The gang war ends! I know what you’re thinking, it feels like it just started. But all … good (?) things must come to an end. And, well, at least this issue is an end to this story.
(This cover would mean more if Spidey and Madame Masque hadn’t just met. This cover makes it seem like they have been rivals for a long time.)
CREDITS
Writer: Zeb Wells
Penciler: John Romita Jr.
Inker: Scott Hanna
Colorists: Marcio Menyz
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Variant Cover Artists: GOOGLE DEFINES “VARIANT” AS “A FORM OR VERSION OF SOMETHING THAT DIFFERS IN SOME RESPECT FROM OTHER FORMS OF THE SAME THING OR FROM A STANDARD”.
PREVIOUSLY IN AMAZING SPIDER-MAN …
Madame Masque’s people and The Beetle’s people started their LARPing battle in Central Park. Spidey and his team (Elektra/Daredevil, Spider-Miles, Spider-Woman, She-Hulk, and Tombstone) show up and start attacking everyone. Tombstone targets Shotgun, who gets his mind control sigil broken so he’s no longer under Masque’s control. He tells Tombstone that he is a government agent sent to kill the gang lords of New York, including (for some reason) The Beetle. While Masque instructs everyone to kill Spidey, Tombstone confronts Janice, rips her wings off, knocks her out, realizing that he’s going to have to become the monster that wins today in order to keep her safe.
SUMMARY
Spidey and his team are fighting Madame Masque’s team, along with help from the Syndicate (minus The Beetle). But suddenly Electro(1) and Lady Octopus start attacking the heroes. White Rabbit wonders what’s going on when Tombstone appears, telling her that if Spider-Man wins “we all gonna lose” and he says him and the Syndicate are leaving. White Rabbit asks about Janice, and Tombstone says that he’s in charge now.
And now for something completely different … a Gang War Territories map.
(No change at all from last issue. Which makes sense, since last issue ended with both sides rushing towards each other to fight in Central Park.)
All of the non-powered members of Beetle’s team start attacking “the squares”; Miles is shocked to learn that means him (and the other heroes).
(I don’t know why but I feel personally attacked by this. Are we all “the squares” because we read these comics?)
Digger and Paste-Pot Patty -er- Trapstr attack the heroes as they retreat. Spidey is dealing with Electro and a pile of AIM goons when he is attacked from behind by … I’m going to say Count Nefaria. Suddenly all of the heroes are knocked to the ground and surrounded by Madame Masque, Count Nefaira, Silvermane, and a bunch of AIM goons. Realizing that the Syndicate has betrayed them (and they’ve only been fighting together for 3 pages, so “betrayal” is a strong word) they fight back, even as Spidey is blasted by Count Nefaria’s … power beams?(2)
But just when all seems lost … SWEET CHRISTMAS! OH MY GOD! IT’S LUKE CAGE!
(At first I didn’t recognize him without his Gang War mask.)
But the mayor did not come here alone! Because you demanded it!(3) The team-up we have all been waiting for! Jackpot and Spider-Boy!!!
(I’d like to think Zells was forced to include Spider-Boy under protest, but then again, Jackpot is his creation.)
Meanwhile Spidey is facedown on the ground while Silvermane is blasting him in the back with some kind of laser beams. I thought Silvermane was just a cyborg with superstrength. Can he do this? Sure, why not?(4)
(Spidey here is how I have felt for most of this Gang War story; Silvermane’s beams represent each issue, one after the other, beating me down.)
But this is no ordinary hero. This is Spider-Man! He doesn’t give up! He’s about to fight back and stop Silvermane and Count Nefaria all on his own with no help.
Oh wait, no he’s not. From the woods a figure in the darkness (who is apparently Shotgun – more on this later) shoots at Silvermane and Count Nefaria, disrupting their sigils and breaking the mind control. Why not just shoot both of them in the head? And wasn’t Shotgun unconscious, knocked out by Tombstone moments ago in the previous issue? Hey, shut up, that’s why!
(“Well, my job here is done.” “But you didn’t do anything!” “Didn’t I?”)
