Spider-Man vs Peter Parker? How can this be, True Believer? Hold on to your web spinners, wall-crawler-philes, because Spencer takes us on another 1980s-esque romp through the life of everyone’s favorite hero! All this and the Tri-Sentinel and Norah Winters too!
Credit Where Credit Is Due
Story Title: Back to Basics part 3
Writer: Nick Spencer
Penciler: Ryan Ottley
Inker: Cliff Rathburn
Colorist: Laura Martin
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramanga
Cover Artist: Ryan Ottley and Laura Martin
Designer: Anthony Gambino
Asst. Editor: Kathleen Wisneki
Editor: Nick Lowe
Published: August 8, 2018
Remedial ASM 101
What? You haven’t read the past two issues? What are you waiting for?????? OK, well, here’s the low down – Because Taskmaster and Black Ant tried to steal some science, some science happened and scienced Peter Parker so that now there are two of him – one is Peter and one is Spidey! Let the shenanigans begin!
The Story – Pay Attention, This Will Be on the Test
Our elephant hunter from last week is being attacked. Peter Parker, Mary Jane, and Randy go bowling. Nora Winters (Randy’s ex and ex-Daily Bugle employee) shows up from Peter’s invite and offers him a chance at employment. When the Tri-Sentinel starts attacking New York, Peter surprises Mary Jane by not going to the rescue. However, that doesn’t stop Spidey from arriving on the scene and saving the day. How? Flashback to last issue and we see that they have split and figured out that they are indeed each other and Spidey leaves Peter to do mundane things while he goes out to live the high-life, much like Electric Company Spidey does. Peter goes to see Doc Connors and learns that the science that science him may have side effects of cutting out certain moral beliefs of one of the subjects split.
What Passed:
The humor was spot on, again. Spencer keeps it funny while also telling a serious story. A hard blend, but he has this down pat. I particularly liked how Peter and Spidey used rigorous scientific tests to make sure they were one and the same.
In fact the whole play between Peter and Spidey was well written. You can tell Spidey is a bit off character in the responsibility part and it was done ON PURPOSE.
What Failed
The art was a little off from the high quality we got in the first two issues. It is still great stuff, so it is not really a fail.
Where’s Fred? I am dying to see the outcome of the FCBD roomie pairing!
OOTI (Onomatopoeia of the Issue)
There were only three this issue – snap, honk, and…
On a scale of 1 (POW) to 10 (BLRKBQRKPQRBLNB), SMASH rates a 2.
Analysis
The splitting of Peter Parker and Spider-Man is intriguing. Spencer is still jumping us around in time, but only a bit. Spider-Man’s lack of responsibility is evident when he takes off to avoid talking about how to fix the problem and leaving Peter stranded. Then Doc Connors comes back to it by suggesting that it was too dangerous to use on people and gives the example of a skilled surgeon who lacks the part of him who believes in “doing no harm”. It is then punctuated by Spider-Man crashing the Tri-Sentinel in the crowded streets of New York while screaming, “Yee-Haw!” (Which, coincidentally, is what I yelled while reading issue #1 – hey, I’m from the South. It’s what we do.)
The re-introduction of Norah Winters, the continued appearances of Mary Jane and Randy, the use of established villains all shout out to Nick Spencer’s credit. He is not about making his mark on the Spidey legend. He is about telling great Spidey stories (which will, most likely, make him remembered as one of the great Spider-Man writers (but at only three issues it is a little soon to be handing out that moniker)). Other writers like to create their own supporting cast and villains, which is not a bad thing in itself, but are so desperate to make them stick, that they tend to focus too much on those and deprive the fan base of the characters they know and love. Then, when that writer moves on, those new characters are never seen again only to be replaced by the new writer’s creations. Spencer doesn’t seem concerned about that. He wants to tell a fun story. He wants to have fun with the characters we all grew up reading about. That’s one of the reasons we here at the Crawlspace are digging these issues so much.
