Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 (Legacy #N/A) – 2023: Demon With A New Mask On, and When Aunts Attack!
(This annual passes Puddin’s “Do I want to rub my chin against it?’ test.)
I forgot about annuals when I started reviewing this book for the Crawlspace. Mark said “I want to review the odd-numbered issues, and you get the even-numbered ones.” I agreed, and then thought I had made a huge mistake when he laughed maniacally – was there some opposite version of the Star Trek movie pattern here (1), where the odd-numbered issues were the better ones to review? But literally a couple of days after my last review was posted I became aware that an annual was coming out. I asked Mark if he was reviewing that one, since we alternate reviews, and he said “Oh, so that’s your plan, is it! Trick me into reviewing an annual so you can take over the odd-numbered issues! I can tell what’s going on here!” So to make peace I told him I would review this annual and he could still do the next ASM issue.
(Not a good sign when Hallows’ Eve has more presence on the cover than Spidey.)
CREDITS – Demon With A New Mask On (2)
Writer: Erica Schultz
Artist: Julian Shaw
Colorists: Andrew Dalhouse
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Variant Cover Artists: Wait, George Perez did a variant? Ok, that’s kind of cool.
CREDITS – When Aunts Attack!
Writer: Celeste Bronfman
Artist: David Lopez
Color Artist: KJ Diaz
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
PREVIOUSLY IN AMAZING SPIDER-MAN …
The title page gives us a recap of Dark Web (hey, remember when that was a thing?) and how Chasm was imprisoned, a Limbo Embassy was established in New York to be a safe haven for demons (3), and Janine aka Hallows’ Eve is angry that her boyfriend Ben is imprisoned.
What, you thought this was going to recap the most recent ASM issue? This is an annual, meaning that 9 times out of 10 it doesn’t continue on from the most recent normal issue. In fact, nothing from the Doc Ock story is referenced in this annual at all.
SUMMARY – Demon With A New Mask On
This young woman is walking down the street face-timing with her mom when she is attacked by a demon (called “Demon” from this point on for simplicity’s sake). Spidey is gliding around on his glider and hears the woman scream. Spidey attacks Demon, with Bug 4.0 to help him. (4)
(Take that, largest city in Wisconsin!)
After a brief battle, Demon throws a dumpster at Spidey and runs away towards what I assume is the Limbo Embassy. Demon pounds at the door to be let in.
(This is where Demon got this idea.)
Spidey decides that diplomatic immunity means nothing and crashes into the embassy.
![Diplomatic immunity! [Lethal Weapon 2] : r/HighQualityGifs](https://i.imgur.com/PNj3vME.gif)
(In real life this cop would be fired and immediately charged with causing an international incident.)
Spidey is attacked by some demon guards, and Demon runs away.
Meanwhile we see Ben in his Chasm suit sitting in some forest scene when Demon appears to reveal … sacre bleu! Demon is actually one of the mask personas (personae?) of everyone’s new favorite character, Hallows’ Eve! After a quick kiss, Hallows (5) tells Ben that she has enough money stashed away to get away from “Maddie and her demon freaks”.
(We’re not allowed to have Peter and MJ together, but at least we get this.)
While Spidey deals with the demon guards, Hallows gives Ben a mask and puts one on herself to hide them while they make a break for it.
Meanwhile, Madelyne Pryor is dealing with the bane of all supervillains’ existence who have to run an organization … paperwork! She hears some noise and sends her assistant, Glaven, (6) to see what it is, when Spidey crashes through the wall. Spidey recaps the story to her but she doesn’t have time for his chicanery. (7)
(Even Madelyne can’t believe she has to be part of this story.)
So Madelyne casts a spell to send away anyone who does not belong here, and put everyone back in their proper place. This, of course, summons giant tentacles.
(What is it with this book and tentacles? Every review I’ve done so far I’ve had to talk about them.)
This not only throws Spidey and Hallows out of the embassy, but sends Ben back to his cell.
Outside the embassy, Hallows blames Spidey for everything. He tries to explain to her that Ben belongs in prison (and her too) when Madelyne appears telling both of them that Ben will stay until he has finished his sentence, and that they should not come back. Spidey tries to apologize, but Hallows isn’t having any of it, and leaves.
SUMMARY – When Aunts Attack!
