(Writer) Nick Spencer
(Artist) Marcelo Ferreira
(Colorist) David Curiel
(Editor) Nick Lowe
(EIC) C.B. Cebulski
Date Released 7/29/2020
Issue Number #846
Price Tag: $3.99
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Alford Notes
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THE STORY
THE BREAKDOWN
- The Lethal Legion
- Power Upgrade
- Ravencroft
- Norah’s Sins
- Nitpicks
- Grade
THE LETHAL LEGION
We all know that Nick Spencer has a special talent for making C and D list villains take the center stage, however I would have preferred Spider-Man C and D list villains. Aren’t these guys usually battling the Avengers? Not saying Spidey can’t handle himself against them or has fought them before, but I would have preferred Spidey villains over Avenger villains. I kinda understand the logic of why Spencer used them. A “change” in these villains could be permanent so why not use The Lethal Legion has Ginny Pigs for this story, no one would really care. I know who they are but rather not go into detail on their history. If you want detail on bad villains, Alfrod Notes is right now the hall. What can I say, some guys lust over sexy redheads like Mary Jane other’s lust over bad super villains.
POWER UPGRADE
Teleportation, check. Super Strength, check. Cleansing Shot-Gun, check. Now we can add Power Absorption to the list. I don’t think this will be the stopping point in finding out what more can Sin-Eater do. Spencer has really taken this character to a whole new level and power upgraded him like Mario touching a fiery flower. The audience seems to eat it up as well when Sin-Eater shows up and takes care of business. Not sure if Spencer is writing a bit of “reality” into this story where it brings out the worse of people. According to the audience, Sin-Eater shows up via smoke bomb entrance and takes out all The Lethal Legion with magic shot gun and they praise him for it. In these dangerous times people want the “eye for an eye” justice, rather than pure justice. True, the Legion didn’t “die”, but the audience in the demonstration don’t know that and may get the wrong idea. I betting that’s where Spencer is going with the Sin-Eater cult/followers depicted on the Solic’s for the upcoming issues. Also, it appears whatever happened to Overdrive didn’t last that long..
RAVENCROFT
Norman is back in ASM. Spencer is definitely setting up the stages for the return of The Green Goblin. I haven’t been reading the Ravencroft book but Norman is in control of the institute after receiving a clean bill of mental health. Riiiiight, and I’m Peter Pan. Not only does he grant Norah Winters a one on one with Count Nefaria but casually threatens her not to write about the superstition acts of Sin-Eater that cause the criminals to see the sins of their crimes. Instead he “persuades” her to write it was the practice skills of Ravencroft that turned them into model inmates. FAKE NEWS! Norman is business man per usual and you know his ego will get the best of him. Also we have a second glimpse of the MYSTERY CELL. There’s no mention of who is in it but we do know it’s a “recent arrival”.
NORAH SINS
No Jonah, she won’t be fine. In fact she’ll probably be sobbing at your feet confessing all the wrongs that she has done. So what did Norah do that was so horrible it deserved the Sin-Eater treatment? In ASM#841 we discover that Norah has been doing some business with Chameleon. She seems fully aware (and scared) of the implications that The Chameleon has warned her about since he’s the bank roller for Threats and Menaces. Most likely those implications will be drawn out sooner than later due to Sin-Eater’s actions. The Chameleon is Spider-Man’s first super villain and we did see him back in ASM #824 citing at Kraven’s funeral, “You needn’t worry. The world is no longer your burden. Besides, there won’t be much of it left soon…Not by the time I’ve finished.”. I have said this plenty time before, Spencer has been following through with all of his plots and subplots. There are stories to tell and his teases here and there are something you should look forward too. I know we all want the the dinner satisfaction of knowing who Kindred is and what he wants with Peter and Mary Jane being married again as the desert, but seeing what’s coming up on the menu keeps me on the book.
NITPICKS
Yay! Papa is back!
Is there a specific reason WHY Norman looks like a really old man in this one panel? I guess our JR and Norman have another thing in common now. Grumpiness and OLD AGE. I had to do a double take on this, thought Norman would tell me to get off his lawn or something.
GRADE
Not too much Spider-Man in this story. The focus was really on Sin-Eater new gifts and the what it does to his victims. This issue was more interesting than enjoyable for me. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Spencer at the helm for ASM, but this felt more like a set up than a part two of a story arc. For instance, I much rather seen Spider-Man find out why Overdrive is on life support than the exchange between Norman and Norah. Carlie Cooper of course brought this another grade down because since Overdrive is on life support and Spidey wants to know what happened, we are going to see another Cooper story which, honestly, I’m could do without. The art was good, except for the “Old Man Norman” panel. I bit dark for my taste, but it fits this story line. I feel like I got more questions than answers with this issue.
