Amazing Spider-Man #796 Review: The Bogenrieder Perspective

So, we have another relaunch on the way after Slott jumps off the title. That’s…nice. Meanwhile, we’re still stuck with Dan. That’s… less nice.

Amazing Spider-Man #796

“Threat Level Red, Pt 3: Higher Priorities”

Writer: Dan Slott and Christos Gage

Pencils: Mike Hawthorne

Inker: Terry Pallot and Cam Smith

Colors: Erick Arciniega

Editors: Nick Lowe and Devin Lewis

Plot:

So it turns out our recently re-christened Flash Thompson (aka Agent Anti-Venom) has been making rounds in New York, capturing criminals and healing civilians. (How convenient that he just forgot that was a thing during Venom Inc, but now it’s his gimmick.) He’s so great that even Boomerang thinks he’s absolute hot-cakes. This gets him into the crosshairs of Liz Allan, who uses his secret identity as leverage (I think? The dialogue doesn’t really make that clear, or is that the point?) to play security at her Alchemax demonstration; the power source that makes the experiment go (Precious tritium) was used in the statue bomb during the annual.

At the same time, our main man Peter has also been invited to the demonstration bringing along nu-Sajani stand-in Rubylyn Bato with him as a reporter. (I’ll talk about this in my commentary later, but Peter isn’t actually doing his job.) Arriving at the plant, Peter reunites with Mary Jane, who’s there… for some reason. As the experiment begins, with Peter noticing that the Alchemax guard is the same guy from Venom Inc. (…Okay. Don’t know why that was important, but okay.) Goblin Knight and his Gob-squad arrive in force. (Either Slott didn’t read Silk (His own character, mind you) or Lowe didn’t do his job. Probably both.)

Either way, Peter and Flash save the day (With J Jonah Jameson giving Peter the edge he needs to win) and Peter gets his clothes and stuff from MJ. (Who I thought wanted nothing to do with him after Superior, but whatever, continuity.) I guess they have dinner in, or…. Wait a minute. Also, Norman somehow gains control of the Carnage Symbiote after killing his two goons (Was he just crammed in his study for a couple weeks or did ASM 795 and 796 just take place in the span of a single day?) his face is healed and he decides to become the Red Goblin.

Thoughts:

So… Marvel’s relaunching again. That’s nice. Here’s me transforming into Cebulski for your amusement.

I made a joke in the comments section of Mark’s review of this issue that I would be giving it a higher grade than he did.

I didn’t say how high, just that it would be higher.

And boy howdy, there’s a lot wrong with this issue.

I’m gonna start off with what I liked because even the stuff I like has stuff I don’t really like in here. First off, it’s great that Slott is finally acknowledging sister title Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man, by showing that Jonah is aware of Peter’s secret as Spider-Man. However, this will also be a double-edged sword as I will address it in my continuity complaints. I also appreciated Slott writing MJ in-character for once and having her be at least on good terms with Peter. (Even though the last two years worth of Spider-stories have been trying to tell us different.)

Alright, time to rip into this trainwreck. I was going to be cute and try to list off the Seven Deadly Slott sins, but there’s not enough and they don’t have relevance to the actual criticisms I had.

For one, we’ll transition from the stuff I like, because this book is all over the place in terms of continuity. As much as I appreciate ASM trying to link up with the Spectacular Sister Title, PP: SSM is very much a side continuity book. It ignores the larger MU to work at its own pace and set its own plotlines. (The fall of Parker Industries was barely, if at all, addressed in PP: SSM.) So, while I enjoy Jonah knowing that Peter is Spider-Man, there wasn’t really build-up to this in the main title, and thus comes off as jarring for anybody who isn’t reading Spectacular.

Furthermore, there are characters who aren’t supposed to be here because they were dealt with in other titles. Phil Urich, as the Goblin King, is a prime example. As somebody who read Silk before it was canceled, he’s been depowered for a long time. There’s no reason Nick Lowe or Devin Lewis or somebody should have noticed that. They edited Silk. They should know this.

On that, MJ coming back and being written inconsistently in Slott’s run is very jarring. Every appearance she makes, she has a different personality that varies depending on what the plot demands. I’m glad there’s an effort to put Peter and MJ back together, but given the recent confirmation of Nick Spencer that there’s going to be new love interests in Volume 5, I doubt it’ll stick, or Slott will use it as one last flip of the bird on his way out.

I know everybody else seems to like Mike Hawthorne, but I can’t stand him. One thing that just comes down to preference is the thickness of his linework. Rich, coming from a guy who used to draw with thick lines, but taste changes with your boy Neil, and Mike Hawthorne has not grown with the times. It does come down to Terry Pallot and Cam Smith’s inks, but Hawthorne’s pencils lend themselves to the chunky inks and very awkward facial expressions.

As a lead-in to Go Down Swinging, I don’t feel like the build-up has been satisfactory for Norman to be a credible threat as the Red Goblin than as Norman Osborn; he’s scary when he’s among us, not above us. And, like Norman’s power boost, this issue aims high but hits low. I can’t recommend this issue as a lead-in to GDS, since all it does is waste time; you could go from Venom Inc to ASM #797 and nothing would be lost. And that’s why this issue gets a–

Final Grade: D+