Instead of yet another tie-in, Spidey is jumping around trying to prevent bad things from happening, but who cares? Kindred is back! And he has brought friend to play with to boot! So get ready, dear reader and let’s break this issue down!
Credit Where Credit Is Due
Story Title: Time, for a Change
Writer: Nick Spencer
Penciler: Ryan Ottley
Inkers: Cliff Rathburn
Colorist: Nathan Fairbairn
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramanga
Cover Artist: Ryan Ottley and Nathan Fairbairn
Asst. Editor: Kathleen Wisneki
Editor: Nick Lowe
Published: January 8th, 2020
Remedial ASM 101
Peter and his college buddies are working on a device that scans the multi-verse to figure out probable future events. MJ is off in Hollywood filming a Mysterio original. JJJ is languishing at a radio news station that does not appreciate his brand of news.
The Story – Pay Attention, This Will Be on the Test
Spider-Man uses the Clairvoyant device to save a woman from a fire, prevent a robbery from a gang of Rocket Racer/Iron Man mashups, and an outbreak of the Stegron virus all in time for a date with MJ (long distance, of course). Nora approaches JJJ with a job proposal. Kindred conjures up a friend to play with from a mirror room in a graveyard.
What Passed and Failed
PASS – Kindred – we will go into this in great detail below.
FAIL – Stegron – twice now that we have had Stegron basically get an off-panel butt whooping. In fact, Stegron doesn’t even seem to make an appearance unless he is one of the mutated dinosaurs we see on the cover. I have a fever and the only cure is MORE STEGRON!
PASS – Nora and JJJ interaction – This was enjoyable to read. I’ve never cared one way or another about Nora since she made her appearance at a time when I had stopped collecting comics for a while. I am enjoying Spencer’s take on her.
FAIL – Clairvoyant – I’m just not into it.
PASS – Daredevil holding Kingpin’s good will against Spidey
OOTI (Onomatopoeia of the Issue)
On a scale of 1 (POW) to 10 (BLRKBQRKPQRBLNB), HONK HONK rates a 1. I know Spencer has potential here, but he just doesn’t seem to want to tap into it.
Analysis
The Three Stories
Spidey uses Clairvoyant – In an attempt to stop bad things from happening before they happen, Spidey uses the Clairvoyant device to look into the future. He is running himself ragged and today’s problem he’s focused on deals with a woman’s apartment on fire, the Fast Five (a gang of Rocket-Racer types but on roller skates and with more powerful suits) bank robberies, and the Stegron virus. At first it looks like all these things have already happened, but then we see that Spidey is stopping them before they happen, so I guess these scenes where the building is on fire and the Fast Five are robbing banks is just from Clairvoyant.
So how does this work? We know it looks across the multi-verse, but it is limited. There are an infinite number of universes and this seems to only pick up ones that are in sync with ours. Which means it is doubtful that this will be useful for instigating another Spider-Verse.
Spencer acknowledges that this is a copy of the Civil War II storyline, though I do like that Peter is not using it to round up people before they get a chance to do anything. We also have a built in less than 100% accuracy on this, so that take away the biggest problem for Carol’s Inhuman Magic Eight Ball guy. We all know this will not end well and who knows how much longer Miguel’s time exploding can power this thing. I don’t think this will have anything to do with Kindred, but who knows?
It is also in these stories that we see more of the regular world in a universe populated by heroes. The old lady is buying superhero-themed lottery tickets and Peter and MJ are watching Super Villain Makeover. I love these little tid-bits. We also see where Peter keeps his money.
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There are two questions I have about this. He has a utility belt. Wouldn’t there be a small pocket in it for money? Also, where is Peter getting money? He has no job, to my knowledge. I’m sure there is an answer and I just forgot it. Not that I care for the answer. I’m going all in on this one.
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This story also ties in with Peter and MJ as he is trying to stop all these bad things in time for his FaceTime date with MJ. MJ has been very patient with Peter so far, but if he keeps missing her here and falling asleep on her there, well, there is only so much a woman can take of that. Look at what it did to Deb Whitman! (By the way, Chi-Town, that link is a must read for you!)
Nora recruits JJJ – This is interesting because it seems like we are setting up Peter to get back into the photography business without just resetting to the status norm. Nora’s web site gets big, JJJ is a part of it, Peter is a part of it. I’m sure a few others will be a part if it. However, let’s look at JJJ’s eyes here:
I’ve talked plenty about the fact that normal people just don’t have the whites all the way around their eyes like that (though I have a student who does). So this number is high. Way high. Who is paying that much money to fund a news podcast? It won’t be good, people. This will have repercussions. Given Spencer’s speed in developing a story, I’d say in two – three years max.
