.” Putting Mary Jane by his side, with his powers, in the final battle and having her be the one to prove that point to him was a much stronger way to drive it home than I had ever imagined, so I have to give major kudos to Slott for coming up with it. That’s really good storytelling.
It was THE Spider-Man who won the day. And there is only one like him.
I wasn’t particularly blown away by the solution Peter comes up with in and of itself. Smythe’s “you have all the spider slayers you need” did not turn out to be hinting at something clever the readers could pick up on as I’d hoped it would, but I don’t really care. In the end, the exact method wasn’t really important. What mattered was seeing Peter rise above Spider Island with Mary Jane at his side. It’s the way things should be, and it left me feeling a certain warm fuzziness that I haven’t since before OMD. I’m not expecting it to continue right away, but it’s enough for me that someone up there at Marvel still gets how important Mary Jane is in Peter’s life, even if they don’t seem to be acting like it most of the time.
Spider Island still has an epilogue on the way, because let’s face it, Marvel has to have epilogues now. My guess is that we’ll get a lot of set up for the new Scarlet Spider, which is almost certain to be Kaine at this point. He’s had a taste of heroics and he seems to have done pretty well. After that, I’m really hoping to get to something a little more basic and essential. Spider Island has been quite something and I can’t say I’ve been a fan for the most part, but considering how long it’s been since we’ve had a great Pete and MJ moment, I honestly felt it was worth it.
Pros:
- The Amazing Spider-Man is finally once again about Peter Parker, the heroic and admirable character we’ve been missing lately, with his closest friend and the one person he can most trust and count on, Mary Jane.
- Tight, well-paced, exciting storytelling for most of the issue. The first time we’ve gotten that since this bloated and over-hyped mess began!
- Great characterization between Pete and Kaine.
- A strong, uplifting ending with hints at good things to come. I’m a sucker for this kinda thing, and a more cynical person may laugh at me for it, but I really loved the conclusion.
- Not one single, solitary panel where Carlie Cooper appears or is even mentioned!
- The opening is weak, as it feels disjointed from the previous issue thanks to more tie-in nonsense.
- MJ’s “immunity” crack.
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I think the dunk in the “cure bath” seems to cover why Kaine’s the same size as Peter now (although too late for Grim Hunt.)
It seemingly healed all his deformities, so it might as well have shrunk him too.
Also, him having the “Other” powers now, especially the stingers, makes a whole lotta sense. Remember he had the crappy “Sting of Kaine” claws back in the Clone Saga? And also the “stingers” make sense for a potential Scarlet Spider.
I was pretty happy with this issue, cuz I like Kaine, and the bits with MJ were excellent as well.
Peter: Say MJ, wasn’t there this girl that I was going out with? Carlie something? What was it, Carlie Quesada? Was that it?
MJ: Something like that. I guess. Hmmm, wonder what ever happened to her?
Peter: Not sure. Oh well, probably wasn’t that important. C’mon, let’s cuddle some more.
MJ: You read my mind tiger.
Absolutely fricking BRILLIANT!!!!!
I have been VERY unhappy with the general direction of Spider-Man since BND, but I have loved Spider-Island!
I have read every part of the crossover and while almost all of them were pointless to the main plot (besides Venom which is a fantastic series), I have enjoyed this cross over more than any other I have ever read. And this final issue was the best of them all.
Loved Kaine, hope for good things from him in Scarlet Spider. But most of all I LOVED everything with MJ! And I love that Carlie Cooper disappeared and became irrelevant, in fact Peter barely even thout about her after she changed and at the end rather than running off to find her and check she’s OK, he cuddles with MJ! Really hope this is the start of the reunion of these characters!
Marvel have been screwing over this character for far too long, but you did us proud with this one guys. Congrats!
@22 SilentWolf–If you’re referring to the solicit for ASM #670 which said a long time cast member would make the “ultimate sacrifice,” that actually referred to Eddie Brock giving up his Anti-Venom powers in order to create a cure, and he’s still very much alive by the way. The only ones who seemed to have died during Spider-Island are the Jackal, his Miles Warren clones, and the Queen.
Somebody correct me if I’m wrong. Didn’t the allude to someone dying in SI?
I hope they aren’t setting up MJ to be the new Gwen.
Regarding Doc Ock’s octo-bots coming out of nowhere, there actually was “a blink and you’ll miss it” foreshadowing of them earlier in Spider-Island. It’s during the scene in which Peter and Carlie are in the evidence room in Amazing Spider-Man #668, and in one of the containers, Carlie stumbles across the container of octobots and wonders what they are doing there.
Will have to pick this up in trade, it seems.
@16 We also haven’t seen that team-up with Spidey, Venom, and Black Cat. But I’m calling it right now: those are probably shenanigans.
