It’s a tale of two stories!  But one of them isn’t even a story – it’s a bunch of mini-stories.  But more importantly, it’s the end of the first⁽¹⁾ Rek-Rap story … and also a prequel to the Gang-War story.  What do these two stories have in common?  Nothing!  But that doesn’t mean we can’t smash them together into one issue with no attempt to makes sense of why this format is used here.

(“Meet Re-Po!”  Wait, we met him two issues ago, and Spidey met him last issue, and we met his human form at the start of this run.  This caption makes no sense.)

FIRST STORY:  “Spider-Man Asks For My Help, And I Say ‘Sure Buddy. I Would Love To Help’.”

 

CREDITS

Writer:  Zeb Wells

Penciler:  Ed McGuinness

Inker:  Mark Farmer, Wade von Grawbadger, Ed McGuinness

Colorists:  Marcio Menyz

Letterer:  VC’s Joe Caramagna

Variant Cover Artists:  STEVE SKROCE?  NO WAY.

 

PREVIOUSLY IN AMAZING SPIDER-MAN …

Rek-Rap was hunting down the Insidious Six but finds that they (and himself) are being hunted by The Repossessor – a demonic agent sent by Madelyne Pryor to hunt down rogue demons and send them back to Limbo.  Madelyne asks Spidey to stop Rek-Rap from causing trouble in New York.  Rek-Rap goes to Spidey for help, who is disgusted by his building-licking and refuses, but when the Repossessor shows up and eats Rek-Rap, Spidey tries to stop him, but finds himself eaten as well.  Oh, and the Repossessor recognizes Spidey as Peter Parker from his smell, goes to his apartment, and kidnaps Randy.

 

SUMMARY

Spidey finds himself in Re-Po’s mouth⁽²⁾.  Re-Po shrinks himself back to his humanoid form, leaving Spidey to be swallowed whole by Re-Po.

(Spidey’s reaction is the reaction of the readers upon learning there would be a 3 issue Rek-Rap story.)

Rek-Rap is in Re-Po’s stomach with the members of the Insidious Six, recapping the past two issues to them, who act as are audience surrogates who are forced to read this story.

Spider-Man arrives and is not happy to see the Insidious Six, but they say that they just want him to get Rek-Rap out of there.  Rek-Rap explains that “time takes longer down here”, and the Insidious Six say that they have been stuck here listening to Rek-Rap talk for so long that they are out of tears.

(Rhiceratops is speaking for the readers here.)

Back in the real world, Re-Po returns to his attic home, where Randy is chained up.  He says that Randy is “the interest” for Peter’s debt and brandishes a straight razor at him.

(Wait, I thought this Rek-Rap story was supposed to be a fun palate cleanser after the Sinful Spider-Man story.  This is getting dark.)

Meanwhile, it is Day Two inside Re-Po (only 10 seconds have elapsed on Earth).  Rek-Rap has packed some provisions (giant flies) for their trip.  Rek-Rap and Spidey get into the Rek-Rap-A-Pult⁽³⁾ just as Spidey apologizes to him for not trusting him before.  This makes Rek-Rap’s day, as he triggers the Rek-Rap-A-Pult to fling the two of them out of there.

(Spidey and Rek-Rap are technically inside Re-Po’s body.  So that orifice they’re being shot into looks like … you know, it’s better not to think about it too much.)

In the real world Re-Po is advancing on Randy, revealing that he did this a lot in his “old life”, which he cannot remember since he was brought to Limbo.  Interspersed with this, we see Spidey and Rek-Rap on Days Four, Five, Six and Seven … and apparently during this time Spidey ate some of the giant flies.

(Spidey is saying what readers will say years later when asked “Hey, wasn’t there a 3-issue story where Spidey teamed up with a demon that looked like a giant goofy-looking Spider-Man named ‘Rek-Rap’?”)

Just as Re-Po is about to stab Randy, Spidey and Rek-Rap emerge from his body.

(Again, considering Spidey and Rek-Rap are inside Re-Po’s body, it’s best not to think about where they exited from.)

Re-Po tells Spidey that he can’t avoid “his debt”, and in the most unbelievable moment in a story that includes demons, Spidey looks at Re-Po’s face and recognizes him as the collections agent he last saw about 50 (?) issues ago.

(It’s Gus!  The Collections Agent from the beginning of this run!  I should have known!  They look *exactly* alike!)

Re-Po says that swallowing Spidey whole didn’t work, so he’ll bite him in half instead.  Rek-Rap shoves a couch into Re-Po’s mouth, which he swallows, and this gives Spidey the idea to web Re-Po’s face to a bureau and throw the bureau into Re-Po’s mouth.  And in a move that in no way rips off The Spot kicking his own butt in Across the Spider-Verse, Re-Po eats himself.

(Seriously.  This is how the enemy is defeated.  The big threat of the story is made to eat himself.)

