Ready for the NEW DYNAMIC DUO? Face front, true believers, as SPIDER-MAN teams up with none other than everyone’s favorite villain-turned-superhero – BOOMERANG! All this AND a ROBBIE and TOMBSTONE soap opera! And a GOG PUN TITLE! What are you waiting for? Let’s review this sucker!
Credit Where Credit Is Due
Story Title: Wag the Gog
Writer: Nick Spencer
Artist: Patrick Gleason
Colorist: Edgar Delgado
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramanga
Cover Artist: Patrick Gleason and Edgar Delgado
Asst. Editor: Lindsey Cohick
Editor: Nick Lowe
Published: March 24, 2021
Remedial ASM 101
According to the recap page, Kindred’s reign of terror is over, so we can all relax our guard. Boomerang has a Tablet of Life sense and has been using it to keep the Tablet out of Kingpin’s hands. Now that Kingpin is no longer hampered by Kindred, it’s full force Boomerang season! Oh, and Boomerang and Peter have a pet alien monster named Gog that they have unnaturally shrunk. Shouldn’t be a problem, right? Currently, Bullseye has his sights set on poor Gog!
The Story – Pay Attention, This Will Be on the Test
Bullseye is given permission to take the shot and does! But instead of blowing the asset’s head off, he hits the collar (on purpose, ‘natch). Gog grows big and is (rather disappointedly) easily re-collared by Spider-Man and he saves baby Gog. Realizing that Gog is not safe with them they take this ALIEN MONSTER to stay in Mr. Fantastic’s secure facility at MJ’s apartment. Meanwhile, Robbie cold heartedly laughs at his son’s romantic failures until JJJ comes in and offers Robbie a chance to sell more newspapers by teaming up with Threats and Menaces. Robbie’s cold heart gets even colder as he flat out turns JJJ down faster than all the girls did to Peter Norbot in high school. Tombstone launches an attack on boomerang by going to kidnap Randy at the same time that Robbie is getting incriminating photos on Tombstone’s daughter and they both find out that their children are playing tonsil hockey.
What Passed and Failed
PASS – The Bullseye Fake Out! – I was totally prepared for Bullseye to try and take the killing shot, but didn’t think he would just go for mayhem and madcap madness. Not sure what the objective was, unless it was to distract Boomerang? To send a message maybe?
FAIL – Not Enough Kingpin/Gog/Boomerang Fun – enough said on that.
FAIL – Gog Is Just Too Ugly – I get the feeling that Spencer is thinking Baby Yoda and Gleason is thinking Gremlins.
Ha! Snarf!
PASS – Spencer’s Deep Emotional Impact – I challenge you to find a more heart-breaking panel in comics than Boomerang sobbing over being away from Baby Gog. I bet even JR’s cold icy heart thawed a bit this day.
PASS – Tombstone vs Robbie – With the children romantically engaged, this should prove interesting.
OOTI (Onomatopoeia of the Issue)
On a scale of 1 (POW) to 10 (BLRKBQRKPQRBLNB), BRRANNNG! rates a solid 7. You know what? I’m upping this to a 9. Why? Because in what universe does throwing a boomerang make a sound? And how is he throwing two boomerangs tied to a collar like that? It’s like swallows carrying coconuts on a line…
Analysis
Boomerang – I love this guy (as written by Spencer, of course)! After the long, drawn out Kindred ordeal, a little Boomerang is exactly what we need. I’m ready to ride his story for a few issues, though I have the same criticism as I did for Kindred – just give me more in one sitting, Spencer! Just like with Kindred, though, I’m happy as long as the parts I do get are keeping me entertained. I have a question for you: Who did it better?
It’s All My Fault – OK, this panel may seem like a quick throw away gag, but actually it is potentially important to how Spencer is going to eventually wrap up the Kindred arc.
How so? Well, the Kindred thing could potentially go down a road where Harry gets too deep into Peter’s head and he does the whole I-have-to-keep-those-I-love-away-from-me-to-keep-them-safe routine. A lesser writer would totally jump on that. That would also mean an eventual pushing MJ away moment. I was optimistic that Spencer wouldn’t go for that over-the-top angst troupe. After seeing this panel, I am more hopeful. Boomerang is showing Spider-Man that it’s not just a Spidey thing. It’s not all about Peter. These things happen. You live your life and it impacts others, regardless of who you are.
The Eyes Have It – Just wanted to point out that Kingpin still has those crazy eyes! Three distinct times, no less!
And I’ve got to say, he’s getting better at it. Aside from that first shot where the shadows makes it look like Kingpin is wearing some Armear Sunglasses, of course.
Robbie and Randy – Am I just being nitpicky here, or did you also think that Robbie’s treatment of Randy’s romantic woes are a bit out of line?
You would have thought he had been hit with some Joker gas or something. I mean, I wouldn’t laugh at Grant like that (at least not to his face) and I think the art clearly shows that Randy is not laughing or even taking it as laughable.
Robbie and Jonah – Holy cow! This panel really sums up their relationship now, doesn’t it?