So, let me get this straight – Peter saved the day by injecting the anti-venom into all the people that were turned into spiders while they were climbing the Empire State Building?! Did he just kill all of them? Because they must have dropped a long way once they couldn’t climb walls anymore. And MJ’s reply was a joke about them being naked … gee …
@17 Daniel… none of the other workers turned into spiders so I don’t think they would have found it that weird that he wasn’t, unless they wanted to have people suspect them as well.
was it ever questioned by peters coworkers at the lab why he hadnt turned into a spider?
Does MJ having a little immunity mean that she has a small amount spider-powers in her (and she just did know know it ) and the virus just amped it up? We still haven’t seen the panel with MJ sticking to a wall thinking “Peter, what have you done?” from the previews a few months back.
Thanks to this review, I will be picking up this issue of ASM.
I loved the look of sheer elation on Peter’s face when MJ whispered “I love you”, he KNEW what she said. I’m now even more convinced his false relationship with Carlie will exposed in short order and we’ll see Peter and MJ back together…it may take a long time, but moments like these give me hope it won’t be too long
I actually laughed at the “immunity” line, I’m sure Slott didnt mean for it to sound insulting, he was just trying to show that, for all her bravado, MJ still hasnt moved on from Peter and the declaration of love in the final battle solidified that. I’ve said similar things about my wife when we were broken up once…didnt mean I hated her or anything.
Hmmm… I thought Kaine was BIGGER than that.
And she said WHAT to Peter? Sorry, Danny boy. But I’m still waiting until it’s fixed before I bite. You won’t get me with a bait n switch.
I really like the stuff with Kaine. I like that those two got along and it made me happy 🙂
#10 PP immunity haha Im in fourth grade now
@Brian: Yup that’s the one i’m talking about… even tho the conversation starts with flash and only get worst as cap join in.
See I thought the MJ crack tied in with her “I love you”, like she can’t get away from her feelings and wished there really was PP immunity. And as a Reilly fan, you were dead on, I am livid that Kaine is all the sudden a wise-@ss that can crack jokes with Pete. But I’m optimistic about where the character will go once Yost takes over.
*gasp* An issue of ASM that doesn’t completely suck?!?!? Pinch me, I must be dreaming.
Also, Ramos is killing me, I do not like his art at all with this event and can’t wait till we see another artist come aboard
@5 Erik… No problem, as long as you got absorbed because you were liking it so much its easy to overlook certain things. Glad you enjoyed it.
@6 Sthenurus… I read the last few pages, if you’re talking about the conversation Cap and the Queen had during their fight then I totally get what you’re saying. Felt a little too dirty… if there’s something worse than that that I haven’t read yet, than damn, I’m in for a treat.
Great review Erik! I agree 100% with you. I was one of the lucky who good completly follow the story since i also got Venom, as well as Spider-Girl and Cloak and Dagger (To anyone who hasn’t read those 3: you are missing on something). Spider Island was the first time since civil war that i was enjoying an event, and the first time since -well, can’t even remember since when- that i was looking forward to the next ASM issue.
On the MJ crack at the Peter immunity: I didnt understand it the same way. I got it more as a “i wish i didn’t had feeling to him” more than anything else. And if the toothbrush talk is making u unconfortable, avoid this week’s Venom. Their is one scene who is extremely explicit…
To clarify, since I only mentioned it briefly in the review, I thoroughly agree with you on the octobots Brian. If I hadn’t been so absorbed in the stuff I liked about this issue, that would have been a real sticking point for me – “you got me all excited about this spider slayers mystery and it was just a bunch of leftover octobots that came out of nowhere?!!” But because I liked the story itself so much, I was able to overlook what was essentially just a vehicle for the triumphant scenario.
Agree with the review. Best issue from Slott since Big time began. So glad it was Pete’s brains that won the day and MJ’s involvement was great too. Here’s hoping the issues that follow are on this high level of writing and story telling!
Nice review, I actually didn’t enjoy it as much as you did but understand how you liked it based on your points. I’ve never been one to get angry about the sexed up angle of Peter Parker, but all the over the tops hints of “sharing toothbrushes” was starting to bother me during Spider-Island. And I thought the octobots came out of nowhere. Where did they capture all of those? The beginning really annoyed me too, I agree with you that they should have started it a little later. I hadn’t read venom yet, and wound up picking that comic up just to read the last few pages and figure out what was going on. I really liked the “I Love You” moment, but it sucks cause it’ll still be a long time before we see anything come of that I’m sure. nice job though.
It sounds to me like you need to be reading both Venom and ASM to follow Spider-Island. I’m dealing with the opposite problem you are because I’m reading Venom but not Spider-Man.
I’m in total agreement with you here. ASM 672 was one of the best comics I read on a day of great comics, so kudos to Slott. And nicely done review, I did enjoy the points you made, the lack of a real summary, and quotes. It definitely makes your review style stand out.