Alford Notes: ASM #40/841

It’s the fight of the century, folks!  Spider-Man versus his greatest foe!  Of course we speak of none other than…  Chance!  So will he or won’t he be able to steal the web shooter right off of the webhead’s wrist (like a certain ninja thief community)?  Find out with Dark Mark in this review of issue of ASM!

 

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Story Title:  Breaking News part 3

Writer: Nick Spencer

Artist: Iban Coello and Ze Carlos

Colorist: Brian Reber and Pete Pantazis

Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramanga

Cover Artist:  Patrick Gleason and Marte Gracia

Asst. Editor: Kathleen Wisneki

Editor: Nick Lowe

Published: February 26, 2020

 

Remedial ASM 101

Foreigner lost a lot of money in a bet with Chance at the supervillain casino called The Palace.  To get him back, he tricked Chance into stealing Spider-Man’s web shooters.  JJJ, trying to help Spider-Man, got him on the bad side of Spidey’s super-secret-top-rogue-S.H.I.E.L.D.-agent sister.     Of course, Spidey thinks this is pretty much his fault, so he decided to go on Jameson’s new Podcast, just to get interrupted by Chance, who doesn’t believe in using stealth to go steal from a superhero.

 

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

Chance and Spider-Man square off, ready to fight and in a slugfest worthy of John Romita Sr, only to get stopped by JJJ in one of JJJ’s best lines ever!

Chance takes some hits, but does manage to land a few blows of his own. All the while Foreigner is watching and revealing that he knows how Chance cheats. Chance whispers for Spidey to punch him, thus ending the fight making Chance lose, though he overplays the turmoil this causes.  Spidey is still scratching his head when a leer of Jack O’Lanterns* sent by the Foreigner shows up and helps Chance win the bet, much against his will.  Spidey is about to go after them when JJJ reminds him he needs to finish the podcast, which he does.  It is a success, and Spidey’s PR goes through the roof (and to my fellow UNC fans out there, we all know the ceiling is the roof!).  Meanwhile, Chance reveals that this winning of his bet will ruin him and that’s when Foreigner moves to “save” Chance by placing Chance in his debt. Meanwhile, back at the Palace, Jamie is using Clairvoyant to score big at the casino games.  Nora pays Peter a visit, much to Randy’s nightmarish fears, and has snooped through his stuff enough to find a spare Spider-Man mask, which she writes off as just Peter and MJ doing something kinky.  She offers Peter a job at Threats and Menace, but not get pictures.

But rather to bring Spider-Man’s story to the masses.  Peter is lured in by the money offered, but hasn’t committed to the job yet.  In a bit of both situational, dramatic, and verbal irony**, we learn that Nora is being bankrolled by Chameleon.

What Passed and Failed

PASS – The whole podcast with Jonah is well done.  I want to hear the whole thing!

FAIL – I can’t follow why Chance is ruined.  I am considering that this may be my fault, but I asked Chi-Town and he didn’t know either and I figured since he is from Chicago, he knows all about crime and cheating and corruption.  I saw The Untouchables. I know all about the “Chicago way”.

PASS – So many Jack O’Lanterns!

PASS – Chance – I’ve never been too keen one way or the other for this guy, but man!  You take a C lister and put him in the hands of Spencer and you can take my money all day long Marvel!

PASS – The art has been consistently good on the books.  I’m sure Neil can tell you which artist did which panel and which colorist did which, but to my unartistic eye, I’m enjoying recognizing characters and having the ability to follow action.  This is not being sarcastic.  With needing a rotating art team, we have been very lucky to have so many come through that match up well with Spencer and Spider-Man.

 

OOTI (Onomatopoeia of the Issue)

This is quite a noisy issue!  I had a few to pull from (assuming I have Coello or Carlos to thank for that) and because I cannot imagine at all how this sound goes with a punch to the face, I’m going with this one:

On a scale of 1 (POW) to 10 (BLRKBQRKPQRBLNB), BRAM rates a 7.5 – it’s simple, yet intriguing.   