It’s Aunt Anna’s birthday and everyone is celebrating at Aunt May’s house (at least I think that’s where we are). We have Anna, May, Peter, MJ, Paul, and some various senior citizens (who I assume are Anna’s friends). Peter accidentally got a cake with the wrong wording on it, which makes MJ laugh. Peter leaves to get another cake.
(Chekov’s knives.)
MJ is surprised by Anna’s youthful spirit, which she thanks the Krakoan pills she’s been taking. But suddenly Anna attacks MJ and the other guests.
(Aunt Anna reacts after reading what MJ has been doing in the Zells run.)
(Anna hit that woman so hard she knocked her dentures out.)
Proving that he’s useless in every situation, Paul tries to remind Anna about their long and meaningful relationship to calm her down – surprise, it doesn’t work. MJ mentions that there have been rumors of people acting out violently because of the mutant drugs, but instead of doing the smart thing and taking her aunt off of them until those rumors could be disproven, she just ignored those rumors and kept giving her aunt these potentially dangerous drugs. (8)
Anna throws May toward the open dishwasher, with Chekov’s knives waiting to impale her.
(It would be hilarious if after all these years, *this* is how Aunt May went out.)
But Spidey swings in and saves May. MJ tells Paul to do something useful for a change and get everyone out of there. Anna attacks Spidey, who is loathe to punch an old woman. MJ shoves a cake in her face.
(Come on MJ, “Let them eat cake” was right there!)
Anna shoves MJ into a wall, and this woman who we were told at the start of this story is between 65 and 80, dodges Spidey’s webs, climbs the webs, does a flip in the air, and kicks Spidey.
But suddenly Anna gets groggy and collapses. Turns out MJ puts some sleeping pills in the cake that she shoved in Anna’s face. And everyone knows that if you shove drugged food onto someone’s face, those drugs take effect instantly, even if most of that food didn’t make it into the mouth.
Later, Peter, Paul and Mary (Jane) commit Anna to Ravencroft Institute. The orderly says there are a lot of new patients admitted with the same story – calm one moment, attacking people the next. He refuses to admit if they were all taking Krakoan pills, but MJ is sure they were. Her first instinct is that the pills were poisoned (and not that mutant pills might not be safe for people to take).
MJ admits that the sleeping pills she used against Anna were hers, and in a rare moment that acknowledges the trauma she has recently gone through, reveals that she and Paul have been staying at Anna’s because there are too many bad memories at their home.
The story ends with Anna in a Hannibal-mask and straight-jacket in a Ravencroft cell.
(This feels like the start of Aunt Anna’s supervillain origin story.)
To be continued! (really???)
INITIAL RESPONSE – Demon With A New Mask On
The story was … fine, but it doesn’t feel like a Spidey story. Hallows’ Eve is more of the main character. (9) Spidey doesn’t do that much here beside chase a demon, accidentally break into an embassy, and then get thrown out. And Ben is barely in this story – he’s basically the McGuffin. And at the end, we’re right back to where we started – nothing has changed.
INITIAL RESPONSE – When Aunts Attack!
Of the two stories I liked this one more. The idea of Anna going crazy and attacking MJ and random seniors made me chuckle at the sheer ridiculousness of it. And there were actual consequences – Anna is now is a permanent (?) rage state and locked up (unless this is totally ignored in the next ASM issue MJ is in).
WHAT I LIKED – Demon With A New Mask On
I liked Spidey’s reactions to everything: “shenanigans”, “chicanery”, the Milwaukee bashing, etc. For most of the story he doesn’t know what’s really going on and his reactions to the demon, the embassy guards, Madelyne, were all good.
Hallows’ Eve actually had a decent plan to break Ben out. She knew that if she just went to the embassy – disguised as a demon – then she’d be questioned and wouldn’t be able to get to Ben. So she causes a disturbance, picks a fight with Spidey, lets him chase her to the embassy, breaks in, and while he’s distracting the guards she sneaks away to find Ben. It’s kind of clever.
I laughed at Madelyne having to deal with paperwork. Most supervillains want to run a city, country, the world, etc but they don’t realize that once they get that power there is a lot of administrative work to be done.
I like Madelyne’s entire “I’m too busy for any of this” attitude, and how she just casts a spell to kick Spidey and Hallows out, and tells them to not come back.
WHAT I LIKED – When Aunts Attack!
I kind of liked the art. It reminded me a Tangled Web issue, but I can’t remember which one (Darwyn Cooke?).
