“I brought her here so we could Google.”
Ready for another story involving Spidey having trouble with women? With one who was his lover now trying to kill him, and another who wishes she could kill him wanting instead to sleep with him? And can my expectations go even lower than they did last time?
WRITER: Dan Slott
PENCILER: Humberto Ramos
INKS: Victor Olazaba
COLORS: Edgar Delgado
LETTERER: Chris Eliopoulos
COVER: Ramos/Delgado
VARIANT COVER: Stephanie Hans
ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Ellie Pyle
EDITOR: Nick Lowe
THE STORY: Black Cat and Electro pay a visit to the Eel, as she announces she’s taking over his criminal operations. After the Eel laughs in her face and attempts to blast her, Black Cat sics Electro on him and his goons. Meanwhile, Spidey and Cindy Moon, aka Silk, are about to have some rooftop sex as seen last issue, when Silk, pulling off Spidey’s mask, calls him Peter. This makes Spidey stop what their doing, as he doesn’t know how Silk can know his secret identity. Neither of them explain why they had the urge to make out, although Silk believes it has to do with them being bitten by the same radioactive spider. Spidey says it may not have been a good idea to let Silk free after all, but Silk says the “damage has already been done,” that’s she’s not going back after having missed so much, and that besides, Peter is “the first person she’s kissed in ten years.” Over at the Fact Channel studios, J. Jonah Jameson is told that, because his scheduled interview segment involves Parker Industries and Jonah being related to Peter via his father’s marriage to Aunt May, there’s a potential conflict of interest, thus reporter Natalie Long will conduct it instead. However, Sajani Jaffrey, who was supposed to do the interview, cannot be gotten a hold of. That’s because, after being kidnapped by the Black Cat, she’s being held captive with Electro guarding her. When Electro asks why Parker Industries is trying to catch him, Sajani says it was Peter’s decision, as she believes it’s a waste of time and resources to capture and cure him, the later of which peaks Electro’s interest. Black Cat, meanwhile, crashes a meeting between Mr. Negative and Phil Urich, now calling himself the “Goblin King,” and delivers them an unconscious Eel. She then makes a deal with Mr. Negative, promising that she will do what they could not: “smash the spider and break the man.”
When Anna Maria returns to her and Peter’s Tribeca apartment, she finds Peter and Cindy on the ceiling about to have sex again. Peter tries to explain who Cindy is, but Anna Maria tells him that, because Sajani is missing, he’ll have to do the interview with the Fact Channel. So Peter, along with Cindy, arrives at the studio, and both Aunt May and Jay Jameson are watching it live, with May planning to call “everyone she knows” to watch. During the interview, Cindy tries to warn him she senses danger, but Peter’s spider-sense finally kicks in, it’s already too late as both Electro and Black Cat attack. Black Cat states that if Spider-Man doesn’t show in 15 minutes, she’ll kill Peter, which Electro, knowing he’s his best chance at finding a cure for his amplified powers, objects. Only instead of Spidey, Silk attacks them both, which allows Peter enough of a distraction to change into Spidey and join the fight. Silk, because of her hyper spider-speed and senses, is able to dodge Electro with ease. Unfortunately, due to Black Cat’s luck powers, Spidey gets hit with a stray bolt from Electro and Black Cat plans to show Spidey’s true identity as payback for him revealing hers. And as Black Cat starts to pull off Spidey’s mask, Jonah, seizing the opportunity, orders the camera operator to keep filming, as he takes up a spare microphone to broadcasts to the world “the scoop of the century!”
THOUGHTS: Three pages. That’s all it took for me to start thinking this comic was in serious trouble. Those three first pages full of inconsistent art, awful characterization, clunky dialogue laden with even clunkier exposition (i.e. “Slott-speak”), and, because both Black Cat and Electro are in the scene, groan-inducing puns about luck and electricity. And Amazing Spider-Man (2014) #5 only gets worse from there, though not as insufferable as Amazing Spider-Man (2014) #4.