 

Analysis

Chance – I’ll start by being a bit persnickety here.  I have two problems that distract me from the story.  One is Chance’s predicament.  I am perfectly fine with the Foreigner getting one over on Chance.  I love watching villain interaction.  I am just an idiot, apparently.

I know Chance is cheating somehow with the time, but how he is ruined because he won and how Foreigner understands that if he wins all is over is just something that boggles me.  I have no doubt, however, that Crawlspace readers will come and enlighten this ignoramus and set the record straight.  You guys are pretty smart like that.

Jamie – The other minor issue deals with Jamie.  One, how is he at the Palace?  Was I wrongly under the impression that this casino was for villains and rich people with little to no morals only?  If I was not misinformed, then how the heck does a college kid (even one going his doctorate) even know about it, much less gain access to it?  The other problem I had was this image:

OK, I know that this is for us, the reader, to make sure we understand what exactly he is doing, but come on!  He’s got this bright glowy thing that is the size of his hand and people are wondering how he is winning?  I watched Oceans 11 and Oceans 13, so I am a bit of an expert on casino security.  This kid shouldn’t have even gotten through the door.  I know, I know.  It is not too big of an issue for me and I am willing to forgive all as long as this gets Spider-Man to the Palace.

Now, when Spider-Man does get himself up to the Palace to rescue Jamie (or the Palace comes to Jamie, either way), we will have to put up with a certain amount of Peter blaming himself for Jamie’s predicament since he is the one who powered it up.  Also, this device will have to be destroyed, which means that Peter’s doctorate pursuit will have to take a hit.

Nora – I am much intrigued by this storyline.  I thought Threats and Menaces was just going to be a side plot that would run as long as Peter needed the job, but with Chameleon pulling the strings?  And, fess up here readers, who else thought the reveal was going to be Kindred?

Two things to think about with Nora.  One is that she is willingly working with the Chameleon, which means she is knowingly pulling JJJ and Peter into this mess.  I’m sure Chameleon won’t betray them all, aren’t you?

The other thing is that I wonder if Nora knows Peter’s identity. She completely dismisses the mask, but she does make sure she is openingly showing Peter that she found it.  It could be that he just haphazardly left it laying on his bed, but his roommate is Boomerang, a guy who undoubtedly would go into a roommates room when they aren’t around just to get something he wants or needs, so I doubt Peter is that reckless.  But then again…  What do you think?  Does Nora know Peter is Spidey or at least suspect?

 

Extra Credit

Notice the new addition to the feature image?  Bonus points to the first person to tell me WHO is man behind the mask!

 

Final Grade

I like the feel of the story and would like to go in the A range, but there are just too many little things that feel off for me.

B+

Still a good issue and I love the fact that we are consistently staying in the A/B range here with an occasional drop to C.  And judging from the pools you guys are participating in, this is right in line with how we all feel.

Speaking of polls –

Your Turn

What grade do YOU give it?

 

What’s Next?

 

• Spider-Man needs to know WHAT BOOMERANG IS UP TO and he (and you) will finally get their answers this issue!
• What does it have to do with Mayor Kingpin?
• And who are all those eyes looking at our hero and his lousy roommate?

 

OK, so finally we get to find out what we were teased about in the FCBD issue 40 issues ago with Boomerang.  I don’t like how long it drug out, but hey!  I’m not complaining if we get Spencer writing Boomerang again!  Not excited about the mischief of Vermin*** on the cover, but I’m betting Boomerang can pull it off for us.

 

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!

 

 

 

* ‘leer’ is the collective noun for jack o’lanterns

** Wow!  All three irony types at the same time!  Situational irony – a surprise twist (which we get with the Chameleon reveal)  Dramatic irony – we know something the characters do not (and we know Chameleon is setting Spider-Man up)  Verbal irony – what is said is not what is meant (sarcasm is a form of this and Nora’s sarcastic response about knee capping barely qualifies, but I’m making a ruling that it does)

*** ‘mischief’ is the collective noun for rats, but then you already knew that if you read my reviews

Sorry, but I am an English teacher…

 

 

‘Nuff Said!