The idea of Anna suddenly going berserk and attacking everyone is bizarre and – I’ll admit it – made me laugh.
Paul proving once again how useless he is in every situation when he tries to talk Anna down, and MJ telling him to “clam up”.
It’s a very small moment but MJ actually acknowledges that she’s is working her way through some trauma when she reveals that she and Paul are staying at Anna’s because “there are just too many memories back home”. It’s very quick, and the rest of the story doesn’t line up with this, but for this one brief moment, it’s there.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE – Demon With A New Mask On
Spidey is not driving this plot at all. This is a Hallows’ Eve story (9) with Spidey just along for the ride. This should have been put into the Hallows’ Eve annual (coming soon, I’m sure).
It’s only in 2 panels, but Spidey is once again riding his glider. Why?
(If you could webswing, why would you want to do this to get around the city?)
Bug is back. Again. Does anyone care?
The entire idea of a Limbo Embassy is not a problem with *this* issue, but it’s just ridiculous. Demons escaped Limbo and tried to invade Earth. Why don’t we just send them all back? Or were some of the demons here already on Earth before the recent invasion? It makes no sense.
Didn’t Hallows’ Eve start out with only 3 masks? Apparently now she has an unlimited supply of masks for every possible situation? And anyone can use these masks, not just her? I admit I have not read her mini-series, so I’m sure all of this is explained there (same writer so probably).
Ben is barely a character in this story. Maybe that’s a positive, considering what we got from him in Dark Web. But he’s definitely the beta to Hallows’ alpha here.
Madelyne is *way* too overpowered here. With one spell she manages to put things in the embassy back to the way they were. It’s not turning back time, but it’s pretty close. She does this so easily, I wondered “why didn’t she do this during Dark Web?” (10)
We’re meant to care bout Ben and Janine’s relationship and them being separated, but their characters have been ruined so much I just don’t care.
Janine’s rant to Spidey at the end about how he ruined everything, and bringing up Mary Jane – she really doesn’t know what she’s talking about, but she acts like she does because Ben has given her his version of these events and characters. She’s like the newest member to an established group of friends that suddenly acts like she’s been there for years and knows everything about all of them.
Spidey tries to apologize to Hallows at the end, but there’s no reason he should. She, Ben and (for awhile) Madelyne literally tried to take over New York with a demon invasion.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE – When Aunts Attack!
For someone that just had her children that she has spent the past 5 years raising “die”, MJ is way too happy at the start of this story.
(“Ha ha! My children I’ve been raising for 5 years were just erased from existence. I’m in a great mood.”)
Proving how useless he is, Paul loads multiple butcher knives into the cutlery section of the dishwasher. First, who has this many knives of this size in their home? Second, who loads them in a dishwasher this way? This is just asking for trouble.
We find out at the end that MJ and Paul have been staying at Anna’s, so yes he would have a passing relationship with her, and it makes sense that he thinks he would be able to talk her down when she goes berserk. But it still comes off as him being like “It’s ok everyone, it’s me, Paul. I can solve this problem. Trust me, I’m Paul.”
(Anyone else remember this show?)
MJ comes off as either naïve or reckless when she admits she knew about the rumors that Krakoan pills might cause people to turn violent, but she allowed Anna to take these pills anyway
Putting sleeping pills in a cake and then shoving that cake into someone’s face does not mean that person eats that cake (and ingests those pills). The majority of that cake remained on Anna’s face or fell to the floor. And even if all of that cake had made it into Anna’s mouth and she swallowed it, it takes more than a minute for sleeping pills to take effect.
The ending with Anna in Ravencroft feels like some actual plot progression, but it’s not a Spidey plot. It’s an X-Men plot about the Krakoan pills. She’s had a minor sub-plot in this run about having dementia and taking these pills for it, but it’s been barely mentioned.
WHAT THIS ANNUAL MEANT OVERALL
Not much. Anna is now in a permanent (?) rage-state and incarcerated at Ravencroft. If you skipped this annual that’s the only thing you’d have to know that might be brought up in the main book later.
Annuals usually don’t matter to the ongoing plots in the main book. They are a breeding ground for a throwaway story. Or a multi-part story with other books’ annuals. Or introducing a new character, and for every Captain (Monica) Marvel, there’s an Annex.
(I was so sure Annex-fever was going to sweep the nation. Why did I buy 6 copies of this annual?)
