Alford Notes: ASM #19/820: Hunted part 3

Trapped in Central Park!  Surrounded by animal-themed villains and Kraven Bots!  This is a sticky situation, folks, and nobody is better at sticky situations than our own intrepid wall crawler!  And is that Black Ant I see coming to the party?  Oh yeah!  Why are we still on this introduction?  Face front, spider-philes, and read on!

 

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Story Title:  Hunted part 3

Writer: Nick Spencer

Penciler: Geraldo Sandoval

Colorists: Edgar Delgado and Erick Arciniega

Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramanga

Cover Artist:  Humberto Ramos and Edgar Delgado

Asst. Editor: Kathleen Wisneki

Editor: Nick Lowe

Published: April 10, 2019

 

Remedial ASM 101

Kraven has hired Taskmaster and Black Ant to round up all the animal themed supervillains in New York so that a bunch of rich hunters can don virtual Kraven Bots suits and hunt them down.  Spidey’s there too.  Black Cat and Lizard Clone Boy are bait being used by Kraven for some untold purpose and Taskmaster has betrayed Black Ant.  Oh, and Gibbon’s dead, so a moment of silence, please.

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

Four stories – 1. Black Cat is trying to both console Lizard Clone Boy and work out a way to escape and does so by unleashing a snow leopard on the watch guard.  That’s a pretty good trick.  2. Kraven87 is attempting to understand what exactly Kraven’s plan is.  Good luck there, buddy.  3. The main event – Spidey is getting a bit irritated as some of these loser villains are dying and he can’t stop it.  Meanwhile Vulture is pulling in many of them to form a group and convinces them to join him by telling them the ballad of the Gibbon.  Despite Spidey saying, “Dudes!  He’s a liar!” the other villains decide to follow him.   4. Taskmaster returns with one last captive – the Lizard!

What Passed

Black Cat – OK, so she’s being used as bait, but just like you’d expect from her, she is not sitting around waiting to be rescued.  We are not getting too much on her (as in she’s not taking away from the main story), just enough to let us know that she is taking charge of her own story.  I also wasn’t sure about the status of her bad luck powers, so it was nice to have Spencer catch me up to speed.

Spidey’s Reaction – My dad always says, “Today’s reaction is tomorrow’s reputation.”  Unfortunately, Spidey has a reputation for acting rather irrationally to odd things.  Not in this issue!  The Gibbon dies.  The villains trust Vulture instead of him and will, as a result, probably die when he leaves them high and dry.  But does Spidey whine about how no one dies on his watch?  No.  Does he engage in a fist fight with Vulture just to prove his point?  No.  He makes his case, fails, and moves on because these are all big boys and can make their own decisions.

The art – I’m not familiar with this Sandoval (although that is not saying much, Neil is the art guy around here), but I enjoyed his art.  It seems like a mix of Ottley and Ramos. It kept the story moving, I recognized all the characters without having to have the dialogue do it for me, and was not distracting in the least bit.  That is exactly what I want from a comic book artist.

The Killing – I am not a fan of killing for shock sake and I do not believe this is Spencer’s intention.  If we are going to get a story about a bunch of hunters, well, you need people to die.  I think Spencer is playing his moments with the proper reverence.  Iguana, Mad Dog, Mandrill, and Gazelle are characters that are not being used and are proper fodder (a la Scourge).  Gibbon gets his own comic to commemorate his passing. They give weight to the consequences of this story let us know that Spidey is going to have to fight for his own survival.  We also know that the longer this story goes, the more losers will die.

 

OOTI (Onomatopoeia of the Issue)

On a scale of 1 (POW) to 10 (BLRKBQRKPQRBLNB), BOOM rates a 6.  Why so high for a run of the mill onomatopoeia?  Only because it was the same exact one as last issue, but Spidey holds his shape way better this time!  

What Failed

Logistics – We have a reminder here that all of these villains were captured in New York, taken to Africa, and shipped back to New York.  Not really a fail, just a head scratcher.

Action – Don’t get me wrong – the story moves just fine, but this is yet another issue where Spider-Man seems no closer to getting out of here than before.  However, this is based on Kraven’s Last Hunt, and for much of that Peter spent it in a coffin, so it does gives us more Spidey.

