Aunt May’s in danger, folks! What more do you need to know? Join me as we look into the next arc that deals with the fall out from Kindred’s little jaunt. All this and flashbacks galore! Ugh.
Credit Where Credit Is Due
Story Title: Negative Space part 1
Writer: Nick Spencer
Penciler: Marcelo Ferreira
Inkers: Wayne Faucher
Colorist: Morry Hollowell
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramanga
Cover Artist: Mark Bagley, John Dell, and Edgar Delgado
Asst. Editor: Lindsey Cohick
Editor: Nick Lowe
Published: January 27, 2021
Remedial ASM 101
Kindred is trapped (maybe) in a dark force box. Spider-Man is done with Harry. Good Norman is desperate to make amends. Aunt May has reopened F.E.A.S.T. and has just been visited by Martin Li (the good part of Mr. Negative) who is trying to escape the return of Mr. Negative after his cleansing via Sin-Eater.
The Story – Pay Attention, This Will Be on the Test
Spider-Man is facing off against a ton of Mr. Negative demons. I bet you are wondering how he got into that situation. No? Doesn’t matter, Spencer is going to go all flashback on us anyway. Back at F.E.A.S.T., Martin Li is all apologetic because he brought all of Mr. Negative’s demons there and they will pretty much destroy the place and kill May to get Martin. Aunt May is all, “Pish-posh, it’ll be alright!” Peter Parker goes to Liz’s house to warn her, but she said that Harry is overseas right now. Normie’s like, “Mom, Dad’s got a secret” and shows a hidden room in her own house full of goblin equipment. Norman shows up and says, “Your Aunt’s about to die,” so Peter takes off and kicks some demon patootie. Meanwhile, a whiny Kingpin learns that he will need more than the Tablet of Life if he wants to get what Kindred refuses to give.
What Passed and Failed
PASS – Spidey fights the demons – This is just a fun scene. More of this, please. What I really want is one of those comics where Stan Lee used to say, “We’ll just shut up and let Jazzy John Romita take over” and then we get a fight scene that lasts two or three pages.
FAIL – The flashbacks – The majority of the story is a flashback. Inside that flashback, Martin Li gives us another flashback. When the story catches up to present time, Kingpin gives us a flashback. My kingdom for some chronographically linear storytelling!
PASS – Mask with squinting eyes – I know, it makes no sense for Spider-Man to be able to make the black part of the eye pieces narrow in when his eyebrows furl, but I love to see it nonetheless!
OOTI (Onomatopoeia of the Issue)
I’m giving a two-for-one deal this issue! Lots of great sounds, but I like this pair:
On a scale of 1 (POW) to 10 (BLRKBQRKPQRBLNB), SLICH and SLSH rates an 8.
Analysis
Not much happens in this issue, really, but we do get two things of import:
Kindred’s Centipedes – Fake Mike on the podcast pointed out that in the last issue, he thought only one centipede was in the dark force cube. I think he’s spot on with that assessment. In this issue, the art is vague, but it looks as if only one centipede is in the cube. This means that maybe there wasn’t a body in the morgue for Carly to find. Maybe it was just the centipede all along. Or maybe the centipede was hiding in a body. Maybe Harry is controlling them away from his body as Doc Ock has been able to do with his tentacles in the past. Maybe they are controlling him or at the very least, autonomous. I don’t think the centipedes are controlling Kindred, but this does bring up the possibility that maybe they are not completely under his control. My guess is that Harry is controlling the centipede while he is stuck in the cube.
Harry – Liz says that he is away in Europe. She also says she’s been watching him closely for relapses and hasn’t seen anything out of the ordinary. Normie reveals a secret Goblin stash. What does this mean? Well, one of the following:
- Harry is in Europe and not Kindred at all.
- Harry is Kindred, but there is another Harry that is in Europe and secretly getting ready to be a Green Goblin.
- Norman has a stash in Liz’s house.