By the way – thank you Ottley for having them talk with their mouth full. YUCK!
Kindred monologues – Oh boy! I love it when Spencer starts giving us more to work with. I have all my thoughts in a chart found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hBpJMjjvoVJwH6pCIdamh8HeqbnGdy3B1QXcg3hw_yI/edit so I will not go over all the past stuff and just look at this issue’s clues.
The Graveyard – Now, it may just be that Ottley was wanting to draw a creepy graveyard for Kindred to hang out in, but this place is not kept up at all. This implies a few things. One, we know that Kindred is dead, so it seems likely that this may be his grave yard or at least the grave yard of someone close to him. Two, it cannot be Uncle Ben’s grave yard since that is well maintained. Three, there is some room with what appears to be mirrors everywhere. Kindred smashes one and it looks as if he can pull things from these mirrors. They maybe act as portals?
Norman – Kindred reveals that he was really rattled by his encounter with Norman. Kindred is acting tough, and he does have a lot of power, but he acts more like Kylo Ren in The Force Awakens. He is overcompensating for low self-esteem and he throws temper-tantrums by smashing things when he gets angry. He talks big here. The line that in the most interesting is:
Some of you might be saying that this rules out Harry, but I disagree. If it is Harry, then when he says that Norman “thinks he knows who I am,” I believe he isn’t saying that Norman is wrong in the identity of Kindred, but rather, he thinks his son is weak and useless and Kindred/Harry is going to show him he’s wrong. The “what I am” part only refers to his changed status and powerful demon body. Another possibility, which I do not think is the case, is that Kindred is a conglomeration of individuals who have been harmed by Peter’s actions. This would account for why no single person seems to fit all of the clues. Harry’s nonappearance in any of the Spencer books (or satellite books during Spencer’s run) is suspicious and even if Kindred is not Harry, Harry has something to do with this.
Peter has done something wrong – So Kindred continues to drag on about how Peter has done something wrong and needs to pay for it. I do not know what Kindred is doing off panel. I am assuming he just sits around brooding. Here he gives us several vocabulary words, so here is our vocabulary list for this week, Crawlspacers – pay attention since it will be on the test.
Side note – the panels for Kindred’s scenes are slightly skewed. I don’t know if that was done on purpose of not, but I noticed it when cropping them for this post.
Kindred doesn’t believe Peter will follow his four-step plan to forgiveness largely because Peter has hidden what he has done from himself.
OK, what is it that Peter has done that is clearly wrong and he doesn’t even remember it completely? This has to be the marriage deal with Mephisto. Kindred feels wronged by this. So who has affected by the deal made by Peter and MJ? Aunt May – but there is no way she is going to be this whiny if she ever became a villain. The daughter that never was – when they made their deal, they see a glimpse of a daughter they would have had, but now will never exist. It is possible that the soul of this daughter to be was left to rot and become Kindred, but that would not explain all the other clues we’ve been given. Harry – he dies after having tried and failed to kill Peter and seeing the light. He dies forgiven. However, when Peter makes his deal, Harry is not just brought back, but brought back divorced and so separated from his kids that he goes for days without even thinking of them (which shows how far he has fallen). Either that is not the real Harry, or Harry has been split somehow, forced to live a life above due to Peter’s attempt to avoid grief while his soul stays below (I don’t see Mephisto giving up Harry’s soul just because he made a deal with Peter). And when does Kindred make an appearance? The same issue that Peter gets back with MJ. So Peter wrecks Harry’s life and he STILL gets the girl (Harry’s girl, mind you) while Harry continues to rot. When Kindred gets his revenge for this, this will force Peter to address the irresponsibility of making the deal in the first place.
Sin Eater – he is the PERFECT villain to bring back to address Peter’s sins. This is the original, as we can see from the badge on his belt. Interesting enough, Peter was avoiding calls from Betty earlier. It was Sin Eater going after Betty that made Peter go off the deep end in apprehending him in the first place. I don’t think this means that Kindred and Sin Eater have to have a shared history and I wonder if this is the complete Stan Carter brought back, or just the Sin Eater part of him. In his final appearance, he did seem to be separate from the Sin Eater as it kept appearing as a phantom that was haunting Stan.
Required Reading
Refresh yourself on the Sin Eater saga by going back reading my breakdown on those in my early Cobwebs posts.
Cobwebs – Sin Eater Part 1: You’re Doing It Wrong
Cobwebs – Sin Eater Part 2: Whatever a Spider Can (I Think Not)
Extra Credit
Where am I wrong in my Kindred analysis? I’m eager to hear your views on it!
Final Grade
Because I wasn’t too enthralled in the Clairvoyant story, I was going to give this in the B range, but the last few pages were so fun I am going to bump it up.