It’s hard to remember the last ASM annual that actually mattered to the ongoing plot – maybe the one Howard Mackie’s wrote which was his last issue where he wrapped up the “MJ gets kidnapped” plot and had Peter and MJ separate? (if there’s been any since then, remind me in the comments)
GRADE
First story: C-
Second story: C+
These stories were both pretty meh – not bad, but not great. The second story gets the higher grade because the ridiculousness of Aunt Anna going on a rage-filled rampage made me laugh.
I separated this issue into the two stories because I thought it would difficult to grade an issue with two separate stories. But because of the way the two grades went, it was actually easy.
Annual: C
NEXT TIME, IN AN ALL-NEW ISSUE OF AMAZING SPIDER-MAN …
Go look at my last review (ASM #30) and read the Next Time section, it’s the same thing. Randy and Janice are getting married. Mazel tov!
FOOTNOTES
Way too many footnotes this time, and the number of asterisks got out of hand, so I switched to the (#) format.
(1) I never agreed with this rule. Star Trek III is a great film.
(2) Will anyone get this song reference? Man, I’m old.
(3) Why is this a thing? Shouldn’t we be sending these demons back to the Limbo dimension? Why are we letting them stay here when they tried to invade Earth?
(4) I hope someone is keeping track of all the iterations of Bug.
(5) I don’t know if anyone else is doing this, but I find it funny to call her “Hallows” for short, like it’s her first name (“Hello Miss Eve.” “Oh please, my mother is ‘Miss Eve’. Call me Hallows.”).
(6) 
(7) According to Google, “the use of trickery to achieve a political, financial, or legal purpose.”
(8) Amazingly, this is not the worst thing MJ has done in this run.
(9) This makes sense since this story was written by the same person who wrote the Hallows’ Eve mini-series, and she says on her website “If you’ve been reading the Hallows’ Eve miniseries, then you really MUST pick up the ASM annual. It brings even more closure to the story of Hallows’ Eve and Ben Reilly/Chasm.” So we have actual confirmation that this is a Hallows’ Eve story with Spidey guest-starring.
(10) Maybe she did. Please don’t make me remember Dark Web.
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@zach.
Thanks. I’ll check it out.
@ Jason:
There was a one shot that was published throughout the last several years called X-Men: the hellfire gala.
The one that was published this year is what he’s referencing in the review.
If you have Marvel unlimited, you should be able to find it pretty easily. Last year’s one shot, established that aunt Anna was suffering from dementia, and the miracle drugs that were created by Krakoa were prescribed to her as a means of combating the disease.
What is this Hellfire Gala that was referenced?
@Evan – He’s in hiding, getting ready for the wedding issue.
Speaking of Mark, where is he? I hope he’s okay.
@Chi-Town Spidey –
I had already steeled myself for how much enjoyment I would get out of this annual before reading it, because I can’t remember the last annual I read that I actually liked and actually mattered to the main book.
Regarding people whispering to Quesada that they liked OMD, I would have patted him on his head and walked away saying “Sure. Sure they did.”
Mark did that number thing with me too!!! “You get the odd numbering, because you are odd!” The pot calling the kettle black, better get used to it. Reading your review about what this issue was about was enjoyable! However, I can’t imagine the cringe-worth amount of distaste you had to go through when you read the actual issue. I’m glad I can’t imagine it, cause I didn’t read it. Kinda like Quesada saying at SDCC this year. “I can’t tell you how many people whispered to me that they actually liked OMD.” He couldn’t tell you, because NO ONE DID TELL HIM THAT. You covered it pretty much, how in the world does any of this makes sense? I predict more of this plot driving the story antics happening or backpaddling in the future issues.
@Paul Penna –
I admit – the first story is probably a very good Hallows’ Eve story. The problem is that it is in a Spider-Man annual and supposed to be a Spider-Man story.
I don’t have a problem believing that mutant pills would give normal people superstrength – enough that they could fight Spidey as we see here. And we never see Spidey try to hit Anna – he was definitely holding back because he didn’t want to hurt her.
I would laugh if Anna being incarcerated is never mentioned in the next few months of ASM and Zells just forgets it happened.
I’ve enjoyed the Hallows Eve mini series, and I was looking forward to her confrontation with Spider-Man here, which would fully transition her into villain mode.
Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. It’s still a good story, and Hallows Eve is a good character (and hey, feel free to disagree with me, different people like different things). Erica Schultz writes Spider-Man well, but he’s only a guest character here, rather than being truly involved in the story. I wanted more out of this story, but I still enjoyed what we got.
