Alford Notes: ASM #5/806

Folks, I’m reporting in from the official Crawlspace concrete bunker riding out Hurricane Florence.  Brad keeps us on a hard schedule, and since I’m not allowed to let my family into the bunker until this is posted, I’m hoping to get this up before the trees start falling and the power goes out!  It’s the end of Spencer’s first run, and we need to know if Peter and Spidey get back together!

 

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Story Title: Back to Basics: Part 5

Writer: Nick Spencer

Penciler: Ryan Ottley

Inker: Cliff Rathburn and Ryan  Ottley

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: September 12, 2018

 

Remedial ASM 101

Peter and MJ are back together!  Peter and Spider-Man are not!  Peter and Spidey have been split by the same device that made him Spider-Man to begin with.   Peter, however, has just learned that this splitature* will kill them both.

 

The Story – Pay Attention, This Will Be on the Test

So Peter is just trying to capitalize on the loss of his powers when MJ tells him that she misses the other guy.  It is this, not the fact that he will die, that spurs Peter into action.  But how can he science him back together when he has no science ability and has no super powers he can use to steal the device? Enter everyone’s favorite thief in Spidey’s life – Boomerang. Using a few well-placed hints, Peter manages to get Fred to rob the university and then rob Fred himself.  After somehow lugging the heavy equipment to the top of a building AND being lucky that Spidey is staying put in one place long enough for him to get set up AND despite there being an onslaught of Tri-Sentinels AND despite Peter having no understanding of science, he is able to science them back together.  The newly rejoined Spider-Peter re-hacked the Tri-Sentinel he hotwired to begin with and sends them home. There he discovers a dying Mendel Stromm, who paid the ultimate price when Mysterio’s mysterious benefactor rips him to shreds as payment for his army of rather useless Tri-Sentinels.  This, folks, is why trading your soul to the devil is typically NOT a good idea.

 

Stromm’s last words are, “Guess my name”** the Tri-Sentinels fly in, say, “Guess my name,” and self-destruct, destroying the Life Foundation Building, but not Spidey.  Again – what a bad deal!  Stromm should have kept his receipt.  RIP, Stromm.

Peter’s thinking about it that night, but MJ informs him that he has better things to occupy his thoughts – namely her.  So all in all, a good night for Peter.

Meanwhile, Black Ant (yes!) and Task Master are being interrogated by Homeland Security, but they are only making fun of the interrogator for not being S.H.I.E.L.D.  Then they escape, because, of course they do.  Meanwhiling the meanwhile, Kraven finally steps into the panel of our poor elephant hunter and we learn that he will be our next villain of note.

What Passed

Spencer’s showcase of who Peter Parker is, who Spider-Man is, and who they are together is so spot on and refreshing.  He truly makes this live up to the “Back to Basics” moniker.  Plus the art and everything else we’ve been raving about here at the Crawlspace for these first five issues.

Best of the Bad – Bad Villain Spotlight

Each issue we’ve been getting our share of bad villains.  So we’re adding a new feature here.  This issue’s focus will be Boomerang!

Fred Meyers was a baseball player in Australia (of course) who had a pitching arm like none other.  He was suspended because he took bribes.  So, he took on a life of crime using his throwing skills as his gimmick.  Early on, he took on the Hulk and Iron Fist (the cool one, not the Finn Jones one), but got his butt handed to him. In fact, Boomerang has taken on most of the Marvel Universe.  He is not above killing and despite once being the leader of the Sinister Six (with only five members), he never stays on a team long.  He has no powers, just throwing skills, jet boots, and a variety of trick boomerangs, including ones that have blades, ones that explode, ones that shatter, and even some that distort gravity around them.  Required reading for understanding him – Superior Foes of Spider-Man (although you can skip issues 10 and 11 if you are in a hurry).

What Failed

There are a few stretches here, most notably that Peter, who knows nothing of science makes this complex machine work perfectly by knocking it off the roof.  Here’s the thing – if this were a more serious toned comic, like how Slott wrote most of his, I would have more problems with this.  This is not because of my feelings toward Slott as a writer.  It is all due to the fact that under Slott, the title took a much more serious tone and as such, demanded a different approach to reading it.  I expected those holes to be filled.  Under this run, it is a much lighter tone, so it is easier to forgive (even if it is a bit irritating) out and out crazy science.  At least that is how I feel.  Anyone who took a step backwards at that scene in their love of this comic, I would completely understand their viewpoint.  I loved the Spidey jumping off of the satellite story under Slott because I found it fun.  I give Spencer that same outlandish forgiveness.

