The gang war continues! And I know what you’re saying … “Craig, I really enjoy these Gang War issues where Spidey barely appears, but I feel that in those issues he’s at least doing something. Couldn’t we have an issue where Spidey barely appears and literally does nothing?” Man, do I have an issue for you!
(This cover is lies(1). Beetle is never in the same scene as Spidey and Tombstone, and he is never unconscious. What are we doing here, Marvel?)
CREDITS
Writer: Zeb Wells
Penciler: John Romita Jr.
Inker: Scott Hanna
Colorists: Marcio Menyz
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Variant Cover Artists: ME. I DID A VARIANT COVER. NOBODY READS THIS SECTION SO I CAN MAKE WHATEVER CLAIMS I WANT HERE.
PREVIOUSLY IN AMAZING SPIDER-MAN …
On a January morning, Peter Parker finishes his shower, comments on how he’s not looking any younger, puts on his wedding ring, and has breakfast with his wife, MJ, and two kids, Richard and May. He goes to work at the Daily Bugle where his boss, Jonah, and the managing editor, his uncle Ben, are arguing about …
Sorry, my mistake. That’s the “previously in Amazing Spider-Man” that we all wish was what was happening in this book.
The Kingpin, his wife (?) Typhoid Mary, and a bunch of Hellfire Club goons showed up at Tombstone’s apartment. Kingpin and Tombstone couldn’t make nice, what with Typhoid flirting with Spidey (or was it She-Hulk?), and a brawl broke out. Meanwhile Janice/Beetle, the Syndicate, and White Rabbit showed up at The Rose’s when Digger attacked them. Madame Masque is making plans using Silvermane’s head as a paperweight. Kingpin’s goons show up at The Rose’s and shoot at … someone. Kingpin receives a call from his goons, interrupting his one-on-one with Tombstone, whom he tells “It’s over”.
SUMMARY
(If you think I’m going to list the differences in this map from the previous issue … then you’ve read my reviews before(2).)
Kingpin tells Spidey, She-Hulk, and Tombstone that he made sure that his son’s battle with the Beetle resulted in his own desired conclusion. Tombstone is enraged that Kingpin just admitted to killing Janice, but She-Hulk, being a good lawyer, says that Kingpin is being evasive and that there’s something he’s not telling them.
(What is happening with the look on Tombstone’s face? Is She-Hulk grabbing his butt?)
At The Rose’s apartment/HQ we see that Digger was the one shot by Kingpin’s armored goons, not Beetle. The goons leave with The Rose and give a phone to Janice, who talks to her father, telling him that she’s all right. Kingpin tells everyone that he’s leaving them (and this event) now – he’s got a new life, wife and sons(3), and he is no longer interested in gang wars.
(The most disturbing scene you’ll probably read in a comic this month.)
Before leaving, Kingpin tells them that this gang war was not an attack on the city but an attack on the Maggia, and that Madame Masque has claimed all of their power. Spidey says that he thought she was dead.
(Madame Masque’s actual response to Spidey’s comment.)
Meanwhile the Syndicate is a bit worse for wear after their battle with Digger, and they all need time to recover. But Beetle is eager to keep going, since they now have control of Harlem. White Rabbit reminds her that Madame Masque will come after them, and that they’ll need every gang and weapon. Cue Digger, who is not dead (how many times has this guy died?), who wonders where The Rose is. Beetle tells him that he abandoned him, and White Rabbit offers him a job.
(“Hey, did I miss anything while I was dead again?”)
Madame Masque is “putting on her face” (literally) while Shotgun tells her that Beetle now has control of Harlem. Suddenly Shotgun talks as if he’s coming out of a fog, saying that he was sent here to kill her and wonders what he’s doing here. Masque chants something, strengthening her mind-control of him(4), revealing that she has mastered the worlds of technology and magic, and that’s why Shotgun is working for her.
On the Upper East Side, Mayor Luke Cage is talking to Spidey on the phone about Madame Masque, who he’s heard has been working with A.I.M. agents left over from Crime-Master’s gang. Spidey asks if he can join them, but Cage says that he’s busy at the office.
