“What in the world are you doing?! This isn’t like you!”
So when we last left off, Spidey team-uped with Silk in more ways than one, and was about to have his secret identity revealed on live television all over again thanks to the Black Cat. I guess it’s not much of a spoiler that the next thing Spidey doesn’t say is “My name is Peter Parker, and I’ve been Spider-Man since I was fifteen years old.”
WRITER: Dan Slott
PENCILER: Humberto Ramos
INKER: Victor Olazaba
COLORS: Edgar Delgado
LETTERER: VC’s Joe Caramagna
ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Ellie Pyle
EDITOR: Nick Lowe
THE STORY: We open right where The Amazing Spider-Man (2014) #5 ended with Black Cat unmasking a barely conscious Spidey on live television courtesy of J. Jonah Jameson. However, because Jonah is standing directly in front of the camera, no one watching the broadcast (including the staff of the Daily Bugle, Aunt May and Jay Jameson, and Anna Maria) can see the unmasked Spidey. And before any one in the studio can, Cindy Moon, a.k.a. Silk covers Peter’s face with her webbing, pulls him to safety, and escapes with him back to his and Anna Maria’s apartment. Having seen Spidey with a new crime-fighting partner in Silk, Black Cat goes to the Bar With No Name to recruit more super-villains, who, as she arrives, are holding a wake for Francine—the super-villain groupie who Electro accidentally kissed to death in The Amazing Spider-Man (2014) #2. Because of this, along with the fact Parker Industries is building a new super-prison because of Electro, the villains refuse to work with Black Cat so long as she remains partners with him.
After Anna Maria removes Silk’s webbing from Peter’s face courtesy of Doc Ock’s web-dissolver, she drives him and Cindy to a waterfront where Parker Industries are demonstrating their “Electro-Trap” for the NYPD. However, just before they arrive (with Peter and Cindy making out in the backseat), Cindy’s spider-sense goes off, thus forcing her and Peter to change into Silk and Spidey respectively. Peter tells Anna Maria to cover for his absence again, and promotes her to Senior Project Manager on the spot. Silk also uses her webbing to partly cover Spidey to give him added insulation from Electro. A Fact News Chopper, with reporter Natille Long, is also at the scene having been anonymously tipped off by the Black Cat. Black Cat and Electro are in disguise, and, as Electro going into the trap, Black Cat uses it to amplify his powers, then sabotages it to prevent it from being turned off. Thus, both Electro and the trap start overload, causing the Fact News chopper to get hit. Silk uses her webbing to cushion the helicopter’s fall, while Spidey struggles save Electro. Silk is able to pull Spidey and Electro to safety, then makes a web-pod to protect them just as the Electro-Trap explodes. Fortunately, everyone else was out of harm’s way, and Black Cat, because of her luck powers, was able to escape unharmed.
The next day, Cindy lands an unpaid internship at the Fact Channel, while Black Cat, having restored her street cred, is able to recruit the super-villains from before to become the “Queen of Thieves [and] Crime.” At Parker Industries HQ, Anna Maria is treating Peter’s electrical burns, upset how Black Cat escaped, the city is upset with them, and with what Peter told her about Morlun. Peter, however, considers this a win because the Electro-trap ended up removing Electro’s powers and no one died. Sajani Jaffrey then arrives, and explains to Peter and Anna Maria how Black Cat kidnapped her and forced her to explain how the Electro-trap worked. However, a flashback reveals that Sajani willfully gave Black Cat the information because she thinks Peter’s ideas for trapping super-villains is the “worst business model ever.” So while Sajani tells Anna Maria to keep working on Doc Ock’s nanotech project in secret, an unsuspecting Peter is confident his overall plans for capturing and curing super-villains will work.
