“The reports of my death were greatly exaggerated.”
Greetings, Spidey fans, and welcome to this review of the very first issue of The Amazing Spider-Man! Okay, technically, this the third very first issue, and if we ignore that we’re living in the All-New Marvel NOW! era, it’s more accurate to say this is really Amazing Spider-Man #701. Or, if you include The Superior Spider-Man, it’s Amazing Spider-Man #732. You know, let me just recap and review this comic before I get even more confused.
“Lucky To Be Alive”
WRITER: Dan Slott
PENCILER: Humbero Ramos
INKER: Victor Olazaba
COLORS: Edgar Delgado
“Capturing That Old Spark”
WRITERS: Dan Slott & Christos Gage
PENCILER: Javier Rodriguez
INKER: Alvaro Lopez
COLORS: Javier Rodriguez
“Crossed Paths”
WRITERS: Dan Slott and Christos Gage
PENCILER: Guiseppe Camuncoli
INKERS: John Dell & Cam Smith
COLORS: Antonio Fabela
“How My Stuff Works”
WRITER: Joe Caramagna
ARTIST: Chris Eliopoulos
COLORS: Jim Charalampidis
“Homecoming. Sort of”
WRITER: Peter David
ARTIST: Will Sliney
COLORS: Antonio Fabela
“Kaine”
WRITER: Chris Yost
PENCILER: David Baldeon
INKER: Jordi Tarragona
COLORS: Rachelle Rosenberg
“Learning to Crawl: Amazing Reality”
WRITER: Dan Slott
ARTIST: Ramon Perez
COLORS: Ian Herring
LETTERER: Chris Eliopoulos
VARIANT COVERS: Marcos Martin, Ed McGuinness, Pop Mhan, Jerome Opena, Skottie Young, and Alex Ross
ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Ellie Pyle
EDITOR: Nick Lowe
“LUCKY TO BE ALIVE”: We flashback “13 years ago” to when the radioactive spider bit Peter Parker. However, after it bit Peter, we learn that the spider also bit a teenage girl at the science demonstration just before it died. In the present day, the White Rabbit, along with her new team, “The Menagerie,” which also consists of the Hippo and newcomer, Panda-Mania, have stolen some Faberge eggs and are fleeing the scene. In the commotion, a man and his infant girl almost fall over but are saved by Spidey’s timely arrival. As Spidey attacks the Menagerie and secures the eggs, the onlookers notice that he’s making jokes again. But they also notice that, save for his mask and diaper made of webbing, he’s completely naked.
“Four hours earlier,” Peter holds a press conference at Parker Industries, officially announcing he’s no longer making any more tech for Spider-Man–which pleases both Aunt May and Jay Jameson. Concerned about “Peter’s” being absent for weeks at a time, Jay reminds Peter how much money he’s invested into the start-up and that Peter needs to his job as CEO seriously. Peter, because he can’t reveal that his body was taken over by Doc Ock, reassures Jay he’s making Parker Industries his top priority. Peter also thinks that while he’s still unsure of everything Doc Ock may have done while in his body, he’s more than grateful that Ock was able to repair Aunt May’s leg. Over at Peter’s apartment, Anna Maria arrives looking for Peter, but instead finds an engagement ring and Otto’s pre-planned marriage proposal. Meanwhile, J. Jonah Jameson, having resigned as mayor, his sulking in his home when he realizes he can go back to running the Daily Bugle. However, when he sees the headlines in the Bugle saying how he resigned in disgrace, Jonah declares they’re all “back-stabbing bloodsuckers” and “dead to him.”
Back at Parker Industries, Sajani Jaffrey shows Peter the company’s proposed rollout project on “nanotech cybernetic robots.” Unfortunately, and unbeknownst to Sajani, Peter has no idea how it works as cybernetics was Otto’s field of expertise, not his. He also notices his employees are all terrified of him. Sajani then escorts Peter to his lab and says the first thing they have to do is get rid of all the Spider-Man projects, including the Spider-suits. It’s then Peter learns that SpOck reprogrammed the Living Brain to be his butler and that he has a doctorate from ESU. After Sajani leaves, Peter decides to put on one of his costumes and go web-slinging, and, with his new lease on life, vows that he’s never going to take being Spider-Man for granted again. However, the people of New York, because of SpOck’s actions, consider him a “jack-booted thug.” To get the public back on his side, Spidey goes looking for crime to stop, and that’s when he stumbles upon the Menagerie and their Faberge egg robbery. We see that another member of the Menagerie included Skein, formerly Gypsy Moth, who, as Spidey learns, can control fabrics, and begins unraveling Spidey’s costume. Spidey is able to knock her out before she can destory his mask, but to his horror, he sees that he’s buck naked, and as he webs up a makeshift underpants with his webs, bystanders upload the footage onto the net and television, which get seen by the Avengers, Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch, and Mary Jane.
Thus the story comes “full circle” with Spidey apprehending the rest of the Menagerie, but the public is so appalled and disgusted that Spidey has been fighting in the buff that they demand he leave. So Spidey swings back to his apartment and changes back into Peter, only to find, to his surprise, Anna Maria waiting for him. It’s then Peter learns that, not only was she Otto’s girlfriend, they were also living together. And he gets another bombshell—because she saw the footage of the earlier battle on the web, and because she and “Peter” have seen each other naked, she’s now knows that Peter is Spider-Man.
“RECAPTURING THAT OLD SPARK”: Taking place “a couple of night’s ago” Electro enters the Bar With No Name, and the former Hobgoblin franchise villains, now employed by the Green Goblin, are start making fun of him. Because of the bar’s “no fighting rule,” Electro can’t retaliate. When does ask one them to “step outside,” the sympathetic bartender tells him to just ignore them. Later, however, we see that Electro still can’t get over it, so to prove he’s still a top-tier villain, he decides to break out the inmates that have been transferred from the Raft to a prison upstate. However, Electro’s powers overload destroys the prison, killing all the inmates. Believing that “Spider-Man’s” experiments have tampered with his powers, Electro swears revenge.
“CROSSED PATHS”: We follow what happened to Black Cat in the wake of her capture in Superior Spider-Man #20. With Felicia Hardy’s arrest, the police confiscated all the items in her home, and her high-society friends disowned her. But worst of all, she’s learned that “Spider-Man” hasn’t given her a “second thought” and considers her a “common criminal” who is a “waste of his time.” As Felicia tries to adjust to life in prison, and gets regularly taunted by a large female inmate, she preoccupied her thoughts with the advice she learned from her father, and plans to murder Spidey. On the same day that Electro’s planned break-out, Felicia is in her cell, she’s once again being taunted by the female inmate when electricity goes out. Using her bad luck powers, Felicia is able to protect herself from Electro’s lightning bolts, making it destroy the cell next to her and kill the inmate. This also allows Felicia to walk out of the prison unscathed while deflecting the lightning to everyone else. The story ends with Black Cat, in a new costume, stalking Spidey, as she plans to make him pay for what “he” did to her with his life…“but only after I’m done playing with it.”
“HOW MY STUFF WORKS”: Narrated by Spidey, with some “help” from the Hulk, the wall-crawler explains how his powers and web-shooters work. It ends with Spidey shutting up Doc Ock with his webs, and showing us the people who know Spidey’s secret identity whom he can turn to for help (except for the Jackal since he’s a bad guy). But as Spidey swings off and says “see you next issue,” Hulk wants to know where are sandwiches his agent promised him.
