Spider-Man has often caused trouble for Peter Parker, but not quite like this. Issue 4 tackles who Peter Parker and Spider-Man really are and how they need each other, Mendell Stromm, Tri-Sentinel CD ROMS, the Looter, and even gives us a guest appearance of everyone’s favorite dinosaur man – SSSSSSSSSSTREGRON!
Credit Where Credit Is Due
Story Title: Back to Basics part 4
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 22, 2018
Remedial ASM 101
Spider-Man is disrupting Peter’s life, but not in the usual way. The two became separated after Task Master and Black Ant tried to steal some science, thus causing science to happen to Peter Parker. Now Spidey is living the high life and Peter is left wondering what is going to become of him. Meanwhile, Spidey has hijacked a Tri-Sentinel and is cruising around town!
The Story – Pay Attention, This Will Be on the Test
We start off again with five more seconds of our elephant hunter on the run before getting to the story at hand. The Looter is about to steal a painting, but Spidey stops him with the Tri-Sentinel, and destroys that painting along with several others in the process. He continues to cause massive destruction like a happy sober Hancock when he takes down Hydro-Man, Cyclone, and Stegron.
Looks like Steggy’s tail is no match for the all-new, all-daring Spidey.
It appears that Mendel Stromm is the owner of the Tri-Sentinel and is not at all happy with Spidey stealing it from him. It also turns out that Peter has all the responsibility part of their character and keeps trying to help people – and finds out it is illegal to pay someone else’s parking meter. I looked it up. Go figure. Thanks Marvel for that community service notice. Aunt May and Peter reconcile and after she tries to help him pay his rent, Peter finally gets in touch with Spidey. Turns out that not only did Peter get the responsibility between the two of them, he also got the core memories. Spidey doesn’t know Uncle Ben. Oh, and it also turns out that the rats which were split died and so will Peter and Spidey if they can’t get back together. If you would join me in a moment of silence for Horatio I and Horatio II. We barely knew them, but they touched all of our lives.
Stromm then gets an offer from some disembodied voice, presumably the demon-esque creature that is Mysterio’s evil benefactor. Look at the oxymoron I just dropped here.
What Passed
The Looter scene was by far the best part of the issue. The Looter storming in like he owns the joint echoes the Ditko panel Adam gave us for panel of the day earlier. Spidey with his mask painted on the Tri-Sentinel is hilarious. I wish I had more of that scene.
Aunt May is in full character. This fits her so well and compliments her earlier appearance (which I also thought was in character, although I know some of you thought she was being too harsh).
OOTI (Onomatopoeia of the Issue)
Only two onomatopoeias in this issue.
On a scale of 1 (POW) to 10 (BLRKBQRKPQRBLNB), BLONK rates a 4. I’m just trying to imagine that sound coming from my computer. That would be bad. Nice Gremlins allusion, though.
What Failed
One of my early praises for Spencer was that he was following an ‘80s style pacing. By that I mean we would get a full story, but the story was obviously still going and we would get a page or so that kept a subplot moving through the issues. No so last issue or this issue. This is very much a part four of six and I hate paying full price for a part four of six. I’m buying individual issues, not a trade.
Another praise I have for Spencer is his ability to write funny C-list villains, but in this issue he is just flying through them. I wanted more Looter. One panel for each of Hydro-Man, Cyclone, and Stegron are just not enough for me. It’s like I ordered a filet mignon, and I got a good one, only it’s a 2 ounce serving.
Analysis
This one was not a home run for me. I liked the issue, but when I finished it, there was no feeling of YEAH! like I got after the first two issues.
Spencer has Peter’s character nailed down for us and continues to hammer in what responsibility means to this character. Some are irritated that MJ isn’t there to help him through this process, but I’m not. Peter’s time with Aunt May was important and I feel that putting MJ in the comic would just be redundant.