(At least he’s not wearing that ridiculous mask I saw him wearing in his own tie-in issue.)
In Harlem, Janice returns to her home/HQ. While she’s plugging the latest Spider-Woman tie-in, she finds Madame Masque in her office. She asks the rest of the Syndicate to leave, giving Electro(5) a chance to plug the Jackpot tie-in.
Madame Masque and Janice have a “You think *your* childhood was rough with a criminal father? Let me tell you how rough *my* childhood was!” competition. After realizing that neither is giving up, they resolve to meet at Central Park at dawn to settle things.
(I was kind of hoping Zells was pulling a Kill Bill v2 here – setting up this big fight and them have the two of them immediately fight and it be over in seconds.)
Tombstone, Spidey and She-Hulk are on the roof – he’s worried that Janice will either lose this war to Madame Masque, or win it. She-Hulk says it’s time to call in the reserves – good thing we’ve got a lot of tie-in books with many characters that can be brought back to the main story! Spidey and She-Hulk leave to gather their forces, with Spidey saying that these gangs started a war against his city and shot his friend, and they’re about to have a very bad day.
(This is meant to be a big powerful moment, but I couldn’t stop looking at Spidey’s hands. He’s either controlling marionettes or yelling “Surprise!” to someone.)
In Central Park, Madame Masque is there with Shotgun, Rabble (for whom Masque puts in a quick plug for Miles Morales’ tie-in), Silvermane (back in a full cyborg body), Count Nefaria, and a whole lot of beekeepers -er- A.I.M. agents. Silvermane and Count Nefaria are sporting the same sigils that Masque put on Shotgun to control him, so they’re obviously mind-controlled too.
Janice is also there with the Syndicate, Digger (who’s all-in on working for them now), White Rabbit, and a whole lot of random thugs. The two sides square off and rush at each other …
(“They make take our land, but they will never take … our freedom!”)
TO BE CONTINUED!
INITIAL RESPONSE
You know when you’re watching a serialized TV show, and you get near the end of the season, and right before you get to the finale, the penultimate episode is all about putting all the players in their places so they’ll be ready for the big finish? (a “place-setting episode” I think is what they call it) That’s what this issue felt like to me (Lost would do this a lot in its penultimate episode every season). There’s nothing wrong with doing this – it’s required when you need to have everyone ready for the big finish. Some shows/stories can do these type of episodes well without calling attention to itself. This issue didn’t do that for me.
WHAT I LIKED
I liked how Kingpin showed up in this story just long enough to get his son out of danger and take him away from all the Gang War shenanigans. It feels like every gang war story I’ve read in Spidey over the years ends up with Kingpin taking control at the end (this may just be me Mandela Effect-ing myself – all I really remember from previous Gang War stories is Daredevil in a Kingpin fat suit). So if this holds, I appreciate that for whatever personal reasons, he wants nothing to do with taking over the gangs now and is like “I’m out of here – you guys figure this out!”
I kind of like the Syndicate tricking Digger into thinking The Rose abandoned him, and him joining up with them because he literally has nowhere else to go.
Once again, Madame Masque continues to be the best part of this story. I liked the scene of her and Shotgun where it’s revealed he was initially sent to kill her but she used magic/technology to mind-control him, which explains why he turned on Hammerhead and joined up with her.
Seriously though, someone please explain to me if this whole magic/mind control/sigil thing is part of Madame Masque’s history, or if this is something new. This seems kind of late in the story to suddenly bring in magic as an explanation as to why certain people have been acting the way they have.
Also, what was going on with Madame Masque sandblasting her own face? We’ve seen her without the mask when she was posing as Hammerhead’s girlfriend, so I assumed she had a normal face under that mask. But this looks like it’s disfigured before she uses the sandblaster and puts the mask on. Again, someone more knowledgeable about the character please enlighten me if this is part of her character, and what she’s doing here.
(Kids, don’t try this at home. Seriously.)
While I don’t like mentions of other tie-ins books in a story like this one, I felt that these were brief enough to just mention that other stuff is happening, and that if you didn’t read them you wouldn’t be lost by just reading this book. This is the bare minimum I want when dealing with tie-ins, but we’re in a time when acknowledging the bare minimum when it’s done is required.