“HOMECOMING, SORT OF”: A news helicopter pilot reports of an armored car robbery in progress, only to then learn it’s been thwarted—by Miquel O’Hara, aka Spider-Man 2099. As Miquel swings through New York and notes how much different it is compared to his own time, he sees a woman with pink hair being mugged. She’s manages to mace one of her attackers before being knocked to ground and pinned at gunpoint, and dares the mugger to shoot her. However, Miquel arrives and quickly takes them out. Only when she checks to see if the woman is okay and that she can call the police, she slaps him across the face, saying she didn’t ask for his help. And as she walks away, Miquel wonders “what the shock is wrong with the people in this decade,” but seems intrigued by this woman all the same.
“KAINE”: Peter, disguised in baseball cap and sunglasses, is in Houston trying to look up on Kaine, and is told by the desk clerk from the Four Seasons Hotel that Kaine is a monster—literally, as he turned into a half-man, half-spider creature, which Peter recognizes as “the Other,” the mystical spider-creature Peter himself had rejected. However, Peter also meets Dr. Donald Meland, having recovered from his critical injuries from Kraven the Hunter’s daughter, Ana, but had lost weight and needs a cane. He recognizes Peter as Kaine’s ‘brother” and tells him how Kaine saved his life and took up the mantle of the Scarlet Spider, and that even though Kaine believed he was monster, he was actually a hero all along. Meland encourages Peter to talk to others about Kaine, and thus Peter does, learning all about his “brother’s” exploits. As Peter takes a flight back to New York, he realizes Kaine has turned out to be as much of a hero as himself, and that wherever he is, he’s finally found peace. And the story ends with a shot of Kaine with his new teammates, the New Warriors.
LEARNING TO CRAWL: “AMAZING REALITY”: Taking place during the events of Amazing Fantasy #15, we’re introduced to Clayton Cole, a bright overachiever who aspires to be the first billionaire/physicist/rockstar. He tells his mom he’s going to a physics demonstration, when in fact he goes to the Crusher Hogan wrestling match, the same match where Peter first tried out his new spider-powers. Clayton films the match on his iphone and uploads it to his YouTube channel and gets over 3 million views. Upon reading his comment section that masked wrestler is calling himself “Spider-Man” and that he’s putting on a live TV show, Clayton is one the first in line for the performance. While waiting, Clayton sees the Burglar break into back of the theater, and says declares to the people in line that somebody needs to find a cop. But when it’s suggested that he goes, Clayton doesn’t want to lose his place in line, and when he’s told “no saves,” he decides to forget the whole thing. Inside the auditorium, Clayton watches Spidey perform, and becomes an instant fan. Afterward, he sees Spidey mingling with other fans and a enamored woman partly lifts up Spidey’s mask, exposing the lower half of his jaw. Thus, when Clayton hears Spidey talk, he realizes Spidey is just a kid like him. Clayton manages to get Spidey’s autograph, and tells Spidey how one day, he wants to be just like him. Clayton heads back to his home, and, after framing Spidey’s autograph, begins to make his own costume inspired by Spider-Man’s.
THOUGHTS: So after more than a year of Doctor Octopus as Spider-Man, and fans eagerly waiting for the return of their beloved Peter Parker, how does Marvel and Dan Slott celebrate the relaunching of one of their signature titles and the return of their most popular, iconic character? By not only having their new #1 be stuffed with various back-up stories and filler of various quality for a $5.99 price tag, not only having said same #1 issue be accompanied by an absurd amount of variant covers to artificially boost sales, but by also having the issue’s main story center around an overlong, tedious and forced “Oh my gosh! He’s naked!” gag.
Now look—part of Spider-Man’s charm is that, unlike most superheroes, things don’t always go according to his plans and he can wind up in some rather embarrassing situations. I also appreciate Slott is getting back to a Spidey who makes corny quips and wisecracks while battling his more intentionally ridiculous rogues, especially after the chaos that was the Superior Spider-Man. And I’m certainly not prudish or snobbish enough to enjoy some occasionally crass, juvenile humor. Only in this case, the story of Spidey having to fight a bunch of his more D-list villains in the buff is a one-joke premise that, just like Peter’s tendency for bad puns throughout this issue, tries way too hard to be funny and thus falls completely flat. It’s the textbook example of “beating a dead horse,” and in spite of the slightly amusing reactions from the Avengers, Johnny Storm, and Mary Jane, I was left thinking that maybe we were actually better off with Otto Octavious still under the webs.
Somewhat better is the subplot where Peter comes to grips with the fact that, thanks to Doc Ock, he’s now the CEO of his own company. From Peter’s appreciation to Doc Ock making Aunt May able to walk without a cane, to his surprise of having a PhD and the Living Brain as his personal butler, Slott is able to convey Peter’s “Rip Van Winkle” effect quite well. But again, Slott also feels the need to hammer home the notion that, for as much as Peter may be pleasantly surprised at owning his own business, he’s also in way over his head whether he wants to admit or not. If the partially collapsed front facade of the Parker Industries HQ wasn’t enough heavy-handed symbolism, Jay Jameson once again mentioning how much money he’s invested in the company, Sajani Jaffrey explanation of their roll-out project potentially worth billions, and Peter realizing he’s now responsible for the livelihoods of dozens of employees all but telegraph that it’s not a matter of if, but when Parker Industries crumbles and falls. Let’s not also forget that Parker Industries is also built upon a fraudulent business loan and advanced degree Peter never rightfully earned, and both are bound to come into play later on.
Of course, one can’t really talk about the main story without mentioning its two major developments, the first being the flashback revealing how Peter wasn’t the only person to be bitten by the radioactive spider. Those who read the news out of this year’s C2E2 and read the letter’s page know that this new character is Silk, and that she’ll be featured in Amazing Spider-Man #4 and #5 as part of Marvel’s Original Sin event. The concept that someone else gained the same spider-powers the same way Peter did but lead a drastically different life is a potentially fascinating avenue to explore, but it’s also rooted in a rather clumsy retcon. Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s original “Spider-Man” story in Amazing Fantasy #15 (from which Slott quotes word for word) gives the impression that the spider died a “split second” after biting Peter; now readers are being asked to believe that after biting Peter, this same spider dropped from Peter’s hand, crawled along some cables, then crawled across the exhibit room floor, sought out one more random person, bit them on the ankle, and then died all within that same “split second.” There’s a difference between “suspension of disbelief” and outright incredulity. Moreover, given how the upcoming “Spider-Verse” story is already going to feature almost every single incarnation of Spider-Man and Woman from all over the Marvel Multi-verse, it feels rather superfluous for Slott to introduce yet another Spider-powered character into the mix.
The second major development is, of course, the cliffhanger where Anna Maria has deduced Peter’s secret identity as Spider-Man, which is not only used as the punchline for the already excessive naked Spidey gag, but throws in a sex joke on top of it, which, given the circumstances behind Otto and Anna Maria’s relationship, is in extremely poor taste. Not to mention cheapens what otherwise should be a major turning point for Peter himself. To be honest, I feel rather apprehensive about where Slott could take this next issue. Hopefully, he’ll have Peter tell Anna Maria the truth about Doc Ock no matter how unbelievable it may sound, as he now has no legitimate reason not to tell her the truth. But given Anna Maria saying in Superior Spider-Man #31 that she didn’t know how she could go on living without Peter, and learning that “Peter” was also planning on proposing marriage to her in this issue, the worst possible outcome would be for Anna Maria to presumptively say “yes” to that proposal, and thus Peter finds himself engaged to a woman he barely knows and is afraid to tell her the truth because it could break her heart. Such a scenario I’m hoping Slott has good enough sense not to do.