As if the subplot involving Black Cat becoming a full-fledged super-villain couldn’t get more ridiculous, this comic has her up and decides to become a crime-boss all of a sudden. You know, just like that other cat-themed character from Marvel’s Distinguished Competition and being told in far more convincing way? It’s true characters, even comic book ones, cannot stay static, that they have to develop and grow over time to prevent themselves from becoming stale; except for such a radical change to work, it also has to be believable. And almost nothing about Felicia Hardy becoming antagonist for Spider-Man is in any way believable.
While the Black Cat wanting revenge against Spidey for putting her in prison, not realizing it was really Doctor Octopus, would ordinarily make sense, her reasons for doing so are fundamentally weak. In order for Black Cat’s story to work, we also must believe that “Spider-Man” taking her down destroyed her “street cred” and is thus “a joke” to the rest of the criminal underworld. Except according to that logic, every single super-villain Spidey has ever defeated should also be considered a joke. Let’s not forget that SpOck, along with capturing Black Cat, also took down almost every single crime-lord in the city, including the Kingpin! Not to mention that, because of SpOck and his propensity to go as far as cold-blooded murder, every single crook, criminal, and super-villain in New York became afraid of Spider-Man. And yet, only the Black Cat gets branded as a laughing-stock as opposed to being respected for having survived her encounter minus a tooth. You never someone like the Eel (who by the way is a C-list villain at best who also got his butt kicked by Spidey, so who is he to talk?) soiling himself at the sight of her like he does Electro, for example. Furthermore, Black Cat herself alludes to this illogical contradiction during her meeting with Mr. Negative, and while Dan Slott may intend this scene for Mr. Negative and Phil Urich to ally themselves with her, he also winds up undermining his very own narrative behind her heel-turn. There’s a reason Black Cat becoming a super-villain has been so badly received: because it’s not resulting from character but from whatever which way Slott wants the plot to go.
But compared to the subplot involving Spidey and his “all-new junior sidekick,” Silk, Black Cat’s story arc is at least tolerable. When I described Cindy Moon as a “Mary Sue” in my review for Amazing Spider-Man (2014) #4, I imagine some of you thought I was being premature, that we needed to see more appearances of Silk before we could make a proper judgement as pertains to her as a character. Well, after this issue, I’m still standing by what I said, since once again, Slott feels the need to browbeat how much better Cindy’s powers are than Peter’s. I might as well also add “Tsdunere” to her list of “character traits,” because when it comes to Cindy’s “personality” in this comic, she shifts between doe-eyed innocent and deadpan snarker at a moments notice, with one of her running gags being how she lacks social graces and manners due to being in isolation for ten years. The other running gag is that in spite of being “mad” at Peter, she’s still all-too eager to jump his bones because her not having kissed someone in over a decade along with her spider-instincts makes her horny. Because casting a brand-new superheroine whose “powers” give her mood swings and turn her into a raging nymphomaniac around Spidey is such a great way to attract a female audience to comics, right?
Also, as if the moment showing Peter and Cindy are making out on the rooftop while the caption reads “A rooftop overlooking the—who cares? Look what’s going on here!” wasn’t cringe-worthy enough, the scene where Anna Maria walks in on them about to have sex on the ceiling is flat-out embarrassing and reads like a bad sitcom minus the laugh track. It also becomes clear Slott is attempting to re-create a similar relationship-dynamic similar to the triangle which used to exist between Peter, Mary Jane, and Black Cat only using his own characters. Problem is, this new triangle between Peter, Anna Maria, and Silk is about as clever as it is original, which is say it’s neither. Worse, it continues to put too much emphasis on Peter being a buffoonish clown that has plagued him ever since the start of the “All-New Marvel NOW!” relaunch of Amazing Spider-Man. Yes, it’s a given that Spidey is a “hard-luck” superhero who often finds himself in awkward and humiliating scenarios, but it’s typically balanced by some level of competency on his part, of which he displays none in this entire comic. If Spidey had been regularly depicted like this over the past fifty-two years, no wonder Black Cat’s reputation was ruined if she had trouble fighting against this idiot.