THOUGHTS: When I began to read The Amazing Spider-Man (2014) #6, and saw how Dan Slott resolved the cliffhanger from last issue, I started to become a bit more optimistic this comic would make up and evaporate the debacle that were the earlier parts. Oh sure, we all knew Peter Parker’s secret identity wouldn’t be revealed, of course, that Dan Slott would come up with some convenient, out-of-nowhere solution we’ve come to expect whenever Spidey’s secret identity is in jeopardy. Having it come from Jonah blocking the shot certainly fit the bill, and was ridiculous besides (seriously, are there no other working cameras in that television studio? Or the camera operator couldn’t move the camera himself if Jonah refuses to get out-of-the-way?), but it also showed a degree of cleverness on Slott’s part. Same with Humerto Ramos’ panel arrangement of the scene, with its parallel juxtaposition between the first and the second pages in showing the reaction shots from various supporting cast members, with them reacting on what you are lead to believe is Spidey’s being unmasked when in reality they’re reacting to Jonah’s ineptitude and egotism. As I said, I was starting to feel optimistic.
Then sadly, the rest of the issue happened. And unlike Peter at the end of this issue, I was not having a goofy smile on my face while thinking “Today was a bump in the road, but I’m feeling good about all of this.” Because Amazing Spider-Man #6 wasn’t just a bump in the road–it was a pothole, although not quite the cavernous sinkholes that were The Amazing Spider-Man (2014) #4 and #5.
If anyone believed Slott would have Felicia Hardy see the error of her new adopted villainous path by the end of this story, he has all but crushed and obliterated any hope of this ever happening in the near future. Aside from her deliberate attempted murder of Electro and willingness to kill innocent bystanders in the process, this comic reinforces and confirms with her “who’s really in that head of yours” comment she did indeed believe Spider-Man was telling her the truth about Doctor Octopus taking over his body, but that she just doesn’t give damn.
In addition, this comic reinforces how, from the beginning of the “All-New Marvel NOW!” relaunch of The Amazing Spider-Man comic, Black Cat’s whole motive for revenge against Spider-Man has been nothing but inconsistent and readjusted to fit the narrative. First, she wanted payback for “the Spider” knocking out her tooth, capturing her for the authorities, and thus “exposing her secret identity” (never mind that her identity was already public due to her having a criminal record). Then, she wanted to destroy Spider-Man as a means of restoring her reputation and regain respect with the criminal underworld. Now, having seemingly restored her reputation and respect with the criminal underworld, Black Cat just wants to destroy Spider-Man because she believes her past relationship is what ruined her life to begin with. And it doesn’t help when even the story, via Spider-Man’s attempt to reason with Black Cat, admits that Black Cat is acting out of character. Whatever justification there might have been for Black Cat having a heel turn, what it really comes down to is that Black Cat is a now super-villain just because.
Not to say Felicia Hardy isn’t the only character who winds up getting derailed, as this comic also gets rid of what whatever sympathy the reader might have had for Sajani Jaffrey. In fairness, Sajani, ever since Slott introduced her as one of Peter’s co-workers at Horizon Labs, she’s always been depicted as someone who considers herself smarter than the rest of her colleagues, particularly Peter. And, since being hired as vice-president of Parker Industries, she’s been the one portrayed as someone who believes Peter is unfit to run the company, the one who was against the idea of creating a new super-villain prison from the beginning. Yet to have this translate to her voluntarily help the Black Cat and thus become an accomplice in endangering innocent lives is really a stretch. It’s thus all the more obvious that her having Anna Maria work on Doc Ock’s nanotech project without Peter’s knowledge, and with whatever machinations she has planned to sabotage the rest of Peter’s proposed super-villain countermeasures will lead to disaster. Which would be fine by me because, if anything, all Slott has done by making Peter the CEO of his own company is to turn him into a naïve, inferior Tony Stark wannabe minus the facial hair, complete with his own version of Pepper Pots in Ana Maria, and a Obadiah Stone in Sajani Jaffrey.
