Amazing Spider-Man Vol 5 #6/807 Review: The Bogenrieder Perspective

“I know who you are. I’ve… seen your pictures.”

Some things are trivial. To me, however? Reading this series is a priority. Dah-dum-tish. While Dark Mark may have sent in a sub, yours truly is still here and reading to talk about another amazing issue!

Amazing Spider-Man Vol 5 #6/807

“A Trivial Pursuit, Pt 1”

Writer: Nick Spencer

Pencils: Humberto Ramos and Steve Lieber (Pg 8-10)

Inks: Victor Olazaba and Steve Lieber (Pg 8-10)

Colors: Edgar Delgado and Rachelle Rosenberg (Pg 8-10)

Editor: Nick Lowe and Devin Lewis

Editor-in-Chief: C.B. Cebulski

Plot:

Our issue begins with the Vulture catching a man named Dougie, who stole from him. However, it turns out that Jumbo was merely a distraction (And expendable dummy) for Black Ant and Taskmaster, who shock him and net him.

We cut back to Peter and MJ, who are making out (Or more accurately, eating each other’s faces.) on the couch when our boy Boomerang saunters in to ruin the good times. (And that’s all you get of MJ this issue, guys! The cover’s a lie!) As Peter explains while spying on the Superior Foes, (Aka the best part of the issue) Fred got a pardon for helping the good guys during Secret Empire, and so got his robbery passed off by Kingpin as a safety drill. As Peter tries to convince Randy that Fred is bad news bears, in he comes, to which Peter corrects a story that Fred is telling about his Boomerang days. When Randy makes a point that Peter and Spidey used to be really close, this gives Fred an idea. (And his boomerang grew three sizes that night.)

So Fred takes Peter to the Bar With No Name, disguising him in street clothes (With the villain colors, of all things!) as a supervillain called the Liar, for Spidey trivia night to get a quick buck. Turns out being Spidey means Peter is really good at trivia about himself and starts sweeping through. Meanwhile, Boomers, having stolen Peter’s phone, gets a call from Kingpin’s mooks, tells them to bugger off, and flushes the phone down the toilet.

Just as Peter wins the tournament, however, Kingpin sends a text to all the patrons of the BWNN to neck Fred…. Who happens to be congratulating Peter.

Thoughts:

This is the issue I’ve been waiting for since day one. And sure, I would’ve vastly preferred having Ottley do the art and I’m glad we got a surprisingly thoughtful character study of Peter as a person.

But, c’mon. This is what I’ve been paying $3.99 every two weeks to read.

Let’s start with the elephant in the room: the change from Ryan Ottley to Humberto Ramos. (We’ll talk about Lieber in a minute.) And, given that he was off the book by the time I started reviewing, this is the first time I get to talk about him on the site! Honestly, in comparison to most of the people on this site, I’m not a fan of Ramos (I used to be, to my partial shame) but I don’t think he’s the worst artist out there. In fact, he’s not that bad when he’s doing crazy action that requires tons of movement and awkward proportions… unfortunately, there’s very little action in this issue. (Almost none.) That said, there’s a few really good panels where you really buy the joy Peter feels when he wins, and that warmed my cold, dark heart.

But, to trade off, there’s a lot of really good background gags going on in the background that I’m sure took a lot of coordination. (Fred’s costume still having his Thunderbolts logo, which either implies he was too lazy to get a new one or he stole it back from Luke Cage and Iron Fist.) Not to mention that I really dig the color palette that fellow alumni Edgar Delgado brought with him. A lot of the gags in the Bar With No Name wouldn’t have been pulled off well without the Villain Colors, and Delgado really nailed the exact shade of green and purple to make it work.

On that note, it’s time for!

Back in the 1960s, when the majority of Spidey’s A-list villains were created, a lot of villains were given Red, Blue and Yellow colored costumes to make them A) stand out on the page, and B) those are the primary colors on the color wheel! Meanwhile, on the villains side, they were given the colors of orange, green and purple, mostly to contrast against the hero’s color scheme, (Example: the Green Goblin and Mysterio contrast very visibly against our homeboy Spidey.) but also because they shared a secondary position on the color wheel and thus made their accents more visible and noticeable on the page!

Now you know! And knowing is half the battle!

Back to the art, it’s time we talked about the star of the show and one of the reasons I was so excited to pick up this issue: the return of the Superior Foes, complete with the reunion of Spencer with longtime collaborator Steve Lieber. These two have such a history together and know each other’s hand’s backs so well that it’s not even funny. Scratch that, it’s hilarious. It was so good to see the Superior Goes back together, with their classic art and the comedic writing that made their sleeper hit so successful. Those three pages were totally worth the $3.99 I paid for this comic.

And that’s not even getting into the main character. This issue is just plain, straight-up funny. There were moments with Peter and Boomerang in the Bar With No Name that made my sides go into orbit, and I couldn’t have asked for something funnier if I tried. Superior Foes set an incredibly high bar, but ASM is gunning for the next highest position. (Possibly even overtaking it if it gets much funnier.)

Spencer writes Peter with a ton of charisma, somebody who recognizes villains when he sees one. Though his opinion of them doesn’t totally change from spending a night among them (Technically posing as a villain) it’s fun to see him see a less violent side of them and be appreciated, ironically, by the people who hate him the most. As for MJ, who the cover kind of lies about, her characterization is a bit off, but not uncalled for. Because while her not knowing about Boomerang is a weird plot coincidence, her thinking he’s not that bad is not without cause. People tend to forget that despite the massive number of boomerangs, Fred’s greatest strength is charisma. (Which, given his sleazy nature, is a must-have to get away with everything he does.) But, despite the weird, awkward face-eating they pull off in the first few pages and the lack of shared on-panel time, Peter and MJ have surprisingly workable charisma. I just wish that they had more time together given what Spencer has been setting up. But, to be fair, this is Peter’s book with Boomerang along for the ride; I can live without her being central for a bit.

Another plus: Taskmaster and Black Ant! I know I keep praising them, but they get really good banter and have some of the best moments in the series. I wish Spencer would write a mini on those two because he writes their personalities so effortlessly that it would be a great read. (But he’d still have to write ASM since I’m loving the work he’s doing here.)

Overall? A near-perfect issue, some art issues aside. But the comedy, the character work and the return of the cast of one of the greatest cult classics of the past decade? You’ve got a hit on your hands.

This is the Spider-Man I came for, and I’m so glad I got it. God, I’m giddy as a school girl.

Final Grade: A+