- The stash isn’t Harry’s, but actually Liz’s who is going to be a new Goblin.
- The stash is old (though that doesn’t seem plausible since surely Liz has moved since Harry was Goblin last)
- It’s really Normie’s, but he’s throwing them off his scent! *EDITOR’S NOTE* We at the Crawlspace do not endorse Dark Mark’s Normie theory and are hereby putting him on notice. -BD
My bet is that there are two Harry’s and one of them is creating a Goblin stash in Liz’s house. What do you think and did I miss one?
Extra Credit
Let’s name the centipedes! You know Harry has to have named them. You can’t live with two animals (even large bugs) for as long as he has without naming them! Best names wins the extra credit points.
Final Grade
I enjoyed it more on the first read. When I went back to re-read it for the review, it didn’t hold up as well. It was good to see Aunt May and Liz again. More of the fight scene would have been nice.
C+
Your Turn
What grade do YOU give it?
What’s Next?
Mr. Negative is back and wants only one thing—Martin Li. But how is that possible? Spider-Man is still reeling from the Kindred affair and Peter will not stand for anything else to be taken away from him.
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!
Hey! What do you guys think about the new Crawlspace look? BD worked hard on updating the site!
‘Nuff Said!
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@Evan, hornacek & Dark Mark
Oh right, THAT issue! No wonder the whole thing slipped my mind.
MJ was really OOC under Slott’s pen. Makes me glad Spencer is writting her the way she’s supposed to be written.
@AdamBParker
I do share your opinion on the venom titles and that issue in particular. Reading today’s issue’s depiction of Pete vs slotts is night and day.
Also I hope he (you know who) is coming back. It would be the last nail in slotts run coffin. And we could all forget everything about his run.
Venom is the best book at Marvel right now. I have no great interest in Eddie or symbiotes, but it is well written and draw and the plot is cohesive.
Today’s issue (3rd of Feb) was a great tribute to a Spider-man mainstay and in the few times Spider-Man has guest starred he has been perfectly written.
I also half expect today’s issue is a sneak attempt at Marvel at being back a dead character.
*Just for clarity, the “she” I’m referring to below is Liz.
@hornacek, Mark, and Anon-Y-mous — Yep, I was definitely referring to the web-diaper incident (WDI), but I guess I got the volume number wrong. I thought it was Peter’s “triumphant return” (ha!) after Superior. Sorry Mark — You went to all that trouble to bring us back on topic, and here I go bringing it up again.
But I’m kind of on the same page with you here. I don’t know if we can just assume that her previous behavior no longer applies just because of how she acts toward Peter in this issue. If she “got better,” though, I’m sure there would be some kind of explanation, if Spencer’s history tells us anything. There might be other threads that haven’t really been addressed, but thinking back on the Slott run gives me a headache sometimes, so apart from OMD, I’m okay with not trying to figure out what those were. If I remember correctly, in one of Chi-Town’s recent reviews he proposed an in-continuity reason that would explain why Mary Jane was out of character (i.e., “idiot”) during the Slott run, which I think had to do with a bond that she and Peter shared and their being apart affecting their behavior/thinking. Maybe he can chime in here if anyone’s interested.
Have a great day, everyone!
@hornacek, @Evan, and @Anon-Y-mous
I’m quite positive that it is the web diaper issue, which I think is vol. 4. Ugh. Thanks for bringing THAT one up, guys!
Anyway, I bet shady Liz is still a thing, but she wouldn’t need to be a jerk to Peter here. That’s her business persona. I don’t Spencer will just ignore it since he hasn’t shown he’s willing to ignore anything so far. Maybe it was a bad time for her. Maybe being in close proximity to Kindred or who/whatever Harry Lyman is all this time did a number on her. Maybe Peter’s deal had ripple effects that somehow affected her. Whatever the case, I don’t think she’s just up and gone. When I saw the goblin stash, I didn’t know it’s was from a Venom book, and I assumed that maybe SHE was going to be a new goblin. Oh well. If that’s the price I have to pay for not reading Venom, then I’ll gladly pay it.