Also, for those who are still not convinced Cindy Moon isn’t an illustration of the “Mary Sue” archtype before now, this too is on full-display to the point where she all but steals the spotlight from the very character whom the comic is named after. Again, we’re reminded how much better her spider-speed and spider-sense are than Peter’s. Again, we’re shown she has better web-slinging abilities than Peter, as she can literally make it do whatever she wants it to do. Again, we get a third make-out session between her and Peter, although at least they manage to keep their clothes on. In addition, Silk, with the exception of Spidey saving Electro, does all the heroic acts in the issue, including saving Spidey no less than three times. She’s also apparently immune to and unaffected by Black Cat’s bad luck powers, makes more wisecracks and quips than Spidey, and, despite apparently not having so much as a high school diploma, gets herself a job at the same news organization where Jonah works in less than a week. Why, if I didn’t know any better, I would think this was all by design, not only to further promote the upcoming “Spider-Verse” crossover, but to give her own monthly series. Oh, wait! She is getting her own monthly series, as she’s going be partnering up with Jessica Drew in the new Spider-Woman series. And given how Natalie Long actually calls Silk “Spider-Woman” in this very issue, I wouldn’t put it past Marvel to make Cindy Moon the official new Spider-Woman over the coming year, one who has more of connection with Spider-Man moreso than Jessica does by design. After all, when a new character is being promoted this hard and is set-up with an already established status quo this fast, you just know Marvel is hoping to get another viable spin-off series out of this, just like when “Spider-Island” set the stage for Scarlet Spider, and how Superior Spider-Man set-up the new Spider-Man 2099 comic. Either that or, because she has “no where else to go,” she’ll still continue to be Spidey’s new sidekick and super-powered live-in girlfriend since all the rest of Spidey’s love interest have been all-too conveniently sidelined.
In terms of its overall narrative structure, Slott paces the comic well enough; yet for something which involves a character who can literally generate electricity, there’s a surprising lack of energy in its densely packed plot. Considering how much Slott was building up Electro’s need for vengeance and how unstable his powers were becoming, his having those powers removed, which would otherwise be a major development, is an anti-climatic afterthought. Peter finding a silver-lining despite the drawbacks, with a restored confidence in himself, doesn’t come across as him having a new lease on life as the ending intends; instead, it winds up making him look foolish when the very same page points how two of his “good friends” are either conspiring against him or going behind his back. Once more, the new Amazing Spider-Man feels rather paint-by-numbers compared to what Slott had done with Superior Spider-Man around the same length of time.
Finally, there is Humberto Ramos’ art, and, as readers of my previous reviews well know, I find his style to be a mixed bag, and this comic is now exception. The climatic battle involving Electro being overloaded by the containment device look fantastic. Enhanced by Victor Olazaba’s inking and Victor Olazaba’s colorization, once again the electricity effects are gorgeous, the predominant use of blues and whites giving the sense that the comic itself is the safest thing to holding a live wire. Yet all the Ramos trademarks are present: irregular depiction of the human anatomy, elastic looking limbs and facial features, overhead perspective shots which makes the scenes look flat, characters who are supposed to be physical smaller than others appearing larger when positioned in front of them, and the occasional over-crowding of smaller panels. Let’s just say I’m relieved Ramos will be taking a foreseeable break when Giuseppe Camuncoli returns to doing the art in the next issue, and that Olivier Coipel will be doing the “Spider-Verse” issues.
For what was supposed to be the triumphant return of Peter Parker and return of The Amazing Spider-Man, Slott and Ramos’ first six issues of the newly relaunched flagship title have been the most lackluster comics of the “All-New Marvel NOW!” initiative. True, in terms of sales, it’s a commercial success, and isn’t anywhere as sub-par as the Howard Mackie and John Byrne relaunch from nearly two decades earlier, yet the level of disappointment is comparable. If the consensus is that Slott is saving his storytelling skills and energy for “Spider-Verse” kicks into high gear, then all I ask is this: why must we, as readers, suffer for mediocrity while we wait?
D+
NERDY NITPICKS:
- “Can’t someone get a clear shot of his face!” Hey, Felicia? Can’t you just see for yourself what Spider-Man looks like without his mask? All you have to do is slightly bend your head down and look towards his general direction, especially since you’re the one who is holding him.