As for Humberto Ramos’ art, this story highlights both his strengths and weaknesses. During fight sequences between Spidey and the White Rabbit’s Menagerie, Ramos’ hyper-kinetic and over-stylized pencils, with Victora Olazaba’s inks and Edgar Delgado’s colors, are suitable in conveying the fast-paced action and movement those scenes need. Yet during the more expository and dialogue-heavy moments, the characters are glaringly disproportionate, with their exaggerated and inconsistent anatomy that make them seem like over or under inflated balloons than flesh and blood people.
Slott and Gage’s first back-up story featuring Electro is slightly better, as it adequately sets-up the conflict for the next issue. Only I just didn’t buy Electro’s motive to prove himself via his attempt at breaking out all the prisoners, especially because he got insulted by the Hobgoblin’s former crew of D-list knock-offs. After all, what’s to stop Electro from frying their collective asses once they leave the Bar With No Name? And given what SpOck did to him and the other members of the Sinister Six in Superior Spider-Man Team Up, Electro already has more than enough reason to go after Spidey anyway so he doesn’t need an additional motive by his accidentally blowing up the prison. Or maybe it actually wasn’t his fault because the next story seems to suggest that someone else was responsible for Electro losing control of his powers.
Yes, I’m talking about the Black Cat back-up story, which might as well be titled “Character Assassination” because that’s exactly what this was. I admit, I’m not the biggest Black Cat fan as I consider her a glorified Catwoman pastiche, but I do appreciate the fact that, among Spidey fans, she has a considerable fanbase. And I can’t imagine them being the least bit happy with what Slott and Gage have done with her here. Because while it’s understandable she would want revenge given what SpOck did, this story still turns what was once a sassy anti-hero into a straight-up murderer. And don’t give me that, “it was Electro’s lightning bolts that killed those inmates,” because when Felicia says, “My real power is that I’m lucky. And if I don’t like you, you’re unlucky,” it suggests she now has full control over her bad luck powers. Which also means she was deliberately redirecting the lightning not only to the woman in the cell next to her, but to all the other inmates as she made her escape. Even if Spidey can explain to Felicia what really happened, Slott and Gage have made her cross a line she can never go back from, and it’s only because of Giuseppe Camuncoli’s pencils that prevents this story being a complete failure.
Caramanga’s back-up is a cute, lighthearted, but also padded fluff. Peter David’s Spider-Man 2099 story, however, is better, giving us a taste of the kind of “fish out of water” tales that will beguile Miquel O’Hara in his new series. Unfortunately, if Will Slinely is any sign of what the art for the series will be like going forward, it’s going to be an acquired taste at best. Chris Yost and David Baldeon’s “Kaine” is not only good, it’s the best story out of the entire issue. Granted, it’s being used to promote the otherwise lackluster New Warriors, but it also serves as a much more satisfying coda to Yost’s Scarlet Spider series than Scarlet Spider #25 ever did. The only real downside is that I wish Peter talked to more of Kaine’s Houston supporting cast besides Dr. Donald Meland.
Finally, there’s Slott and Ramon Perez’s prologue for “Learning to Crawl,” and unlike the prologue for his main story, Slott does a far better job here expanding upon Spidey’s original origin story, and already, I find Clayton Cole, aka the soon-to-be Clash, to be a credible character with clear and understandable motives. Slott does a very effective job at showing how Peter and Clayton were all but cut from the very same cloth; not only were they exceptional students raised in a loving home environment, they also try unsuccessfully to make friends and had dreams of personal glory. Moreover, Perez art is almost near-perfect in replicating Steve Ditko’s style and fusing both elements from the past and the present. Yet when Clayton sees the Burglar break into the back of the theater, it not only creates a gaping plot hole, it undermines the very parallel Slott tries to set up that Clayton is guilty of being just as self-centered as Peter was. After all, if Clayton was so worried about losing his place in line to go find a cop, why not just use the smartphone that we see him always carry around with him to call 911? Even so, this is a good tease for the upcoming Amazing Spider-Man miniseries starting next week, which this humble reviewer will also be critiquing.
But it’s the main story showing Peter’s on the first day of his new lease on life that readers have wanted and wanting to see. But as happy as I am seeing The Amazing Spider-Man comic and Peter Parker back to his old, wisecracking self again, it’s such a disappointing return that no amount of extra content can alleviate. Thus, taking all the stories and the overall comic into consideration (and not counting the bonus reprint of Inhuman #1 that comes with it), the all-new, but ultimately unsatisfying Amazing Spider-Man #1 gets a very low:
C-
NERDY NITPICKS:
- I know you were determined to make that “P-break” joke, Pete, but it probably would’ve gone over better if you actually looked that what your company logo now said. Because both the letters “I” and “N” were missing from “Industries,” you should have said, “It’s business as usual here at ‘Arker Dustries.” If you’re going to make a bad pun, at least do it right, why don’tcha?
- Also, it hasn’t been “well known for years” that you’ve designed Spider-Man tech, Pete. In terms of Marvel’s sliding timescale, that’s only been common knowledge for less than a year at best.
- And Pete, you can’t exactly access Otto’s memories even if you wanted to anyway. You saw Otto erase himself from your brain, remember?
- Anna Maria, I know you’re hopelessly and desperately in love with Peter (or at least the guy you think is Peter) but you probably should have followed your first instincts and changed clothes—especially since you’ve wearing them for more than 24 hours. Believe me, guys don’t like it when their lady smells funky just as women don’t like it when their men do.
- Nice to see that Spider-Woman is the only Avenger who has any common sense as she realizes what happened to Spidey in this issue could only have happened to the real one. Captain America, however, remains as obtuse as ever. And by the way, Cap, what ever happened to your whole “we have to arrest Spider-Man for aiding Cardiac’s unsanctioned free clinic”? I guess the other Avengers realized your order was so stupid they chose to ignore it.
- *Sigh* MJ, I know you were not being mean-spirited in your “idiot” remark over your ex’s amusing predicament, but honestly, based on how Slott has characterized you since Amazing Spider-Man #698, you’re not exactly in a position to be calling him that, affectionately or otherwise. Unless, of course, you were calling yourself an “idiot” in checking up on Peter after your whole “I love you, but can’t be a part of your life anymore speech” in Superior Spider-Man #31.
- Given the content of the main story for this issue, I could make some snarky comments about Spidey’s “This is exactly as bad as it looks” comment, or that bystander’s “I don’t think anyone should be watching this” line, but that would be far too easy. But a reference to Miley Cyrus? That already feels dated.
- Correct me if I’m wrong, but Felicia Hardy already had a criminal record and thus her identity as the Black Cat is also public knowledge. So it really shouldn’t have come as a surprise to her supposed friends in high society that she’s a known costumed thief. Moreover, I thought it was Felicia who insisted on not knowing Spidey’s identity as part of their whole “friends with benefits” arrangement they used to have? Not that Spidey deciding to go along with it makes him look any better, anyway.
