Announcement
C2E2 2022 Editor and Chief Of Marvel Comics said this.
“The thing with Peter Parker is that he always has to be relatable. Getting Peter married or having a family is something that Marvel is not interested in.”
ASM writer Zeb Wells said that the big mystery box and tension between Peter and Mary Jane will be resolved at the end of the Dark Web event which will conclude in January of next year.
I will give it to then. If I am very unhappy with the result, Brad will need to find someone else to help Dark Mark cover ASM reviews. Maybe Mark will be done with it too. If the end result isn’t satisfactory, it’s NOT worth my time or money. Far as I’m concerned, Nick Spencer was the fix and Marvel Editorial messed it up with there “FLAWED” vision on who Peter Parker/Spider-Man is and what he is truly about. I may cover the Mary Jane/Black Cat series coming in December, but we’ll see. Given this new (or old) “Editorial Mandate”, Spider-Man is no longer “relatable”. That being said, on with the review…
(Writer) Zeb Wells
(Artist) John Romita Jr
(Colorist) Marcio Menyz
(Letterer) VC’s Joe Caramagna
(Editor) Nick Lowe
(EIC) C.B. Cebulski
Date Released 8/10/2022
Issue Number #7 LGY #901
Price Tag: $4.99
STORY: Tiana is having a not so pleasant conversation with her grandfather, Adrian Toomes. She explains that she knows all about what the Vulture did in the past and never wants to see him again. Adrian, of course, blames Spider-Man for this and vows to kill him. Meanwhile Peter is visiting Oscorp to talk to Norman Osborn about a job offer he’s preparing to give him. He finds out that Kamala Khan (Ms Marvel, for those of you not paying attention) is interning there and by sure coincidence Mary Jane runs into Peter. There’s some awkward tension between Marvel’s “Power Couple” and Peter’s apologizes to MJ about his behavior. MJ is about to come out with the truth, until Paul shows up and we see a flashback of Paul fighting Peter. As they depart Paul wants to have dinner with Peter sometime, Peter then confronts Norman since he was playing “matchmaker” to which Norman apologizes for. A new suit is revealed, but Peter doesn’t want to work for Norman. Elsewhere, but not far, Vulture eyes the sky and spots Spider-Man and attacks. Shredding his web shooters to bits, Vulture flies high enough and drops Spider-Man in a free fall to his death.
THE BREAKDOWN:
- MJ/Paul Mystery
- Evil Genius
- Vulture
- Nitpicks
- Grade
MJ/PAUL MYSTERY: “So, to recap..Peter and MJ separated for reasons unexplained. She hooked up with this new guy Paul for reasons unexplained. When Peter tried to talk her in the past, Paul tried to punch Peter in the face for reasons unexplained. Peter turned to Norman Osborn out of desperation to the point that Norman built him a new suit for reasons unexplained. And finally, MJ has two kids–one of whom looks like a six-year old version of herself–for, yep you guessed it, reasons unexplained...and Marvel wonders why this Mystery Box is annoying fans.” Thank you Mike McNulty.
Take a ways from this encounter. So we know that Moira MacTaggert is controlling MJ AFTER her Aunt Anna was taking the new mutant wonder drug. So I believe that this is the real MJ talking to Peter. She’s still very warm to Peter and does have a civil conversation with him. She’s about to spill the truth when Paul (OF COURSE HE DOES) interrupts. The Flashback of Paul pushing/blocking/punching Peter, I’m not sure who is remembering it, Peter or Paul. Could be Mary Jane, since she is trying to hurry Paul along. I think we can throw away the theory that MJ is upset at Peter for working with Norman, since SHE is going to Norman to get this new drug approved. I really want to know what happened to Peter and MJ, but I’m also curious about Paul. There’s more to him than meets the eye. Why is MJ worried about him interacting with Peter? Why is Paul so inclined to have a one on one with Peter, when he in fact, has the girl? Something is up, “for reasons unexplained”, I can only theorize. However, I’m not going to because…
EVIL GENIUS: The scenes with “Cleansed Norman” really makes me think, he’s playing the part. He found out from A.I. Harry that Sins Past didn’t really occur, it was all a façade. If the Green Goblin can cause Spider-Man more pain by “playing nice”, he will. This time, he’s making sure that no “evil signs” are showing and it’s a patience game. Like chess, you got to move your pieces in order to checkmate your opponent. He’s making his moves by helping his opponent.
Kamala working as an intern has me believing that’s she’s undercover. Ms Marvel has to know that Osborn is, or was, the Green Goblin. I don’t follow Ms Marvel at all in the comics, but I am assuming that is why she is there. I mean, why work for a guy if you it’s publicly known that he was a super villain? So I expect a team up down the line with Spidey and Ms Marvel, unless it already happened in her series.