Back in Limbo (I guess?) Madelyne Pryor says that Re-Po is being punished for his activities, and thanks Rek-Rap for bringing this to her attention.  She gives him a hero’s welcome when he returns to Limbo, where he stays forever, never returns to Earth, and is never seen or heard from again.⁽⁴⁾

(“Rek-Rap died on the way back to his home planet.”)

INITIAL RESPONSE

This third part of the Rek-Rap story really could have been an email.

 

WHAT I LIKED

Well, it’s over.  And Rek-Rap is back in Limbo, so hopefully we won’t see him popping up in any Spidey stories set in New York ever again (please please please).

McGuinness’ art is once again great.

Re-Po is actually menacing and scary in his scenes with Randy.

I kind of liked the two-page spread where it shows the few seconds where Re-Po is advancing on Randy, interspersed with four days taking place inside Re-Po as Spidey and Rek-Rap try to escape.  Very Inception-ish.

Credit where credit is due⁽⁵⁾:  I have to admit that Rek-Rap saying “this calls for a classic quip” and then yelling this made me laugh.

(One of the rare times that Rek-Rap made me laugh on purpose.)

Did I already say that it’s over?

 

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

Rek-Rap is still incredibly annoying.  It wasn’t as bad as in the previous issues, but that’s only because this part is so short.  If you haven’t already noticed, it’s barely (?) half of the issue.

The reveal of Re-Po’s true identity tries to come off a big shock, but nobody cares.  If I didn’t have the Discord or Crawlspace review comments to let me know two issues ago that this was Gus, the collections agent, I would have scratched my head at this reveal and said “Who?  Him?”  Gus was a character who was introduced, did nothing, and then disappeared – and everyone said “Who cares?”

Spidey recognizing Re-Po’s face is laughable.  Besides them both having the same size face, there is nothing about Re-Po’s face that you would see it and instantly recognize it as Gus’.  This is bordering on the ridiculousness of Venom unmasking in ASM #300 and Spidey instantly recognizing him while the reader is saying “Who?”

(I still remember how ridiculous it felt reading this reveal back in the day.  I literally thought this was an existing character I had forgotten about.)

The defeat of Re-Po here is ridiculous.  It comes off like this is a 60 minute episode and they just realized they’re at the 55 minute point and don’t have time for a battle but have to wrap everything up quickly, so Spidey just tricks Re-Po into eating himself.  Maybe this should be a pro since the fight is over almost instantly and we didn’t have to sit through pages and pages of it?

Also, this is the second time in Zells’ run that he has used an alternate reality/location where time runs at a different speed as a plot point.  Let’s learn some new tropes, shall we?

 

WHAT THIS ISSUE STORY MEANT OVERALL

The Rek-Rap story is over.  He’s back in Limbo, and hopefully we’ll never see him again.

That’s it.  You could skip this story and just go straight from the Sinful Spider-Man story to Gang War and not miss anything.  Well, Luke Cage asks Randy to help get rid of Fisk’s Law, but you get that in the next story.

 

GRADE

D-

There was a reason I only gave part 1 of this story a C-.  I said I needed to give the next parts room for worse grades.  Not only was this part bad, but it was wrapped up so quickly that, like I said above, this really could have been an email.  I was shocked when it was over and I realized we weren’t even halfway through the issue.  We got to the fight and it ended almost immediately.

 

SECOND STORY:  “There’s A Gang War A-Cookin’ And It Requires A More Somber Tone.”

CREDITS

Writer:  Zeb Wells

Artist: Emilio Laiso

Colorists: Erick Arciniega

Letterer:  VC’s Joe Caramagna

 

PREVIOUSLY IN AMAZING SPIDER-MAN …

You just read it.⁽⁶⁾

 

SUMMARY

Randy is visiting Mayor Luke Cage, describing how he’s almost been killed by supervillains two times this month⁽⁷⁾ and saying that Fisk’s Law (banning superheroes) needs to be taken off the books now.  He goes on TV to drum up support to get this done.

Hammerhead is watching Randy on TV, saying that he’s going to “mess up a good thing”.  Meanwhile Hammerhead’s man Jake calls him and tells him that they’ve killed Lady Yulan’s crew of vampires.  On Hammerhead’s orders Jake leaves some Inner Demons masks at the scene.

(Is this supposed to be Shotgun from the Randy/Janice wedding issue?  He’s not holding a shotgun, and Hammerhead calls him Jake – according to his Marvel Wiki page his name is J.R. Walker.)

The next day we see Hammerhead talking to Lady Yulan, Mr. Negative, the Owl, and … Black Mariah (?).  He is telling each of them that he is on their side and playing them against each other.

(As a Survivor fan I loved what Hammerhead does here – telling his alliances what they want to hear, working them against each other.  Give this man the $1 million dollars!)

Janice is visiting her father, Tombstone, who is still in the hospital.  She tells him that she will break anyone in half who tries to move on his territory.  Randy arrives and asks her if that’s what Tombstone would want.  She puts on her Beetle outfit and leaves, saying good-bye to Randy (possibly forever?)

