Amazing Spider-Man #695 Review

A good old fashioned Goblin war is brewing in ASM 695. Packed with story, action and suspense-building, this is an issue I don’t think anybody should skip. 

The Amazing Spider-Man #695: Danger Zone Part 1 — Warning Signs

Words by Dan Slott & Christos Gage

Pencils by Giuseppe Camuncoli

Inks by Dan Green

Colors by Antonio Fabela

Letters by Chris Eliopoulos

I’m more than happy to take the occasional gift horse…

Full disclosure. I’m a huge Christos Gage fan. Avengers Academy has been my favorite cape comic practically since it began, and his X-Men Legacy run has been one of my favorite takes on Rogue. However, despite loving his work and loving Spidey, I actually didn’t think his ASM issues, the crossover with Avengers Academy in #661-662, were all that good — I liked them okay, but not as much as I liked his work in his own books. So I’ve been looking forward to seeing how this issue turned out, not just because it’s bringing back the one true Hobgoblin to face off against the pretender, but because I wanted to see Gage take another crack at my favorite character. Granted, I have no way of knowing how much of this issue is him and how much is Slott, but I definitely see the mark of his style on it, and I think the result is very positive. 

 Even if it is the wrong goblin.

I could tell right away I was going to like this issue when I started smiling at the opening tussle between Spidey and the current Hobgoblin. The banter was excellent, the art was terrific and it really showed off how capable our hero has become at fighting goblins over the years. It feels great to finally be reading a Hobgoblin story and really enjoying it again. I even kind of liked Urich as the Hobgoblin in this scene, and I’ve hated this incarnation of him from the very beginning.

Any writer would probably have a hard time resisting the temptation to start up another “who is the goblin?” mystery when approaching this story. Kudos to Slott and Gage for not retreading that old ground. We know Phil Urich is the current Hobgoblin, a sans-glider version who wields a goofy fire sword for reasons I’ve never quite understood, but thankfully has kept it sheathed at least for this issue. And we know Roderick Kingsley is the original, who seems firmly poised in this issue to take back his title.

We don’t actually see the goblins meet yet, but I appreciated that about the way the story’s being paced. Instead we’re treated to a scene where Kingsley, having tracked his undeserving successor, watches from the shadows and plots. It’s short, but it presents Kingsley as the threat he ought to be taken as — a little more grounded than either Urich or Osborn, but vicious, calculating and ruthless. Camuncoli’s rendition of him is excellent and really conveys those aspects of his personality. It does a tremendous job of giving the reader a tantalizing preview of the dynamic that’s going to unfold as the arc develops.

That’s the best way to give premonitions. Unfortunately, Madame Web shows up immediately afterwards, which is a terrible way to do it. However, I will say that Web is not a completely useless addition to the story this time — or at least she has the potential not to be. She’s not showing up here as a plot device to prevent something otherwise logical from happening, and she’s not being used exclusively as an excuse to advertise the next issue. She does help create a sense of foreboding by sending her daughter off to stay with Grandma and Grandpa, making it abundantly clear she’s not expecting to live much longer. This has the added bonus of implying  that we may not have to read about her anymore after this arc is over, which would be a welcome development. And it turns out that her connection to the “psychic web,” whatever that may be, and its apparent connectedness to Peter’s spider-sense, have a great deal of relevance to this plot as well…

Laugh tracks are passé, Hobby. Let the material speak for itself.

A lot of great Spidey stories have helped to make their challenges interesting by throwing some out-of-the-ordinary obstacle at him. In this case, I really like what it turns out to be, and I’m giving Slott full credit for this one because he’s clearly been building up to it over his last few arcs; Tiberius Stone, now turncoat Horizon employee selling secrets to the Kingpin, has stolen the technology used for the spider sense jammers in Spider Island. What I really liked about its implementation in this issue is the clever twist that, instead of disabling or blocking the sense — a trick that’s been pulled plenty of times already, including an agonizing stretch of Slott’s run where it was gone altogether — Tiberius used the tech to create a machine that enhances it to crippling levels, sending Peter a massive overload of warning signals over everything from hot coffee to staplers. Not only is this nearly debilitating to his ability to function even as Peter, let alone Spider-Man, but it puts his secret identity in serious jeopardy. Urich promptly realizes exactly what’s going on when Peter suddenly starts overreacting to even the most minor of threats, which leaves the issue on a tense and exciting cliffhanger.

I wasn’t crazy about the visual implementation of the spider sense enhancement, though. While this isn’t exactly a joke, the principle applies here that if you have to explain it, you’ve done something wrong. I’m not sure if this was the writers or the artists, but instead of letting the art speak for itself, there are distracting labels pointing out every little thing that’s being regarded as too much of a threat, right down to little gags like a soda can being labeled “high fructose corn syrup.” This is sort of amusing, but it also really took me out of the story, because it’s neither a narrator nor one of the characters. It almost gives the impression there are actual signs appearing in the air, or that spider sense really works that way. It would have been a lot stronger to just let the readers imagine what all the “little threats” might be that would get picked up in the environment, since the past couple pages had already established how severe the problem was.

Still, if that’s my biggest gripe, it shows that this issue did things right. This is exactly the kind of story I’ve been saying I want more of out of Slott’s run: it’s got a classic feel but it’s not bogged down by excessive humor or cartoonish antics, and it’s got a heavy focus on story progression and action. The art is excellent as well; Camuncoli, as usual, draws gorgeous and dynamic action scenes, but his dialogue scenes have been given a boost too by Dan Green’s inks, which I think produce a much better look than the last few times we’ve seen it. 

If Alpha left as bad a taste in your mouth as it did mine, don’t be scared off. It looks like we’re getting at least one more really good arc before the big 700 rolls around.

Pros: A very well-written and well-paced issue. The opening fight scene looks and reads great, with superbly written Spidey quips. Camuncoli’s art is at its best. Tiberius’s spider sense enhancer is a clever and intriguing new problem to deal with. The buildup to the clash between goblins, the contents of the briefcase and Peter’s fate at Urich’s hands has left me eager for the next issue.

Cons: The little “danger labels” are trying too hard to explain what’s happening to Pete’s spider sense, which just makes them jarring. Madame Web shows up again, though that’s less of a con than usual.

Grade: A