This is it, folks! The origin story of Paul like you’ve all been waiting for! All that and some Mighty Mayan Mischief in the Mighty Marvel Manner!
Credit Where Credit Is Due
Story Title: Enter… Paul!
Writer: Zeb Wells
Pencils: John Romita, Jr
Inker: Scott Hanna
Colorist: Marco Menyz
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramanga
Cover Artists: John Romita, Jr, Scott Hanna, and Marco Menyz
Asst. Editor: Kaeden McGahey
Editor: Nick Lowe
Published: March 22, 2023
I’m going to break from my normal template here and just go right through the issue.
We begin our heroic escapades in present. Norman Osborn is suiting up and is ready to take on whatever is causing the blizzard in New York, which we know from last issue was The Scribble Man, or rather, Dr. Rabin, some dude Spidey shut down about mid ASM 500s. Kamals Khan is geeking out over his goblin suit, but Norman’s having none of it.
I suppose I would be more excited about this scene if I had been reading Golden Goblin, which I have heard nothing but good things about. I also like Ms. Marvel, so seeing her finally in action after all this time of her just being a peon at Norman’s company is a pretty promising premise.
Then we get the title page which, again, has no actual title. It does have a bit of a grammar snafu on the recap section, though, which allows me to jump into an impromptu grammar lesson for you guys!.
The antecedent of a pronoun is whatever the pronoun is standing in for. For example, if Chi-Town said, “I love Dark Mark’s reviews. He’s the best reviewer I’ve ever read!” then the antecedent of ‘he’ would naturally be Dark Mark. Typically, in order to make sure the antecedent is clear, the noun it is standing in for when first mentioned in the writing is close to it. In this case, logic would at first indicate that ‘he’ stands in for Spider-Man, but instead is Rabin. Now, we can figure it out, so it is not a major issue, but I do like an opportunity to teach. That, and we know how much Spidey loves grammar!
Thanks to Adam Schingle who posted this a while back on his Panel of the Day on our front page, a favorite feature of mine!
After the recap page, we are back into a year previously finding out what happened to Peter and MJ during that six month gap. We picked them up where last issue left off – some odd version of New York crawling with Mayan monsters.
One such monster has Spidey on the ropes until we get our hero of the issue as well as our OOTI!
OOTI (Onomatopoeia of the Issue)
On a scale of 1 (POW) to 10 (BLRKBQRKPQRBLNB), KA-KWARP! rates a 4. Why so low? It’s a cool look and I quite like the double Ks, but it is a pretty weak sound for a gun to make, even a symbol shooting gun.
I picked that as our OOTI despite several better options in this issue primarily for my best buddy, Chi-Town. Now, I know you think I might be trolling the poor guy, but Chi-Town has really changed his tune on Paul and loves the entrance our hero makes here. Don’t believe me? Let me share a screenshot of him messaging me:
And he goes on and on like this. And this is why I’m not getting this review out sooner.*
Back to the story, this finally gives us some understanding of who Paul is. I don’t particularly care for this guy one way or the other, but I do like how we get to see that he doesn’t seem to be the villain we thought he may be, but he certainly isn’t a hero either. He is someone who worked for Rabin, but was betrayed and left in this Mayan version of New York. How much of what Rabin was doing did Paul know? We don’t know yet. I suspect that we will find out later in some exposition dump flashback.
What we do know is that Paul knew all along who Peter was in this arc. That might would make re-reading some of those earlier issues more interesting (not that I am going to do it, but I will certainly encourage you to do so and leave a note in the comments about it).
Right off the bat, there is some friction between Paul and Peter. They are outright hostile to each other, but they certainly aren’t best buds like Chi-Town and me. Just a note – a totem is a type of symbol, one that is typically centered around an animal representation. A symbol can be anything at all. Symbols certainly have power – several years ago there was a teacher near Fort Bragg that tried to show how the American flag was just a piece of cloth and the only power it has is the power that we give it. He then proceeded to stomp on it to show it was just cloth. He didn’t understand his own lesson, though. Most of those kids there had parents who serve at the the military base. Many had parents who had died in service to the country. That piece of cloth he was stomping on had much more power to them. As a result, that particular individual was fired from his teaching post. That kind of power I understand. How Paul is weaponizing the symbols, I don’t. It doesn’t bother me, though. In for a penny, in for a pound as our British readers like to say.