The Madame Masque/Janice meeting and conversation was something I didn’t expect to be such a big moment. Going into this event I assumed that Tombstone and Hammerhead(6) would be the main antagonists, not these two. I did chuckle at each of them trying to explain how they had the worse upbringing by a criminal father.
White Rabbit continues to be the best part of any Janice/The Syndicate scenes.
(I need White Rabbit to be chewing gum and blowing bubbles in every panel.)
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
Again, Spidey is in this book but he’s not the main character. He doesn’t do anything here. He yells at the Kingpin, calls Luke Cage, and says it’s time to summon his team. His biggest accomplishment is saying that he’s going to do something – gather the team for the battle coming next issue – and this will likely happen off-panel with the team already assembled in the next issue.
I like JRJR’s art, but something is off in parts of this issue. There’s the surprised Tombstone panel I posted above, some of the shots of bloody Kingpin and Tombstone look weird, and some of the people in the background look like they weren’t finished being drawn. Is this just me?
(Do the mind-control sigils cause characters to appear like this?)
Whatever is going on with Kingpin and Typhoid Mary, I want it to stop. I don’t need to hear about it ever again.
The Beetle’s new costume bears mentioning in every issue it’s in. I really hope this Gang War ends with Tombstone finally coming face-to-face with Janice and saying “That suit is ridiculous. Get rid of it. What were you thinking?”
The final 2-page panel of the gangs rushing towards each other in Central Park is supposed to be an epic moment getting you excited for the battle in the next issue, but it just made me laugh. I’m just imagining all the other people in Central Park telling them to keep it down because they’re interfering with their pickleball matches ultimate frisbee games(7). Also, the sight of the gangs rushing towards each other made me think they were LARPers.
(This is what I assume all LARPers are like.)
Again, this *really* felt like a place-setting issue. Some important stuff did happen, but none of it had to do with Spidey. And it feels really obvious that anything really big is being held back for the final two issues instead of being included here. You can do a place-setting issue and make it interesting and not obvious, but this wasn’t that for me.
WHAT THIS ISSUE MEANT OVERALL
Like I said, this issue was Zells putting all of the players into the positions they need to be in for the big final battle to end the whole story. Which he did, so we’re ready for the next two issues. But you can do a place-setting issue and still have things happening that are interesting. This didn’t do that for me. And not to beat a dead horse, but I like Spidey to do something of importance in his book.
GRADE
C-
I was close to knocking this down to a D+, but there is some interesting stuff in here, but none of it is done by Spider-Man. This is an Amazing Spider-Man book and not only is he barely in it, but when he is he does nothing. Like I said, you can do a place-setting issue/episode and have it be interesting, but this wasn’t it.
NEXT TIME, IN AN ALL-NEW ISSUE OF AMAZING SPIDER-MAN …
Once again, there’s no actual image of next issue’s cover so I had to use the updated checklist. Only a couple more issues until there are no more checklists!
FOOTNOTES
(1) Any excuse to show this GIF:
(2) Differences in this map and the one from the previous issue:
- THE ROSE (northernmost one) is now BEETLE
- BIG BEN is now THE MENAGERIE
- THE ROSE (southwesternmost one) is now MADAME MASQUE
- MR. NEGATIVE (north-east part) is now MADAME MASQUE
(3) Wait, what? Sons as in plural? Did Kingpin and Typhoid Mary have some kids? Please tell me he adopted. Or there is a long-lost son(s) that he never knew about that suddenly showed up recently. I don’t want to think about current-Kingpin having a baby.
(4) I’ve said in previous reviews that my knowledge of Madame Masque is basically this story, but this whole mind-control ability just came out of nowhere. Was there any hint that she could do this in previous issues? Or is this part of her character from way back?
(5) I thought she was called “Electra” but according to the Marvel Wiki she’s “Electro”. Was she ever called Electra? Or a different version of “Electro” to differentiate her?
(6) Where are you, Hammerhead? Still beaten bloody in Madame Masque’s basement? You were the star (and my favorite character) in the buildup to Gang War. I’m still hoping you return in the final issue and reveal that all of this was part of your plan.
