Ben left MJ in a lurch, but never fear! Black Cat and MJ are now BFFs (much like Chi-Town and me) and surely she won’t let her down (literally in this case as MJ is hanging over the edge of a building). Will this issue be Amazing like #88 or Bey like the previous one? Find out! Read the issue and jump on in on the discussion!
Credit Where Credit Is Due
Story Title: The Goblin and the Cat (not the official title from our title page, but it looks as if our cover artists got fed up with chapter numbers and did their own thing)
Writer: Patrick Gleason
Penciller: Mark Bagley
Inker: Andrew Hennessey and John Dell
Colorist: Bryan Valenza
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramanga
Cover Artist: Arthur Adams and Jim Campbell
Asst. Editor: Lindsey Cohick and Kaeden McGahey
Editor: Nick Lowe
Published: February 16, 2022
Before we get into the review, I want to give more credit where it is due – to Chi-Town, my good friend and best bud. I know that most people here at the Crawlspace can’t stand the guy. I mean, he is rather annoying, but he took one for the team last issue. That .BEY wasn’t exactly Amazing Grace bad, but what a waste of time. Nice job, pal! Like I always say, “You can always count on Chi-Town!” And while I’m at it, let me send some praise Ryan’s way. I thought I was pretty quick on this review and he STILL beat me to the punch. Nice job, Speedy.
Remedial ASM 101
Ben Reilly took off with Janine and left MJ to fend for herself against the new goblin in town – the Queen Goblin! Oh no!
The Story – Pay Attention, This Will Be on the Test
We have a quick flashback to show the Queen Goblin leaving to get to the Daily Bugle and then jump forward to present time. Black Cat webs up Peter to keep him from trying to tackle the QG when he sees the news (presumably, BC doesn’t know MJ is there). QG is all sorts of nasty and is about to kill MJ when Black Cat intervenes. But the Queen has a new goblin power – the Goblin Gaze! This makes Black Cat see all the failures in her life and drives her to want to commit suicide and would have succeeded if Peter had not come to rescue in the last minute. But how did he break free of the webs? Turns out Janine came to his rescue and cut him out so that he could save MJ and then save Ben.
What Passed and Failed
PASS – Art – I know this may come as a surprise to many of you knowing my personal dislike of much of Bagley’s art, but he draws a mean Queen Goblin and has some really nice panels here. I particularly like the web through the tear drop sequence.
FAIL – Art – I said “some” really nice panels. Then he drops crap like this:
Bagley is at his best drawing costumes, in my opinion. He’s inconsistent on faces. When he’s hot he’s hot and when he’s not… I will say, it looks as if he didn’t phone it in like he did with some of the Spencer issues which may have quite a lot to do with the editorial side of things and time allotted for the work.
PASS – Pacing – one thing about this Beyond arc is that each issue is a story. I loved the episodic nature of some of the earlier ones, but this one still gave me a story – Black Cat and Peter Parker save MJ. Even though the bigger story continues to move, I like the feeling that I paid for a story and got a story rather than pieces of a story.
OOTI (Onomatopoeia of the Issue)
On a scale of 1 (POW) to 10 (BLRKBQRKPQRBLNB), SPLUTCH rates an 8.5. It has a nice juicy quality to it!
Analysis
The analysis this issue will come down to five women:
Nurse Lois – She needs to be fired. We saw her earlier and she was just letting Peter decide when he was ready to start PT rather than taking charge. Now she notices that her patient has extra Band-Aids and just says keep it up? She isn’t at all concerned that her patient is doing something to cause physical harm to himself? What the heck?
The Queen Goblin – Kafka (though I don’t think we have been officially told it is Kafka) brings a neat twist to the Goblin role – cure others of mental health issues by driving them to madness. The visual look of the QG is stunning and Bagley does a great job with her scenes.
The gaze is rather disturbing. I mean, it’s meant to be and I am not saying that as a criticism. The ability to make others see the worst of themselves and convince to commit suicide made me feel uncomfortable just reading it. I would love to hear if anyone else out there felt that was a powerful twist. With both Ben and Peter doing heavy duty soul-searching, I have a feeling that this new power will have quite an impact later.
The Black Cat – I have been enjoying all things Black Cat lately and if you haven’t been reading her series, pull that sucker up on Marvel Unlimited and have a blast. Spencer put her back in Peter’s life in a positive way and it is nice to see that the Beyond Board here has not just dropped that. In fact, the Beyond Board has gone out of their way it seems to reinforce what Spencer has established – not just with Black Cat, but all the characters that he had to restore.
The Black Cat could care less about the Daily Bugle, but she leaps into action in order to prevent Peter from doing so. I do think it is important to note that there is no reason to believe that she nor Peter thought MJ was there. If that were the case, I don’t see Cat even attempting to stop him, just going along to serve as back up. The scene where she has to deal with her failures is powerful and her reaction to it shows that Gleason “gets” Black Cat – she is shaken (who wouldn’t be), but at the moment, she is pissed that someone could take away her free will. I think Peter might find it harder to shake the guilt that the Goblin Gaze will put on him. It’s possible that Ben’s lack of Uncle Ben memories may prove useful here – if he gets zapped with the gaze, are there any low points left in his memory to drag him down?
Mary Jane – MJ is tough and vulnerable at the same time and this issue does a good job showing that. She is obviously scared for her life, but she still manages punch Queen Goblin. Spencer chose not to write her all angsty, and I imagine that it is a hard trope for the Beyond Board to pass on, but they have. MJ isn’t sitting around frustrated that Cat is a part of Peter’s life. She accepts it and, lately, embraces it. It shows a maturity of character. I also like her reaction to Ben’s betrayal. She’s not fuming mad; she’s confused, concerned, and probably wondering what must be wrong with him if a guy cloned from the man she loves can do this.