Peter starts working on pone particular totem/symbol that he realizes can be used in much the same way the Web Warriors use their devices to move across dimensions. We get this particularly good joke from MJ:
And it is shortly after this that Peter realizes just what he is after, since Paul doesn’t seem very forthcoming with his conversation. I assume that is because he has been alone for so long and has forgotten how to communicate with others.
So who exactly is Wayep? He’s a Mayan god that is typically spelled Wayeb. I couldn’t find any other ‘p’ spelling for him other than Marvel. I am not exactly sure. My bet is a misspelling early on when he was first introduced and we are pretty much stuck with it now. The Mayans, along with other cultures like Egyptian, realized that using the moon as your basis for the calendar puts you about five days off the calendar. So they have a five day period at the end of the year that is tacked on (think of our leap day every four years). Wayeb is the god of those five days and these five days are considered bad luck. Whenever something bad happened during that time, Wayeb would be blamed for it. Many villages took all statues of him outside the village grounds to encourage him to stay away. Since there are depictions of him as a wild sex-maniac, many scholars believe that these five days were full of wild parties.
How does that fit into our Wayep? Well, other than their names being similar and them both living in the Mayan underworld Xibalba, our Wayeb can only enter our earth during a special span of five days. So now you know.
You should also know that Wayep can hold his own athletically with Spider-Man and he is much stronger. Spidey can lift about ten tons. Wayep can lift around 25 tons. When we see Spidey struggling with this guy, that’s why.
Peter, of course would rather die than to see MJ in danger. Paul would rather keep Wayep from entering earth. Thus this exchange:
It’s quite laughable to think that either of them had the power to determine MJ’s fate. She is her own person and we get her saying Wayep “can’t have you!”
This is pretty much how MJ would act. I approve (even if it does somehow lead to the crap representation we get later.
Turns out it is good that she did that because when it activates, this is what happens.
and if that were MJ, well, she wouldn’t have those handy dandy web parachutes to allow her to land safely.
That’s it. Now we know why MJ was stuck somewhere and Peter was desperate to get to her. Next issue we get what happened between Peter and FF. My bet is that they know if Wayep gets Peter, then it’s game over, Though, why they wouldn’t go and get her for Peter is beyond me. I guess we will find out next issue.
Final Grade
I don’t know exactly why, but I was just not excited with this issue. I have been wanting to read what happened in this missing six months, but nothing about this issue really got me going. It wasn’t filler, but it felt like filler. That’s probably more on me than on the writing team and probably has a lot to do with me not really caring for anything that happens “off world”. I do think the next issue has potential. I want to know why the FF would not enter that realm and get MJ out for Peter (assuming they turn him down because they don’t want to give Wayep a means to use Peter to enter earth). That said, I wasn’t mad or irritated upon reading it. There is nothing here that is offensive about Paul’s entrance and Spidey is not helpless and needing to be saved by everyone other than himself. The scales are balanced.
C
But Wait! There’s More!
Another letter from a Crawlspacer! Congratulations Bruce!
What’s Next?
WHAT DID PETER DO?! We opened this series with a question. The centerpiece of the answer is a flat-out fight.
* And totally not because I spent time photo-editing a text message image and watching The Mandalorian...
‘Nuff Said!
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No Thwip Studios video anymore. Sorry… 🙁
@Jack Brooks – ROTFL! That would be awesome. I could certainly use Spidey looking into the 4th wall and saying, “Do you see the Green Goblin? Where?” It would certainly have been an improvement on Dark Web!
And complain louder we will and with more ferocious taps on the keyboard too!
Mark: Probably not.
They should try yelling, “Wayep, no Wayepping!” Then Wayep would moan, “Ohh, maaaan!” and give up.
Those had better not be MJ’s actual children, or…well, there’s nothing more for me to do than complain louder.
@Big John – I love two-parters! If you guys didn’t have anything to say, this gig would be as boring as, well, Dark Web.
I hate you are not enjoying the book. When a fandom isn’t going like it ought to, that really stinks for the fan, much like when a favorite sports team is having an off year. I certainly understand the pressure of the price tag for bad books. If I wasn’t reviewing, I think I would be spending my money on other books like Moon Knight, rather than ASM, which is a shame.