Now Count Nefaria and Silvermane are no longer under Madame Masque’s mind control. Do they decide to attack her, as the previous panels established she is literally feet away from them, and they would be angry at her for mind controlling them? No, they decide to kill Spider-Man instead. But it’s She-Hulk and (ugh) Jackpot to the rescue, who attack Count Nefaria and Silvermane, calling them “heavy hitters” (sure, why not), leaving Spidey to take on Masque – the showdown this entire story has been building to.(5)
Madame Masque tries to justify her actions, while Spidey says that the entire city is burning, and that she shot his friend Randy! (more on this later) As we get a montage of the other heroes turning the tide against Masque’s team, Spidey monologues, basically telling Masque that “hurt people hurt people”, as he webs up her wrist cannon just as she shoots it, causing it to explode and knock her out.
(And that’s … one to grow on.)
Rabble realizes that she’s picked the wrong side and leaves (all the way back to Miles’ book). The heroes have won and declare victory. Suddenly Shang-Chi and Danny Rand show up, and Danny is upset that nobody (including me) saw what they were doing all the time. We get lots of post-battle banter with the various heroes. Spidey tells Luke Cage that he hopes Luke doesn’t get in any trouble from helping them, But Luke says that’s not a problem anymore …
… and we cut to Peter in Randy’s hospital room where he tells an “unconscious” Randy that Fisk’s Law has been repealed. You know how we were told multiple times that law was so ingrained into the books that it couldn’t be repealed? Well, because of the Gang War people protested and the law was immediately repealed. Because it that’s easy to repeal an unpopular law, despite everything we’ve been told up until now.
Peter pours his heart out to Randy, who suddenly talks to Peter, revealing that he regained consciousness after Spidey visited him in the previous issue.(6) Peter fills Randy in on what happened in this event. But when Randy asks about Janice, Peter tells him that no one knows what happened to her (so much for this story ending with a Randy/Janice reconciliation).
Cut to Tombstone and White Rabbit, who are also discussing Janice. She disappeared from the battle and they don’t know where she is either. Tombstone reveals that he’s taken over The Syndicate and that they are the only gangsters left in the city. White Rabbit reminds him that he was fighting on Spider-Man’s side for awhile, and that no one is going to forget that.
Tombstone says that he needed Spidey’s help to keep the city from burning, and that he owes him. And because of that, he’s going to have to beat Spider-Man to death with his bare hands in front of everyone. And with that, Tombstone puts on his jacket and goes to work.
()
NOT THE END!(7)
(So all the other gang leaders are either dead or arrested, so Tombstone wins by default? The two sweetest words in the English language!)
INITIAL RESPONSE
Well, after 30-some issues of craziness and wackiness, we kept saying “give us a grounded, street-level Spider-Man story”. And that’s what we got here. Sort of.
(I like to think Marvel does actual focus groups like this for its comics.)
WHAT I LIKED
Hmm … another time I will have to struggle with this section.
For a issue that is basically one big fight, the fight is done well. There’s lots of action, interplay with the various heroes and villains, and changing alliances.
The art is really good. In previous issues I have pointed out some panels where the JRJR art for certain faces/characters is subpar, but unless I missed something, that’s not here in this issue.
The Peter/Randy scene is nice. It would be nicer if … well, I’ll leave that for the next section.
Well, the gang war is over.
I warned you I’d have to struggle with this section.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
I try to come up with original ideas here, but I have to reuse one that both Mark and myself (and Ryan?) have said for most of the Gang War issues: this is not a Spider-Man story. This is a Tombstone/Janice/Madame Masque story with Spider-Man appearing in it. And that doesn’t really change much in this issue.
With how much this story has been about Janice, she literally disappears from this issue. Is she dead? Did she run away? Does Tombstone have her locked up somewhere? We have no idea, or any hint of an idea. If she’s not imprisoned, wouldn’t she reach out to The Syndicate? Wouldn’t they be more loyal to her than Tombstone?
I feel like Spider-Man and his team should not have this much trouble with this group. Apparently Count Nefaria has gone toe-to-toe with the Hulk and Dr. Doom, and Silvermane is a super-strong Cyborg, and the Syndicate are … the Syndicate, but the rest of the bad guys are just non-powered street thugs and AIM guys. It feels like the heroes get overwhelmed very quickly. This would make more sense if Spidey was alone fighting all of them, and the rest of the heroes showed up halfway through the battle to turn the tide. The idea of Trapstr defeating She-Hulk …
This is more of a problem with the Miles book, but every time I see Miles wielding an energy sword/sai I ask myself “Why? You have super-strength, agility and web-fluid. Just punch someone – you don’t need a sword.”