(No!  This is the love story of our time!  We were told this by having this wedding be the focus of a recent extra-size issue!)

Meanwhile, at the Legion of Doom Seat of Power, Silvermane (now in a fully functional cyborg body) and Count Nefaria are gloating that Hammerhead has been a loyal pawn in making them the true leaders of crime in New York.  But suddenly Silvermane’s arm grabs Nefaria by the neck and chokes him.  Silvermane says he isn’t doing this, but he slams Nefaria to the floor, cracking his neck (and killing him?).  Then Silvermane’s arm rips his head off of his body.⁽⁸⁾  It falls to the floor where a figure in the shadows says that this gang war “sounds kind of fun”.

(F in the comments for Silvermane’s head.  Hopefully he survives this and lives to drive again.)

TO BE CONTINUED!

 

INITIAL RESPONSE

For a story with no Spider-Man, this does what it’s meant to do – lets me know what is happening with the various characters, and get me interested in the Gang War story.

 

WHAT I LIKED

Instead of just one story, we get a bunch of 1-2 page stories that setup various characters.  I don’t want this in an entire comic, but this format was used well here to let us know what is happening with various characters – especially since Gang War is actually starting next time (instead of just teasing us like they’ve been doing for awhile).

I liked how each mini-story flowed into the next one.  It felt organic and not forced at all when we shifted from one group of characters to another.

I liked Hammerhead being portrayed more like someone in control here, rather than the lackey we saw in the past two issues where he was subservient to Silvermane and Count Nefaria.

I really enjoyed the page of Hammerhead talking to the 4 crime bosses.  At first I thought this was one conversation among all of them, but then I realized he was talking to them all one-on-one, and really liked how each conversation flowed into the next one.  And I liked how Hammerhead is doing a good job of making moves against various groups and putting the blame on others.  Again, if you watch Survivor, these are the strategic moves someone does who usually goes on to win the game.

I was rolling my eyes at how Silvermane and Count Nefaria were revealing that it was *they* who would be in charge of all crime in New York, and then laughed as they were immediately snuffed out.

Who is this mysterious figure?  Some on the Discord have already suggested who it is (i.e. the purple boots) but who knows?  But after Silvermane being revealed as the actual leader, and then Count Nefaria being the actual leader, Zells needs to stop it here with new bosses being revealed to be the one actually in charge.

 

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

No Spider-Man.  Again, this was all about the other characters and what’s happening with them, so he isn’t really needed.  But I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that he was not in this story (and therefore, half of this issue).

I also didn’t like … um … (flips through the pages again) … I don’t think I have anything else?  Is this the shortest “WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE” section I’ve written yet?  I’m looking over each mini-story and there’s nothing really glaring that I didn’t like.  ZELLS, MAKE EVERY ISSUE A BUNCH OF MINI-STORIES LIKE THIS!

 

WHAT THIS ISSUE STORY MEANT OVERALL

Remember those “GANG WAR IS COMING” blurbs on the past few issues?  Well, it’s finally here!

We got a little bit of a lot of characters, setting them up for the Gang War story starting next issue.  Maybe it’s because we just went through 2.5 issues of Rek-Rap, but I am excited (?) for Gang War.⁽⁹⁾

 

GRADE

B+

This story (and it’s kind of misleading to call it a story when it’s actually a bunch of mini-stories) does its job well – it tells us what’s going on with various characters who will be important in the Gang War story starting in the next issue.  There’s no Spidey in it, but this story isn’t really about him.

 

“ISSUE” GRADE

If you’re the kind of person that *has* to have a grade for the entire issue, then we’ve got D- for the Rek-Rap story and B+ for the Gang-War “story”, so the issue’s grade would be:

C

 

NEXT TIME, IN AN ALL-NEW ISSUE OF AMAZING SPIDER-MAN …

(It sort of looks like Spidey is holding a baseball bat.)

Before the next issue there’s a one-shot⁽¹⁰⁾, which I’m sure is required reading for the Gang War story.  And then it’s on, like … some old arcade game.  Also, do you like tie-ins?  Because we got tie-ins!

 

FOOTNOTES

(1)  God willing, we can replace “first” with “only”.

(2)  For some reason we’re suddenly calling this guy “Re-Po” in this issue, even though he was called the Repossessor in the previous issues.

(3)  Patent pending.

(4)  We can only hope.

(5)  This is a completely original term for my review and I in no way stole it from another reviewer.

(6)  Unless you skipped the Re-Po section to go straight to the part of the review discussing the Gang War stuff, and if you did, good on you.

(7)  What a whiner.

(8)  I think this is what happens.  It sort of looks like the arm that grabs him by the neck comes from someone else, but it also looks like his own arm.

(9)  I still say that any Gang War storyline has an impossibly high bar to clear if they can’t surpass the majesty of this:

(10)  I’m actually surprised they didn’t call it “Gang War:  Alpha”.