- “For your first super-villain run-in, not, bad Silk. Not bad at all.” Note that Peter is thinking this while Silk, in rescuing Peter, is abandoning the rest of the Fact News Channel staff with the Black Cat and Electro, thus potentially endangering the lives of innocent people and which could result in another hostage situation like before. Or that would have been the case had Black Cat and Electro not decided to just up and leave the scene for no good reason once the hero left. I’m guessing when Max and Felicia thought when the Joker did something similar during The Dark Knight, they thought it that was brilliant tactical maneuver instead of a plot-hole.
- So not only is Boomerang and Speed Demon among the villains at the Bar With No Name, but so is the Shocker, having somehow escaped being buried alive, but Abner Jenkins is the Beetle again? Or last someone dressed in the Beetle’s old costume and who is not Janice Lincoln? Way to spoil the outcome of The Superior Foes of Spider-Man, Marvel! Even if it did also remind me of a better comic more people should be reading.
- Perhaps I’m not exactly in tune to Anna Maria’s logic here. Yes, she can see Peter webbing himself a makeshift pair of underwear and Cindy webbing for him a makeshift mask is part of a “pattern” (not to mention also makes him a “butt head,” pardon the pun). But how does she assume that’s yet another sign of Peter and Cindy wanting to “spider-spawn?” Especially since she knows Peter and Cindy have to take clothing off to do so? Unless, of course, it was for no other purpose than to set up the obvious crack about how female spiders eat the males after mating, but I’m sure there’s more to it than that, right?
- So all if all it takes to buy Felicia as some anonymous generic “nerd girl” was to pin-up one’s hair and wear “smarty glasses,” then what did that make Carlie Cooper?
- “What kind of Mickey Mouse operation are you running here?” See, now that Marvel’s parent company is owned by Disney, they’re now free to make those kinds of references free of litigation.
- Because who needs proofreading when phrases such as “What’re waiting we for?” and “Where we conducting it” can pass for acceptable grammar in a professional publication, right? Bravo, editors!
- So Silk says to Spidey, “I may be new to this, but why did you give up the element of surprise” after he makes a joke before going up against the Black Cat. I guess will just over look how Silk herself did the same thing she berated Spidey for doing when she rescued him from Black Cat hours before at the beginning of this very issue.
- Pop quiz, you “no-prize” loving science majors! We’re told that the purpose of the Electro-Trap is designed to remove Electro’s powers. Black Cat, as we see, reverses the process to “amp up” Electro’s powers to the point where he is nearly ripped apart by electromagnetic energy and the trap explodes. So then how exactly did the trap de-power Electro when the device was increasing his powers the whole time? Because remember what that YouTube scientist guy said in The Amazing Spider-Man 2–if you have too much current running through more than what the battery can hold, then “the battery will EXPLODE! AND EXPLODE! AND EXPLODE!”
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I do not even understand how I stopped up right here, but I believed this submit was once good. I don’t recognize who you are however definitely you are going to a well-known blogger for those who aren’t already. Cheers!
I don’t know how comics are made and how far ahead they are written, but I’m guessing these first few issues were written before the Amazing Spider-Man 2 movie came out and Marvel thought it would be a huge success and everyone would love Electro, which is why he is in these issues (although that doesn’t explain why he wasn’t the villain in ASM #1 which came out the same week as the movie was released, but whatever). However, Electro has been portrayed as a flunkie of the Black Cat, not even an equal partner. She is making all of the decisions, she betrays him with the depowering/super-powering machine – he is barely a character in these issues.
I also noticed Boomerang and the Shocker in the Bar With No Name scene. I figure it was less to do with fallout from the end of SFoSM and more to do with Slott/Marvel not caring about that series so they just put random C/D-list villains in the background. “Boomerang? Shocker? Sure, whatever.”
@article
“Hey, Felicia? Can’t you just see for yourself what Spider-Man looks like without his mask? All you have to do is slightly bend your head down and look towards his general direction, especially since you’re the one who is holding him.”
If she wasn’t expecting to recognize his face, it makes some sense that she were more preoccupied with what the camera might capture.
@17
“I’d love to see Marcos Martin back, love his Pencils and those eye popping colors. But really I’d rather see Slott go before a fantastic artist gets on this book.”
My sentiments exactly. True, three of Slott’s best plots, he reserved for MM, but I wouldn’t risk it, he may not have anything left.