- Yeah, that whole business of restoring Spidey’s secret identity via “One More Day” and “One Moment In Time” has completely gone out the window given how Caramanga’s back-up show us all the people who do know it now. And how wrong is it that the Jackal knows Peter is Spider-Man but the Green Goblin and Venom do not?
- Okay, so based on the prologue from the opening story, we now know that Peter was bitten by the radioactive spider “13 years ago,” which also means it takes place in the year 2001. Which means the prologue for “Learning to Crawl” also takes place within that same year. However, there must be an anomaly within Marvel’s sliding timescale, because Apple didn’t release their first generation iPhone until 2007, and YouTube wasn’t founded until 2005. I guess Age of Ultron really screwed up the space-time continuum in more ways than one.
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@47 – Maybe Anna eventually fell in love with Otto’s personality, but I find it hard to believe that he would have gotten as far if he had looked like himself. Him looking like Peter Parker opened the door, so the entire relationship was built on deception.
@41:What do you expect when Spidey keeps taking his mask off.
@46: Yeah, the 80s were messed up.
Why are there so many questionable scenarios in Spider-Man comics lately? Why can’t we just get a straight answer? Why is it all so convoluted?
Anyway, I can’t wait for the day when Peter isn’t treated as the butt of the joke anymore.
Obviously what Anna and Otto had was more than a one night stand, so it’s safe to say she fell in love with Otto’s personality, whether he was in his own body or not. I don’t think she slept with him because she said this is Peter Parker and I adore his body. ON some level there was consent to be with the person who occupied Parker’s body.
If you’re looking for a real-world example, I guess if a woman, A, was planning on meeting her boyfriend, B, in her bedroom to have sex, and all the lights were off, and another man, X, sneaked in and had sex with her, in the dark, pretending to be B. She thought she was having sex with B but X used deception and trickery to have sex with her.
Wait a minute, that’s what happened in Revenge of the Nerds, and the audience cheered when the nerd wore the Darth Vader mask and slept with the hot girl.
@42: Yeah, no. Even if the matter of Otto taking over Peter’s body can’t be applied to the real world, the fact of the matter is that he was pretending to be someone else. This isn’t like if Peter had sex with someone who didn’t know he’s Spider-Man, or even if it’s him having sex as Spider-Man even if the person he’s sleeping with doesn’t know who Peter Parker is. Spider-Man and Peter Parker are the same person, whereas Otto Octavius and Doctor Octopus are a different person from that. The person seeking her consent was Otto Octavius, not Peter Parker, and the Peter Parker real could not give his consent either. His body was used to have sex with someone without his permission, and Anna does not know that the body of the person she slept with did not belong to mind of the person that she fell in love with. Peter and Anna were raped. Even if she wasn’t forced into it, her consent was taken by Otto posing as someone else.
@41 – I’m pretty sure the Gentleman also knows Peter’s identity in the ASM series. If that’s the case then that would make 8 villians. Not to mention the countless people on the train in Spider-man 2, Mary Jane, Gwen, Captain Stacy ect.
@42 – It’s a grey “comic book” area but given the logic of comic books, it’s rape. He deceived her in order to lower her inhibitions of having sex with him. Would she have sex with him if he was in his own (Doc Ock) body? Probably not (but who knows).
I’m not so sure this can be defined as rape in the real world sense. Anna Maria was not an unwilling partner, nor was she compelled through physical force or duress.
@39 – The Thousand appeared in Tangled Web, which focused more on supporting characters, villains, or one-off characters. But Spider-Man would occasionally appear, even if only for a panel, sometimes for a few pages. So unless we are told differently, it’s canon.
As Phantom Roxas already stated, Otto used deception to have sex with Anna Maria. As far as she knew she was having sex with Peter Parker, not Otto Octavius. Reminiscent of the Chameleon having sex with Michelle Gonzales while he was disguised as Peter (even though Marvel back-peddled and said they just kissed, we all know what happened).
Speaking of his Peter’s identify, after seeing ASM2 I realized that in each Spider-Man film the villain (or one of them) finds out his secret identity:
SM1 – Green Goblin (Norman)
SM2 – Doc Ock, Harry
SM3 – Venom, Sandman
ASM1 – Lizard
ASM2 – Green Goblin (Harry)
In the movies, Spidey is TERRIBLE at hiding his identify.
Otto lied about his identity, so it’s considered rape by fraud. Additionally, since Peter’s body was used to have sex with her, but Peter could not consent to it, he was raped as well.
Can The Thousand be considered cannon? I’m not one to read Spidey titles beyond the major ones, unless there’s a particular tie-in. Otherwise I see them as stand-alone stories which shouldn’t be considered cannon. Perhaps I need to find this story-line and read it.
How exactly did Otto rape Anna Marie?
I didn’t think the “sex joke” was so terrible. Although it does seem like everyone who’s anyone knows Peter’s identity and it does seem a bit easy for others to figure it out. So what’s the point of a mask?
The series kept slipping down the rankings; my point was that Slott was never the second coming of Stan Lee. And his faults as a writer persist, namely, depicting Peter as an immature kid, depicting
Spider-Man as a widely disrespected buffoon, distorting characterizations to fit a plot direction, etc.n
@35 Still never got the idea that selling in the mid-50k area is terrible and proof of disaster. The only books regularly selling above that right now at Marvel are the 2 core X-Men books and Guardians of the Galaxy. (which explains why Bendis still gets work, I guess.) A book selling 55k would outsell the entire Avengers franchise. So I doubt Marvel would turn their noses up at another mid-50s seller.
@26 – Stillanerd
– See, now THAT is a good way to interpret Spider-Man. Slott just uses it as an excuse to have Peter either say “IT’S ALL MY FAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUULLLLLLLLT!” or make him the butt of all jokes. However, both results amount to Slott just trying to make Peter an incompetent idiot for really no reason.
– At the very least, it counts as rape for Peter. And no, the thing with Michelle CAN’T work here, and that’s the problem. Slott wrote himself into a really uncomfortable corner.
– I think that’s a good comparison for those two.
ASM wasn’t selling all that well prior to Superior. Low-to-mid 50K, with infrequent spikes. SSM was a big stunt to goose sales and set up the re-numbering prior to the movie.
I liked what I read elsewhere, that previous writers treated the series in a more straight-forward soap-opera-drama/adventure way, where Slott is about the silly. In fact, that’s the best way to describe his Peter Parker — his Peter Parker is foolish. He’s like Shawn Spencer with super-powers. Someday we’ll get a regular writer who doesn’t depict Peter as foolish.
@33 – Stern and Defalco only got 2% of votes! But don’t be too annoyed because it was on comic vine, a site where a book that features nothing but mindless action can get a 5-star review because it’s full of “awesomeness”. So really it’s kind of hard to take opinions like that seriously.
@17 – (Slott) “was recently voted 2nd in a Comic Vine poll of Spider-man writers. He beat Roger Stern, Tom Defalco, Stan Lee and Peter David. Like I said the casuals just love him (and Ramos) for some reason.”
That is a crime right there. In my opinion, Slott is an average writer. He can write some good stories, but he writes just as many bad stories. Saying he’s better than Stern, DeFalco, Lee and David is just wrong.