@Evan – I remembered that it was from a #1, wasn’t sure if it was vol 3 or 4. Pretty sure it was the episode where his outfit was dissolved so he had to create a diaper out of webbing. I think him in the web-diaper is when MJ looks at her laptop, sees that, and says “Idiot.”
I think at the time the panel reviewed this issue, George said “If this is how Slott writes MJ then I don’t want her in the book.”
@Anon-Y-mous — I believe that was from Amazing Spider-man Vol 3 (1), the first issue after Peter’s return to his body after The Superior Spider-man series. The fact that this issue was therefore anticipated for quite a while made the predicament in which Peter found himself in the opening pages (and which prompted Mary Jane’s comment) kind of — underwhelming and disappointing.
@hornacek — Sorry, I had to answer Anon-Y-mous’s question. I’m going to look at photos of kittens and puppies for a while.
“What issue was that from? My memories of the slott are vague.”
That’s probably for the best.
@Evan
“I still haven’t gotten over the moment that Mary Jane said “idiot” and slammed her laptop.”
What issue was that from? My memories of the slott are vague.
Finally a new story arc. The Kindred storyline was getting boring.
I liked how aggressive Peter was in this issue. All that tormenting from Harry really did a number on him.
@Jack Brooks — I completely agree, though, as Spencer has shown himself quite capable of doing, in order to fix it, it must be addressed. Hopefully, though, most everyone forgot about that little detail just like I did! I’d rather not linger on odd story choices like that any more than I have to. I still haven’t gotten over the moment that Mary Jane said “idiot” and slammed her laptop. Come to think of it, yeah, I’d rather not Spencer go back and address that, so you’re right.
@Evan – I don’t think Cebulksi or Spencer are the least bit concerned about preserving any of Dan Slott’s odd story choices.
@Jack Brooks — I completely forgot about that! Didn’t that start with the formation of Alchemax Spider-man 2099? I suppose it’s possible that Liz could still be shady — Maybe she’s just acting the way she is in this book because she’s with Peter or because she’s either concerned about Harry or not in “business mode.” I guess it’s more likely that that was a plot thread that’s left hanging.
I guess Spencer has done away with the “Shady Liz Allen” thing that Slott sprang on everyone. I hope red-symbiote-goblin Normie never comes back, either.
My thought is that Kindred is a demon that works for Mephisto and is in charge of keeping Peter in line after his deal, (maybe just the demon’s latest assignment) and Harry is his current host with his own beef with Peter? Maybe partly because Peter’s actions saddled him with a demon in the first place?
@Paul Penna and @ac
Paul Penna – I like that amnesia theory. One if the big problems with this story is the inactivity between Mysterio’s returns and Kindred’s appearance. The amnesia could account for that. The sticking point on that might be the Kingpin involvement. I *think* it happened after the deal, but I am not positive. I have it written down somewhere, but not where I can pull it up at the moment.
ac – I hate to cancel your vacation, but it was for your own good and the good of the Crawlspace, so no regrets on my part. Sacrifices must be made and all. The demon idea also could fill in some holes we still have about the timing. If that is the case, we need to figure out why does the demon have issues with Peter? Harry could be focusing on his personal slights, but it could be Kindred has a different issue in mind. If that’s the case, I guess he could inhabit anyone next and it may pave the way for a Harry redemption. I’ll give that more thought! Glad to still have you here!
Ok Mark, you cancelled my amazing vacation, so i’m going to throw a thought out there… what if Kindred is a demon that’s inhabiting Harry? Not possessing him, but influencing him, like a symbiote? And maybe Kindred has been around before he joined with Harry, and was possessing someone different when he originally told Kingpin no to helping with Venessa?