Hhhh
has it been established that cindy is from the main universe. is there more of her across the spiderverse? If she is from a different universe might explain the ‘disappearance’ of her family. maybe there is some voodoo interpretation of ‘bitten by the same spider’ Possibly is a go back to her planet senario.
@7: I think what happened to Silver Sable and Doctor Kafka count as fridging, though those were in different books, so I guess it’s just a matter of time before he fridges someone in this relaunch. I’m sure that will happen during Spider-Verse, since I expect either Anya or Mayday to die.
@Stillanerd
I had an alternate theory that the Living Brain actually houses a backup copy off Otto’s heroic brain. He was the one who acquired the corpse and is repairing it. This makes sense to me since Slott spent so much time convincing us that Otto could be a hero. With Curt Connors irredeemable Slott can have Otto fill the role of smart helper scientist with a loving family(Anna Maria Octavius and child).
Has anyone else had enough of the crappy fallout from Superior? Not only was the whole ‘Doc Ock was in my brain’ thing resolved to quickly we also had all the characters including Ana Maria – who loved Spidey Ock – just be ok with it straight away! Now Peter is just bumbling around like an idiot, does he not know he has blood on his hands? Plus I know he was away for a bit but does Spidey have to look so crap and ameteurish whenever he’s fighting, this is not the Spider-Man I remember. I also think Silk wouldn’t be too bad a character if she was just written better, maybe by someone has met girl perhaps?
I think that the Black Cat’s current status as a crime boss is just a setup for the return of the Kingpin and Dr. Trauma.
@36 – I’m not saying Venom is as bad a character as Silk, I’ve enjoyed many of his post 2004 appearances. I’m aware he’s a fan favorite, and (is now) a much better character than Silk, but his early portrayals have some similarities to Silk’s current depiction.
Venom’s alter-ego was a character we’d never seen before, he was given a “long running hatred and connection ” with Peter to make him a more credible character. Much like how Slik has been introduced in Original Sin.
Once the ‘Lethal Protector’ phase started, Venom would consistently team up with Spidey. In these team up appearances Venom was written as being extremely competent, while Spidey was left looking like a helpless moron. His overshadowing of Spidey got so ridiculous that on the cover of ASM #380, Spidey was reduced to being described as one of Venom’s ‘pals’.
To be fair a large part of Venom’s prevalence in the 90’s was because of the characters massive success with readers. Whatever book he appeared in would rake in cash, so he was naturally overexposed and favored by writers. But considering how much the ASM re-launch is selling now, and given that Silk has a growing fanbase, this same level of overexposure could easily happen again.
yeah silk is a bit like poochy, new and a bit over baring. It could have been interesting someone with the same powers as peter but with out the guilt but its just someone who was locked up for 13 years and with no experience is just better, no explanation just better no fear, no self doubt, some one who was afraid to go outside for 13 years is out going, confident bit cheeky, no story about realization of potential, just better nah, time to go back to your planet.
@38: Sanjani might just as well be a mole of the Kingpin. And I suspect that her dealings with the Superior Black Cat will cause her to take a 40% stake in Parker Industries, which will not sit well with Peter at all. As well as the fact that Sanjani and Felicia might be in the early stage of a romantic relationship.
Okay…. I HATE Sajani now. What the heck is she doing? Double-crossing her own boss?! Damn, I hope Peter will find out about this soon.
Felicia’s change in behavior can be traced by to Dr. Tramma…
@34 Comparing Venom, at least the early Venom, to Silk is blasphemy! He physically outmatched Spidey but it also forced Spidey to show his wits each time they fought to defeat him. Which he did, over and over again. Peter’s not done anything right in the past… what, 3 issues? and Silk suddenly is hyper competent despite being locked up for 13 years.
@33- What if SILK is the main character of the spinoff? Oh dear god.
@32 – If I had to pick the better, it would probably be Carlie. But I honestly still can’t stand either of them.
If I actually had to compare Silk to anyone it would be 90’s Eddie Brock Venom, because they both seem to exist for the sole purpose of being better than and upstaging Spidey in his own title.