(7) I’ve never been to Central Park so this is what I assume everyone does there.
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@hornacek – Just switch to legacy review numbering, and you’ll hit that thousand really quickly.
@Dark Mark
Hey, no worries about not reading my reviews right away. Um, I also read your reviews right away. Or at all. Ahem. Um, moving on!
The “Electra” name probably originated on the Crawlspace but for some reason I thought it was from the comics. “Perception is reality.”
You must have some outdated Crawlspace Bucks if it has Jameson’s face on it. The current ones have what we all thought was the Kingpin’s face on it, but Brad insists it’s his.
Brad only gave me the first six digits of the Crawlspace credit card. He said I’d get the rest once I had done 1,000 reviews.
Hey Craig! I just realized that between you publishing your review and now, I’ve been on the go so much that I never stopped to read you review, and that would just be bad magic (as my buddy Queequeg would say) if I didn’t.
Anything I could possible add was already added by Michael (seriously, why isn’t Michael just writing my reviews at this point?) except the Electra, I believe, was just some Crawlspacers trying to come up with a way to differentiate, but I could be wrong on that. I was wrong once before in college, so I might be again. I always freely admit when I make a mistake.
Nice review as always. By the way, it’s rare that anybody checks that Crawlspace money, Especially the bills with Jameson’s face on it. Go ahead and spend that. Or better yet, just use the Crawlspace credit card. BD gave you the number for that, right?
@Evan Berry:
“I’m grateful to readers like you who attend to details and ask pointed questions when it starts to get confusing”
That’s what Brad pays me the big bucks for. Wait a minute … (examines the “Spider-Man Crawlspace” money Brad mailed to me) … this has “This is not legal tender” printed on it. Damnit!
@Hornacek- no, Hammerhead never says he ordered Shotgun to kill Tombstone. In fact, the next time was see Shotgun is in Gang War: First Strike and he’s working for Madame Masque. Plus, in this issue, Madame Masque says that she learned Hammerhead wanted to kill her when she took over Shotgun’s mind, so she would have had to have taken over Shotgun’s mind before the wedding.
Basically, the sequence of events is this:
1) Silvermane and Nefaria order Hammerhead to kill Madame Masque.
2) Someone at the CIA learns about this. Then, they hire Shotgun to kill Madame Masque. Unfortunately, Shotgun is captured and Madame Masque takes control of Shotgun’s mind. Madame Masque then learns about the assassination plot.
3) Madame Masque sends Shotgun to kill Tombstone. She also sends an impostor to the wedding. Hammerhead kills the impostor and Madame Masque starts posing as Hammerhead’s girlfriend.
4) Hammerhead, following Nefaria’s and Silvermane’s plan, turns the gangs of New York against each other so they’ll be dependent on the Maggie to keep the peace.
5) Madame Masque captures Nefaria and Silvermane.
6) Madame Masque bonks Hammerhead on the head and starts the gang war.
(Incidentally, the only job Shotgun was hired to do was kill Madame Masque. Instead, he not only failed but enabled her to survive Hammerhead’s assassination attempt and take over much of the New York underworld. That’s an epic fail as assassination attempts go.)
@Hornacek — Re: the plenitude of double-crossing and switching sides, at this point I’ve sort of given up trying to keep track, so I’m just going along for the ride, as Mark used to say. (At least, I think it was Mark.) Maybe Zeb Wells is hoping that most readers will have that approach so that they don’t question the plot and the decisions characters make too deeply. For that reason I’m grateful to readers like you who attend to details and ask pointed questions when it starts to get confusing because not only does it help the rest of us, but I think writers should be held accountable for the choices they make and not get a pass if their approach is “It doesn’t have to make sense if I make it fun!” It’s important to figure out if what appears out of place or unusual is due to an oversight on the writer’s part or simply the reader’s lack of knowledge about a character’s backstory, too, so I appreciate your efforts to elucidate those instances, as well. I tend to err on the side of attributing those instances to a lack of knowledge of lore on my part, but I know I shouldn’t necessarily do that all the time.