I agree with you 100% on the lack of Peter Parker in the books. My hope is that once this Mayan mystery is gone, we will get to settle in and rebuild Peter and get a supporting cast. He’s got a job at Norman’s company. Surely there are some interesting people there for Peter to get to know. I imagine there are quite a few interested in his genius and others who feel like he got his job for only being friends with the boss’s son.
I disagree about the extra Spider characters. I don’t particular like most of them, though I do pick up Miles on Marvel Unlimited, and I get tired of the Spider-Verse, but as long as it doesn’t interfere with ASM, I say go for it. There are plenty of fans who like those characters. So far, their intrusion on my ASM has be minimal and so I can just ignore them while reading the Spider-Man I like. But I’m not willing to die on this hill.
Whether you keep reading ASM or not, make sure you keep swinging by here and leaving comments on the reviews to keep the conversation going!
(sorry for the two-parter – I double-checked my post and realized I had more to say)
To that point, Spider-Man has gone from being an actual “character,” i.e. Peter Parker, has dropped down beneath the level of being an “archetype” (like he was treated in the Brevoort Manifesto, “Peter Parker is about ‘Youth’. etc.”), and is now more of a “brand” than anything else. And I’m not talking about the Spider-Man Brand for Marvel Entertainment, I mean in-universe with this ridiculous “Spider-Man Family” Marvel is obsessed with. Miles and Gwen and Miguel and the Gog-awful (heh) Spider-Verse stories that keep getting pumped out of the Bullpen’s sludge-pipe have got to go.
We need another Straczynski-esque approach to Spider-Man stories, meaning an actual Storyteller at Marvel who can take a look at current affairs, swallow their pride, and be like, “Man, when did Spider-Man stop being about Peter Parker? Can we get back to that for a while?” Then, golly, maybe sales for ASM might climb back up into 6 figures on the regular, where it belongs, instead of failing to regularly meet that number with embarrassing sales for all of these alternate Spider-People and spin-offs combined.
Thanks for another great review Mark!
Man, I don’t think I could care any less about this story though. I don’t care about Paul. I don’t get much of a sense of chemistry in the way Wells writes Peter and MJ’s relationship. Get Ms. Marvel out of my Spider-Man book (and off of my damn lawn!) Why are we going back to the Mayan-Apocalypse-well? It made some sense back in the Dark Times of BND, pre-2012, but Mayan Snow/Mischief god is quickly proving himself to be a one-and-done character. His and Rabin’s inclusion here just wreaks of Wells trying to use his characters in a big story so he can make “his mark” on Spider-Man instead of organically telling “the next story” for the character. Unfortunately the “next story” was derailed back in ASM#861 before editorial torpedoed it and decided to focus on retconning “Sins Past” and committing character assassination on Ben Reilly. Apathy is really setting in for me.
Even JRJr, my favorite Spidey-Artist, isn’t enough to keep me invested. His art is great, but when the writing is filled with holes that are only explicable by saying “so the plot can happen” I get taken out of what I’m reading really quickly. Why did Spider-Man get beaten like a b%&$h by the Vulture but trounced Venom like a clown? “So the plot can happen.” Why is “Dark Web” treated like an actual story and Chasm an actual character by Marvel editorial? “So the plot can happen.” Why are Peter and MJ not together? You get the point…
Much like Chi-Town and George, I find myself pondering my continued investment in this book. I still have a fool’s hope that some day Marvel will actually give their paying customers Spider-Man stories that they want to read, with a married Peter and MJ facing life and adventures together, navigating the Great Sacrifice that comes with Great Responsibility. Maybe we could even have hints that the gap between the 616 and MC2 is being bridged (Tom DeFalco & Ron Frenz are the true inheritors and worthiest custodians of Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, & Steve Ditko’s legacy). A man can dream…
However, Marvel seems to have a very concerted interest in not telling engaging stories for competitive prices, so at some point my budget and apathy may smother whatever ember of hope remains in Spider-Man, a character who once felt like a brother to me and now is more like a distant cousin that I hardly know and rarely talk to.