What a horrible horrible issue. I had one terrifying thought when it was over:
What if all this focus on the Black Cat is an indication that Marvel is building the focus on her because she’s going to be starring in the female-led Sony Spider-man spinoff?
I mean the Sinister Six is focused on villains, why wouldn’t the female-led Spidey film?
Actually, with Silk being such a Mary Sue, I decided to create a little game for us to play: Who do you think is the better Mary Sue? (As in which Mary Sue is better than the other in terms of character?) Carlie of Cindy? Honestly, if I had to pick, I would just go with Carlie, since at least she had good development as Monster and even a bit during Big Time. Now, let the games begin, and may the odds be never in your favor (Dan Slott demands it!)
Two questions…
If Silk is so much better than Spider-Man, how is HE gonna protect HER from Morlun?
If Silk is so much better than Spider-man, WHY does HE have to protect HER from Morlun?
-_-
If she’s already announced to have her own ongoing book, as well as piggy-backing on Jessica’s book and possibly stealing her name, why should we care about any of this?
… so I lied.
@#29. Yeah, I suspect the Spidey we know and love is DAG. I hate to admit it, but the business plan makes sense, in a sad sort of way. Marvel has to decide between writing Spidey for people who have already given them money, versus people who (hopefully) will give them money in the future.
My suspicion is that the average comic buyer spends a little less on comics (on average, adjusted for inflation) with each passing year. So pursuing buyers of the past does not make as much sense as pursuing buyers of the future.
I wish it were not that way, but I fear this is the reality.
I don’t know that Spidey fan fiction will ever really take off. So much fan fiction is just . . . Sad. I have read some HP and Star Trek stuff that is better than the original canon, but which goes in directions canon will never go (And I do NOT mean slash. I don’t read slash.). But the art aspect is probable going to stop that from happening with comics.
That’s too bad, because I think the fans have more love and respect for the character than the owners and creators do. To them, it is a job, a pes session, and a cash-flow. To the fans . . . it is something of the stuff that dreams are made of.
Great review Stillanerd!
I’m wondering if complete hollowing out of Felicia’s character (or at least her relationship with Spider-Man) is due to the fact that she no longer remembers who Spider-Man is? Since her return in ASM#606 she has just be insufferable. We had a glimpse of her former character in X-Factor 215-218(ish) but that’s only because Peter David was writing. I just don’t get why she has been so ruined as of late.
And Peter Parker. . .I just. . .I remember when he was actually my hero, and that, just, it sucks.
Congrats, Slott. With ASM #706 you’ve finally pushed it far enough to get me to finally give up the main Spider-Man title. Month after month, ASM has given me nothing but irritation while reading it. I’ll start picking it up again when they hire someone that can write a story with characters that doesn’t give me the equivalent feeling of having someone holding their finger a millimeter from my face while chanting, “I’m not touching you. I’m not touching you.”
@#15 QuilSniv —
Caselli and Rodriguez being part of the regular rotation again would be fine with me, too. And I’d love it if Marcos Martin would return to Spider-Man, even though he’s probably invested now with his online publishing comic company Panel Syndicate and working with Brian K. Vaughun on The Private Eye (which is worth checking out, BTW). One artist I’d be curious to see do Amazing Spider-Man on a regular basis would be Mike Allred, given his work on Silver Surfer. Also, I’d be neat to see Ramón Perez do the regular series after “Learning to Crawl,” especially with his more Ditkoesque influences. Another artist I’d like to see give Spider-Man a shot again: Paul Pope.
@22 – I still got a feeling that Otto is somehow going to stay as SpOck for a while longer. I have a sneaking suspicion that he’s going to survive Spider-Verse in a alternate Peter Parker’s body.
@#22: So, basically, Otto will end up like Vamp or Senator Armstrong from the Metal Gear games.
@#22- Stillanerd- Or it will be a big reset button on the character and revert him to a more familiar state so as not to rock the boat too much.
@#23- Eugene M- It’ll be retconned or undone, no doubt. I just think it will probably last until the end of 2015, and then get reversed with the Black Cat “realizing” how wrong she was (i.e. Dan Slott being told to undo his crappy writing).