(Seriously folks, what are we even doing here?)
While I liked Luke Cage showing up to save the day, having him bring Jackpot and Spider-Boy just feels wrong. Forget your personal feelings about these characters – the two of them have had nothing to do with the Gang War story in this book (yes, Jackpot had a one-shot tie-in, but it was barely GW related). Spider-Boy feels like he’s only here because Dan Slott needs the character to show up in other Spider-Man books not written by him.
The mind-control sigils are both powerful and ridiculous. Madame Masque uses them to control Count Nefaria and Silvermane (among others), and yet they can be disrupted by shooting a bullet at them, or just rubbing up against them? Shouldn’t these sigils be better protected if they can be so easily broken? Why not put some clothing or armor over them? What if one of them rubs up against someone when they’re walking through a crowd and the sigil is broken? This is a terrible design flaw in a vital part of Masque’s plan.
When Spidey confronts Madame Masque about Randy being shot and she says “That … that wasn’t my decision.” – she’s right! That was all Hammerhead. Masque was still pretending to be HH’s girlfriend at that time. And when HH orders the hit on Randy, she literally tells him it’s a bad idea. It just feels weird that Spidey’s main motivation for going after Masque here (although he would do it anyway since she’s a criminal and he wants to stop this gang war) is that he thinks she had Randy shot, and he (apparently) never learns that this is incorrect.
When Count Nefaria’s and Silvermane’s sigils are disrupted, I assume that’s Shotgun shooting at them from the woods because Madame Masque literally says “Shotgun.” But is it? His face is completely in shadow in both of the panels where he’s shown. Is Masque just assuming it’s him or is it actually him? If it’s meant to be Shotgun then why have his face completely in darkness? And he’s using a gun, not his eponymous (?) shotgun. And why doesn’t he just shoot Nefaria and Silvermane in the head, killing them? (I mean, I know why, because it’s comics and we want these characters in future stories, but still) We know he was sent by the government to assassinate threats in the gangs, so he wouldn’t have any problem with killing these two, who were the head of the Maggia until Masque took them out. This is the kind of minute detail I latch onto and try to make into a major thing.
(This guy might as well be saying “Justice is served!” with how he’s shooting people from the shadows.)
Once Spider-Man is shot in the back by Count Nefaria’s beams, there is brown smoke coming off of his back and head for the rest of the book – even when the battle is over. I found this distracting. Is he on fire? What is happening here?
(Luke Cage: “Uh, Spidey, I think your back and your hair are on fire.”)
Danny Rand and Shang-Chi showing up after the battle is over feels like Zells got this far in this issue and realized “Oh crap, I forgot about those guys!” and just had them randomly show up, and gave them some meta dialogue about it to make it seem like it was intentional. This didn’t work for me at all, and just points out how inessential these two were to the entire story.
After the battle, Jackpot and Spider-Man never talk. Not once. No “Hey, are you all right? I know you don’t have any actual powers except for that bracelet which gives you random powers, I’m just glad you weren’t killed since you have no invulnerability or super-strength or anything to really defend yourself against super-villains. In fact, you shouldn’t be here … like, at all.” Of all the people that Spidey should talk to after this battle, you’d think Jackpot (and Miles) would be high on that list.
Hey, remember when we were told multiple times that Fisk’s Law was too ingrained into the law books to ever be repealed? Well, Zells hopes you don’t because after the fighting is over, we’re told “Hey, that law’s already been repealed, turns out it wasn’t that difficult to get that done after all.” Couldn’t this have been done *before* Gang War started? Of course not, because it needed to be something insurmountable to cause this story to happen in the first place.
(“Somehow, Palpatine returned.“)
The Peter/Randy scene is nice but it would mean more if we had seen them being friends throughout this run instead of just being told that they’re friends. Besides Peter planning and carrying out Randy’s bachelor party, have they interacted at all? (feel free to roast me in the comments if I’m forgetting major interactions in previous issues) I feel like they had more interactions in that Deadly Neighborhood Spider-Man mini-series where Peter goes to California and fights a demon bear, and Randy and Janice show up and they hang out together briefly.
