Alford Notes: ASM 26/827

What could go wrong with a cover that promises Spidey and the Foes together?  Nothing, I’m sure!  So buckle up and read on, Crawlspacers, and let’s see if that webbed freak has finally shown his true menace colors and joined up with the loserest villains of all (well, now that Gibbon is dead, at least).

 

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Story Title:  Who Run the World?

Writer: Nick Spencer

Artist: Kev Walker

Colorist: Laura Martin

Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramanga

Cover Artist:  Ryan Ottley and Nathan Fairbairn

Asst. Editor: Kathleen Wisneki

Editor: Nick Lowe

Published: July 24, 2019

 

Remedial ASM 101

Peter Parker is rooming with Fred (Boomerang) and Randy Robertson.  Randy is also working at Aunt May’s homeless shelter F.E.A.S.T.  Boomerang and Kingpin have had a problem way back since last FCBD.

 

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

The Kingpin is looking for an artifact left in New York by some dude known as “the elder”.  The box containing the mystery artifact is found in some lost subway tunnels running under City Hall.  Unfortunately for Fisk, Boomerang got there first and pulled a Regulus Black on him.

Kingpin vows to strike back at Boomerang by hitting everyone he loves.  Fortunately for Boomerang, that does not include Peter Parker.  In fact, whenever police or mercenaries get close to Fred, they back away if Peter is near.  We are reminded that this is because Kingpin was told by Kindred that Peter is completely off limits.

Now at this point, I’m thinking – cool!  Kingpin is going to go after Shocker, Speed Demon, et al, and they are going to have to team up with Boomerang to survive Kingpin.  Spidey will join in because the enemy of my enemy is my friend.  Wouldn’t that have been a GREAT story????????

So we get a montage of Peter and Fred hanging out and Fred is being mostly a decent guy.  Sure he leaves his dirty drawers in the sink and exaggerates a few of his stories, but in the end, Fred is not completely bad, especially when encouraged to do the right thing by Peter.  In fact, he even gives his dinner to some homeless people who are waiting for F.E.A.S.T. to open, which may not be ever since May is fighting City Hall over permits and right to lease.  May threatens to march against City Hall and let’s just hope she doesn’t end up hitting another police officer.

Meanwhile, the Syndicate is showing their newest member Electro around their Google-esque work place (complete with child-care and meditation room).  Electro wants nothing to do with their women-empowerment agenda, but signs up anyway when she hears that Boomerang is their first target.  Unfortunately, that target happens to be painting some walls at F.E.A.S.T.  Not letting something like a little homeless shelter bother them, they burst in guns a blazing.

 

What Passed and Failed

Passed – Syndicate – while not a Superior Foes level goodness yet, there is potential for this group providing up with some quality entertainment.  It is obvious that this group cannot get along with each other despite Beetle’s best hopes.  Electro’s calling them the “Sisterhood of the Travelling Tights” was funny. (If you don’t get the reference, click here.)

Failed – Art – I’m not too picky on art.  I know what I like and for the rest, I just want to be able to recognize the characters.  Kev Walker does just fine when drawing Boomerang or the Syndicate in costume, but when he draws faces… well that’s a different issue altogether.  Here is Peter and Fred:

I just don’t like it having to be told who the main characters are.  The weird thing is, when I told my son Grant about it, he pointed out that Kev Walker is a great artist that does a lot of iconic work for Magic.  Like this one:

So I’m not sure what happened here.  Again, this is art stuff so I’ll let Neil handle it.  By the way, this is the second Magic reference in one week from me.  Over in Cobwebs, I interviewed Jeff Grubb who has written quite a bit for Magic the Gathering.  You ought to read it; I’m pretty proud of that one.

Passed – Boomerang hitting on May

Failed – No Spidey – maybe if I didn’t have issues with the art, I would be ok, but we get exactly ONE panel with Spidey in it and that is a flashback.

Passed – Supporting Cast – it was good to see Randy, May, and Fred being a part of Peter’s life.  Plus, I loved that Fred went to the homeless shelter to help while wearing his costume!  Plus did you notice that when they were attacked, the first thing Fred did was to call out to make sure “Pete” was ok?  He does seem to be trying to be a good guy.

Failed – THE MISLEADING COVER!  I know Grant had a whole section in his Miles reviews about that with all the bad covers for his title, but typically over here in Amazing, we get a fairly accurate representation of the book.  Not so here.

“Toe to Toe with the Foes” My foot!  The solicits last issue promised a Superior Foes issue.  The cover promises a Superior Foes issue.  I read it and… NO FOES!  No Shocker.  No Speed Demon.  No Overkill.  While we do have Beetle and Boomerang, neither of them are operating in their Foes persona.  I am NOT happy.  Even saying “misleading cover” is a misnomer.  It doesn’t just mislead, it out and out lies.  It  says right on the cover that they will be in it in words and images.  This really rumpled my web pits.

