OPINIONS!

This will be a brief review because this issue didn’t have a lot to it. The more I think about it, the less I have to say. It’s just a set-up issue, and so far the story it’s setting up hasn’t offered any surprises. The concept of a super hero trapped in a prison with his villains on the loose is a Saturday morning cartoon staple, and thus far “No Escape” has not deviated far from the predictable formula. It’s not a bad comic; it’s colorful and action-y and nothing jumps out as particularly irritating. I don’t have many complaints, and I was entertained. The Slott/Gage/Camuncoli creative team makes solid comics. I thought so during last year’s Hobgoblin story, and I still think so now. But this comic is not one that has given me a lot to talk about or think about, and for the first time since before ASM #698 I am not going crazy waiting for the next issue.

Folks on the message board and around the web have noticed that what occurs in this story does not conform to real-world law. Indeed, this comic gets the law very wrong, and as a lawyer I guess people would expect me to focus on that. Honestly, I’ve decided that I’m not that bothered by it, but I’ll highlight a few points that have popped up here and there in the online conversation. First, I want to clarify to everyone that New York’s abolition of the death penalty would not affect an execution conducted by the federal government, and I believe the Raft was previously established to be a federal prison. So that isn’t necessarily an error, as some have asserted. On the other hand, the mayor of New York would have no authority to shut down a federal prison. Heck, a mayor wouldn’t be able to shut down a state prison. Furthermore, Smythe’s execution is happening very soon after his crime. Smythe’s lawyer accuses Jameson of using his political connections to rush the execution, and seeing as how that’s the only potential explanation the comic gives I have to assume that’s the truth. Of course, death sentences are reviewed by a chain of courts including the Supreme Court, and the President has the opportunity to grant clemency, so if Jameson’s pulling strings is what we’re going with then he must be one of the most powerful and corrupt men on Earth.

But, frankly, I’m not in the mood to be hung up on that stuff. Smythe needed to be on the eve of his execution to enhance the story’s drama, and Jameson needed to have authority over the raft so that he could bring Spider-Man in to take over security. Sure, with a little more thought and explanation the writers could probably have achieved the same results without it feeling like they were casually brushing realism aside. For example, on the podcast Josh made the point that in the Marvel Universe it would make sense if the laws were revised to put super villains on the fast track to execution considering how dangerous and uncontainable they are. Slott and Gage could have smoothed out every angle with reasoning along those lines, and they didn’t, but I’m cutting them some slack because I think this is going to be a pretty fun action story about Spider-Man fighting improved versions of his enemies in a prison full of death traps. Whether it captures the intricacies of dual federalism is of low priority.

The one thing that did bother me is all of Otto’s talk about feeling like Peter’s life is something he’s “trapped” in, a “nightmare” from which he “cannot wake.” Just last issue, his inner monologue kept waxing about how he was happy with Peter’s support system, with his girlfriend, and with his newfound sense of freedom. His attitude in this issue almost contradicts that, and it is first triggered by his having to sit through one of Doctor Schnoz’s lectures–a routine event at this stage in the series. Either the writers are consciously trying to convey instability in Otto’s moods and it is unintentionally coming off as confusing, or Slott didn’t communicate Otto’s current mindset very well when passing the scripting duties to Gage.

I gave this a B- on the podcast. That was too high. The best thing I can say about this comic is that nothing was egregiously wrong with it. Hence, a small adjustment:

C+