And I know it’s an internet pole so it doesn’t matter, and Slott probably told his fans “go vote for me!” like Colbert tells his fans to do something and they do it. But still. It’s just wrong.
@4, 5 – Yes! I’m not the only one who remembers The Thousand! It’s not a good story, but it happened. I’m sure if someone mentioned it to Slott and asked how his retcon could have happened knowing what happened in The Thousand he would say “COME ON GUYS, IT’S COMICS!”
Yay, an Spider-Man comic I can read along with the review! It’s been too long. Of course I bought the issue 3 days after it was released and I’m already 30 comments behind.
Main story:
* “THIRTEEN YEARS AGO …” Ok, so if Peter was bitten by the spider when he was 15, that means he is currently 28. I thought Marvel was trying to keep him eternally young i.e. low-to-mid-20s. Of course he owns his own company so I guess they had to make him in his late 20s.
* So the spider bites someone else. So much for Peter being special.
* On the title page the length of Spidey’s left foot is the same length as his neck to his tailbone. Oh Ramos, don’t ever change. I’m kidding, please change.
* So this is Spidey’s first issue of a new book, and the villain is … The White Rabbit and her Menagerie??? Seriously?
* Spidey in a web-diaper. It feels like Slott came up with this image, thought it was hilarious, and then worked backwards to explain how he got there. I mean, Skein? How much Wikipedia searching was required to figure out which villain could do this to Spidey’s costume?
* I’ll give credit where it’s due. Slott does a good job bringing readers up to speed about what has changed in Peter’s life that he missed. It’s an info-dump, but Peter’s unfamiliarity with it helps us identify with it.
* Aunt May seems happy that Peter is no longer helping Spider-Man. Didn’t she see SM torture someone in SSM Annual #1? Shouldn’t she be terrified of Spider-Man? Here she just seems disapproving of him, like “Oh that Spider-Man, I don’t like him, he doesn’t use a coaster, tsk tsk.”
* Is it just me or when Sajani is hanging off Peter’s shoulder after May and Jay leave, is it drawn like they’re a couple? Should she be that familiar around him? They were co-workers at Horizon, and now he’s her boss.
* At least the villain of the major motion picture of the same name that opened the same week this comic came out appears in one panel of this story.
* Peter tells Jay that Parker Industries will be his top priority. He realizes that he doesn’t understand anything about the company’s rollout project and that he will need to go over all of its specs. Then what does he do? Leaves to go webslinging. I wouldn’t be surprised if Parker Industries is bankrupt by next issue.
* When Peter goes back to his apartment and puts some clothes on, he puts on his pants over his web-diaper??? Shouldn’t he remove them first? The strength and stickiness of the webbing seems to change as the plot requires, so he should be able to slip them off and put on actual underwear. What’s gonna happen in an hour when the webbing evaporates?
Electro’s story:
* It was all right, but shouldn’t this have been in a previous SSM issue so they could make Electro the villain for this issue, released the same week as the movie where he is the villain? Again, White Rabbit and the Menagerie???
Black Cat’s story:
* Sigh. Well, good-bye to that character.
* “I never asked him for anything, not even his real name”. When you were first a couple you asked him for his real name ALL THE TIME! Sorry, there I go again, remembering continuity from when I was a kid, back when my mother was still alive.
* At least her new costume doesn’t have the usual ridiculous amount of cleavage.
How My Stuff Works:
* The panel showing everyone who knows his secret identity is ridiculous. The whole point of undoing the unmasking was to reset the number of people that knew his identity back to “none”. Now more people know his identity than ever before.
2099’s story:
* What is Miguel going to call himself? In his previous title he called himself “Spider-Man” but now that he’s in present day there’s already someone with that name. He can’t use “Spider-Man 2099” because that’ll confuse people, and he’ll probably want to keep the fact that he’s from the future a secret.
Kaine’s story:
* Peter should have done this investigative trip a long time ago, but I can understand why because of SpOck issues. Nice to remind us that Peter remembers Kaine.
Clash’s story:
* As has already been discussed, this very issue stated that AF #15 took place 13 years ago. Having YouTube and smart phones in this flashback is just wrong. This borders close to Byrne modernizing the origin by having Uncle Ben buy Peter a computer in Chapter One. Stop trying to modernize heroes’ origin stories!
The Inhuman book added to this issue – just stop this Marvel.
This isn’t the issue’s fault, but this book is a new #1. It is coming out the same week as a major motion picture starring this character and the villain of that movie is Electro. How in the world is Electro not the main villain of this issue??? How did Marvel drop the ball on this one? This seems like a no-brainer!
This issue wasn’t terrible, but for a #1 and a relaunch, it wasn’t that great. Oh well, at least I’m buying new Spidey again.
Thanks.
This reveiw strengthened my resolve to save my money.
Absurdly, my main problem with any of this books stories is that they have cell phones at all in the “Learning to Crawl” segment. It’d give me a headache to make sense of the Marvel timelines, but in “Amazing Fantasy” there were no cell phones, no smart phones, no “U-Tube”. Why here? Can’t we tell a story without references to Miley Cyrus and modern technology?!
Grr.
PS: Ramón Pérez’s art is awesome. And stillanerd’s prediction re JJJ is spot-on.
@#27 RDMacQ — Oh, now I understand. Thanks, Mac. As yes, it does look like MJ, especially given her speech to Peter in Superior Spider-Man #31, she definitely appears to have been placed on the back-burner. Although, based on her cameo here and the solicit for Amazing Spider-Man #3, she’ll probably get more than two panels next time.
@#26- Stillanerd- The MJ subplot, which was reduced to just a two panel cameo.
I get that she might have a larger presence later on. But it still feels like her whole role with Peter is largely an afterthought, and that Dan would prefer to focus on everything else, despite the fact that MJ’s relationship with Peter was THE thing that most people were talking about coming out of Superior. And given that Slott has put that subplot on a “slow burn” as opposed to EVERYTHING ELSE it’s getting kind of tired.
@#11 Geoff — Well, I suppose one could technically say that we’re going to be a getting an abundance of Spidey costumes what with all the Spider-Men and Women that are supposed to be appearing in Spider-Island, so…;)
@#15 RDMacQ — Which subplot was that?
@#21 Nick MB, @#22 RDMacQ, and @#23 RedHunter — Re: the relaunching and new #1’s of Marvel NOW! I think the idea of making comics have “seasons” like a TV series does makes sense, at least from a business stand point and given today’s comic book market. The downside, however, is that with the relaunching approach Marvel is taking with their Marvel NOW! imitative by having multiple #1’s for the same title, it can get very confusing for the average reader who would like to know where they should start if they want to get into comics.
@#3 and #24 Adam S. — “I feel like MJ’s brief appearance can be summed up in this way: ‘It’s not like I like you or anything, Peter!'” That’s a good way of putting it, Adam S. because MJ response does feel pretty Tsundere. Which would fit in right in with how I think her “moving on from Peter” is really her being in denial.
“I like this theory, Stillanerd, and can see it happening.” It would also harken back to how Jonah took to the airwaves to accuse Spidey of stealing the spotlight away from his son in the original Amazing Spider-Man #1. Not to mention how the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon has Jonah “Spider-Man is a wall-crawling menace” diatribes on a TV News show. So yeah, in this age of 24/7 cable news, it would fit Jonah’s personality like a glove.