I’m also intrigued by the Spidey part of him. It is like the Electric Company Spidey, but with no cares about teaching kids to read.
While I do not think there is any animosity between Spencer and Slott, the conversation between Peter and Spidey can certainly be read as Spencer being a bit meta on what was off in Slott’s run. I think that in reality, it is just meant to show us who Peter Parker is, and since I’m fairly certain that Spencer feels that Peter Parker is the more important character between the two, I doubt that we see a Spider-Man narrated story next issue (although how cool would that be?). That said, I’m getting tired of this story and am ready to join them back together and move on.
Mendel Stromm being a villain in anyone else’s hands makes me yawn, but in Spencer’s hands, I’m excited for it! If you don’t know who Stromm is, check out this villain profile.
There is so much in this issue, and that’s a problem. Spencer is packing so much in (and I get it, he is excited about this run and doesn’t want to wait to get to it all) that we end up getting very little. Just look at this issue. We have: a hunter story (probably Kraven), the Looter, Stegron, Tri-Sentinel, Hydro-Man, Cyclone, Aunt May, Mendel Stromm, Peter Parker, Spider-Man, some mysterious demon figure, issues with the person splitter. That’s a lot. It’s all good, but it is so much it feels like I went to Baskin and Robbin and tasted every one of their thirty-one flavors, but only on those little taster spoons. In the end, I would have consumed a lot of ice cream (especially since they actually have fifty-nine flavors), but it wouldn’t feel like it. I got to the end of the comic and I felt narratively empty. Fair assessment? Maybe not, but it is what it is. I feel like this will read brilliantly in the trade. Unfortunately, I’m an issue-by-issue guy and resent it when books are written for the trade.
Extra Credit:
So Aunt May slips him a birthday present when it is not his birthday. Marvel has announced his birthday, so bonus points for the first one to correctly post Spider-Man’s birthday in the comments section.
Final Grade:
B+
Your Turn:
What grade do YOU give it?
What’s Next?
- Things look bad for Peter Parker…
- …but GREAT for Spider-Man!
- The first arc of the epic new run on ASM comes to a climactic finish!
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!
So they keep asking for emails, but we aren’t getting a letters page. What’s up with that? I wrote. Anyone else here do it?
‘Nuff Said!
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@ Jason – I got the same impression – the story is a bit jumbled with the different elements and things like the Tri-Sentinel fight just got squeezed between panels. When I looked into the law on paying other people’s parking meters, it seemed that it was more about keeping people from hogging a space for too long. I don’t know. Here in North Carolina, as long as you meter is full, you can stay there (at least as far as I’ve noticed), but apparently in New York, by paying someone’s meter, you allow them to stay beyond the length of allowed time. Weird.
Whoa, the Tri-Sentinel – That was my reaction to last week’s issue. Brought back some memories of when I first started reading comics in the early 90s. I was a bit disappointed in this issue, however. There was no actual showdown between Spidey and the Tri-Sentinel. That seemingly took place between issues? I’m not a big fan of having to be brought up to date on a storyline through the recap in the beginning – as a refresher, yes, but to add a new development to the story, definitely not.
Since when is it illegal to pay someone else’s parking meter? Seems like a good gesture to me.
Adam, Jack, and PeterParkerFan –
@Adam – Correct! Bonus points for you! To my knowledge, those are the only places it is mentioned.
@Jack – Hey, they’ve used fan theories before! We’ll keep a look out and see if that idea gets brought up!
@PeterParkerFan – I feel the same way. It can be redeemed if next issue is awesome.
This issue felt like a build up for the climactic finale in ASM #806. Not as enjoyable as the last three issues, but still pretty good.
B+
I just made this suggestion of an OMD loophole to spideyoffice:
The destruction of the multiverse (which led up to Secret Wars) nullified Mephisto’s deals, because the vast majority of the people with whom he had deals all died. It might have even nullified Mephisto, if everything was destroyed except for the bits Doom preserved. In other words, Secret Wars wiped the Mephisto-slate clean. Now, the ASM world is idling in neutral, as far as One More Day goes. The results of the deal were left behind, but not the deal itself.