Do you think the changes to Black Cat will stick or is this something that future writers(hopefully) will ignore or retcon away?
@#20 RDMacQ — Oh, I agree, that the nanite research is definitely being set-up as a possible Chevok’s Gun when it comes to Doc Ock’s body, of that I’m sure. And it also would potentially allow for the newly revived Doc Ock to have a more durable constitution and better able to withstand injury, maybe even possible self-regeneration. After all, it was years of blunt force trauma which led to his dying in the first place so having a body full of nanite-octobots would prevent this from happening again.
@19
No, its from using the powers of Professor Xavier to his full extent, he has taken on the powers of Onslaught and basically does an inversion on the heroes and villains. Hence Tony Stark returns to his pre-Iron Man ego. Deadpool gives up mercenary and killing to be zen. Hobgoblin becomes his own version of Heroes for Hire and Luke Cage decides to be a profitable Hero for Hire now.
@#10- Stillanerd- Not really, no. Ock’s body will probably be held somewhere by his Octobots or something like that, then revived by the nanite research that Anna’s doing.
Nah, that thing is the Red Skull using a Cosmic Cube to turn everything upside down, which has not happened yet. What’s happening here is just bad writing.
@#5. Isn’t thee some kind of upcoming story “event” involving character inversion? Perhaps the plan is that it somehow comes out of the Black Cat and the nature of her “bad luck” power (which, IIRC, was never really explained, but just something the Kingpin somehow “gave” her.
If this character inversion starts with the Black Cat, then it might explain her character change, as well as Ssajani’s odd behavior.
@Stillanerd – I had completely forgotten about Ock’s body! I had always assumed that it would show up in the final issue of the series, but it hasn’t been mentioned since #21. I wouldn’t be surprised if Lady Ock does have the body, but it seems to me like it’s just been forgotten about entirely.
@12 – I’m starting to feel the same way about the Mackie/Byrne and Slott/Ramos era’s being similar. Both of these runs are testament to why rebooting Spider-Man will probably never work.
@15 – I’d love to see Marcos Martin back, love his Pencils and those eye popping colors. But really I’d rather see Slott go before a fantastic artist gets on this book.
@15- Slott’s has the next 2 years planned out. I assume that his run will come to a close around 2016 at the earliest.
@11- Superior and Amazing Spider-Man have been brought to you by-
BITTERNESS.
Thank deviant art for that little line.
I’m honestly DONE with Slott’s run, its gotten so far that I’m resisting going to the comic store and canceling my pullbox on the title, and just waiting until Axis starts and seeing what happens after Spider-Verse if Slott is still on the title.
And in my opinion, the art setup for this issue was perfectly tuned for Ramos’ pencils and wonky style, which is in the same realm as my own art style. I still think that Slott is burning him out though, and hopefully the art will be better if/when he returns in the artist rotation after Camuncoli and Copiel. Speaking of which, Stillanerd, which previous artists besides Ramos, Camuncolli, and Copiel would you like to see return as guest artists or regular rotations? Personally, I’d love to see Caselli, Rodriguez, and Marcos Martin (of course!) return or guest draw.
Thanks for the excellent reviews (and Andrew as well). I’m dropping this comic until I see some better ratings. It is horrible. They need to change up this creative team ASAP. This has to be one of the lowest points in Spidey’s history (and that’s really saying something).
I ruined what little cheap enjoyment I got out of the Slott stories by reading an old J. Michael Stryzinski TPB a few days ago. When you eat a good ham sandwich it makes you realize that fried Oscar Mayer boloney isn’t very good.
Can Dan Slott give someone else a turn already? His Spidey is pretty much unreadable these days. I haven’t cringed this much at the book since the Mackie/Byrne relaunch era.
@#9: I look forward to reading it with my HATE GOGGLES on and hearing Slott complain about you spoofing the comic that’s IN YOUR HEAD instead of the one Slott thinks is ON THE PAGE.
That’s what adults on the interwebs do, right? Capitalize strings of words so people won’t criticize them and so everybody will know they’re fo’ serious, yo!