@#25 Phantom Roxas —
*At least the current interpretation of the “Parker Luck!” Because the Parker Luck doesn’t mean Peter is a natural screw-up; rather, it’s to describe how being Spidey gets in the way of his everyday life, and his everyday life gets in the way of his Spidey life.
*It’s definitely sex by deception, at least, even though Anna Maria never actually knew Peter before Otto took over his body. And one can’t exactly use the defense that was used for Michele Gonzales and the Chameleon by saying they just “swapped spit.”
*Same here.
*Oh, I get what you’re saying. Yeah, they’re both parallels to Peter, but in different respects. Alpha, like Peter, got his powers by accident and used them to get rich and famous, only unlike Peter he didn’t have a strong, moral compass that Peter had with the likes of his Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Clash, it seems has Peter’s initial desire for seeking fame, but like Flash Thompson, he’s becomes a huge fan of Spidey. Only, given the fact he’s making a costume that’s inspired by Spidey’s, it’s to the point of obsession.
@#6:
– Alright, those grounds sound about what I’d expect. Unfortunately, the first three stories are the ones that this book is actually focusing on, and those got pretty bad scores. Not good.
– The “Parker Luck!” thing needs to stop.
– SpOck committed rape. There is NO WAY around that. Unless it turns out that they both got naked, but decided not to actually sleep together.
– Youngblood’s disease, that’s it. Not sure why I couldn’t describe the problem with MJ’s eyes, but I do get the impression that she’s basically going “Good riddance.”
– I figured that Black Cat would be considered a villain, but not to THIS extent.
– Well, it’s more for the idea that, like Alpha, Crash is supposed to be inspired by, or at least serve as a parallel to, Peter.
@7: I like this theory, Stillanerd, and can see it happening.
@19 and 20: Maybe Spider-Verse will be his last story, or at least his penultimate one. Depending on the title’s release schedule, it seems like the story will end sometime in 2015.
As someone that has been reading spider-man since I was a small child (I am 27 now), and as someone who went back and bought all the collections for Amazing Spider-Man, I think I can speak as someone who has a deep knowledge on this subject. I picked up the number 1 issue of course, and what several people have pointed out already I echo. Slott when he is on as a writer is very good, but the problem is that he usually isn’t on. My biggest gripe is with how he writes Peter more then anything else. He can’t even get Peter’s core ideals right, so how can we expect him to get everyone else right?
If Slott was replaced with someone who is able to write spider-man correctly (Yost for example), then this comic could go places with all of the possible plot points that have been set up. But of course Slott will gloss most of them over, giving us dumb jokes instead. Which brings up another point…I can go entire Slott story arc’s without laughing once. Spider-man should be funny, that is part of who he is.
I loved Scarlet Spider it was my favorite spider book, but I will not pick up New Warriors, because it undoes everything that was done in Houston. From what I have read Yost is failing with writing Scarlet Spider in that book for whatever reason.
Also I am tired of the reboots, the new number 1’s, and everything else that Marvel Now is doing. Pretty much everyone I talk to feels the same, yet we keep buying this crap. We need to take a stand and tell Marvel no more. Stop selling the fans out because number 1’s sell better.
FF especially, needs to not get anymore new number 1’s. It has had three in recent memory, which is far too many.
@#21- I will admit that the practice of the new #1’s is a good way to separate runs. And having a “seasonal” approach to storytelling is a good way to keep people interested, since I think more and more people are “binge reading” comics (i.e. waiting for the trades.) It’s also a good way to promote the comic online. Plus, it’s too good of a sales boost. Marvel’s not going to stop doing that until it becomes unprofitable, and for the time being it’s not really showing itself to be a detriment to the company.
Also, if Slott leaves, I’d suspect that Marvel would want to make the successive creative team gets a good amount of press in order to bring in readers who might bow out with Slott’s departure.
However, if the Spider-Verse runs into next year, I can see Slott bowing out after it.
I think a rebooting of the book numbering to #1 whenever Slott leaves is pretty inevitable regardless of when he does it. The idea of numbering each title in a TV-season style to reflect the arrival of a new writer or major story direction is pretty standard now, at Marvel especially.
@18 – Sorry I generalized slightly. I wasn’t trying to say that everyone who liked Slott are casuals (if that was the case I would have been one during BND, Big Time and parts of Superior). I was just pointing out that a lot of newer fans or people who jumped on at BND or Superior see him as the definitive Spider-Man writer and his version of the character as the best. Which I think the majority of the fanbase would disagree with. Everyone is entitled to their opinions though as you said.
@18 & 19 – I feel like Spider Verse would be a good time for him to bow out, it’s a massive event that spans years of the character’s history, seems like a fine last hurrah to me.
But you’re probably right about the rebooting it after he leaves. Though I’m still not convinced that Marvel won’t return ASM to it’s original numbering like they did last time.
@18- I think Slott leaving after Spider-Verse would be a little too soon. I’d think he’d be on the book for at least a few more storylines after that. I’d think that after he left, Marvel would want to reboot the title again with a new number one issue, and doing so twice in the same year would be a little much.
I’d say that a better bet is that if he would leave, his last issue would be sometime in the Spring of next year.
@17 I think it’s tricky ground to say people who like Slott’s stuff are casual or somehow “lesser” fans. I’ve been reading Spidey for about two solid decades (owch) and I still enjoy most of his issues.
That having said, his knowingly silly style is a bit of a tonal shift from the relatively straight action-adventure-with-quips style a lot of writers have gone in the last few decades, so it does make a certain amount of sense that fans who’ve been reading solidly for ages find it more jarring than readers who just decided to pick up ASM/Superior because they heard Slott’s stuff was fun. Does’t make their opinion less valid though. Enjoyment is enjoyment.
And I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if Slott leaves after Spider-Verse, but then again, I’d have said the same about the end of Superior. Considering that already takes us through to this time next year, it’s probably not worth getting overly excited either way.
@15 – Slott can only write a character one way. If superior had continued his portrayal of Otto would no doubt of gotten more and more stale. He’s already started screwing over Anna Maria and I think she’s only been around for 20 something issues.
Unfortunately he is incredibly popular with newer more casual Spider-Man readers. While I do think he’s going to be off the title after Spider Verse, that fact makes me think that people who started on Slott’s run may abandon the book when a different writer takes over.
Hell he was recently voted 2nd in a Comic Vine poll of Spider-man writers. He beat Roger Stern, Tom Defalco, Stan Lee and Peter David. Like I said the casuals just love him (and Ramos) for some reason.
@12- Ronald Johnson- Don’t count on Slott being around forever. People who have sold higher than him have left or been fired, or been replaced. He’s not indispensable. He’s managed to have a run of good luck with Superior, but he wasn’t exactly selling a lot BEFORE that. If the sales dip below the sales Superior had, that will show that it wasn’t Slott bringing in the fans, but the premise. And if Marvel decides that they want to go a new direction and get some new blood in, then Slott doesn’t have much say in the matter and can be replaced.
I doubt it will happen now. But I wouldn’t be surprised if, in another year, Marvel decides to relaunch Spidey again with a new creative team at the helm.
Wow, so a year built up for Spidey’s return and we have- him getting naked and the one subplot people were ACTUALLY interested in being shelved.
Nice to know that Slott still has his finger on the pulse of the fanbase (i.e. Only listening to people who praise him and ignoring everyone else because they are “haters.”)