A-
Your Turn
What grade do YOU give it?
What’s Next?
- J. Jonah Jameson kicks off his new life as a podcast host and his first guest? SPIDER-MAN!
- JJJ and Spidey have been on pretty good terms for a while now, so it seems fitting that JJJ
needs to sabotage it and put the entire city in danger, right?
- Don’t miss “My Podcast with Jonah”!
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!
‘Nuff Said!
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Listen Notes
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@Jack Brooks – No religious spin for him. He also did not care for confession or absolution. He skipped over all of that and went straight for the conviction and execution. He took the name Sin eater because, according to him, some cultures would put their sins onto food and one person would eat it, taking on the sins of the community. He felt that he was taking on the sins of murder to rid the world of those who did more harm.
Would Sin-Eater be talking about confession and absolution? Did he have a quasi-religious spin?
@Shimon – I had forgotten about the Mysterio/Burglar connection! Hmmm….. I’ll have to ponder that one.
@Mark Alford
I actually liked all three sin eater characters. Only Axis Carnage left me to wonder, was that demon sin eater actually the Emil Gregg or not. I expected character’s return, but I wanted it to be someone new. They should have let Stan rest. Good Heavens, I hope they won’t resurrect Jean. Now that would be a mockery. Original story is hands down the best one, but I also liked a follow up where he died.
P.S. I also wish they haven’t resurrected not just Stan, but Norman and Harry as well. Liz should have become the new Goblin and head of the family. But I guess even in death you can’t escape IP!
As for Kraven I have thought about for a while after writing a comment. And I have something to add:
1) Kraven expected to die in honor, reaching his life goal. But killing himself has left him tormented on earth and later possible in Hell. Kraven has a Spider-Man to blame for: 1. His death. 2. His Hell destination. So of all suspects he has the biggest motive.
2) Kindred is all about plotting and scheming. Well, Kraven was also no stranger to mind warfare! And he had some sort of magickal abilities even when he was alive.
3) Kraven was a terrible family man (Hence Kindred’s hate for children).
The problems I have is an Osborn connection. As you stated it was just business association. But I still tried to justify my theory! For example “grew in Osborn’s shadow” might mean that Norman has stolen the Title of Spider-Man’s archenemy from Kraven. Another problem is Kindred acting like an angry teenager with a low self esteem (yeah Harry fits perfectly here).
As for Kraven’s obsession over Spider-Man and not over Peter. I can easily see that beaing changed after his death. As stated they formed a unique connection, so over time Kraven might got too personal, even calling him “Pete” etc (Hell change people!).
And it’s actually timely! Timely for the upcoming Kraven movie. Perhaps the big Kindred reveal will be just in time when the movies will go live. (or maybe not, I suppose they are saving the confrontation for 50th issue).
Kraven’s “return” in Grim Hunt, might be considered false. Like, because of sacrificial lamb being Kaine, Kravinoffs has summoned not Kraven, but a soulless abomination. And why wouldn’t it be otherwise, when the unique connection exists only between Kraven and Peter.
So, it all lets Marvel to web two Kravens with one Spider. Marvel will have: 1) Rejuvenated Kraven junior (age problem solved); 2) Return of the original Kraven (even if in a demonic form).
But most probably I am wrong, damn Osborn weakens my theory. Still as stated it doesn’t fit Harry ideally too.
Would be surprised if it is someone else!
What I can say though, I think it is difinitely not: Gwen, Ben, or even burglar. Though the last one kinda fits! He knew Mysterio, and knew about his alias as his psychiatrist! Even has a reason, Peter literally scared him to death!
Well, I guess time will tell!
@Shimon – You know, Sin Eater was always a character I thought best left dead, but I feel that if anyone can do him justice, it would probably be Spencer. I also wonder if it is just the Sin Eater part of Stan. In his second arc, Stan is haunted by the Sin Eater personality while he was wanting to be left alone. In fact, Stan gets himself shot in order to get rid of the Sin Eater personality. So what if Stan is in heaven (or Marvel’s equivalent) while Sin Eater has been roasting in hell. Would make for an interesting take on the multiple personalities that wearing the mask seems to produce.
As for Harry, yeah, I know it doesn’t fit completely, but so far it seems to fit better than others. Anyway, I picked Harry before that issue that really made it seem like Harry, so I’m just going to hunker down on it! 🙂
As far as Kraven, you lay out some really great points. I can spot one flaw in the rationale – Kraven was obsessed with Spider-Man. Kindred is obsessed with Peter. Other than that, I can see where you put a lot of thought into it and hope for you that you’re right! As far as I remember, Kraven and Norman’s association was purely business and Kraven went after Harry once since he felt Norman cheated him out of some money. So no love loss, but I don’t believe either one was really intimidated by the other.