VULTURE: Wells does a really good job writing bad guys, which makes a believable Toomes, Osborn..and Paul. Vulture is out for blood and he isn’t holding anything back. Does anyone feel like Vulture here telling Marvel off about the Mary Jane/Paul situation? I sure do. I think I’m really swinging for the fences in considering that Well’s is putting himself in the upset fans shoes. Did Adrian even know about Spidey’s web shooters? This is a swift beatdown from Vulture, haven’t seen something like this since Marvel Knight’s Spider-Man. Honestly, there’s nothing more to take from this than Vulture going out for revenge and how that is going to settle up with his granddaughter. Tiana may swoop in and save Spider-Man.
NITPICKS:
- I’m not in the letter’s section Mark! See? I’m not there ALL THE TIME….just most..
- Kamala is acting a lot like clumsy Clark Kent. Is that in character for her?
- I love these Spidey Swinging panels.
GRADE: Giving this one a C- because there’s not much to gain from this issue. We all knew Peter and Norman where going to talk. Vulture is the big bad of the issue. Barely got anything from MJ and who Paul is and there’s a cameo from Ms Marvel. The art was good and the writing is fine. Either Tiana will save Spidey while he’s in free fall or Norman will in the new Spidey/Goblin suit. I’m already wrote an article on what happened at C2E2 which wasn’t pleasant…at all. So it’s hard to actually reviews these issue, where there is no glimmer of hope at the end. At least for now…I need a break guys. Glad Mark will take the next issue. Was this worth going to the comic shop. Personal opinion…not really.
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I’m seriously beginning to feel the Slotts on this run.
Lazy writing – Peter being easily beat and will no doubt require saving (again…).
A disdain for MJ
I’m seriously not positive for this run going forward….
Adding on to the web shooter bit Vulture did have Spider-Man take them off in front of him back in Annual #1 so he would have a general idea of them
When Otto took over Peter’s body, one of the first people he fought was Toomes. Otto made a comment about him being a different Spider-Man than before and Toomes responded by saying he wasn’t that different because his web shooters were giving off the same old warning alarm indicating they were running low. I mean Toomes was one of his first villains, so it makes sense he knows about them.
Yeah the more this new numbering goes the more I feel like I’m in the middle of the clone saga with no context. And I don’t like it. I don’t like reading a story without knowing the status quo or understanding what happens.
Next issue we will definitely going to have Norman swoop in with the new spider-goblin suit. I wonder if they will replace Peter YET AGAIN.
Toomes beat Peter too easily. Spider sense exist for a reason.
@Chi-Town Spidey – As long as Mary Jane and Paul’s relationship is at the forefront, it’s a burden I’ll be willing to bare.
Interesting contrast btw back to back scenes. First we see MJ feeling comfortable going to Norman w/o hesitation. Follow up with a scene of Peter mulling over how Norman acts as if nothing has ever happened btw them. Pete is clearly uneasy with Norman. MJ should feel the same way. I wonder if that means something.
The idea that MJ or Peter would be friendly toward Norman is simply insane. As George hass aid on the podcast many times, Norman already was a bad guy before he became the Goblin.
@Joshua: Congratulations Josh, you just volunteered yourself to review ASM after the Dark Web arc if I’m not satirized. I was worried and concern that Brad wouldn’t be able to find someone to fill in for me, but now I can breathe a sigh of relief. Thanks buddy!
@Mechael: I’m not buying it either. I knew Vulture knew about Spidey’s webbing, but did he know they were web shooters? If not, he just gained a bit of knowledge that he can use again Spidey next time they fight. I bet he just thought the came out organically.
I’m not buying MJ going to Norman to see if the drug was harmful to Aunt Anna. He poisoned her and she miscarried!She couldn’t ask Tony Stark or someone? I could see her going to Norman if she had only an hour to decide whether or not to give Aunt Anna the drug or Aunt Anna would suffer from permanent dementia and Norman was the only one nearby but the dialogue implies MJ has days if not weeks to decide whether or not to give Aunt Anna the drug.
@Joshua-Re:Paul- I’ve heard some readers argue that him punching Peter shows he’s evil or unstable but until we know the context we can’t judge. If, for example, the Chameleon disguised himself as MJ and claimed Peter raped her, and later Paul realized it was the Chameleon, then Paul’s behavior would be totally understandable. WHICH IS ANNOYING, BECAUSE WELLS WON’T TELL US WHAT HAPPENED.
@Chi- Town- The Vulture definitely knew about Peter’s WEBBING, and he knew where it usually comes from, so attacking Peter’s wrists makes sense.
Peter Parker shaking hands with Norman Osborn just feels so wrong. I don’t if Norman’s sins have been cleansed (a plot-point that needs to come to an end already) or how desperate Peter is for work, Peter should barely be able to restrain himself from knocking Norman’s teeth out anytime he sees him.
So Paul tried to punch Peter out once but now acts all chummy with him and wants to invite him to dinner? I don’t understand what Zeb Wells is trying to do with this character. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that Mary Jane Watson finally found her one true love, but we really need to start getting some story progression on this front.
I’ve always liked the Vulture as a villain and I’m glad to see him make an appearance, but he got the drop on Spider-Man way too easily here. Distracted or not, I don’t buy that Vulture would be able to destroy Spidey’s web-shooters as quickly as he did here.
All in all, I agree with your grade. Not an awful issue, but it didn’t feel like much happened.