*Update* Nick Spencer has instagramed posted on why this happened:

 

VWOTI (Vocabulary Word of the Issue)

Our word of the issue comes from the opening recap page:

Kerfuffle – noun – a commotion or fuss, especially one caused by conflicting views.

Example sentence: The kerfuffle between George and Zach over the importance of the clone saga ended in tears and flour everywhere.

On a scale of 1 (cow) to 10 (boanthrope), KERFUFFLE rates an 8.

 

Analysis

The one clue of Kindred’s identity that throws everything off is Kingpin bowing to Kindred.  Who can scare Fisk that much?  I half wondered if that was an image that Marvel would just sort of ignore, but they brought it back this issue.    It would have been enough to show Kingpin going after Fred whenever Peter is around, but they actually showed the panel of him bowing again, so props to Spencer and Lowe for embracing what they chose to go with.  I think the red herring in this is that the identity of Kindred is known to Kingpin.  I think we have to look at this as Kindred has some major powers and the ability to inflict untold pain with no way of stopping him.  This is what Kingpin bows to.  The identity of this villain can be anyone, that doesn’t factor into Kingpin bowing.  Bringing this back and showing it again makes me wonder if Kingpin will play a part in fighting Kindred.  I could see Fisk teaming up with Spidey if he thought Spider-Man had a way out from this.

We are also reminded that there is a mystery girlfriend for Randy.  This mystery has sort of been pushed to the wayside.  I’m thinking he is with Nora Winters (Crawlspace odds – 85%), but it may be Black Cat since she mentioned dating someone new about the time this idea was introduced (Crawlspace odds – 25%).  Of course, it could be Carlie Cooper (Crawlspace odds – 5%).  It has to be someone he is hesitant to let others see.  A villain would fit that.  So would an ex-girlfriend.  For that matter, Randy is often used to push social political ideas, so it could be that he is dating a guy and worried about what his dad and friends would think (Crawlspace odds – 35%).

The Syndicate has potential to be a recurring group.  I think it is pretty obvious that they can’t get along enough to make this work, but that is one of the fun tropes with villain teams.  I’m looking forward to seeing them in action next issue, should they actually appear…

 

 

Lady Octopus

Not all things ‘90s were clones, but they were all connected somehow.  Carolyn Trainer is the daughter of Seward Trainer, Ben Reilly’s personal physician of sorts (think the Dr. Connors of the Ben-verse, but with considerable less tendency to change into a reptile).  She is a doctor and trained under Dr. Otto Octavius.  She adored her mentor and when he died in the clone saga, she decided to honor him by attaching herself to some tentacles.  She improved upon the design by also creating a personal force-field, should anything get past her arms.  The Scarlet Spider took care of her when she tried to get her father back and eventually she helped to resurrect Otto in a mystical Hand ceremony.  She stood by his side until writers forgot she was there.

Later, she turns up on her own, attacking Captain America for the good of Lataveria, then later gets her butt handed to her by Mocking Bird in New York.  We really don’t see much of her until Hunted (unless you count the Into the Spider-Verse movie, that it.

Now she has joined up with the Syndicate, to commit crime and push her vegan tastes upon the underworld.

 

Extra Credit

Find a more misleading Spider-Man cover (no fair going into Miles Morales comics for this, they have the market on them).  Who can find the worst offense?

 

Final Grade

The lack of Superior Foes really hurt this book for me.  I’m trying to figure out a grade I would give it had I not had the solicits and the cover, but man, it’s hard.  Don’t promise me my favorite and then fail to deliver.

C

 

Your Turn

What grade do YOU give it?

 

But Wait!  There’s More!

The letter pages is back – and you know what that means – That’s right, our very own Peter Norbot (Chi-Town) gets printed…AGAIN!  Geez!  What’s that?  FOUR times????  I mean I’m happy for him and all, but I want to know what his inside connection is.

He wrote a pretty good one:

But when I see him get published AGAIN when my letters haven’t been, well, it makes me feel more like this:

Well, I can’t stay mad at him.  Good going, Chi-Town!

Also, looking at the other letters, does anyone else thing that Nick Lunt’s letter is a a fake one?  It reads like those old ones that Stan Lee used to put in.  The Josh Jenkins letter throws in some good Black Ant questions and Nick Lowe’s response is, “Keep reading!” So I guess we’ll get some more Taskmaster and Black Ant appearances!

 

What’s Next?

• There is a new Sinister Syndicate!
• Beetle, Electro, Lady Octopus, Scorpia and White Rabbit have come together for one reason: TO HUNT BOOMERANG!
• Spidey knew having Boomerang as a roommate would come back to bite him, but not like this.

 

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!  Unless your name is Norbot.

 

 

 

‘Nuff Said!