Marvel might say that Doom re-created everything exactly the way it was, but I think it’s a valid story loophole, if they wanted one.
His birthday is October 14th, which was confirmed in #700 (and made Spider-Man Day in NYC in 2012). What I wanna know is what issue it was mentioned in before (if it actually was mentioned in a previous issue).
Al and William Sinclair –
@ Al – It is a good exploration of the Peter/Spidey dynamics. I am loving the story line. My complaint is that I want it to feel more like a story instead of just a part of a story. This fits in well when binge reading the issues or reading in a trade, but I’m buying these issues one by one and I want to leave each one feeling like I got something, not just a part of something. This can be done while still continuing the story over issues. The Peter/Spider-Man characterization is what gives it a B+. The story is intriguing. Spencer really knows his Peter Parker.
Don’t get me wrong, I love C list villains. I love them more than I like a good Green Goblin or Doc Ock story. I love them especially when someone like Spencer writes them. Zdarsky is another that can write them well, although I haven’t been as in love with is recent Spec Spidey run. I want more of them. Spencer’s Superior Foes did so much with how these guys interact with each other that I’m like a C-List addict and want more of that rather than a one panel throw away. Could be I’m being a bit unfair, but that’s what I want from it.
You can have Stromm. I did that villain profile on him and read all of his stories. Does he have potential? Sure. Do I think Spencer can bring it out? You bet! Has any previous Stromm story interested me? Not really.
Glad to have you commenting on my posts again. We often disagree on the minor stuff, but I like how you think it out and the passion you have on the subject.
@ William Sinclair – We are in sync, my friend! The whole issue was rising action. You make a good point about the dialogue outside of the Aunt May scene. I did laugh out loud at the Spidey face on the Tri-Sentinel! But after the last few issues, this one definitely was lacking those. Not necessarily a bad thing, but certainly something to consider when comparing issues.
Know-it-All Vic and Ian Cruickshank –
@ Know-it-All Vic – I agree wholeheartedly! My biggest complaint is that there is too much good stuff and I can’t get enough of one of them before moving on to the next one. Big change from the last several years for me.
@ Ian Cruickshank – So close! But the bonus points are still up for grabs. Try again!
I was definitely a bit disappointed with this one, I felt like little really happened to advance the split-up plot (other than the revelations that the Spidey side doesn’t remember Uncle Ben and that both sides will die soon, both of which could’ve easily been revealed earlier.) I also thought the dialogue was a little less effective than usual outside of the Aunt May scene, there weren’t any laugh out loud moments for me like there were in the previous issues. I’m still excited for the climactic part, it’s just that it feels like we could’ve been there already with a little tweaking.
I LOVED this issue. My fav since #1. This is even better exploration of who Peter/Spidey are than last issue and I think you are being too harsh on Stromm.
In the Clone Saga he was actually a bad ass, he owned Ben and Molten Man at the same time and was the Vader to Norman’s Palpatine. He has a lot of potential because this is a guy who isn’t strictly evil, more pissed off and has vendettas on his mind against assholes like Osborn. Plus this is one of the few people who knows what Norman was like before he was a super villain.
I also think your bein a little bit unfair to the use of C-List villains. They are C-list for a reason. They are people for Spidey to just punch they’re pretty disposable and if you wanna use them as quick cannon fodder I don’t see why that’s much of a problem. Their use here is basically because it’s more effective than just just inventing new villains or using nameless street crooks.
15th October is his birthday
While I’ll echo your feeling that these past few issues were a little more decompressed than we’d like them to be, how cool is it that we’re wanting more of these? I’m actually annoyed by the two-week gap between issues, because I wanna get to the next chapter, instead of just dreading or sighing that we have yet another story to get through.