It’s Christmas, Jonah. It’s a time for miracles! And that’s just what old JJJ and the web head are going to need to get out of this mess. Hang on, webophiles, the dynamic duo is back! Watch how Spidey and Jonah save the day in Lifetime Achievement part 1!
Credit Where Credit Is Due
Story Title: Lifetime Achievement part 1
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: Dec. 11, 2018
Remedial ASM 101
A while back, Spider-Man revealed his secret identity to Jonah (for reasons). So the real question is, will Spencer undo it, ignore it, or make it awesome?
The Story – Pay Attention, This Will Be on the Test
JJJ has a new job as an on-air personality doing shock news in the morning with his producer Barney Buskin (ex-newspaper publisher and would-be-murderer). Fisk decides to honor Jonah with a lifetime achievement award and wants Spidey to be there too. Meanwhile, Peter is spending the holidays with Randy and Robbie Robertson. Someone has hired Arcade to make a death trap for presumably Jonah, though it could be misdirection. Spidey shows up and pisses off JJJ by saying he will not be there with Fisk and then the two get ambushed by the Enforcers who, after a fight, knock out the wall crawler. When he wakes up, JJJ and Spidey are about to face JJJ’s greatest hits –Scorpion, some Flies, and two Spider-Slayers.
What Passed
It seems we are hitting the same notes every time. What passed? Spencer characterization. This is issue #11 and in each issue we continually get a display of Spencer’s knowledge of these characters and how they interact with each other. Peter and MJ, Peter and Spider-Man, Peter and Felicia, heck – we even got a display of Peter and Fred! This issue? It’s Peter and JJJ’s time to shine.
I do like that Barney Buskin is working with JJJ. That’s a nice touch. Speaking of working, didn’t Nora offer Peter a job a while back?
Also, the humor is spot on. Again.
I’m not complaining, folks! I would much rather say, Spencer did this great…again, rather than the old way of complaining about the same things over and over.
OOTI (Onomatopoeia of the Issue)
Being that this is a Christmas-time book, Spencer opted to go with a Silent Night-theme. Not a sound to be heard, not even a mouse.
What Failed
Nothing, really. It is a set up issue and has all the faults of a set up issue. Am I super excited to figure out how Spidey gets out of this one? Not really. But am I irritated that I spent money on this issue? Not really.
Now I know what some of you are thinking – The Enforcers ares hooting blanks and Spider-Man’s Spider-Sense didn’t pick up on it, so that must be a fail, right? Wrong. In the past, the Spider-Sense has been notoriously unreliable when he is surrounded by threats. In this case, there were legitimate threats all around him in the form of Ox and Montana’s bullwhip. So when Fancy Dan aims his gun, it is perfectly reasonable for Spider-Man to think it is loaded.
Actually, what really fails is this new WordPress editor. Sheesh!
Bad Villain Spotlight
Hippo – Folks, when you talk about bad villains, you’d have to go to the Golden Age to find something more off beat than this guy. His name is Miss Fluffy Lumpkins (no relation to Willie). He was a hippopotamus minding his own business in the zoo when Mr. High Evolutionary came along and elevated his consciousness. Venom ate his leg. He got a metal one and then was completely eaten by Venom. He got better and popped up in a few times when they needed someone to get pommeled. We last saw Hippo at Super Villains Anonymous, but evidently it didn’t help.
Analysis for the Issue
It’s a nice set-up. We get two small fights to keep us satisfied (though I would like to have seen more of both). Spencer is finally tackling the issue of Peter and JJJ. It was a poor choice to reveal his identity to JJJ, but it was done and now Spencer is going to deal with it. So far, Spencer has been systematically resetting things back to ‘80s status. Presumable Peter is back in school (he is in Connors class, right?), MJ and Peter are in a solid relationship, Spider-Man is a loner, etc. So how is he going to handle the identity reveal? That is not something easily undone in a satisfactory way. It seems, from this issue, that what Spencer has in mind is to keep the identity known, but to still bring back the old JJJ who gets frustrated at everything Spidey does. To that end,Spencer did wonderfully this issue.
Also, it seems too coincidental that Robbie has a mysterious girlfriend that he doesn’t want anyone to know and that last issue we got Felecia saying that she was seeing someone. Is Randy and Felecia an item? Seems an odd pairing.
Analysis for the Run
For the record, I am loving this current run on ASM. The lowest grade I’ve given so far has been a B. That said, this run does have its problems. They are not game-over issues for me, but they are starting to build overhead and I’m waiting for it to start coloring my view of each issue (probably already has, some). The biggest problem for me is that we have too many leads out there. Spencer obviously is excited about getting this book and has a trillion ideas for what he wants to do in it. That’s great! With his ability to get the characters, I hope he stays on for a nice long time. It feels like he is concerned that he will not have the long stay and is trying to put everything out there now, just in case. Or maybe he is trying his hand at playing the long game like Slott used to. I don’t know. Here are some of the up-in-the-air plot lines that are dangling in the wind:
- Kraven – He was promised as NEXT! Several issues ago and we haven’t seen him yet.
- Peter and Fred – We were teased this in the FCBD issue, had it dropped, had it picked up again, and had it put back on the back burner. More Fred. We need more Fred.
- Peter and Nora – She came back, offered him a job possibility, then *poof*.
- Peter and Curt Connors – Isn’t he supposed to be working on his doctorate? Does he have to wait until the new semester to start?
- Black Ant and Taskmaster – They are up to something, but what? Where are they?
- Spider-Man and Fisk – Seems like there is a big story here somewhere.
- MJ and the Look Ups – Is there more to this than her coming to terms with the fact that she loves Peter?