As for the humor, or lack thereof, you know you’re in for a rough ride when the height of sophisticated wit involves Sajani Jaffrey commenting about how she assumed super-villains take captives “to an abandoned warehouse in the bad part of town,” and then the next scene shows Mr. Negative’s headquarters is “an abandoned warehouse in the bad part of town.” The only decent and clever jokes are when Spidey calls Silk “Spinning Jenny” with a footnote telling readers to look it up on Google, and Jonah’s reaction to when Spidey again says that his body was taken over by Doctor Octopus. I’m well aware of how difficult it is to be funny and how bad my own jokes are, but here, Slott writing comes off being desperate, and gives the impression that he’s all but given up putting in any effort in this comic, choosing to save all of his energy for his high-concept “Spider-Verse” instead.
Even Humberto Ramos appears to phone it in, even during his typically energetic fight sequences, which, given how it involves Electro slinging lightning bolts every which way, make several panels during the skirmish between Spidey and Silk against Black Cat and Electro cluttered and difficult to follow. While his facial expressions, such as the panel showing Anna Maria’s look of disapproval towards Peter, are decent enough, his irregular depictions of human anatomy is far more jarring than usual. Silk in particular gets the worst of it, as we see panels of her where she appears to have legs the same width as her forearms, toes without toenails that end in rectangular stumps, and at one point looks to have grown several feet in size compared to Black Cat and Electro. It not only makes Ramos’ artwork inconsistent but also unprofessional.
As for the ending cliffhanger, does any one seriously believe for a second that Marvel would go through the trouble of having Spider-Man publicly unmasked on live television again? After all, it’s not as if Silk isn’t still in studio fighting alongside Spidey and could easily cover up his face with some webbing, or yank him away from the camera before the audience can get a good look at his face. If Slott does, for argument’s sake, decides to have Spidey outed as Peter to whole world, then we might as well take this a clear sign Marvel plans to do a hard reboot of their universe, after all. That or we get something like what happened in Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 #12 where everyone assumed Peter was pretending to be Spider-Man to rescue Betty Brant from Doctor Octopus. At least if there’s the slightest chance that Black Cat does see Spidey unmasked next issue, it would also mean her memories about him being Peter would also return and she’d stop acting like a moron, so on some level I’m actually hoping Slott goes through with it if only for that reason. But I’m not holding my breath.
The only moment in this entire issue which contained any semblance of heart and genuine emotion, which was neither mean-spirited or juvenile, was the moment where Peter congratulated and hugged Jonah over his getting a new show at the Fact Channel. For that one brief scene, I started to believe this comic was starting to find its way again. That after suffering through page after agonizing page of Black Cat being “evil” and plot-induced spider-love, Slott and Ramos would be able to salvage something worthwhile from the wreckage they wrought. Needless to say, my new-found optimism wasn’t rewarded, and I’m just praying Amazing Spider-Man (2014) #6 will not be as awful as these last two issues have been.
D
NERDY NITPICKS:
- Just in case you’re too lazy or want to save time Googling “Spinning Jenny,” it is, as quoted on Wikipedia, “a multi-spindle spinning frame” or wheel invented in 1764 by James Hargreaves which allowed a “worker to work eight or more spools at once.” Who said comics couldn’t be educational?
- So how can you tell this comic was, in part, intended as promotional material for film, The Amazing Spider-Man 2? Because every time Electro enters into a scene, he’s wearing a hoodie, just like Jamie Foxx did in the movie. That, and Black Cat calls Electro “Sparkles” at one point. I’m just surprised with the non-subtle references that Max Dillon didn’t also utter the line “Don’t you know? I’m Electro!” or “It’s my birthday, time to light my candles!”
- “No. Mask stays on.” Geez, Spidey! I realize that you have secret identity to protect and that this whole wearing nothing but your mask was your little arrangement you had with Black Cat before she hated your guts, but is this a prerequisite for every strange woman you just met and want to have a random hook up with now? Plus, given how hot-and-heavy things between you and Cindy were starting to get, I would think covering your face would be last on your list when it comes to “protection.” Speaking of which…
- How exactly is Spidey able to get his top off while keeping gloves on? Don’t they pull over the top of shirt? Also, based on how Ramos’ illustrates their first make-out session, was Silk trying to kiss Peter or eat his tongue? I mean the later would make sense considering how female spiders do devour the males after mating.