On top of that, Spencer is so sure that he gets Peter Parker’s character, he is going to split out Peter Parker to focus on it more. So far, he’s doing a bang up job.
This issue breaks a little from the first two. Spencer has been following the ‘80s mandate of “Every Comic Is Someone’s First Comic” and to that end has been quickly recapping what needs to be known in-story, then providing a full story in that issue, and leaving set ups for future issues. The only break for that is it didn’t feel so much that we got a full story for this one, but enough of one for me not to feel I wasted my money. Personally, I can’t stand paying full price for a comic that that just gives me a fourth of a story (or in Bendis’s case, an eighth of a story).
This is fairly reminiscent of What If? #30 – What If the Clone Had Lived? I love those old alternate reality stories. You can read it on Marvel Unlimited, if you are interested.
As far as the untold Inhuman story, well, some stories are better left untold…
Extra Credit
Take some time to go back and read the Crawlspace’s tribute to Ditko. At the time they came out, our website was having some issues and you may have missed them. Time to study up on the man’s life! (I’m particularly fond of the Cobwebs – there is something about the guy who is writing Cobwebs that I just like).
Cobwebs: So Who Inspired Ditko? (it could have been Blunder Broad!)
All of Adam Schingle’s Ditko Panel of the Day
Tangled Webs: Is Ditko One of the Best Spider-Man Writers?
Ditko Letters Facebook Page (These are Awesome)
Remembering Steve Ditko Podcast (with the usual panel)
And don’t forget to post a question for the upcoming Podcast – Remembering Steve Ditko with Roger Stern and Tom DeFalco
Final Grade
Again, I am left eager for more. I feel like a kid reading comics again! It’s fun. It’s interesting!
A-
Your Turn
What grade do YOU give it?
What’s Next?
PETER PARKER VS. SPIDER-MAN?!
PETER PARKER & SPIDER-MAN IN THE SAME PLACE AT THE SAME TIME?!
- Things are crazy for Spider-Man. His personal life in turmoil, the giant TRI-SENTINEL returning to attack NYC…
- …and someone is out there impersonating Peter Parker!
- Is it the Chameleon? An LMD? Ultimate Peter Parker making his Marvel U debut? Think again, True Believer!
Nick Lowe has asked people to let the Spider office know how they are doing by sending an email to spideyoffice@marvel.com and to make sure you mark it “OK to print”. If you get published, make sure to draw our attention to it!
And if two Spideys isn’t enough for you, find out what is happening to Miles in the Miles Chronicles as he has his first issue since Bendis.
‘Nuff Said!
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@Faiz 79 – Yeah, I was curious as to the face behind the mask, but I don’t think we will see it because the face behind the mask isn’t important. It’s the Electric Company version in a way – he’s always Spidey. Although, we’d have to think that eventually that suit is going to get stinky. I also wonder if the Spidey will try to hook up with Black Cat ad what issues that might create when they get joined back together or if the Spidey will try to put the moves on MJ.
I wrote a letter after this issue. I wonder why they are waiting to start printing the letters pages. I guess the Ditko tribute could have taken the space away for this issue and maybe they wanted to give Spencer some time to get going on his run without having letters for Slott in the new book.
There’s still no letters page in the book… Did anyone here write in?
The duplicate plot is a tried and tested idea (and made me think of that what if? too). I was bothered by some basic issues. Why on Earth didn’t we see spidey with his mask off? There’s even a comment about how the ‘resemblance is uncanny’ but it’s all a bit childish.
I am loving seeing MJ back in the book, this was long overdue.
– Jason Moraes, Sano, and herbiepopnecker
@ Jason Moraes – Thanks! I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of Spencer’s three issue job performance! Let’s keep our webspinners crossed that he is able to keep it up!
@ Sano – I don’t think you need to worry about that. I really don’t think he is going to make it as serious clone saga type thing and I think it will be over in an issue or two. I agree with you that a long story arc or ‘Spider-Event’ is the last thing I want.