After readingn ASM #1, I am already missing SpOck….
So when the issue came out yesterday, and what did I do? I bought it, like every Spider-Fan would. I had been waiting two weeks for some great artwork, some awesome character development, and a brand-new Peter Parker with a new lease on life. And what did I get? Well… one-and-a-half out of three. I got the whole Peter Parker starting over bit, and I got decent artwork from Camuncoli, Baldeon, and even Ramos (well, decent applies to Ramos only, Camuncoli and Baldeon took respective first place; as you know, I’m a big Ramos fan, so we’ll get to why his artwork was only sub-par later). But character development… why, Dan? Why’d you have to go and retcon what OMD didn’t?! I think the fans already hate Joe Quesada and MJS for that already, you’re just trying to get people to hate your Superior fan fiction. I’m down for Spider-Verse, I really am, but adding another female character?! Why?
But I digress. So, after class got out, my girlfriend and I snuggled up and read the issue together. And the first problem we noticed, you may ask? All the loose ends from Superior #31 that were believed to be solved were back. It’s as if Dan wrote issue 31 and then forgot that he pulled a deus ex machina on us. So, the whole Peter getting scolded by Jay part of “Actions have consequences”? Nope, still harping on it! Spider Man getting hounded by the Avengers for his actions, but gets forgiven out of nowhere? Nope, Cap’s still out to find and question him! Anna Maria not knowing that Peter got his body back, and he barely knows her? Okay, sort of still harping on it, but I’ll give it a pass since he’s still getting back into his life and never really knew her, not to mention Otto’s planned engagement. But, that little wonder bread argument aside, our (and by our, I mean my) biggest problem was the whole ‘he’s naked’ joke that just. keeps. going. It seems like the plot revolves around that one joke, with a few other things in that could have been fleshed out nicely. But nope, we get the Avengers, Johnny Storm and MJ for one panel each, along with Anna Maria somehow figuring out Peter is Spider-Man just because they’ve slept together. Sounds like an engaging plot to me. And to be honest, the fleshing out of the smaller plot points in this issue would’ve made me happier. Having the Avengers conversing on whether or not he’s back to normal would’ve been great. A longer scene with MJ and possibly Ollie, with MJ contemplating whether or not her life is really that great without Peter in it: would’ve been great. A scene with Peter having to deal with the fact that somebody else other than people he really knows knows his secret identity would’ve, again, been great. But nope, Slott decides that Pete needs to run around in web-diapers. Clearly it was his old fanfic called “Spider-Baby”. It wouldn’t surprise me.
Speaking of which, I mentioned earlier on that I would discuss the art. That would be occurring now. My two cents that weren’t the other paragraph: The art looked great to me. Aside from Ramos’ median artwork, I found the art to be awesome. Camuncoli, Baldeon, Perez, Sliney Rodriguez, all of these were great works of art for me. My only one that seemed lackluster was Chris’ art on the “How my stuff works” backup story. And then, in the middle, we have everybody’s 24/7 subject of half-n-half enjoyment, Humberto Ramos. Now, before I go on, let me make one thing clear: I love Ramos. His art somehow connects with me, and I enjoy the animated ways he captures people when they’re moving fast. But here… when he draws people talking regularly, I gotta go with Stillanerd, they look like their heads are gonna explode. I will give him credit for one difference since he drew the classic red-and-blue: the lenses don’t change their shape every panel. I like the moving lenses, because it gave Spidey an way to express emotion behind the mask, but it had only two looks: shocked like he’s gonna tinkle his web-diaper, and the rogue 90s kid we wanna pretend is us. I think that his lenses would make more sense just to be one expression and use a different angle to express different ways his eyes look. But, I will give him a pass, just because the way he draws MJ, Spidey, Carlie (not sure if she’s coming back, but he draws a pretty sexy Carlie in back issues), and the Goblins is awesome in every way, and he’s the first Spider-Man artist I ever read a comic regularly for.
Either way, I enjoyed everything but the main story and Crossing Paths (minus Camuncoli and Ramos’ art) and I feel like it could have been made better to match the hype. I’m giving it a B-, because I wanted something reasonable, and received less than I expected from the relaunch of the World’s Greatest Super Hero.
@10: As long as Slott continues to sell Spider-Man like hotcakes, Marvel will keep him around for as long as he wants to write Spider-Man, which could be as long as Bendis has with Ultimate Spider-Man. The blind loyalty to Slott stems from the fact that he’s a successful promoter of Spider-Man, which translates to strong sales. Thus, I feel that Slott can make Spider-Man his life’s work for around 20 years max.
@ Stillanerd
“Also, I just remembered that, thanks to Tiberius Stone and Liz Allan’s takeover of Horizon Labs, all of the Spider-Man tech Peter and Otto invented while at Horizon Labs is legally the property of Alchemax. Which means Peter has to get rid of those suits anyway unless he wants face a lawsuit.” – I’d never thought of that. This could actually be an interesting development. But I have a bad feeling that Slott will most likely sweep that under the rug so he can keep putting Spider-Man in cool new suits.
— I am further angered by Slott’s character-assassination of MJ. What’s the opposite trope of a Mary Sue?
— It wasn’t until Slott that Spider-Man became an object of ridicule, and the butt of jokes. People used to be *scared* of him, not laugh at him.
— So the new status quo is that Felicia is a remorseless mass murderer.
I do *not* understand the blind loyalty that Marvel shows to Slott.
#8 Adam T — Oh yeah, I forgot about that moment from Scarlet Spider. So you’re right, Kraven the Hunter also knows.
I was reading Scarlet Spider recently (I’m a bit behind on that book), and Kraven mentioned Peter while fighting Kaine. I don’t know when he learned the secret, but according that arc Kraven is very clear on Peter Parker being Spider-Man.
I think it’s interesting that Jackel and Kraven know the truth, it would be more interesting if they did something though.
BTW, here’s another prediction (that will probably wind up proving to be wrong): Notice how we got a full panel showing us the “Natalie Long” character from “The Fact Channel” when she asked Peter about his association with Spider-Man? That pretty much indicates she’s going to be a more prominent supporting character in the future and the way this could happen is that she and her network will make Jonah an offer to be a commentator a la “Bill O’Reilly” and “Keith Olberman” to boost their network’s ratings. And given how Jonah wanted to go back to the Daily Bugle but got furious when he saw their front page, Jonah might jump at the chance to smear both Spider-Man and the Bugle on a nightly basis.
@#1 Phantom Roxas–Thanks, PM. And good question. If I were to grade each story individually by itself, it would break down as follows:
*“Lucky To Be Alive”–“D+/C-“, or 2 out of 5 stars.
*“Capturing That Old Spark”–“C-”
*“Crossed Paths”–With the art, “D-“; without the art, “F”
*“How My Stuff Works”–a modest “C.”
*“Homecoming. Sort of”–a decent “B-”
*“Kaine”–a very strong “B+”
*“Learning to Crawl: Amazing Reality”–a solid “B.”
As for your other points:
*Yes, if the idea behind using Stan Lee’s original narration was to give the retcon more legitimacy, it actually does the opposite based on how that original narration is worded.
*It was more a case of Slott overdoing the whole “Good ‘Ol Parker Luck!” for me.
*Will see where Slott takes things with Peter and Anna Maria but yes, as I said, I’m very concerned where this could be heading.