You said you might be wrong. Well, I might be wrong. We’re probably all wrong and Spencer is going to trot out Lonesome Pinkus or someone! 🙂
Damn, I so much wanted for Stan to rest in peace. I was so relieved when they didn’t bring him back during clone conspiracy. But NOOOOO. I should’ve known! Someone was just gonna bring him back. At least I hope he will get a good story.
I think “Harry Osborn” is just WAY too obvious. It realy fits. But I want it be someone else. I also have issues with Kindred being Harry. Kindred said that he always hated children. Harry adored his son. I also don’t believe that he would hate his father that much. On the side note, Kindred’s jacket looks like a straitjacket. And Harry was a patient in a Ravencroft! Plus, if it was Harry, he would DIFINITELY not let Norman/Carnage endanger his son. He would also spend his time more around his family members, and not just being obsessed over Peter.
Regarding Kindred’s identity, I have a very unusual suspect! What if Kindred is the original Kraven? The one who commited suicide. And he went to Hell after that. Yes, I remember there was a follow up story back in 1992, where Peter was put in a trial for Sergei’s soul. My point is. Damn. You just have to re-read the soul of the hunter, you will see that all of the pieces fit.
Here are some of them:
1) Kraven was the original character who haunted Peter after his death.
2) Peter’s “confontation” (in fact more than one) with Kraven was in the graveyard.
3) Only Kraven was THAT obsessed with Spider-Man. “Spirit” in the issue has stated that Peter was the center of Sergei’s universe and they formed a unique connection. Sounds like kindred spirits to me.
4) Regardinf the “big lie”. i have an idea. Peter’s initial response to “trial” was a refusal. He wished for Kraven to suffer for all eternity. The spirit has said “he’s made his decision– –and we must abide by it”. Now, I remember that Spider-man actually has gone through this trial later and “freed” Kraven… BUT… In the beginnig the spirit said, that Kraven was neither dead, nor alive. From what I understand, it’s like being blocked from both Heaven and Hell and being stuck on earth. And it was up to Peter to free him and choose where he goes. And so he did! He has chosen an eternity of suffering for him, and “freed” him from earthly boundaries shortly after. We don’t know where Kraven went after that. But I guess it wasn’t Heaven. I can easily see how Peter would have forgotten about this, hence the “big lie”. Especially after “Kraven”‘s return in “Grim Hunt” (which I believe wasn’t real him, thus Spencer has killed the resurrected abomination).
5) Mysterio. This is EASILY the most obvious. Quentin has plagiated Kraven’s death! Whoo boy! Just imagine Kraven’s rage about it! Of course he would torture Quentin for it! This is their connection!
6) From all of the suspects Kraven has the most potential to grow in a demonic hierarchy. I’m sorry. I just don’t see Harry or anyone else doing that.
7) Kraven’s death was pre-omd. This is also obvious.
My only problem here is, Kraven wouldn’t be intimidated by Norman. At least I think so. But then again. I haven’t read many early Spider-Man issues. I know that Kraven and Norman interacted once or twice, but I don’t know in which way.
But of course I could be wrong!
Ditto to everything you just said, William. DD should have figured it out, but I thought it was a funny enough joke to ignore it. I loved Man Thing’s panel.
Sin Eater saga was the first story that really grabbed my attention in comics. I liked Spider-Man before then, but it wasn’t until that story that I started paying attention to author and how the story telling differs. I wouldn’t trust anyone else to play around with that character and the memories I have of it except Spencer.
Everytime Kindred makes an appearance, it is fun. Neil and Chi-Town start messaging me and we start trying to figure out what this means. It’s a lot of fun.
I really love more laid-back issues like this, it was all the better to get one after the pretty overlong arc we just went though. I loved the various different heroes giving their ‘advice’, stuff like that really helps the hero community feel more real and fleshed out in the larger MU. The Cap being the only one to give anything of value was very in-character and it seriously makes me wish Marvel would push for *him* to be a mentor-figure for Peter instead of Stark. I must say though, I think ol’ hornhead should have been able to work out that Kingpin was deliberately turning the other heroes against Spidey, especially since Spider-Man’s rivalry with Fisk predates his own, and it’s not like he’s never been exposed to his manipulations before. I really liked the last few pages, can’t wait to see what Spencer does with the Sin Eater, I’m sure he’ll be used to give us some great insight into Peter’s character, just as he was in his previous stories. I’m more excited to see that than I was for anything in the last arc, it just reinforces the idea that anything to do with Kindred’s arc is by far the most interesting stuff in the comic right now.