(Writer) Nick Spencer
(C0-Writer) Mathew Rosenberg
(Artist) Federico Vicentini
(Editor) Nick Lowe
(EIC) C.B. Cebulski
Date Released 10/21/2020
Issue Number #50.LR
Price Tag: $3.99
Buy: ComixologyorGCC
Story Time: Storming Norman is now “cleansed” and pouring out his heart and soul to Dr. Kafka. Meanwhile Spidey is fighting the now possessed Order of the Web underwater in their yellow submarine, their yellow submarines, we all live… *ahem*, sorry lost track there. Kindred is villain monologuing via evil possess Madam Web to Spidey during the fight and the submarine takes in water. Norman continues to warn Kafka of Kindred who he reveals is Harry and that he needs serious physiological help. Spidey saves the Dark Order of the Web from drowning and then they attack him. Anya has spiders that tranquilize Peter and the Dark Order leave him in order to fulfill Kindred’s wishes to “exercise another demon”. Meanwhile Kafka explains to Norman that in order for her to help Harry and make things right, they need someone he knows, loves, and trusts that he would listen to. Someone who has been there for Harry and could possibly reach out to him. Enter MARY JANE WATSON!
The Breakdown
- Mary Jane is Back
- LR issues
- Read between the lines
- Ntipics
- Grade
Mary Jane is Back: Isn’t she a sight for sore eyes?! Even Dark Mark was shocked! I had to explain to him that Nick Lowe was only joking in 851’s letter section. It dashed all his Deb Whitman dreams away and I gotta say… I’ve never seen a grown man cry the way he did. Anyhoo…Last time we saw MJ, she was being chased by a killer and was flown off to Montana. Then COVID hit and we haven’t really heard from her since, assuming her series was canceled due to shipping delays and budget costs. THAT aside, she appears at the airport as if that never happened. I’m betting she’ll be wondering what her “Tiger” has been up to and probably wants to get home to him as quickly as possible. Let’s face it, she DOES have some explaining to do since she was working with Mysterio, plus a much needed and over due make out session with Peter is probably in order. Her setup in this story however implies that she’s going to have a one on one with Harry, who is Kindred.
Harry did date MJ in the past when Peter was with Gwen. She did break it off with him, but remained close friends with Harry. Mary Jane has talked Harry *down from the ledge a few times and she is the most obvious choice to speak on Norman’s behalf. She’s not going to like the fact that she may have to speak on Norman’s behalf, but she’ll make that choice in order to save Harry. It’ll be interesting to see her characterization throughout the LR issues and how she’ll play a factor in this arc. I don’t expect her to talk to Kindred face to face, she’ll be communicating via The Dark Order of the Web. Kindred will have his hands full with playing his game with Peter. These LR issues are Mary Jane heavy.
LR Issues: If anyone is getting the sense of HU all over again, you are only half right. Nick Lowe wrote a letter explaining to Spidey fans that these LR issues are part of the bigger story. He even admits, that if you only follow the core title, you won’t miss out on TOO MUCH and Peter won’t be THAT MUCH involved in them as much. STILL Mary Jane and the Order of the Web are very heavy in these issues so I’m betting that is good enough for fans of those characters to see what’s going on. The huge difference is that the HU issues for Hunted were stories or origins of the villains that were in central park. Like “side missions” on a video game. That Gibbon story made you cry, admit it. These LR issues seem to be what’s going on in the background of the main story and I believe Spencer (working with Rosenberg) doesn’t want you to miss out. Mary Jane’s part in these issues has me and I’m betting other Spider-Fans intrigued. How the Dark Order of the Web gets out from Kindred’s control has me skeptical…honestly I don’t really care, but if MJ is going to talk to Harry/Kindred. She’s going to have to go through the Dark Order of the Web to communicate with him. Why isn’t this is regular numbering for the core title? They have something bigger planned for that key number on the core title and supporting characters have their chance to shine. So I do think these tie-ins are important reads. Plus, it’s like getting an issue every week! It’s a positive in my book.
Another key focus is Norman Osborn on his redemption trip. Usually Norman is a great actor when trying to fool anyone, but I honestly don’t think he’s acting here. The cleansing shotgun blast does the same job as it did with anyone else. So we are seeing a completely NEW kind of Norman Osborn. The one that feels sorry for all the horrible acts he created in the past and I think that’s what Kindred/Harry wanted all along. Remember the movie A Christmas Story where Ralphy dreamed that he got back at his parents with “soap poison”? Kindred is kinda going through that phase right now. It does open up a possibility for good story telling in Norman’s characterization, not that he’s “cleansed”. The end result will be the same, he’ll be villainous again, but it’s the ride that gets us there, the journey that’s worth telling.
Read between the lines: It’s been known that Nick Lowe has joked around in the letter’s section. However, I can’t help but feel he’s throwing a hint out there of what’s to come. His “how mountains are created” for example. Why put that in there? Neil and Mike might think I’m nuts, I mean..not as nutty as thinking Kindred was a woman, but I digress. Here’s my theory.