@Evan, @xonothan, @Sthenurus, @Paul, and @Jack
Evan – I’m glad I was not the only one bothered by that recap agreement problem. As for your missing period, I completely agree – you aren’t getting paid to comment and don’t have an editor and proofreader at your disposal. That’s my excuse for when I have errors. I’m squeezing these reviews in between work, family, and driving my daughter to dance classes and often ignore my advice to my students and just submit my rough draft for my review. 🙂
I was particularly proud of my alliteration this review! I don’t think MJ is in love with Paul. She said in that Hell Gala thingee that it was about responsibility and I feel that is exactly why she is with him. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t like him and isn’t trying to make this new life work for them, but I feel that it is more for these kids. Now, why they need to stay together once they made it back to the real world and why she may feel that she is obligated to stay with them, I don’t know exactly and will be awaiting Wells’s excellently thought out rationale in the upcoming issues.
BERR-WWAYEERRRM! – I give that a 10 out of 10! As for your title, top notch as always, my friend! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_QLzthSkfM
xonothan – I was quite pleased with the beard comment at the end. 🙂 Any chance that we will get another Thwip Studis video anytime soon?
Sthenurus – Wouldn’t blame her either, but sure hope you guys are wrong!
Paul – I’m glad you enjoyed the issue! I’m not one who hate reads either and I really try hard to like what I’m reading. I do believe that my less than positive reaction to this issue stemmed more from timing than any particular faults of the writer. I do like having those who enjoyed it convince me that I should have liked it better. That positivity is contagious and I am looking forward to the next issue and hope that it gets lands well.
Completely agree that giving birth to a kid that is not Peter’s is a step too far for the character. Your assessment of the nature of Peter and MJ, together or not together, is a defining standard that I would hope that an editor would have. I will say I have my doubts that Marvel doesn’t want MJ as a part of the cast. While they don’t know what to do with her, they know that she drives up sales.
I really need to read Gold Goblin. I’m behind on my Marvel Unlimited.
Jack – Maybe. I don’t think that is the route they are taking, though. If it is, we’ll break out the Jack Was Right swag!
@Adam Schingle, @Chi-Town, and @Michael
Adam – Glad you liked the issue (and the review)! I wanted to like it more. I am looking forward to the FF in the next issue. I hope he pulls it off. One thing I am fairly amazed at is that after putting Spider-Man at odds with the Marvel universe again, no hero fights have happened. Thought they may have squeezed one out. I sort of hope that once all this is resolved, the other heroes aren’t quick to welcome him back to the fold.
Chi-Town – That hurts! I have never been anything but super nice to you at all times, yet you take shots at me periodically. Oh well. I guess when you go low, I’ll go high. 🙂
Michael – With the exception of Greek and Roman mythology, most cultures are quite ready to believe that gods can die. That said, I agree with you that I doubt Wayep is dead. And since it seems he can only be a threat once a year, that would account for why it took Rabin a year to return. I don’t trust Paul. Nothing we saw him do was anything other than self-preservation. I also thought the “already beat you” was an odd thing to say, and wasn’t sure if it was a prophetic statement, an alternate reality battle, or something that happened in the original story (I just can’t seem to remember that original story very well and being a slacker (there is your Back to the Future allusion, Evan) that I am, I have not gone back to re-read it). Paul being the Emissary could be something to watch for. If it were The Debt Collector, I feel like Paul would have recognized him. But maybe not. I have to say I am a bit fuzzy on what is going on in that sense. I really do need to go back and read those issues again.
Your theory on the time passing differently in that world does have merit, though I hope you are wrong. I think the kids might be kids that they rescued in this alternate world, or even ones that Paul has already rescued, and since MJ is stuck in there, she is going to help him with them. I had not thought of the kids being Wayep. Maybe. Why would Paul and MJ be intent on protecting them, though? I guess to keep him from returning to Wayep form?
Or Peter could have killed some puppies. Either way!
One way around this is that the MJ that came back isn’t the 616 MJ.
I really enjoyed the issue. Great story, great characterization, high stakes. This is what you want from a Spider-Man story. In isolation, I thought this was brilliant.
But, again, I don’t think this is the right story to deal with the break-up of Peter and MJ. And I really do fear the consequences of this story. If, as people are speculating online, MJ gets trapped on this alternate Earth for years and has kids with Paul then that ruins a character who has been around since the sixties.
In years to come, when people ask why Peter and MJ aren’t together, the answer shouldn’t be “Oh, because MJ got magically trapped on an alternate Earth by the Scribble Man and time passed more quickly there, so she had a couple of kids with a guy who was also trapped on that Earth by the Scribble Man”. The heart of the Spider-Man stories is that they’re a soap opera. If Pete and MJ aren’t together, it should be because of a grounded reason like their relationship didn’t work out. Not because of convoluted reasons involving magic and alternate realities.