- Sajani…just because you’re handcuffed does not mean you still have to show proper etiquette by to gripping the champagne glass with your fingertips. In fact it would probably be easier for you to actually hold the glass with your hands because you’re handcuffed.
- This might sound like a silly question, but Cindy accompanied Peter to the Fact Channel studio, where did she get a hold of some spare clothes in her size? Oh, and if you doubted me before that Silk is indeed naked underneath of webbing costume, once again take a closer look at how she’s illustrated and colorized after she webs herself up a new outfit to fight Black Cat and Electro.
- Um…Spidey? I’m not sure grabbing the TV camera and shouting directly into it will make anyone watching actually hear you. Because correct me if I’m wrong, television studio cameras are not equipped for sound. That’s why you had to be wired with a mic when you were doing your interview as Peter Parker. And why Jonah had to pick up a hand-held microphone when he wanted to announce your being unmasked by the Black Cat. You are supposed to be a science major, correct?
- Also, how exactly are those studio lights still working given the amount of voltage Electro is giving off? Better yet, how are the cameras and sound systems still operational? Hmm…maybe that’s another way Slott is going to prevent Spidey being publicly unmasked next issue.
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#49
So, you also didn’t like EOTE?
The EOTE dialogue and behavior should have been adjusted to fit Silver Sable, though. “Any old female will do” approach was very lazy. My impresison is that Sable has been mildly intrigued by Spider-Man in the past, but never interested to the point of propositioning him.
@47- I think that their mindset was that if Age of Ultron would get away with screwing things up with time travel, Fraction thought he could use that to his advantage and blame it on time travel and, in a larger scale, Age of Ultron.
Its also funny because the way Fraction’s Defenders series ended. They could have killed Black Cat off and no one would have been confused in the end why she was still around. The story ended being one big undo thanks to time travel.
@#37 Nick MB — I agree, Nick. So long as Slott is able to keep Spidey in the top 10 or 20, he’s not going anywhere any time soon. After all, both ASM #700 and Superior Spider-Man were commercial successes for both him and Marvel, and he’s continuing to ride high on that success with the All-New Marvel NOW! relaunch of Amazing.
@#44 Ryan3178 — Not to mention Flash/Agent Venom was supposed to be part of “Ends of the Earth” as well as according to that teaser showing Spidey, Black Cat, and Flash fighting the Sinister Six, thus presumably Black Widow took Flash’s place in the final draft. But yes, it’s pretty clear that much of Silver Sable’s dialogue in Ends of the Earth could have easily been said by the Black Cat–especially that one scene where Spidey gently refuses Silver Sable’s advances because he loves Mary Jane. And Spidey’s reaction when Silver Sable is supposedly drowned by the Rhino would have made far more sense and be far more emotionally devastating for him if it had been Black Cat who was killed instead.
@44 – I would have preferred that he had killed her as apposed to this nonsense.
When Slott wanted to originally kill Felicia off in Ends of the Earth but since Matt Fraction’s Defenders series was still going he couldn’t and went with Silver Sable.
Felicia ruined beyond all recognition, I wonder if slott actually bothers to read the characters or just says sod it and pushed ahead with what he thinks they should be like. This whole run feels like an out of continuity, alternative world, fan fiction mess.
The sheer amount of fail in the pages of this can only be measured by the number of fools Mr. T has pitied…
Ramos really should have gotten reference of people kissing; the panel of Spidey and Silky making out looks far more like they are in pain and even missing large chunks of their skulls (it’s tricky composition, yes, but it’s still needs to be drawn right or else it looks like they eating one another)!
@31- Yeah, as cool as the Goblin Knight costume is, he was way overused in Slott’s run, and was, in my opinion, no replacement for Kingsley as the mantle of Hobgoblin. And as to Mr. Negative getting his powers back, it’s safe to assume that Goblin King’s remnant and the Eel’s guys broke him out so that they could decide how to rule New York. Of course, one will double cross the other, but we’ll have to be patient and hope Slott doesn’t contradict that too.