@herbiepopnecker – Me too! I thought that maybe we would get MJ just back in the books as a character that didn’t constantly hate on Peter, but to get them back as a couple is perfect! I don’t need the marriage to be reinstated if I can get the whole build up to it again.
– Evan and William Sinclair
@ Evan – well, since at least two readers (which is probably the majority of my reader base) like the OOTI as much as I do, I decided to keep it! I tell you what, I’ll try hard to remember to do the Batman clip if we ever have to resort to POW as the OOTI!
@ William Sinclair – I don’t think Spencer is going to give us the hotheaded Spidey as much as carefree and reckless Spidey, but I sure do miss the quick temper we saw in the ’70s and ’80s. As far as the silliness of the concept goes, I agree! These ideas he is playing with are silly, but he is doing it (at least so far) in such a manner, that it is not slap stick (a la Squirrel Girl) or super serious (a la ASM for the past 10 years), but rather a sweet middle ground that makes it fun. Nothing against slap stick or serious, but I am enjoying the fun! I didn’t think about the other heroes disliking Spidey even more after this. That’s a good idea! I also agree that this will probably be wrapped up next issue or the following one. I hope so, at least. I like his current style of compressed story telling and giving us a story for the issue we bought, not the 1/6th of a trade like so many other writers.
Chi-Town Spidey, PeterParkerFan, and Justin Parris
@Chi-Town – Thanks! It is so great to look forward to the next issue! It’s so sad when you read your favorite hero and the comic leaves you unsatisfied. I hope Spencer can keep it up!
@PeterParkerFan – Me too! It’s daring for Spencer to try this since this is a story that requires a superior understanding of the character of both Peter Parker AND Spider-Man to pull it off.
@Justin Parris – I hope you end up liking where it goes. Let me know if the grace he’s earned wears off or was well placed.
I’m just happy to see Pete and MJ together again!
That last panel of ASM #2 was quite the surprise.
A- frpm me too. It’s a cool idea, just wanted a bit more normal Spider-Man storytelling before we got into the weird body swapping, Spider-Verse and clone type stuff we got too much of in recent years. It’s all good if this story doesn’t get dragged out for several issues though. The book is still better than it has been in years.
Great review! I have to say that, among many other things, I love how Spencer (in just 3 issues!) writes a powerful, agile/fast and smart Spidey; a very competent hero, instead of what we have been getting during several years!
I think the idea of Peter going up against a Spider-Man who has all of his hotheadedness and none of the responsibility is a really interesting one. Despite the silliness of the concept, I like how Spencer’s showing the contrast between the Peter and Spidey personas, and how each essentially needs the other to function properly, it’s a good example of a writer embracing the wackiness of Superhero comics and using it to give us some real insight into the main character. Considering how they’re going for the angle that Spider-Man is being alienated from the hero community, I’m sure that the hothead Spidey’s antics are gonna add quite a lot of fuel to the fire.
I’ve heard people talk like this is ‘another clone saga’, which seems kind of silly to me, since the story isn’t taking itself nearly as seriously, and will almost certainly be wrapped up quite soon.
Thank you for including the OOTI — I have to say, even though the last few have ranked kind of low, there’s something entertaining — and almost charming — about seeing such rudimentary (and pronounceable!) words. I’m waiting for the “POW!”
One of these days I imagine you’ll put in a Youtube clip of a 60s Batman brawl with ridiculous words just to make up the difference. 🙂
A bit gimmicky for my tastes, but the current direction has earned some leeway in my book.
Splitting up Peter and Spidey? An interesting concept for sure! I’m curious to see how this plays out.
A
Great review Mark! Like you it’s exciting to wake up in the morning and be excited again, because the latest Amazing Spider-Man comes out today! Three issues in and I LOVE what Spencer is doing for this title so far! It’s fantastic!!!