*Agreed!
*To be fair, as I suggested in my Nerdy Nitpicks, I think MJ’s “idiot” remark was more out of affection and amusement rather than anything mean spirited. At least, I hope that’s what was intended. MJ does look like she’s smiling a bit in Ramos’ art, but she also looks like she’s been afflicted with “Youngblood’s disease.” (i.e. she has no pupils in that last panel).
*Yep. Which could also explain why the Spider-Verse panel at this years C2E2 referred to Black Cat as a villain.
*Pretty much.
*I don’t get the sense Clayton Cole is another Alpha, especially since he’s not annoying or abrasive like Alpha was. If I could compare Clayton with anyone, he’s seems like a mix between Peter Parker, Flash Thompson, and the Shocker.
#2 Geoff — “One thing that also struck me this issue was about how Pete’s lab has all his Spidey costumes and tech laid out in the open. Is Sajani a total idiot or is she secretly supposed to know that Peter is Spider-Man? If he was just developing his tech, then wouldn’t all of that stuff have been in Spider-Island 2. The only reason for the Spider-Man equipment being in Pete’s lab post-development would be so he could use it.”
You know, Geoff, that’s a very valid point I didn’t even think of. Also, I just remembered that, thanks to Tiberius Stone and Liz Allan’s takeover of Horizon Labs, all of the Spider-Man tech Peter and Otto invented while at Horizon Labs is legally the property of Alchemax. Which means Peter has to get rid of those suits anyway unless he wants to face a lawsuit.
@#4 RHagen and #5 Enigma_2099 — Oh yes, I’m quite familiar with that little tale. Plus, isn’t it interesting how Carl King, based on this retcon, only saw the spider bite Peter but not the woman who would become Silk. Talk about tunnel vision! 😀
In regards to the spider… The Thousand. Google it.
Wow….so the radioactive spider bit Peter, bit the future Silke and then got eaten by Carl King. Busy little arachnid. Oy…retcons!
I feel like MJ’s brief appearance can be summed up in this way: “It’s not like I like you or anything, Peter!”
I agree that the 2099 art is definitely going to be an acquired taste for some people. I kinda liked it and kinda didn’t. I feel like the way Sliney does the mask patterns and the chest logo is a bit off, but it’s good enough for now, I guess.
I’m sorry but I just hated the main story here. The Original Sin tease is so dumb, please just leave Amazing Fantasy #15 alone Slott/Marvel. Regardless of whether she’s a good character or not, Silk will most likely meet the same fate of the Stacy twins and other continuity screwing characters, and simply be allowed to fade into obscurity in the middle of a half-resolved character arc.
Peter’s been back for 5 minutes and we’re already back to Slott making him out to be a complete clown. I get it Slott, Otto was your fan fiction Spider-Man with his super cool island base, minions and giant robots, and Peter is a loser who always ends up getting into ‘zany’ situations.
I was hoping that the plot threads with the Avengers and Anna Maria would be resolved maturely. But instead the Avengers have a one panel cameo and Anna Maria is the butt of a really uncomfortable, out of place sex joke.
One thing that also struck me this issue was about how Pete’s lab has all his Spidey costumes and tech laid out in the open. Is Sajani a total idiot or is she secretly supposed to know that Peter is Spider-Man? If he was just developing his tech, then wouldn’t all of that stuff have been in Spider-Island 2. The only reason for the Spider-Man equipment being in Pete’s lab post-development would be so he could use it. It kills to harp on Ramos art because I liked the pencils on Darkest Hours, but after seeing Camuncoli’s work on Goblin Nation, it just feels like a major step back. I hate to say it but Ramos art actually seems to have gotten worse since Darkest Hours. People are starting to resemble human-monkey hybrids again and that’s really not a aesthetic suited to Spider-Man.
The Electro story was pretty good, a much better setup for the next issue. Still don’t like his shaved head, burn scars look though.
The Black Cat story is so head scratchingly stupid. After everything that’s happened to her over the years. It’s losing some stolen artifacts and having her rich friends abandon her that makes her snap and go full psycho? That really doesn’t seem like Felicia at all. It’s not Spider-Man’s fault that she ended up losing all of her stolen possessions, she committed a crime and got punished for it. Are we supposed to be under the impression that Peter would have just let her go with her if he’d seen her robbing the loft? Cause that’s not something that the Peter I know would do. That said modern Peter probably would have jumped into bed with her and then let her go so I digress.
Felicia’s narration says “I never asked him for anything, not even his real name”. Really? Didn’t she ask him to give up his civilian identity completely? That’s kind of alot to ask of somebody. I thought “continuity fanboy” Dan Slott would have remembered this.
Since when has the Black Cat been powerful enough to manipulate another person’s powers that precisely? Wouldn’t the ability to have full control of and overload someone else’s powers while causing severe injury to that person make her an Avengers level threat? According to this issue The Black Cat is now one of Spider-Man’s most powerful enemies.
The 2099 story was really awesome, it’s so nice to see Miguel being written properly and the idea of him being in the present actually works here. So glad to have Peter David writing 2099 again! I for one thought the art was pretty damn fantastic here, suits the tone of the book perfectly.
The Kaine story was a much better finale than the one we actually got in Scarlet Spider #25. It was nice to see Peter doing something other than talking about his own problems for once and more importantly it gave some closure to one of the SS supporting cast and sets up the small possibility of Kaine being able to return to Houston. I really hope Kaine gets another solo book after Spider Verse because this story highlights how wasted the character is in New Warriors.
The Learning To Crawl setup story was actually not bad. Yeah it’s the same “idolizes the hero but ends up being a villain” plot that we’ve seen so many times before. But the art is gloriously retro Spidey and I just like the overall vibe that’s given of in the book.
Good review, stillanerd, though I’m curious what you would have graded each individual story, as opposed to the average being a C-.
– The split second thing bothers me, and you summed it up nicely. That can’t even be accomplished in a FULL second. The line about how “a lot can happen in a split second” is a lazy addition meant to justify this retcon, but in spite of what Slott thinks, it DOESN’T. If your only possible way of explaining a retcon is a throwaway line that’s meant to sound profound, then chances are that it’s not a retcon worth exploring. Though I guess this could also be due to Age of Ultron messing with the timeline to allow iPhones and YouTube to exist in 2001, as it rewrote the very definition of time itself.
– “I was left thinking that maybe we were actually better off with Otto Octavious still under the webs.” I am certain that that was the intention. Really, the whole point of this issue sounds like it’s just for Slott to write what he THINKS defines Peter, and that is making Peter the butt of EVERY joke.
– Anna Maria finds out that Peter is Spidey because they’re naked? I know that it’s because she would recognize his body, but… really, Slott? You have to point out that it’s because she’s seen him NAKED? You DO realize that that outright confirms that Otto raped Peter and Anna Maria, as if there was any doubt remaining following Darkest Hours?
– Captain America, STOP BEING STUPID.
– I get it, Slott, you’re desperate to keep Peter and Mary Jane apart, but come on.
– So Black Cat is actually MORE evil than Electro? Because Electro had NO intention of killing anyone, while Black Cat manipulated his powers so she could kill someone in cold blood.
– The best stories of the book are really just advertisements for OTHER books? Glad to see that Marvel are so confident about New Warriors and Spider-Man 2099…
– Is Clayton just supposed to be Alpha all over again?