@38- We can dream, but if Slott has his way, which I’m sure will come to pass, which I despise. then you’ll be waiting for a LONG time, as much as I hate to say it.
@#38
Keep waiting.
@#37: I was waiting for the writing team to change before I jump on again. $igh.
I think at this point, Slott is established at Marvel as The Spidey Guy, in the same way that Brubaker was The Cap Guy and Bendis was The Avengers Guy, to the point where he’s got the job until either he leaves or sales drop into the toilet. And with the book currently charting reliably in the top 10 and Spider-Verse coming to bulk them up, he’s probably safe from the second one for a while.
Why does Slott persist? Surely you’d think there would be many writers clamoring to be the ASM writer, but there don’t seem to be. Maybe the story tradition is too binding, it doesn’t allow you to experiment much. Slott had to push Peter Parker completely out of the series for a year and a half to do what he really wanted.
Notice how Slott presented Otto’s relationship with Anna Maria as more genuine, and now he’s got us back with the sex and the sex-jokes?
I’m not sure why but Slott’s references to TASM 2 here and Black Widow’s “ledger” in Superior #8 irritates me to no end. I’m sure if another writer did it I wouldn’t mind but Slott just makes me groan.
@#32 RDMacQ — Well, I personally thought “Spider-Island’s” was half-way decent, but the rest you listed I definitely agree had anti-climatic endings to be sure. And in the case of the Alpha story, that was botched right from the start given how annoying by design the character of Alpha proved to be. And this is definitely a recurring pattern Slott has: he can come up with “high-concepts” that can draw the readers in, but he can never quite stick the landing.
@#33 Jack — Yep.
Slott can come up with wild plot ideas that offer a lot of potential, but then much of the potential gets dissipated by too much comedy or too-quick problem resolutions, and then his finales sort of fizzle out.
@#25- Stillanerd- But the problem with the notion of Slott having a “slump” before his “big stories” is that he never delivers on his “big stories.” Spider-Island, Ends of the Earth, Alpha, Big Time, Superior itself- all of them ended in an incredibly anti-climactic and less than satisfactory faction. So what is the point of giving this guy slack regarding his “poor showing” before a “big story” when he can’t ever seem to deliver on those “big stories” to begin with?
I don’t think this is a case of Slott being in a “slump” before a big event. I think it’s more of a case of him simply being a bad writer who has coasted on sentiment for far too long.
@29 – I’d forgotten about that. So that’s another weird contradiction. But it’s like George said, Slott probably just forgot about/ignored these previous events. Kind of embarrassing mistake for a self proclaimed ‘continuity freak’ though.
@30 – I still don’t understand how Mr. Negative got his powers back. Last time we saw him The White Dragons had locked him in that room, and I was under the impression that Martin Li was unable to change back into Mr. Negative. But I guess I was wrong. I’m glad he’s back though he’s a good villain. Phil Ulrich has been used way too much during Slott’s run though, I’m bored of the character.
@29- Come to think of it, Cat was a member of the new Heroes for Hire during Spider-Island. She was in a few panels defending the barrier and defeating the Spider Queen. So Slott is basically contradicting his own work from a few years ago, just for the sake of making another bad guy for Spidey to fix during the last issue out of nowhere. That’s usually a good sign!
Although, I gotta admit, finding out what happened to Goblin Knight/King after Superior and Mr Negative, though out of the blue, was kinda neat, showing that they’d had to lay low because of Spidey’s actions. And that could lead to more stories after Spider-Verse that, because Slott quit before finishing them, forces another writer to do it instead of what they wanted, making Slott look better in the process. Sadly, I don’t think that’ll work, and if it does come to pass, I’ll just blame Slott because he was too busy/lazy to resolve it.
@#27 Scarlet Spider and #28 George Berryman — And even if the police under Capt. Jean DeWolfe didn’t unmask Black Cat during an earlier arrest, Felicia would most definitely have disclosed her secret identity before now. Why? Because she used to be a member of Heroes for Hire during Civil War, and that team was actually pro-registration.
@28 – “Has it actually been addressed as to why Black Cat’s secret identity wasn’t already public knowledge? It’s been established that she already had a criminal record by the time she first met Spider-Man. So surely the Police would have unmasked during one of those arrests.”