I knew that JJJ held it against Robbie for not giving him good press and moving him out of the Bugle, but I missed somewhere where Robbie just detests JJJ. There is no love coming from Robbie at all! I’m chalking it up to me not remembering or missing something here, because this is way more antagonism than just not liking JJJ’s tabloidistic nature.
Not Enough Spidey? – You know Brad will bring this up on the podcast.
And while I think that is a legitimate complaint (we didn’t buy the Rampaging Robbie Robertson, after all), I think that sometimes, we need to let the supporting cast come up and breathe for a while. I have no issues with this. I think there was just enough Spidey and knowing that this conflict between Robbie/Tombstone is going to hit really hard on Peter’s life makes it worth the diversion. No points off for this.
Extra Credit
I feel that I should be able to recognize what happened here, so maybe one of you can set me straight. Who are the people in this panel? It’s not the people that Kindred killed earlier in this run and the caption makes it seem like it must be connected to Kingpin’s first encounter with Kindred, but they don’t look like Vanessa and Richard, so what am I missing?
Final Grade
I liked this issue. It’s not one that I would read again and again, but it is grounded. It is fun. It deals with supporting cast members. So with that in mind:
B
Your Turn
What grade do YOU give it?
What’s Next?
We all the know the romantic story of R&J! Star-crossed lovers, deep-seeded family enmity, tragic ending… Wait, who are Romeo and Juliet? We’re talking about Randy and Janice! Yep, Peter Parker’s roommate and The Beetle have been dating and that information finally gets out to their fathers… The Tombstone/Robbie Robertson beef has been brewing since 1988 and is back, big time!
Homework
Read up on the Robbie vs Tombstone by going way back to The Spectacular Spider-Man #139 and reading a few issues from there (don’t worry, this is back when major story arcs were completed in less than two years worth of reading).
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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I think the idea is that Kingpin wants to keep Kindred around just in case something goes wrong with the tablets- after all, they can only be used once. But once he has Vanessa back, Kindred is expendable.
I wonder if that’s going to be why Peter tries to stop the Kingpin from using the tablets, because if all that Fisk wants is Vanessa back (as opposed to world domination or whatever) Peter needs a reason to try to stop it.
@mark just some Rand my goons that were cannon fodder to show how menacing kindred was…
@Stenurus, @Michael, and @PeterParkerFan
Sthenurus – We are in complete agreement on the need for a breather and the focus on the supporting cast. I know that Boomerang in the past has been portrayed quite differently, but I’m going to give it a pass since I like this portrayal better. 🙂 For me, I never really cared one way or the other about Boomerang until he made his appearance in Superior Foes of Spider-Man, so give me this guy all day long and maybe we’ll just call it character development (or de-development). For that panel, I just blanked on it and still don’t remember it. Assuming that you remember it more than I do, do we know who they are, or are they just random Kingpin goons?
Michael – I wondered that too and figured I was maybe reading too much into how that was worded. Maybe not. And the other question is, why does Kingpin need to wait for Boomerang before Kindred’s time is up? Far-fetched theory – Kingpin has given up on seeing Vanessa ever again so he’s going to resurrect Kindred as Harry and then kill him in his mortal body since you can’t kill a demon? OK, now that I’ve written it out, it seems quite stupid. Scratch that! I’m just too lazy to hit delete…. Glad to see I’m no the only one who was taken aback by Robbie’s rough edge.
PeterParkerFan – I toyed with giving it an A-. It has the street level I like and some good moments. I held back for two reasons – I don’t want to read it over and over again like some other Spider-Man comics I have and when I read it the second time for the review, I just didn’t enjoy it quite as much. That’s one of the funny things about doing these reviews. We read them once for enjoyment and then again to spot stuff to review and sometimes that second reading makes me go up a grade and sometimes down. The second reading just left me a little flat (not that I didn’t like it – I just didn’t like it enough to give it that A status). The consensus of readers of this review seems to be in line with us as the majority of the votes are between A and B+ (though with my B, I guess I am a bit off the curve – I’ll try better next time!).
I give this a straight A for the page where Spidey saves Gog, and also the page where they leave Gog with MJ. Gleason’s rendition of MJ is top-notch, by the way.
Interesting how Kingpin said as soon as Boomerang’s time is up, so is Kindred’s. I wonder what he’s got planned for Kindred.
Robbie’s behavior this issue seemed out of character. For a second I wondered if he was the Chameleon since he’s the villain of the next arc but Robbie seemed genuinely surprised at the end at the sight of Janice kissing Randy and I can’t see the Chameleon caring that Robbie’s son was dating Tombstone’s daughter.
Great review! I like this little “breather” arc before the big players come back on the scene!
The lack of Spidey didn’t bother me – afterall the supporting cast as always been just as important as the webhead himself.
As I said earlier on chi-town review, boomerang characterisation bothers me. As we debated last review, it feels like the characterisation is off compared to the other time we saw him (bar superior foes). The core of his character is supposed to be rotten, sadistic pos not dork with a mean streak.
The panel you are looking for is coming from a few issues ago when Fisk recounts his first meeting with kindred.