@Michael:
Yes, Hammerhead appeared surprised at the wedding when Shotgun showed up, but didn’t we see in a later issue that he was only acting there, and that Shotgun showing up and shooting Tombstone was his idea?
There have been so many double-crosses and people switching sides that it’s hard to keep track.
@Aqu and @Evan
My variant cover can be accessed at http://www.onlyvariants.com
@Craig- Shotgun WASN’T working for Hammerhead at the wedding. If you read the wedding scenes carefully, Hammerhead was surprised when Shotgun showed up. And he says “This wasn’t my move.” Plus, Shotgun’s bullets penetrated Tombstone’s skin- presumably because they were enchanted rounds he got from Madame Masque.
@Aqu@ – You beat me to it! I’d like to see that variant, too. Hornacek better call Neil.
“NOBODY READS THIS SECTION SO I CAN MAKE WHATEVER CLAIMS I WANT HERE.”
I do and now I want to see that variant cover.
@Michael:
I had never heard of Kingpin’s other son, just Richard. My first thought was that since he and Typhoid are apparently married that they had just had a son together, which, ew.
I figured Madame Masque had some magic in her background – if she hadn’t and Zells had just introduced it in this issue it would have been very disappointing to suddenly introduce magic into her repetoire.
As far as MM’s face, from my limited knowledge of her I thought that her face (under the mask) was damaged and that’s why she wore the mask. But we saw her pretending to be Hammerhead’s girlfriend (without the mask) so I was wondering if that was her real face, and if so, why no one was recognizing her. It makes sense that *that* face was also a mask to fool Hammerhead.
I really got the impression that Madame Masque wasn’t trying to convince Janice of anything other than MM had a worse childhood with a criminal father.
Yeah, I knew that Shotgun was working for the CIA – did they send him to kill Madame Masque? But we saw Shotgun working for Hammerhead in previous issues – like at the wedding.
“poor Hammerhead” indeed. I’m hoping we get a scene of him escaping Masque’s basement in the next issue.
Re: the Kingpin’s sons- when Chip Zdarsky was writing Daredevil, he introduced the Kingpin’s never-before-seen illegitimate son Butch Pharris, who was determined to become the new Kingpin. Presumably the Kingpin’s goons are also keeping him from getting involved too.
Re: Madame Masque- she was first shown to be collecting and using magical artifacts in Bender’s Invincible Iron Man series in 2015. She was later shown to be stealing magical artifacts in Waid’s Dr. Strange series in 2019, so there’s plenty of precedent at this point. She probably first developed an interest while she was dating the Hood (more on him below).
Re: Madame Masque- her face was first scarred in a plane crash in Iron Man in 1969. However, in 2011, her lover the Hood used the Reality Gem which he briefly possessed to heal her face. Ever since then, she’s been treated as having a healed face. Apparently, her face became scarred again at some point. This is why neither Hammerhead nor any of the other crime lords recognized her- her “face” is a disguise.
The minor indiscretions that Typhoid and Kingpin have been fighting about are Typhoid flirting with a warrior from Vanaheim when she was trapped there due to the machinations of the anti-mutant group Orchis.
The point of the conversation between Janice and Madame Masque is that Madame Masque wants Janice to believe that Tombstone didn’t love Janice any more than Count Nefaria “loved” Whitney. Of course, this isn’t true- Tombstone really is going to great lengths to try to keep Janice from turning out like him.
Was the idea that Janice only saw Tombstone nine times before college something was ever mentioned before? And if it wasn’t mentioned before, is Janice just pretending to be angry at her father to trick Whitney?
Re: Shotgun- he was working for the CIA before Madame Masque brainwashed him, not for Hammerhead.
Yeah, what happened to poor Hammerhead?
Some of these issues takes place over 1-2 days, but the previous (?) issue was just one big fight and probably took place over 10-15 minutes. So it’s possible the final 2 GW issues will just be the big battle and not much time will actually elapse.
It’s kind of wild that this is going to be two issues for the finale but not actually all that much is going on. It’s just one big fight.
Though we know MJ is gonna be in 44 so maybe they will finally do something interesting with her being a super