Not that a future writer couldn’t retcon this story away, but it’d have to be an absolutely massive retcon because a husband and two kids can’t just disappear. And that is probably Marvel’s intent. That this is intended to be MJ’s exit from the series. A big exit, so massive, that it cannot be simply reversed. A story that makes it impossible for MJ to remain a part of Spidey’s supporting cast.
I still hope I’m surprised. That I’m wrong. And this really was an enjoyable read, put together by some truly talented folk.
I’m not someone who hate reads. I’ve been coming back to the series because there are thing I do genuinely enjoy. And I’ve been hopeful with such a terrific creative team that the series will end up improving. Although, my favourite story arc does seem to have somewhat been resolved in Gold Goblin. I just have this feeling of dread about how this situation with MJ is going to be resolved.
@mark as always the review is more entertaining than the issue. I also though “meh, whatever” when I finished reading it. I wasn’t mad, but I wasn’t thrilled either. Kinda like eating McDonald. You forget you ate the minute your done.
@Michael. 100% agree with you. Time passes differently there, and while a few days/week/months would pass for Peter, MJ would have been stranded with Paul for maybe a decade. Can’t blame her if something happened during that time.
@xonathan — I agree. The 1s in place of exclamation points was a nice touch.
The best part of this issue is the text exchange screen grab. Had me laughing so hard!!
@Mark — I love how I forgot a period at the end of my sentence expressing my frustration upon seeing grammar issues. 🙂 I’m not a professional writer with an editorial board. That’s my excuse.
@Mark — In complete sincerity, I’m glad you caught that grammar issue on the recap page. It bothered me, too. Having just read a biography on E.B. White, I feel somewhat vindicated when I feel frustration at seeing errors like that
On a similar note, my favorite part of this review is your using the impressively alliterative “pretty promising premise.”
As for the story, I will leave the speculation and critique in the always excellent comments to those of you who are far more conversant on Spider-man lore and therefore more qualified than I. I’m just trying to wrap my brain around how Mary Jane could fall in love with Paul. At first I thought it would have something to do with his saving her life, but then I realized how dumb that would be, for obvious reasons. If she tells Paul that Peter is like a brother to her, I might start reading Superman.
KA-KWARK! sounds like an unusual sound for that gun to make. That weapon looks like it would have more of a BERR-WWAYEERRRM! sound.
I’d also like to submit my nomination for title of this particular issue:
“Wayep it Good!”
Note that Wayeb was seemingly cut in half and killed when MJ activated the device. Except that if he’s really dead, then Rabin shouldn’t be a threat any more.
I’m still not sure I trust Paul. He seemed to know a lot of things, like that the world they were banished to had its own Emissary. And when Peter went to fight Wayeb, Paul said “He already beat you.” Maybe Paul is the Emissary of that world? And if he isn’t, what happened to that world’s Emissary? Maybe Gus, the debt collector, was that world’s emissary? If he helped destroy a world, he would be evil even by the standards of Limbo.
It does seem like what happens is that time passes quicker in that world, and by the time Peter rescues MJ and Paul, years have passed for them and they have two kids. MJ’s been talking like more than 6 months passed for her.
Although I’ve seen it speculated online that the kids are really Wayeb somehow and that’s why Rabin’s after them.
I’m also wondering why the other heroes treated Peter like he’d done something majorly wrong. For starters, like you said, we need an explanation why none of the other heroes tried to rescue MJ and Paul. But it seems like whatever Peter did, he did to rescue two people trapped in a hazardous dimension. So far, we’ve seen it mentioned that Peter stole from the Fantastic Four and worked with Norman Osborn. But just about every hero has done something like that to save innocent lives. Unless Peter sacrificed a virgin or something, I can’t see the other heroes holding it against him.
See Crawlspacers, THIS is WHY I have trust issues with Mark. I’m beginning to realize why Neil left the reviews, I thought he was joking when he said “Good! You can deal with Mark now!” That conversation never took place, or maybe it did..but I certenally dOn’T type likea a 3rd) grader. This run has me all tied up in knots that messages from Mark aren’t making any kind of sense.
Thanks for the shout-out, Mark! Great review. I wasn’t expecting it, but I thought this issue was pretty good.