I really don’t think there are two Harry Osborns. Either it’s a split personality, or Harry Lyman had amnesia after reality was rewritten.
It explains Kindreds inactivity between bringing back Mysterio after Civil War, to just recently during this run. When One More Day brought Harry back to life, it buried his memories of being Kindred in Hell. Something happened to trigger those buried memories or that trigger created a split personality.
Glad we’re seeing Harry’s family here. Great issue.
@Mark Alford – Yes, that’s the one.
@hornacek – Ha! Ha! I think I remember that! Is it where I told them I thought they got “Science!” from “She Blinded Me with Science”?
@Mark Alford – I posted this on Discord last week but I was listening to the “latest” Amazing Spider-Man Classics episode just released, and one of the emails they read was from you. Well, a “Mark Alford” who’s an English teacher.
@hornacek – Glad to get you whenever we can get you. I’m in the same boat with my LCS. I get ASM digitally to keep up with reviews.
I haven’t read this issue yet, will get to my LSC a week from tomorrow. It’s a 1/2 hour drive, so I only go every other week. I didn’t read your review, just skipped to the end to see the grade, and saw your question about the centipedes.
@All Y’all
Aqu@ – I had the same conversation with Brad. I love Panel of the Day, but I hated how it always pushed things off the front page. I think BD found a good way to keep Panel of the Day front and center, but reviews and articles get to hang out on the front page a little longer.
Evan – Thanks for bringing that to my attention. It must be the default link color from when BD first put the new theme up with a white background. I ask him to fix that so we don’t miss on what you most accurately deemed as the most important part of my reviews. I also agree with you that the comments here are the best anywhere on the Internet! Crawlspacers rock!
To everyone with Centipede names, these are awesome! Next review, I’m putting up a poll for us to decide on the official* pet centipede names!
Hornacek, glad you are caught up to current titles! I noticed you’ve been commenting an issue late lately.
Mario, you’re not nuts! Spencer has shown that ANYTHING in Spidey’s continuity is fair game and he may address that Aunt May actress nonsense.
Sthenurus, gold star for your Europe breakdown! Man, I sure hope Scrier doesn’t make a comeback. When I read the issue the first time, I just assumed that Europe was making us think it was his excuse for why he wasn’t around while playing Kindred so that when Harry Lyman returns, it will be a shocking reveal of the two Harrys. But you guys have opened my eyes to all the many, many possibilities of what Europe could be here.
Oh man! I kind of thought of this as a so-so issue, but you guys are good!
@Sthenurus — I always thought Europe was where Marvel characters went whenever writers either didn’t know what to do with them or needed to come up with an explanation as to where they’ve been when absent for an extended period of time, due to a) no need of them in a story or b) death.
If that’s true, it’s nice to see you come up with an in-continuity explanation that would link together so many instances of what I would otherwise consider a symptom of writer’s block. That sounds like something Nick Spencer would do!
After rereading a few old comics… Norman sure seems to LOVE Europe.
-norman sent Gwen there to give birth to their twins. They grew up there, hidden from the world.
-after his “death” he moved there and took over the cabal of scrier. Who is, at first glance, a ghostly immortal being (for those not in the know). Kinda fit with the theme of kindred.
-baby may was sent to Paris with Alyson Mongrain.
-harry was sent to Paris after his own “death” to recover.