Remember when Tombstone told Spider-Man that he had burned his bridges with all the criminals and gang members in New York by publicly helping Spider-Man? Apparently Zells hopes we don’t either, because Tombstone is now the head crime-lord and every other criminal doesn’t care, even though Tombstone went out of his way to say that no gang member would ever work with him or trust him again after he helped Spidey.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the elephant in the room, by which I mean the mysterious figure in purple boots from the end of ASM #38 (legacy 932). This person was in the shadows, intimating that their reveal would be a big surprise. Some people (ok, me) suspected this might be the newly-evil Norman Osborn, since in the Lee/Ditko days his primary goal was not to kill Spider-Man, but to become the crime-boss of New York (also, purple boots!). So the idea of a gang war taking place would be something he’d be interested in. But I guess this mysterious figure was Madame Masque after all, which is kind of disappointing. And if you look at those pages a sigil is shot at Silvermane, which explains why he suddenly attacks Count Nefaria and then rips his own head off. But for me, this just feels like a misdirect that didn’t work and wasn’t properly explained.
(That doesn’t look like Madame Masque, or a woman at all. That’s a Norman Osborn shaped figure if I ever saw one.)
What happened to Hammerhead? Is he still chained up in Madame Masque’s basement? He was such an important character at the start of this story, and while I liked the subversion of expectations that he was taken out by his nameless girlfriend, I assumed he would return later in the story to have some sort of impact (I mean, Silvermane and Count Nefaria had more of a presence in this issue than Hammerhead). But he’s disappeared, just like Janice.
Finally, nothing that happened in this Gang War story was as wonderful as this, from the best Gang War Spider-Man story ever told:
(Put this in the new Daredevil TV series, you cowards!)
WHAT THIS ISSUE/EVENT MEANT OVERALL
What was the point of this event? What is different now than before it started?
Well, lots of things have changed. Tombstone is the head crime lord of New York. Wait, wasn’t he that before this story started? Well, now he wants to kill Spider-Man. Wait, didn’t he want to do that already?
At least Janice has disappeared. Or been imprisoned. Or is dead. That should matter, right? I guess it matters to Randy. Oh wait, they had already broken up before this story.
At least Spidey got revenge for Randy being shot. Oh wait, no he didn’t. He still has no idea that was Hammerhead and not Madame Masque.
Well, Fisk Law is off the books. But it never really had an impact on this book until Gang War started and we were told it needed to be gotten rid of, even though Spidey had already broken that law for multiple previous issues and it never mattered.
Well, at least this event is over.(8)
GRADE
C-
I was tempted to go with a D/D+, but despite all my nitpicks, it’s not that terrible. It’s just … there.
This is the rare time when I actually would have liked if this issue had been double-sized, or at least longer. Too many things felt like they were rushed, or crammed in at the end. And as far as the status quo from before Gang War started, has it changed that much to justify this story? Not in my opinion.
NEXT TIME, IN AN ALL-NEW ISSUE OF AMAZING SPIDER-MAN …
Spidey’s in the rain? I got nothing. I’m sure solicits have said what’s happening after Gang War, but I have no idea. Don’t get wet, Mark!
FOOTNOTES
(1) I still think this should be “Electra” – something to differentiate her from the original Electro, who is still active? Justice for Max Dillon.
(2) I have no idea what Count Nefaria’s powers are. The only comic I’ve ever read with him in it before this event was Uncanny X-Men #94, notable for being the first regular-title issue of the “new” X-Men team.
(3) Narrator: Nobody demanded this.
(4) According to the Marvel Wiki, Silvermane in his cyborg form has superhuman strength, speed, stamina, durability and senses. Nothing about laser beams shooting out of his hands. So put this down to new enhancements from Madame Masque or Rabble.
(5) Has it, though?
(6) This would have been so much better if Randy had suddenly sat up from his coma and said “I would like a pint of stout”. I’m assuming no one besides me gets this reference. If you do, let me know in the comments.
(7) It actually *is* the end.
(8) To be continued in Daredevil: Gang War #4!
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@Dark Mark:
“If only there was a position of editor to look these things over and guide the writer and artist to greater heights.” There you go again, with your wild and crazy ideas.
@Geiseric:
Agree to disagree. I didn’t take any part of that speech to be about MJ, who Spidey has not mentioned or thought about in this entire event. For this speech to suddenly be about her when she has meant nothing to this entire event seems illogical to me and would come out of nowhere. Especially when Spidey has no reaction to her showing up in this issue
As far as the “before you realize you have hurt them it’s to late” line, how does this relate to MJ? Peter didn’t hurt MJ, she got left in an alternate dimension for 5 years. Peter didn’t hurt her.