Quite honestly I think Slott believed her identity was a secret to begin with. I look at the current Felicia bungling in a similar way that I looked at Slott annoucing he’d *finally* have Spidey fight Bullseye. Despite the fact it had happened several years earlier, something he appeared to be unaware of.
@ Stillanerd – Ah right, thanks. I haven’t read a Hulk title in years, so I’m way out of touch on what’s gone on in the titles.
@#24 – The only people I’ve seen praise Black Cat’s new characterization is Slott’s die hard twitter fans, and new readers with no previous knowledge of the character.
Has it actually been addressed as to why Black Cat’s secret identity wasn’t already public knowledge? It’s been established that she already had a criminal record by the time she first met Spider-Man. So surely the Police would have unmasked during one of those arrests.
@#23 QuilSniv — Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if Slott did have Peter and Sajani become an item at some point, since her angle being that she considers herself smarter and more competent than Peter does seem like a set-up for future romantic comedy hijinks. And yeah, I hope ASM #6 is better than these last two issues, too, Quilsniv, and don’t worry–I’ll be sure to let you and all the fans of the Crawlspace know when I do the next ASM review! 😉
@#24 Jack Brooks — Oh, there’s quite a few readers on other venues don’t like what’s being done to the Black Cat, as well. A number posters over on the Comic Book Resources forums, for example, also think what’s happening to Felicia Hardy is downright awful, and even some of the more positive reviews I’ve read, such as the one on IGN, are now starting to scratch their heads in regards to Black Cat’s current direction:
http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/08/14/amazing-spider-man-5-review
@#8 RDMacQ — One thing I do believe we also have to take into account, and I’ve made mention of this before, is that this is not the first time Slott has hit a slump prior to one of his big event-driven stories in ASM. However, you do make a salient point about “Spider-Verse,” Mac. Because aside from being a tie-in to “Original Sin,” Silk ties directly into “Spider-Verse” as well, as we’re being told she’s integral to this entire event. And based on how Silk has been depicted so far, I’m starting to get very worried indeed.
@#9 QuilSniv — Thanks, QuilSniv! I think there may be something to the notion that Slott is feeling some burn-out, which, as I pointed out to RDMacQ, is a pattern he falls into prior to any big event, which he saves all of his energies and efforts for. Happened with Spider-Island, Ends of the Earth, Dying Wish, and Superior Spider-Man.
@#14 ryan3178 — Thanks, Ryan! And I agree.
#15 Franz29 —
Very good observations/points here, Franz.
@#16 Boomstick — Thank you, good sir! Certainly the rumors of a Marvel doing a hard-reboot have kicked into high gear ever since the announcement of Jonathan Hickman’s “Time Runs Out” storyline that supposed to begin in Avengers #35 and New Avengers #24–which are set “eight months later” from where the current comics are and is supposed to be the culmination of Hickman’s “Incursion” concept–which is alternate Earths literally colliding into one another.
Yes, Slott is not writing as much as has been claimed by some. He often does plot outlines, the artist renders it, and then someone else fills in dialogue.
Does anyone know if there has been any fan reaction/response to Black Cat becoming someone who just murders people left and right? Or is CS the only one expressing dislike?
@19- Well, the She-Hulk run was kinda ruined by ‘Trial of the Juggernaut’, but with the pieces Slott had left, he didn’t do close to the level he could’ve salvaged. And also, that last sentence basically described Slott’s last year or two in a nutshell. Next thing you know, Peter and Sajani will be having an affair behind Cindy’s back, or something like that that comes out of a fanfic, and though that would be a great plot twist, I’ll just be scratching my head with everybody else wondering where this came from. Yeah, she’s his business ‘partner’ and…. Oh. Not to mention that guy on ASM #1’s comments, saying that Pete and Sajani looked like a couple in that panel, I think Slott is taking Ramos’ art before he even finished writing and decided that he and Sajani were flirting. But with that subtle of a reveal and twist, even Sajani, arguably the most identifiable and best character of the title reboot so far, would be just as bad as Black Cat, and that’s a tough act to beat on it’s own. Regardless, I’m gonna quit Stillanerd and hope that #6 is better than it’s predecessors.