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I get why people were down a little on this issue, but for me this was an A+. This thing with Kindred is a psycological fight, not a physical one, and in this issue, Peter took a few hits. First, to be helpless while people are murdered, villains or not, was torture for Peter, and then to have the methods he has fought against his whole career cheered by the crowd was like another twist of the knife. Then it turns out there fine, and reformed, and if this were to hold up, (which we know it won’t he doesn’t) makes the way he’s fought bad guys all his life look completely ineffectual by comparison. The final touch was all the bad guys having the same injuries as Stan after he went out of control and beat the real Stan badly, it was like everything in this issue was designed to make Peter question everything about his superhero life. Now we see how Peter responds.
Also, i skipped the Slott years, so i don’t hate Carlie Cooper as much as everyone else, but if you remember, we got Jean’s backstory and she ended up dead. We got Carlie’s backstory…
@JR: Finally, my plan worked. Got you the comment on one of my reviews. Bout time, do you have any clue how many “accidental references” I made of you to finally get to this moment?
I’m sure that any accidental references to me in this article were made only with the utmost respect and affection.
I for one loved seeing Carlie look pretty vulnerable and a total wreck, even better is Peter seems to taking charge in front of her rather than the other way around. I am equally intrigued as to what Sin Eater wants with Norah and my thoughts went instantly to her dealings with Chamelion. How she’ll behave going forward will be interesting, she is essentially a plaything of three masters now, Stan, Chamelion and Kindred.
@Adam. That’s the big curtain call ASM#850. All of us want to get to that issue. We’ll have to wait till the end of Sept to see what’s in store, but should be here before we know it. All of us are with you feeling that this need to wrap up, but again, COVID19 happened and shipping got delayed. We would be on 850 by now if it didn’t happen.
I do want more Spidey in my books and nothing against the supporting characters, they are important and well written, just I want Spidey in the Spidey title.
“Do you plan on having any Spider-Man in your, er, Spider-Man stories”
I thought last issue was one of the best issues in a while. Bagley art and lots of Peter/Spider-Man. How can Amazing Spider-Man not hold consistent high quality artists?
I don’t mind the attention being given to supporting characters, but Spider/man and Peter feel like cameos. It’s almost a nice surprise when they feature even for a scene.
Did I have to read those Ravencroft mini series to know Norman was in charge? Did they explain who was in the vault too?
I feel like a lot of the hopes I had for this run are evaporating by the issue since Hunted. Poor art, and padded stories, after a really strong start. I imagine this is editorial interference trying to get us to 850.
@Jack : It’s canon but no longer a part of Spidey. It was actually the first thing I thought of as well, but I rather have it be “lighting issues”
@HairyChap: Thanks Man. I believe there is a method to Spencer’s madness. The whole magic stuff could be the redemption to OMD. Who knows. If the team up is written correctly I really don’t have a problem with it.
@Brad: Agreed. Although most of the blame is COVID-19. The delays makes it seem longer so by now we are ready to move onto the good stuff. We will do, come Sept which is just a month away.
I think the C+ is fair. It seemed like a mix of Marvels and Dr. Strange more than a Spidey story. I’m ready for this one to wrap up. I feel we’ve really gone off the road a bit lately. The 2099 stuff, the Gog stuff and now the Sin Eater. I miss having focus on Peter Parker’s life and Spider-Man’s. This one had darn near nothing going on with Peter. Do we see him going to college? Do we see him trying to raise money for rent?
Good review buddy. I can’t explain Norman’s melted face either hehe.
I must say, I’m really disliking this run recently. After a lot of Gog, we’ve gone heavy supernatural. The future looks to be Spidey super friends in #49/#850, then Dr. Strange afterwards.
All four of these are things I don’t really want in ASM. Particularly the reliance on unexplainable magic. While I love the original two Sin Eater tales, this story just features a guy who looks like him.
I guess Norman’s facial deformation from that old Symkaria story (where Norman tried to goblinize the population of Synkaria using rockets, and Peter as head of Parker Industries invaded) is still in place.
@Javi I would of loved that as well. We got a whole two pages of that magic last issue and I was hoping for more this issue. With shipping back and staying on course I’m hoping it won’t take long at all. Spencer is going a great job with Peter’s characterization and the supporting cast.
This was an A for me. I expected Bagley on art, but I thought Ferreira did a fine job, certainly better than some of the other fill-in artists we’ve had on this title. I would’ve loved some Peter personal life/MJ scenes, but I was riveted this whole issue and with shipping presumably back on track, it won’t be too long till the next issue. I appreciate how Spencer notes that Peter has gotten angry and been bloodthirsty before, showing that he’s human, too. Some good stuff to mull over here.