- Centidemon – Slow and steady wins the race, I guess. If so, this one is going to be a home run as slow as steady as it is.
- And now we add a mysterious person contracting Arcade.
I’m sure I am missing something here. These are all great ideas, but it is starting to feel like washing laundry. It’s great when you get it done, but it is never really done.
Extra Credit
I was going to go into this panel in the analysis, but I think it fits better here. OK – bonus points to whomever can point out who each of the characters are coming after JJJ and Spidey, including the face in the Spider-Slayer.
Bonus Extra Credit
Who do you think is the guy contracting with Arcade to pull this off? Our only clues are that he looks male, is thin, and has an axe to grind for only one person (presumably JJJ, but like I said earlier, could be a misdirection here).
Final Grade
It’s a good set-up issue, but once again it is a set-up issue. I’m interested in where the Spidey/JJJ dynamic is going to go. I was going to give it a B, but the Galactus plushie is going to push it up to a
B+
Your Turn
What grade do YOU give it?
What’s Next?
Turns out Spider-Man isn’t the only one getting attacked, as JJJ himself is in deep trouble. BUT WHO IS ATTACKING HIM? And what more will we learn about the mysterious bandaged figure circling Spider-Man?!
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 (assuming Chi-Town hasn’t ruined that for everyone), make sure to draw our attention to it!
‘Nuff Said!
Apple Podcasts
Google Podcasts
Spotify
Pandora
Amazon Music
iHeartRadio
Podbean
Amazon Alexa
Player.fm
Listen Notes
Stitcher
@Jon — I completely forgot about Dexter Bennett. You can’t really blame me for that, though, can you? Maybe it’s Lily Hollister.
This issue was kind of a letdown, especially since the last issue was such a great issue. JJJ acted a bit too selfish(still holding a grudge against Robbie) when he shouldn’t have after THAT interview, and Peter was knocked out too easily. Weakest Spencer ASM issue so far.
C+
JJJ’s characterization in this week’s PETER PARKER: SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #313 was better.
I thought maybe it was a returned Dexter Bennett?
As for the silhouetted figure, just looking at the contours, I can only guess either Roderick Kingsley or perhaps a brainwashed — or cloned twenty-seven times — JJJ, Sr. (Yes, I know, but I’m just speculating.)
Thank-you for a solid review Mark! I too wish we got more story in each issue. @Chase the Blues Away I took was thinking in food metaphores – “I want to get to the meat already,” PRO: The art in this book is so darn good! Love the way Ottley’s Spidey looks. And I LOVE Laura Martin’s colors. The way she colors each scene helps set up this gorgeous atmosphere that shifts from scene to scene to match the tone of the scene and the light source. Especially love the JJJ vs Spidey confrontation – the orange city lights against the purple and black night shadows, the gently falling snow juxtaposed against the aggressive energy of the argument- I could go on and on. CON – there are 2 panels where Peter is talking to Robbie that are totally copy-and-pasted identical, which irks me (even though I didn’t notice till the 2nd read-through).
Gave it a B+ for the issue. I must be getting used to the long form trade formats in my old age; I don’t mind these setup issues and I’m hoping for a good fight next issue but I do hope the payoff is worth the wait. I’m so jaded by the BIG EVENT issues that fizzle at the end that maybe the slow burn is what we need. Reminds me a little of the old PAD “Spectacular” days.
Nice to see Pete and Robbie are still friends, although the one “huh?” moment was in this scene. Betty BranDt? Did I miss something? Oh well, minor thing, just took me out of it for a second.
Great review.
Another A+ review! I also give the issue a B+ for the conceit of hiring supervillains to steal popular toys. You know that’s something that would happen in our reality if, um, superheroes and supervillians were real. Spencer has obviously lived through at least one Black Friday.
And I also agree about the setup. It’s awesome to see Spencer tackle JJJ, and I heartily agree with putting J. Jonah and Spidey back on an adversarial footing. But it seems Spencer is using three-issue mini-arcs to focus on (and fix as necessary) Peter’s relationships, with his relationship with MJ as the overarcing one: first Peter and his relationship with his Spider-self, then Peter and Fred, Peter and Felicia, now Peter and JJJ, with Robbie thrown in. I kinda expect Aunt May to be next.
But I also feel these are all appetizers. Tasty ones, of course. They are as welcome as fresh water when wandering lost in the desert (and the desert is called Slott and the wandering lasted for ten years, so this water is incredibly delicious).
Still. I’m ready for some steak to go with the sizzle. (And now ends the food metaphors – must be getting close to dinner where I am). Even though I very much appreciate the care Spencer is taking in setting up Peter’s world and putting things back to rights.
New ASM title out today! Wahoo!! *see’s no letter section* DAMN IT! *read’s Mark’s review* UGH! Well I guess I had that coming… 😀
@adam coppola – I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. The characterization is great, all the more so after what we’ve had. I put Spencer’s characterization up there with anyone’s. But the lack of fights and complete story is starting to make itself felt. I would have loved an extra page of the Spidey/Enforcers fight. Or one of those pages like where Stan Lee just told the artist – go to town and I’ll stay out of it!
I agree with you, there seems to be too much going on, in that even when they are dealt with they seem over really quickly. And another thing all these set ups are doing is taking time from the fights. Has there been a fight that has lasted more than two pages since Spencer took over? That has had any sense of real tension? I get why everyone loves these books, having the characters behave how they should is a wonderful breath of fresh air over what we’ve seen for a long time, but i feel that the grades for these books wouldn’t be quite as high if this run had come ten or twenty years ago, instead of after the awfulness we’ve seen for so long.