Yeah, Charles Soule is writing She-Hulk right now, and Spider-Verse is just six issues of ASM, so his only current projects are ASM and Silver Surfer, plus the 5 issues of Learning To Crawl and 2 of Superior (which are scripted by Gage, I think, and both are probably mostly done by now).
Did I miss something? I could have sworn Charles Soule was still writing She-Hulk right now.
@#17 QuilSniv and #19 Scarlet Spider — Actually, I believe the current run of She-Hulk is being written by Charles Soule. Although yes, when Dan Slott was writing She-Hulk (before he became the writer on Amazing Spider-Man), Jennifer’s love life and her denial that nothing happened between her and Juggernaut (which, to be fair, everybody wanted to ignore that Chuck Austen had them hook-up during his “Trial of the Juggernaut” story for Uncanny X-Men) were two of the running gags throughout his run.
@17 – I’m speechless, how does he get so much work?! His titles must all sell huge numbers like ASM does.
The new Silver Surfer is a really weird book, I skimmed an issue in the store once and couldn’t get into it at all. The She-Hulk run sounds truly abominable, Slott really needs to grow up and realize that sex isn’t that funny.
@17-Yep, that makes sense. Given the fact that Slott has so many irons in the fire, my overall impression is that this issue was thrown together in haste.
@11- Yep, Slott has the distinct honor of five titles at the same time- Silver Surfer, She-Hulk, and three Spider-Man titles (Learning to Crawl, Spider-Verse and Amazing, four if you count Superior), so that’s five or six titles under his belt. I’m surprised the guy hasn’t run out of steam yet, with all the titles he’s working on (Though, his She-Hulk run revolves around one joke; She’s in the heat when she hulks out, and that she didn’t sleep with Juggernaut. Oh, wait that’s two jokes! Well done, Slott! Well done…)
Excellent review, Stillanerd ! In fact, I only wish it weren’t so spot on correct-from the cartoonish caricature of JJJ to the horrible writing of Black Cat, this whole arc is turning into a train wreck of Biblical proportions. Slot clearly CAN write Peter Parker as a teen-witness “Learning to Crawl”, but the writing in this is all over the map, and Felicia in particular is so distorted she’s unrecognizable as the same character we’ve all known for years.
This sloppy execution gives me the impression that either Slott is experiencing a major burnout or-worse-we’re being thrown another Civil War type throw-the-status-quo-into-the-trash-burner-shock-and-awe arc because they’re gearing up for a reboot that nobody (besides Slott and editorial) wants. Perhaps I’m being unduly alarmist, but I’m starting to get the gnawing dread that this is gearing up to reboot Peter back to a teenager again.
Either way, the kindest word I could muster for this issue was “messy”.
What a load of rubbish. I think a D is being entirely too generous. The whole plot line is ridiculous and full of holes, people react to events in a seemingly random fashion and change on a whim (Silk’s reaction to pretty much anything seems to change on a panel by panel basis for example).
Black Cat is still so far out of character I’m wondering who’s brain they swapped hers with, we’ve already pointed out the fact that her identity was on the public record long before Ock came along so the whole beef if moot and the vendetta is baseless.
The last panel just had me say “oh please..!”. Waste of £4 on this one.
Only one intriguing item is Sajani’s behaviour: she is not acting like someone who has been kidnapped by a known murderer. Sure it’s all swanky and nice, but he’s still Electro. You’d have to be a little more perturbed than she appears to be. It’s almost as if she knows something and is just waiting. Of course I’m probably wrong and it’s just badly interpreted panels, but I can hope.
Oh, and it blew my one counter to something in SSM 32 out of the water – when Gabe didn’t know Ock had swapped brains but knew PP was Spider-man I thought, hmm, maybe (despite it being blabbed in every panel by juveile Peter in ASM #4) it wasn’t public record that this transpired. I mean that’s the sort of thing they might try to keep classified, but now Peter has announced it to the world (even if there is no sound capability in a TV camera – correct by the way), JJJ and a load of other news type people heard it so there’s no way that remains a secret, even if just in a rant.