@ #1 Anonymous Jones — You know…that’s a very good point. Not to mention how we’ve been shown multiple times already that Silk’s webbing does not work the same way as Spidey’s, what with her somehow being able to make it as dense or soft as she wants it to be. Unless Doc Ock’s web-dissolver is just a fancy name for acid.
@ #2 QuilSniv — Thanks, good sir! And yes, when it comes to Spidey, we’ll be “Livin’ On The Edge” soon enough. 😉
@ #3 RDMacQ and #7 Scarler Spider — Which reminds me: there’s still has been no follow up whatsoever as to Doc Ock’s body missing from his grave as seen in Superior Spider-Man #21, has there? Still thinking Lady Ock is the one who has it.
On the plus side, it’s looking like I’ll have a lot of material for my next “response.”
Honest to god, I didn’t think things were going to get as bad as they did in Superior. How wrong I was….
I’m sick of reading about Peter Parker’s sexploits. It’s almost like a tabloid soap opera.
New creative team with real super hero stories please. Stories with true in depth characterizations, intrigue, drama and suspense. Stories with a mature age Peter Parker who is at least 28 years of age and acts responsibly, not like some clown in a sitcom.
@3 – The arc after Spider-Verse will no doubt reveal that………..Lady Ock has swapped brains with Felicia!!
@5 – At this point I’m just pleased that Slott hasn’t ‘fridged’ any of the women in this book.
@6 – Is this the first time Slott has character assassinated one of his original characters? I never thought I’d see the day!!
Just when you thought Felicia was character assassinated you get Sanjani. Remember kids, Peter can’t handle money or see his employees hate him. It’s the best story line since killing Mary Jane, making him homeless and everyone hate him. Like Howard Mackie did.
So he decided to make two women flat-out evil, with Felicia showing no regret for the levels she will sink to, and Sajani apparently NOT being ashamed that she would help someone who would gladly endanger innocent lives, because apparently Felicia and Sajani are both at the point where they ONLY care about spiting Peter, and they have no regard for whoever has to suffer as a result of that. Meanwhile, you have Cindy, who is supposed to be Peter’s Magic Pixie Girlfriend. Does Slott seriously think he’s being “progressive” with his portrayal of women?
Once Spider-Verse is done and over with, I hope the sales for this book drop like an anvil.
That television studio must really be feeling the pinch of the economic crisis if all it can afford is one camera. Television studio pedestal cameras on average are part of a two or three multi-cam set up.
Anyway this is just more schlock from Slott sinking to new depths of campy lackluster drivel.
I really don’t see Felicia’s “Face-Heel Turn” lasting long. The whole thing has been bungled so badly, coming off as such a hack-job, character derailment I’m pretty much expecting a quick “Um, she was brainwashed the whole time” style retcon. This was handled so badly, it’s not even funny.
Yes. Yes! The perfect review, Stillanerd! These were the thoughts rushing through my head when I read the comic, and I was fairly disappointed with what I was expecting to be a good plot-answering issue. Heck, even the solicitation leaves more vagueness for us to figure out!
And yes, good ol’ Cindy Moon, the newest in a long line of Mary Sues to come. But, if Cindy Moon is a Mary Sue now, what does that make Carlie Cooper? A… lesser Mary-Sue?
Also, if Andrew’s reading this, I think that Sajani’s less of a villain but it fits into more of her character that she has little faith in Peter’s super villain prison project, so she made it fail to reboot the cybernetics line. But, I have to agree with you guys, it is a bit of a stretch to make her go that far into helping two highly unstable criminals in a highly illegal act when she’s the VP of a new company. So, you guys actually hit on the nail with that one, but I felt like throwing in my two cents.
Either way, great review, ‘Nerd, and hope you have a good time jumping over the edge into what I hope is one of Slott’s better works. Eh? Anybody get it?
How the hell does Ock’s web dissolver work on Silk’s webs? Her’s are biological while Peter uses a chemical compound that looks and behaves like webbing. Ock’s formula shouldn’t have done jack squat.