Nick Lowes Letter:
1) He states the “magic” that Spencer and Roesenberg are doing. Almost like you “don’t have to explain it”. I remember a past EIC saying something like that (to our dismay) when addressing OMD.
2) Lowe goes on about “mountains” for some odd reason. Maybe Rosenberg being in Cali has something to do with it, but didn’t Slott rant and rant and RANT that he had to “move mountains” in order to get RYV published?
Theory: I think Nick is throwing hints that the marriage is coming back OR that it’s going to be addressed and very soon. This arc and the stories involved in the LR issues are going to be a MAJOR change in Spider-Man’s life going forward, we’ve heard it before, but STILL, what if Nick is saying that OMD is going to be addressed. Under Spencer’s pen, I personally a change I WANT to read that. I’ve done my homework Mark, what if Lowe is telling us a NEW mountain is forming. A unique type of mountain is made when one plate is pushed below the other, pushing magma to the surface. This is how volcanoes are made. Volcanic activity below Earth’s surface can also result in NEW MOUNTAINS when magma is pushed up toward the surface. Now that’s a magic trick that can be explained!
* Mary Jane as an “Intermediary” in the past with Harry.
Nitpics:
- Spencer has praised the JMS run on Spider-Man in a sense of responsibility issues, but I think he threw a slite shade at the Ezekiel/Morlun Spider-Totem stuff.
Grade:
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… I think you’re really reading too much in all that talking about mountains, Chi-Town. Sometimes a joke is just a joke. Otherwise I’ll start with some denial nonsense like “it’s not confirmed to be Harry, it’s just Norman who believes it, even Spencer spoke ambiguously in the interview!!!”. And then we can both be attended to by Dr. Kafka.
Still, I think there are enough clues in the story itself that the marriage, and probably the pact, will be adressed in some way. It’s to be seen if they’ll do a magical repair with a continuity adjustment a la Superman, or just an acknowledgement by the characters of what they did in the past, so as to get organically to a new marriage in the future, like they seem to be doing in the Flash (if I’m not mistaken).
I really liked the .HU issues, especially the Gibbon one (I didn’t cry, but it was really emotional), so I’m all in for these .LR issues. I hope they’ll collect them in the TPB, like they did with Hunted.
I didn’t like the way they referred to Straczysnki run (which I loved), it felt like a low blow. We could argue it’s a misinterpretation of what a totem is: it doesn’t mean being “king” of spiders and being able to control them, it’s more a spiritual role, like being one with nature; and nature can be pretty cruel sometimes. (heck, even The Other acknowledged it in its conclusion: “you could be the prey or the predator, one or both”)
I think the marriage will be addressed, but not reinstated. Once it gets pulled out, Peter and MJ will have to wrestle with what they have done. And what if they are told that getting back together nulls the agreement and brings on the swift death of Aunt May? I feel that eventually they will restart the dating process and we will have to have a long wait for anything to result from that if it ever does. I say that as a fan of the marriage and not a naysayer. I just don’t see this being a quick process and if it isn’t done before Spencer leaves the book, it may never get done.
Also note that Harry says MJ doesn’t have anything to fear from the Green Goblin. Too bad she won’t be dealing with the Green Goblin…
@Sthenurus: Preaching to the choir, my man.
@David: I surely hope not. MJ is apart of the storyline and having her work as a catalyst to try and come to terms with Harry/Kindred. She will have to answer to Peter about “lying”. She already expressed how she was going to tell Peter in AMJ 5. I just don’t want to leave again. I want her to stay in ASM. Keeps Peter grounded.
I hope they clear up the continuity, the first part of Sins Rising run side-by-side with the events of issue six of Amazing MJ, which was the real reason MJ missed the dinner date with Peter., and then Peter got dragged into the whole Sin Eater business.
Did a few days/weeks elapse during the Sins Rising arc? Because that would make sense and give all of the time possible for MJ to have tidied up the witness protection fiasco off-panel and come home to Peter…but she must still be dealing with the movie tour.
Something similar happened in the final few storylines of the newspaper strip when MJ was called away to promote her Marvella II feature, she wound up returning when her tour took a break and she went back to Peter, but after that story she went on tour yet again before coming home permanently (upon learning her movie didn’t test well with critics and would bomb, so she and Peter decided to go vacation in Australia to unwind and forget about the whole pointless exercise)
MJ could perhaps get involved in the Last Remains storyline, but it’s also possible Peter won’t be aware she’s back, and MJ has an adventure to herself and then has to leave again, possibly because Kindred blackmails her emotionally with the knowledge she worked with Mysterio and forgave him for a lot of his crimes, which would upset Peter, that would lead into the solicitations for January which detail Peter trying to piece together his life but still have no emotional safety net in MJ.
I for one hope you are right and the marriage is coming back in some way shape or form.
I just hope it won’t take a omd level contrivance to make it happen. I want the marriage back but I want it to make sense and being meaningful. Not just “we bring it back cause I asked for it but we don’t have to explain it cause it’s still magic”!