The second story, well, I agree with the review. Mary Jane is way too happy for someone who just lost her two children. Maybe the idea is that she’s faking it, or in denial, but that really didn’t come across well enough. The fact that her and Paul can’t stay at home because of the memories does show that they’re struggling, but the portrayal of the couple here lacks the depth of the depression that they should be suffering through.
I do think it’s kinda laughable that Anna would be a match for Spidey, it should’ve played out with Spidey more obviously pulling his punches, as the other guests were under threat, rather than Anna being a threat to Spider-Man himself. But otherwise, I thought this was a good story idea, that was well written, despite the minor criticisms I made.
Overall, this Annual deals with the fallout of the Hallows Eve series and the events of X-Men. I can only assume this is stuff that Zeb Wells didn’t want to deal with in the main book, and so it is dealt with here. So, unfortunately these events probably won’t have much impact on the Amazing Spider-Man title. Which is a shame.
A good read for sure, but this Annual was light on Spidey, and I’m afraid that ultimately it’ll be light on consequences too.
@Spideydude – My counterargument …
Didn’t Alpha get a mini-series?
Hey now Hornacek.
He got a back up in Uimited and his own mini! HE WAS INVESTED IN.
I’m joking. Mostly.
I’d recommend the hallows eve mini. It’s one of the better ones that has come around.
@Hallows Evan – A wise man once said “always quote your sources”: https://www.cbr.com/knowledge-waits-all-of-marvels-characters-from-their-1993-annuals
Face Thief? Really?
[types for thirty seconds]
Wow, I guess you do learn something new every day.
@Zach Joiner –
I was surprised they didn’t put Chasm on the cover to get people like you to buy this issue.
I was not (and still am not) a fan of Hallows Eve, but I feel like she has “Silk potential”, in that if they get her away from Ben, a different writer might be able to turn her into a decent character. I didn’t read her mini but I think (?) it got average-to-above average reviews on the Satellite podcast. Good luck to her, it’s just not for me.
If Anna’s incarceration is never mentioned in ASM then Anna’s story in this annual was a waste of time. But if it actually leads to something in ASM (and not just in the X-books) then that will be what’s remembered from this annual, not the Hallows’ Eve story.
You’re right about Annex, what was I thinking mocking him? He is just as great of a character as Bloodwraith, Raptor, Battling Bantam, Devourer, Dreamkiller, Tracer, Kyllian, Khaos, Wildstreak, Night Terror, Cuchulain the Irish Wolf Hound, Lazarus, Face Thief, Assassin, Darkling, Eradikator, Phalanx (not the X-Men aliens), Nocturne, The Flame, The Cadre, Hit-Maker, Charon, and Empyream.
For those wondering if I made all of those names up, these were all characters introduced in the 1993 annuals that appeared one (?) time and never again. Only three introduced in that batch had any staying power: Legacy (Captain Marvel’s son), the X-Cutioner, and Adam-X.
Ben, in a comic? Even as…. Chasm?
Fine. I will pick it up.
I had the privilege of interviewing Erica for Spidey-dude. She couldn’t say much about this story in the lead up, as NDA’s and whatnot, so I was looking forward to this story. Honestly, Hallows Eve was the surpise for me, as I was not really looking forward to it initially.
I felt like they could’ve done more with it. I am going to be honest though, I could’ve done without the When Anna attacks because of X-Men Plot. (Damn you Bogenrider) But since they need to fill pages, we got it.
Also you don’t talk smack about Annex. He was great. He might’ve inspired some things in my CSA stories. You take that back mister!
Enjoyed the review.
Excelsior
Zach
@Hallows Evan Berry –
I was so excited after the first season finale of SH where he set off a nuclear bomb, and then the second season started with “5 years earlier” which was such a cheat since he met Dorrie in the pilot but they’re still partners 5 years earlier? No wonder that show got cancelled!
Don’t worry, I’m in this for the long haul – or until Brad fires me for refusing to stop using Puddin’ in the banner pictures.
Yeah, over the years Peter/Spidey has constantly apologized for things he didn’t do, or said that things were his fault when they weren’t. It probably goes back to letting the Burglar (sorry, “The Murderer” according to Marv Wolfman) go which led to Uncle Ben’s death. Since then he probably feels that *everything* is his fault.