That’s a LOT of stuff happening there for the Osborn’s. And a lot of possible “tools” to bring harry back (the scrier cult, access to the twins and baby May’s blood, access to the jackal cloning tech…)
What if he stumbled upon an old demonic ritual from the scrier to bring back Harry’s soul from his dead body and used his knowledge of the twins goblin tainted blood and Warren’s cloning tech to give harry a new “stronger” body… But it backfired. Hence how Norma knows so much about kindred. Meanwhile the “good” harry could be a split personality or the old body being possessed by a fragment of harry souls…
Ok so the tablet of life. Kingpin clearly wants Vanessa back and got a no from kindred. so that’s his goal. Norman knowing harry was kindred is what hasn’t been revealed how did he know? or more importantly when? what if there is more to be explained, norman was involved in something in Europe where he was the one that brought harry back to life through dark hellish methods? IDK this would be a great way to explain and retconned the aunt may didn’t die and was an actress. what if norman brought may back to life using those dark methods to always have a way of messing with peter more because peter will always have a soft spot for may. so this was the may that returned at the end of the clone saga after passing in amazing 400. the one that was buried had a tomb and everything which was never really explained or maybe in a book i didnt read. I don’t know. far fetched but better than an actress lol. those methods could be explained to bringing back norman when he died. forced harry back was used in aunt may and it connects to kindred and ultimately mephisto and now its time to end these methods so nobody comes back to life anymore!! and there they find baby may….. i know I’m nuts….
Harry would obviously names his centipedes Normie and Stanley.
@Mark — Man, I love reading the comments as much as the articles on this site. Great review, Mark — and wonderful comments, everybody, as always. I’ve got nothing to add, really, though I wanted to bring to your attention that, arguably, the most important part of this review, the “BLRKBQRKPQRBLNB,” blends in with the background and is invisible unless you highlight it. Are you able to change the font color?
Initially I was thinking that if Harry and Kindred are Lyman and Osborn, respectively, that perhaps Spencer is setting up some kind of Goblin vs. Kindred battle for the soul of Harry, but that would suggest than Lyman (which sounds like Sprite flavoring every time I write it) is the real Harry, and I don’t like that idea. On the other hand, a battle for the soul of Harry would make more sense if Kindred and Harry were two personalities of the same person, which makes sense given Michael’s excellent explanation below, and, like you said, you could get a lot of mileage out of that, though it seems to me that would make Harry a kind of Ghost-Rider-type character who can become turn on and off being undead. How does that work?
Extra credit: Still, if Kindred is BND Harry, then that means Centipede 1 is named Crazy Town, and Centipide 2 is Banana Pants.
Yeah, I really like the new site layout, especially how different kind of articles are divided in their own sections. It’s almost as you answered to my complaint that the Panel of the day was pushing away contents from the eye too fast, with the risk of missing something.
Great job!
@AdamBParker, @Sthenurus, and @Chi-Town
Adam Parker – That level of research warms my heart. Good job! Gold star! All of those comments went right past me, but I think you are on to something here. It does seem odd that Spencer put all of that emphasis on CloNed (that’s awesome!) worrying about Betty and then just dropping it. We know he doesn’t just drop things, he just puts them on the back burner. If Harry is in Europe and so is Betty, then she is in trouble and Peter didn’t do anything to help her. Oh the guilt he will feel!
Sthenurus and Chi-Town – Nice ones! I see your names and raise you: Gwen and MJ
Chi-Town – You know, it always looks like two to me, but now that you mentioned it, I guess it could be one long centipede that strikes with both ends since I don’t think we’ve ever seen the “tail” of them. I just assumed that each end we saw was the head. Hmmm. So now either we only have one centipede missing and Mike is right or there was always only one and you are right. Either way I feel like I lose…
So, I’ve found my Tin foil hat. Spencer’s referred to Betty 3 times;
Issue 11 – Robbie says he’s spoken to her, she’s in Europe and sends her love.
15 – Clone Ned (CloNed, if you will) warmed Spider-Man Betty needs protecting. Peter doesn’t want to worry Betty given that she’s on assignment in Europe.
33 – Betty is part of the news coverage on Doctor Doom, she is addressed as the Bugle’s foreign correspondent (no location given).
If this was just Spencer moving Betty off the board because he didn’t need her, the issue 11 comment was enough. Two more after that seems excessive unless he was planning to do something with her.
@ Sthenurus Sarah and Gabriel – well done.