Analysis

What is Kraven’s End Game? – I have to agree with Kraven87 here – he’s got a plan, but it seems that only he knows it (maybe Black Ant is privy to some of it based on his cliffhanger statement).  I am certain it is something that will be the end of for him, but how he plans on going out, I don’t know.  Kraven87, however, is going to mess this up.  He is restless.  He killed his 86 brothers to get action, not to sit around.  I would not be surprised that before this is all over, we see a Kraven vs Kraven scene.

The Gibbon’s Legacy – I love that, for those who knew him, their memory of this loser was that he died a brave hero.  I wanted Spidey to keep his mouth shut, if for no other reason than Vulture’s story of his death remains his legacy.  He finally has the respect of his peers.

The Taskmaster – bringing in the Lizard is most certainly part of the Lizard’s plan.  The question here is going to be can Connors keep himself in check before going all murdery on anyone around him.  One part of me thinks that when this is over, he is going to be stuck in lizard form.  Whatever the case, while I am not a fan of the Lizard, I am looking forward to Peter going back to school with Connors as his teacher.  I don’t like Lizard stories, but I do like it when Spidey swings by his office for science help from time to time.

Black Ant – He says knows what this place is really all about.  I can’t wait to hear what he will telling Spider-Man next issue.  I am ready for some movement toward the conclusion and I think putting Black Ant with Spidey is what is going to do just that.

Prediction:

It seemed like Black Ant wants to stop Spidey from destroying the Kraven Bot.  My theory is that destroying the bot kills the hunter operating it.  If that is true, then the bot head that Vulture has is one that was set up for him by Kraven.  If vulture is in on the plan, then that would explain why he stops Rhino from killing Spidey.  Maybe Kraven has set up a situation where the hunters and villains are going to start killing each other and the only way to make it stop would be for Spidey to kill him?  I don’t think that’s going to be right, but I am fairly positive that Vulture is in on this.

So Razorback makes an appearance in this issue.  Many of you may be wondering why he is here and others might not know who he is, so here is a little background:

Trucker Buford Hollis wanted to be like the heroes of New York, despite having no real superpowers (although later he was identified as having some mutant powers) and living in Arkansas.  Never one to let details get in the way of his dreams, he creates a suit to look like a Razorback hog and gives it an electrified mane.  He goes to New York in The Big Pig, his transfer truck, to save his little sister who had gotten involved in a cult led by Hate Monger.  He later teamed up with She Hulk and went into space to rescue someone (‘cause comics) and ends up being temporarily turned to stone and rescuing Rocket Raccoon.  After M-Day, he lost his mutant powers and the last anyone’s seen of him was when he joined up with Tigra in the Initiative.  So why is he here in Central Park when he is not a villain and not based in New York like the others?

Because this is not Buford.  Hobgoblin, when franchising out heroes during Axis, created an unnamed Razorback.  This guy decided heroing wasn’t a great career choice and decided to turn villain where on his first outing, had the snot beat out of him by Spider-Woman who was taking her baby out for a walk at the time.

Yeah – no name villain who attacked a mom and baby and had a speaking part in Hunted?  He won’t make it.

Extra Credit

OK, what do YOU think Kraven’s plan is?  Answer in the comments section.

Final Grade

A-

Your Turn

What grade do YOU give it?

 

 

What’s Next?

HUNTED PART 4 The big showdown begins. Spider-Man vs. Kraven. Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen. If this is like past Kraven stories, you know it’s not going to go how you THINK it’s going to go.

 

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 speaking of letter pages, not only did this one NOT have a letter from Chi-Town, but it also had an insteresting response from Nick Lowe when asked about Kingsley and the Hobgoblin: “There’s NO WAY you’ll see Roderick or Hobgoblin in ASM.  That would be Insane.”  Take that how you will, but I think it’s a clear shout that we WILL be seeing the Kingsley and/or the Hobgoblin soon.  Maybe in connection with Centidemon?

And speaking of Centidemon, BD, Chi-Town, and I are going to be doing a Patreon podcast where we break down EVERY clue we have been given so far and try and decide who the mysterious villain is!  Thanks to all who put their two cents worth in last review.  That was a fun exchange!

 

 

 

‘Nuff Said!