Well done review you hit on everything I just disliked with this issue. I believe this is one of the worse issues in a while. I mean, it was so phoned it by everyone its like: “Just get to Spider-verse.” Because they seriously do not care about anything else at this point in time. Even with Silk’s introduction only Anna and Sanji are the only characters being themselves this entire issue.
@12
I’m not sure he’d be able to do that, he’s “never felt like this before”, remember?
Well he could always sell his relationship with Silk to Mephisto so people forget his identity.
@9 – Slott is writing FIVE titles for Marvel? Really? Wow…….
The annoying thing is that, assuming the two new issues weren’t written last year, Slott seems to be putting more effort into Superior than Amazing.
The Peter/Silk thing is just weird. How did this get approved?
Good review, Stillanerd. I had the exact same feelings about the comic when I read it, and I was sure my thoughts would be shared. I’m not as angry about it as people might be, but I more or less have a feeling of aggravation. The reason for this is because Slott has been on this title for almost six years, and he’s running on fumes by trying to jump on five titles at the same time. I feel that because of this, he’s burned out of material, and is doing his best to recycle old material and hope that we have the same mental span as a five-year old to not realize it.
@8- That last paragraph. Yes. Everything you said, I agree 200% with that paragraph. Sex jokes. Last ditch humor. And run-of-the-mill mature. With Slott’s abysmal work on his main titles, combined with his lack of good crossover arcs, he sought to create the ultimate Spider-Man crossover story, but, he accidentally added an unsafe ingredient: Character Silk. Thus the Spider-Verse was born, the predictably disappointing story arc in a last-ditch attempt to prolong his career.
Wow. When I can redo the Powerpuff Girls opening to make into Dan Slott’s Spider-Verse, we have a serious problem.
I kind of get the feeling that the folks behind the book are trying to be as “shocking” as Superior was. Problem is that being “shocking” isn’t the same as being “good.” Superior was shocking, but it still managed to keep people interested due to it’s unique premise. This is just supposed to be the “average” Spider-Man again, so it doesn’t have the same justification for such out of character and bizarre actions. The creators don’t seem to understand the difference between engaging an audience and angering them, thinking they are the same thing.
Really, I think that this sort of shows that, if anyone is getting their hopes up for Spider-Verse, you’re most likely going to be very, very, VERY disappointed. Slott doesn’t have the best track record with big events, and if these last few issues are anything to go by, he’s running on fumes and Spider-Verse is likely to be very underwhelming.
Good thing 2099 came out this week to counter-act this dreck.
“Also, in their first make-out session, was Silk trying to kiss or eat his tongue? I mean the later would make sense considering how female spiders do devour the males after mating.”
thats probably it.
@#4 RDMacQ — “Learning to Crawl, part 4” is scheduled for an August 27 release. Your guess is as good as mine as to why.
So… what happened to “Learning to Crawl?” I thought it was supposed to come out before the montly issue of ASM?
Or did Marvel stop caring about the comic along with everyone else?
How can Slott be getting Learning to Crawl and Superior #32-33 so right, and this book so wrong. The dialogue has taken such a nosedive in quality in the last three issues, that I can only assume that Slott is putting his effort into writing the Spider-Verse stuff. The explanation for the sudden sexual attraction between Spider-Man and Silk is just lazy, and the cliffhanger ending is so overdone and completely devoid of tension. It’s such a shame that the main Spider-Man book is the worst of all of them.
@#1 Ozymandias — Oh, I agree, Silk preventing Peter being unmasked somehow in the next issue is the most likely outcome. I’m just saying that, just like what Slott did in Amazing Spider-Man #1.2, we have yet another false cliffhanger involving Peter’s secret identity as Spidey being discovered.
Out of the three scenarios you envision, the first one is the most probable. The second one is possible, but I doubt they’d go the Civil War route again, even in the face of a reboot. As for the third option, Slott showed (back during Spider Island), that he knew about the spell which protected his secret identity, so a second unmasking would bring back everyone’s memories back, not just Felicia’s. There’s no way to pull another ASM # 12.