Bonnie and Clyde…those are my names for them. I think it’s something Spencer would have Harry name them. Great review Mark, Question though…has Kindred always had two Centi’s with him, or was it just one long one. Hard to tell sometimes when it’s drawn.
My guess is that kindred is Harry’s sins separated from his body and given life. Kinda like Martin Li/mister negative this issue.
As for the goblin gear… Harry used goblin paraphernalia before to protect Liz and normie. I believe he did in the going down swinging arc. With his father on the loose he might have just kept his gear close “just in case”. You’ll notice there is a glider and bomb but I didn’t see a costume.
For the centipede name: Gabriel and Sarah!
@Mark
Hmm, I was sure Spencer had established Betty is oversees. Robbie told Peter, think it was either in the first couple of issues or the JJJ/Big Man Story. She might even have had her name dropped as a foreign correspondent in the 2099 arc.
Going to check my back issues.
@AdamBParker and @Michael
Adam – I was waiting for Harry to walk in as well! In this day and age of global communication, you would think she would have noticed if Harry had been off the grid for a while, but then, maybe they give each other lots of space. I have no clue where Betty Brant is and I sure hope she isn’t going to be brought into this, though I guess the threat that clone Ned could have known about was the Kindred thing. I’ll have to see if I can find out where her current whereabouts are.
Michael – I did not read the Web of Venom. Did it explain why it was there? I have not considered that Kindred and Harry might be two entities in one body. That’s pretty intriguing. If that is the case, then you’d get into Peter trying not to hurt Harry, but still defeat Kindred. Could get some good mileage from that one. If that does seem to be the situation, then I see Harry sacrificing himself to resolve this Kindred story (about three years from now or so…). Kindred killed two of Kingpin’s men for no reason earlier in this run, too. Right before Kingpin bowed to him. So I think he’s already crossed the Rubicon. Good call back on the Tablet of Death. I don’t remember that one at all. That was during a period I had stop collecting the comics, but I thought I went back read all of those. Maybe I didn’t. Marvel Unlimited here I come!
The Goblin stash was first seen in Web of Venom: the Good Son.
Re: Harry: I think there’s another possibility. Remember, Spencer brought up the issue of split personalities this issue with Mr. Negative. I think that Harry and Kindred might be two personalities and Harry doesn’t know he’s Kindred. If Harry’s neighbors saw a man in a costume near his house, for example, and Harry didn’t know he’s Kindred, he might have gotten scared and brought the Goblin gear into his house for protection.
The interesting thing is this- Harry told Liz he was in Paris, Harry returned from Europe at the start of Brand New Day and Kingpin first encountered Kindred in Paris. So clearly Harry and Kindred both seem to have some association with Paris.
Kindred seemed to kill two of Fisk’s guides in the flashback for no real reason. If that’s the case, I’m not sure how Harry can ever come back from this.
The idea seems to be that Kingpin went to Kindred to resurrect Vanessa, Kindred refused, and then Kingpin remembered that Peter had used the Tablet of Life to save Hammerhead’s dying sister and wondered if it could resurrect Vanessa. Only, according to Mr Negative’s goon, the Tablet was able to save Hammerhead’s sister on its own because she was DYING, but since Vanessa is DEAD, Kingpin will need more than just the Tablet to revive her.
Mr. Negative presumably knows about the Tablet of Life because he stole the Tablet of Death in Spider-Man 547.
I was really impressed Spencer sent Peter to speak to Liz. That’s the sort of common sense approach you rarely see in mysteries. Other writers would have us all complaining why not just go to Harry and Liz’s.
Though I’m now thinking Spencer’s double bluffing us. On face value we can take the “In Europe” as a false alibi. But I’d feel more confident if Liz had said “I’ve been trying to reach him but he’s not answered”. I kept expecting Harry to call or walk in.
This makes me confident that Kindred is not Harry Lyman.
Isn’t Betty Brant in Europe?