There have been some great Spidey annuals – the first one (Sinister Six), the fifth one (whether you like it or not it reveals the history of Peter’s parents), 13-15 (Doc Ock, Doom and Dormammu, Punisher and Doc Ock), 16 (new Captain Marvel), 18 (Jonah’s wedding). But it just feels that usually they’re a self-contained story that doesn’t matter to the overall plot, stuffed with useless backups.
I just assumed Ben’s Chasm look was a costume but yeah, it wasn’t something he made or was given to him – it was when he got exposed to the toxic goo at the end of Beyond. So did that goo change his normal Spidey outfit into the Chasm suit?
I think for the foreseeable future if we see MJ in the book we are probably going to see Paul, which is why one of things I liked in the recent Doc Ock story was “no MJ”.
I used to read *all* of the X-Men books. I don’t know when it happened but I eventually just lost interested. Maybe it was when they decided Scott would have a psychic affair with Emma because … I’m still not sure why (beyond the physical reasons).
I’m not sure I’d say I found the Anna story funny – more like “ridiculous” in a way that made me laugh.
@Hornacek —
P.S. — Thank you for all of the Shawshank quotes in your previous review. I just hope Mark will speak to me again after that.
@Hornacek —
Whoah, is that Sledge Hammer? Don’t worry, at least one of your readers got the reference. I was a little kid then, but I remember.
One of my initial thoughts when reading this review was the same thought I had when Mark reviewed Amazing Grace: “Oh no, he just started writing reviews, and he’s stuck with this? He’s gonna quit, and we’ll never see him again.” It’s like Dark Web Part II But Not Really, and I was really hoping that was behind us.
It was after reading this review that I finally realized the only characteristic, sadly, that I really share with Spider-man (and George McFly, incidentally), besides having brown hair and hazel eyes (which are sometimes blue for some reason — Spidey’s, not mine): His tendency to apologize profusely even for things that he has to know are not his fault.
That reminds me: My assumption is that the writer (at least for the Janine/Ben story) was told to write a story that sort of reset the status quo so that the next issue with Janine and Ben needn’t reference it. In other words, it’s just as you said, that in most cases the annuals don’t really matter. I’m pretty sure that my first issue of Spider-man was an annual, which is probably why I don’t remember it. Also, aside from how Ben was drawn, which I thought was sort of weird, it surprised me that Ben could just remove his Chasm mask the same way that he can remove his Spider-man one. When I first saw Chasm’s appearance, I thought it was mystical in nature and could be altered at will, or at least, it wasn’t made of cloth like the typical Spider-man costume. I guess I read that wrong, since here it seems his costume is just a fabric costume with that design on it.
As far as the Anna story goes, I wasn’t expecting to see Paul, though perhaps I should have been. Both his and Janine’s acting as if they’ve always been around reminds me of when Dan Slott wrote Mary Jane and Carlie Cooper referring to Peter’s famous catchphrase “That’s Crazy Town Banana Pants” as something he always said.
I really appreciate Michael’s comment below (Thank you, Michael!) for providing some much needed X-men-related elucidation. X-Men continuity is so confusing to me (Just the creation of Madelyn Pryor herself is a perfect example), and I had to stop reading X-Men a long time ago, because it overwhelmed me. I’m glad that you found Anna’s story funny. I honestly couldn’t tell what tone the writer was going for here. It’s so ridiculous that the humor has to be intentional, but if that were to happen in real life it would be terrifying. I guess sleeping pills are a resourceful way to handle that threat, but given that her symptoms are caused by medication, I’d be concerned about how their interaction might hurt Anna. At the least it reminds me of Peter Venkman’s approach to Zuul: “I just whacked her up with about 300 cc’s of Thorazine — She’s gonna take a little nap now.” I’ve never learned to this day whether that particular Peter administered it with a cake, though. At least Peter Parker didn’t apologize for setting up the knives like that.
I guess if the issue passed Puddin’s Chin Test™ it must be okay. I think that’s a great litmus test to gauge the value of an issue prior (Pryor?) to your reading it, though I imagine it might result in a lot of false positives, huh? (Sigh. I wish I had a cat.)
I hope everyone is having a great weekend!
@Michael –
Yeah, there is no reason for Peter to apologize to Janine here. She should be the one apologizing to him for siding with a psychopath who tried to take over New York with demons.
“and his friend is marrying Tombstone’s daughter” To be fair, that has nothing to do with Peter. That’s not his fault at all.