We didn’t get a satisfying fight in this issue or pretty much the previous issues.  Stromm is taken out before Spider-Man gets there and the demonic Tri-Sentinels take themselves out.  Many of the fight scenes we’ve gotten this arc were severely truncated (some even to one panel).   I understand that Spencer had a more important story to tell us, but I hope in the next issue we get something worthy of a future Friday Night Fight.

If I want to be picky, I might point out this panel:

Now, I LOVE Ottley’s art.  I love it!  But that little girl just seemed freaky to me.  I searched my memory and remembered where I had seen her before – it was way back in the ‘70s:

OOTI (Onomatopoeia of the Issue)

On a scale of 1 (POW) to 10 (BLRKBQRKPQRBLNB), AAIIEE! rates a 1.5.  It is only moderately better than the Ha! Ha! Ha! we got on the same page. This is a high price to pay for a true to character Spidey.  Worth it, for sure, but a high price nonetheless. 

Analysis

This first arc set up Spencer’s tone for his run and I’m loving it.  We’ve talked about all of that previously, so let’s talk about what this means going forward –

Happy Spidey – Mary Jane and Spider-Man help Peter to realize that he cannot ignore is responsibility, but at the same time he cannot ignore his fun side, either.  Like Thanos teaches us, in all things there must be balance (#thanosdidnothingwrong).  Since Spencer goes to so much trouble to make this a major point of his first arc, we can expect that he is laying out a more fun-loving, but not responsibility-lacking Spidey in his run.

Mary Jane – She’s in, and she’s in for keeps, at least for now.  Her sub-arc has her coming to terms with her views on the whole super-hero side of Spidey and I enjoyed her telling him in this issue that the hero part of Peter is just as much Peter as the Peter part of Peter.  Are we going to see things that try their bonds?  Of course!  This is comics!  But I believe that Spencer is telling us that they can make it through whatever trials and tribulations he is going to throw at them.  I think this also puts her in a spot that Peter needs – someone he can confide in and someone that will give him advice and keep the Peter part of him grounded.

Mysterio’s Mysterious Benefactor – I don’t see this arc coming to fruition in the next few issues.  I believe that Spencer is going to let this build up with little teases for a while.

Task Master and Black Ant – YES!  Their mission isn’t finished!  What is that they were really hired to steal?  The Lizard maybe?  Who cares?!  This means there will be more that dynamic duo in the issues to come!  Spencer can write loser villains with such flair that I have high hopes he will be focusing on that in the next few issues!

Kraven – He is so overdue a good story.  Should he have stayed dead after Kraven’s Last Hunt?  Of course.  But he’s not.  They brought him back and for what?  Hunting sea monsters in Squirrel Girl?  Please.  Spencer has him primed to be a top baddy, I think, and not a joking loser like Looter or Stromm.

Was it worth it?

This arc cost me $20 to read (approximately two Dan Slott special issues).  Was it worth $20?  Well, on Amazon, I could have bought this can of unicorn meat.
*
And I would have a little left over (even after shipping).  Was it worth spending my money on the arc despite that this is “an excellent source of sparkles” and has “magic in every bite”?  Yes.  This arc is officially Crawlspace approved. Buy the arc, not the processed unicorn meat.

Extra Credit

The cover for next issue has Spidey at the bar with no name.  Can you name them all?

 

Final Grade

I enjoyed this one much more so than the last one.  We had an arc. It was well developedand this issue wrapped it up nicely.

A

Your Turn

What grade do YOU give it?

What’s Next?

Amazing Spider-Man (2018-) Annual #1

Years ago, Spider-Man came back from an alien world with a fantastic new costume — one he eventually learned was a living alien symbiote looking to bond with him permanently! But before he rejected the costume that went on to become VENOM, many a night the symbiote would creep onto Peter, and unbeknownst to its host, take them out into the night! Now, for the first time, see just what the symbiote steered Peter into during these mysterious nighttime excursions! Saladin Ahmed (BLACK BOLT) weaves an ALL-NEW nightmare fairy tale, illustrated by the incomparable Garry Brown, in what is sure to be a dream book for any Spider-Man fan!

Hmmm….  Not a Venom fan particularly (not a hater either) but this seems to be from the black suit era and written by the guy who is slated to take over the Miles book in December.  Ok!  I’ll give it a whirl.

 

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!

Speaking of, did you notice our very own  Chi-Town Spidey’s letter?

 

 

*Sure it’s a word.  Trust me!

** OK, you got me, his last words were, “Guess my…”, but the intent was there.

‘Nuff Said!