Janine – I have never given two cents worth of thought about this character, but this arc has made her quite interesting to me. Sure she’s an analogue for MJ, but why wouldn’t she be? Ben’s a clone of Peter so he would find attractive what Peter would find attractive. She’s also got more MJ in her than just hair color. This move to go and free Peter for help speaks volumes about her character. And let’s think about this – she could have Ben all to herself. They could swing off and live a life free of jail and Beyond, but she is potentially giving it up to do the right thing here. With Peter out and about, he will clash with Ben. What will that mean for their future? Will Ben go all angsty and be upset with her for going behind his back? Or, when she said Ben showed me where to find you, did that mean he wants Peter’s help here? If Ben does want Peter’s help, he could have still grabbed MJ before running off.
Not Much Spider-Man?
OK, some people are going to take issue that there is no Ben at all and Peter spends most of the time webbed up in a hospital bed, but when you have a story this good with MJ and Black Cat taking center stage, then I’ll take that all day long!
Final Grade
A great story. Good action, good characters, good pacing, good villain –
A
What’s Next?
Chi-Town’s got you on that, folks! Not looking too good for Ben Reilly here!
‘Nuff Said!
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I just started to read the preview for issue 90, and it’s mentioned in the introductory paragraphs that Ashley Kafka is the Queen Goblin. Is this the first official confirmation (apart from the character sketch)? Mark, since you said it wasn’t mentioned in this issue (89), this seems kind of weird, and, honestly, a little disappointing — sort of like the revelation that Emperor Palpatine lives in the opening crawl of Episode IX. If that was a recap, then the reveal should have taken place in the previous issue somewhere, I think.
And here I thought that while the issue was enjoyable, it wouldn’t provoke much commentary. I think the recent Black Cat series helps me to believe the MJ/BC relationship. They’re not exactly friends, but certainly not enemies and have both accepted the others role in Peter’s life. I imagine that would be very hard to write, though.
I should have mentioned something about the fire going through his head. Actually, I should have five subs research to find out how hot that would have to be to burn completely through the head instantly. Geez! I let you guys down!
Aqu@, I’ll have to look that onomatopoeia up when I get a chance to pull up Marvel Unlimited.
Chi-Town, if you are willing to forgive Lois her nurse indiscretions, who am I to criticize her?
Ha! Ha! Janine didn’t choose the thug life, the thug life chose Janine!
@Jack
Here it isn’t the goblin formula that changed Kafka, but Norman’s sins, extracted by the Sin-Eater a while ago. That’s why Goblin Queen seems to use semi-magical\mystical powers like the gaze .
Also, the theme of the original Goblin formula being like a poisonous version of the super-soldier serum from the MCU — it’s your worst thoughts and traits on steroids — is interesting. It creates a little separation between Norman Osborn and Goblin-ness. Ashley Kafka is turned into a cracked, homicidal, version of herself. A real horror element there, with her blasting pumpkin-fire clear through the guy’s head.
@Kyle black cat as a serious romantic interest died in the 80s making MJ and black cat romantic rivals at this point is silly. They should have grown out of that decades ago
Things fell into place to get my review finished, I was shocked I beat you too it. But I agree on all of your points.
Felicia and Mary Jane being ‘gal pals’ feels wrong and contrived. I’m not implying Black Cat wouldn’t come to the rescue of MJ, but the recent pleasantries between the two is so cringe. Throughout their history together, the two at best tolerate one another for the sake of Peter. And every damn time it’s Felicia taking second-place to MJ. Suddenly she’s just going to accept the silver medal? It’s hard to imagine this odd turn and amicable relationship lasting.
Janine seems rawer, and more thuggish, if that’s the right word.
Good issue, indeed. Whoever wants more Spider-man in it is a fool who doesn’t understand narration. There, I said it. 😀
The tear sequence was quite beautiful and the Goblin Gaze, while it may seem like a copy of a Ghost Rider’s power, makes sense given the origin of Queen Goblin and her personality before the transformation.
I didn’t notice big inconsistencies with the art, but I wasn’t very focused on it. Having realized by the second page it was drawn by Bagley, my brain probably just got used to it.
I have one gripe with the story, however: there were a lot of people at the scene, running away or just watching, and a news helicopter with a searchlight, so why does Peter appear with no costume or even some kind of mask? I can’t believe no-one saw him!
@Mark
This is just for you: Vision and the Scarlet Witch (1985) # 8, page 1.
What grade would you give if that was an OOTI?
High praise from Dark Mark, not sure what I did to deserve this kind of punishment, I mean writing that BEY review should have been enough, but I guess I gotta take the hits just like Peter Parker does.
I will say this “pal”, I highly enjoyed your review and agree with most of the thing you said. Don’t let it get to your head. Bag’s art had a lot of hits and misses in this issue, especially when MJ gives Peter his suit back. Did you see Felicia’s nose? YIKES! However that web through the tear could have played in a movie scene and it would have visually stunning! Then we get Peter catching BC and the panel looks like Peter is taking a wiz over the side of the building. Like I said, hit and miss.
There’s a lot of things happening in the hospital Peter is staying at. Nurse Lois is living in the superhero realm and probably knows better to work first and ask questions later or assume. You are very much on par with how Peter will deal with QG’s “Goblin Gaze”. The guilt will overwhelm Peter.