@Michael –
I didn’t know who Erica Schultz was so reading the first story I felt like this was more of a continuation of the Hallows’ Eve mini-series (which as I said, I didn’t read) and it was really just a fluke that I Googled her name and found out she had written that, and that she said this story was sort of a continuation of that mini.
Yes, Ben has no agency in this story. Hallows is the one with the plan, and even when executing it Ben is just along for the ride. He says and does nothing that matters here. Hallows might have been trying to steal an inanimate object instead of rescuing Ben.
And even Janine doesn’t learn anything here. She tries to rescue Ben, fails, and Madelyne tells her “don’t try this again” and she leaves. Is she any different than she was before this story?
Don’t know where I got the idea that she only had 3 original masks from, but I tried to forget Dark Web immediately after I read it.
Yes, you could say that the rumors about the Krakoan drugs were an analogy to the real-world “vaccines cause autism” rumors. But at least those autism rumors have been discounted by multiple sources and the general medical establishment. I’m sure there were many people that heard these rumors when they first started, were worried, then were told that this had been disproven by the medical establishment and they were safe. MJ basically heard this rumor, and because *one* person (Norman freaking Osborn) tested them and said they were safe, she decided to discount the rumors. If I was giving a new drug to a family member and there were rumors that they could harm them and these rumors had not been fully investigated by more than one person, I would say “Ok, let’s wait and see.”
The entire “Anna goes berserk” idea *is* ridiculous. Also, I don’t think Spidey ever tried to hit Anna during that fight – he literally says that he doesn’t want to hit an old woman (plus this is someone he’s known for years). So he was really just trying to prevent her from hurting anyone, not actually fight her.
“Fall of X”, “Hellfire Gala”, “Orchis”, “Iron Man 8”, “Treehouse” – I know those words but those sentences make no sense. 🙂
A lot of people were upset at the way Peter phrased his remarks to Janine. He says “Ben made a HUGE mistake and he’s gotta pay for it.” Which is idiotic considering he’s working with Norman OSBORN and his friend is marrying Tombstone’s daughter. A better way to put it would have been “Maybe Ben’s better in there where he can’t hurt anyone until we can find a way to get his memories back.”
The weird thing is that Schultz said that the confrontation between Ben’s and Hallow’s Eve would be interesting and that Janine would learn she shouldn’t have hurt people during Dark Web. Ben and Janine only said a few lines to each other and Janine learned nothing by the end of this story. I mean there’s two ways this could have gone- Janine frees Ben but Ben decides to murder some of the mutant refugees at the embassy to get revenge on Peter and Maddie causing Janine to realize Ben is too far gone. Or Ben decides to stay in the embassy because he feels guilty or is afraid that he’ll hurt someone else, suggesting that the real Ben is returning. Instead, we got “Ben says a few lines before literally winding up right back where he started at”.
Ben’s going to be appearing next in Dark X-Men 1, so maybe we’ll get a better sense of where his head is at in that issue.
Re, Hallow’s Eve- it was stated in her first appearance that her supply of mask was “endless” and her limited series clarified that there were a LOT of masks in her bag. Also, in her limited series, we were shown that the masks work on other people.
Re: MJ ignoring rumors that the Krakoan drugs were dangerous- I think that the idea is that MJ assumed that these were “vaccines cause autism” type rumors. As any doctor can tell you, there’s plenty of rumors about nonexistent side effects from medicines.
Also, keep in mind that Peter, Paul and MJ saw Norman test the medicine in issue 7, so MJ had reason to think it was safe. Of course, then you’d think they’d consider the correct conclusion- that someone poisoned the drugs AFTER Norman tested them.
A lot of people thought it was ridiculous that Anna could go head to head with Spider-Man. I think the idea was supposed to be that MODOK and Stasis put something in the drugs that enhanced her strength and reflexes.
The second story seemed completely inconsistent with Fall of X. During the Hellfire Gala, we see that Orchis destroys the Treehouse and frames the mutants for massacring people. Then, in Iron Man 8, a few hours after the Gala, an arrest warrant is issued for Emma Frost for poisoning the drugs. So if this takes place after the Gala, everyone should know the drugs are poisoned. If it takes place before, then (a) why are the mutants at the Gala surprised to learn the drugs are poisoned and (b) why does Peter look for Wolverine instead of just going to the Treehouse?