I don’t know what exactly Zells means by this monologue, but it’s much more likely that he was trying to tie it to Randy than MJ. Randy has been a much bigger focal point for Spidey in this event than MJ, and especially in this issue. In the page before this monologue he yells at Masque “YOU SHOT MY FRIEND!” and “DO YOU THINK THAT MATTERS?!” Randy is who he is thinking about when he fights Masque. Why would he suddenly think about MJ?
But like I said, it doesn’t look like we’re going to agree on this. And that’s ok.
@Geiseric and Hornacek – While you two may disagree on what was meant in those panels, I think we can all agree that it was not done well. I do tend to think that there was an effort to pair those remarks to MJ, but with no follow through, it feels empty, vague, and ineffective. If only there was a position of editor to look these things over and guide the writer and artist to greater heights. Oh well…
Did you forget the part where he said before you realize you have hurt them it’s to late?
What exactly about Madam Masque could that have applied to? Who has she hurt that she didn’t realize she did until it’s to late?
Who has he hurt recently that he didn’t realize until they were already gone
@Michael:
Thanks for letting me know who/what The Heat is – that’s more than this event did.
And we did see Lady Yulan’s vampires disappear from the Gang War maps as the event went on, so I assumed they were defeated in one of the tie-ins. But it sounds like there’s more gang leaders still on the loose than the end of this issue wants us to believe. And I don’t think they’re all going to be ok with Tombstone being in charge of everything, considering everyone saw him fighting alongside Spider-Man. But like most characters in this entire run, they’ll probably forget about what happened in previous issues and be fine with it.
@Geiseric:
The reason Jackpot is in the book is that Marvel wants to promote the “new character”, and her upcoming mini-series with Black Cat. That’s why they had a Jackpot one-shot that was kind of Gang War related.
Spidey’s monologue: “You wanted war! And war has a cost!” … “No. YOU did this. It’s not an accident it ended this way … it’s not bad luck. When you take and take without consideration … people get hurt. And what you never realize until it’s too late is that, eventually … the person getting hurt is you.”
I just don’t see how any of this is about Peter thinking about MJ, when MJ has been a non-factor during this entire event. He has not thought about her or mentioned her one time. If he’s thinking of anyone during this event, this issue, or this monologue, it’s Randy.
The Heat is a gang that controls Hell’s Kitchen and is composed largely of corrupt current or former cops. And they’re appearing in next week’s Daredevil:Gang War. (And they seem to be appearing in future issues of Daredevil, so it doesn’t look like they’re going away.)
Like I said earlier, the Yulan vampires were defeated in Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu: Gang War 3. But we didn’t see Lady Yulan get captured.
So you think it’s just a coincidence that she’s in the book and Pete is talking about losing someone through your own decisions? Because I tell you what that little monologue has little to nothing to do with Madam Masque the person he’s supposedly talking to. That monologue is 100% him talking about himself
Also it would be really dumb if he is just doing word association. Like what if he said the word red it would cut to a picture of her hair
@Dark Mark:
You’re so lucky, you get to review “When Aunts Attack Part 2” next time!
I still say The Syndicate abandoning Janice so quickly and working to Tombstone seems out of character. Yes, these are all villains, but every appearance we’ve had of them, they’ve been a cohesive team that all seem to like each other. And we saw them having fun at Janice’s bachelor party. These are not just team members – they are (work-)friends. For them to not even try to find Janice and just believe whatever Tombstone told them and work for him seems out of character.
Maybe we’ll see them in the future questioning whether they should be working for them and that they should be looking for their friend Janice? What am I talking about? That would require character development, and following up on plot points. I forgot what book I was talking about.
@Michael:
According to the Marvel Wiki, Trapstr’s real name is “Michelle”. I would love it if this is Michele, Janice’s lawyer and potential/forgotten love interest for Peter. Alas, they spell their names differently.
Also from her Wiki entry, there is no explanation of any connection to the original Trapster. Is her paste the same formula as the original’s? Did she create her own? Did she steal it from him? Who knows?
@Michael:
Mr. Negative I mentioned because he had been seen more than once in the ASM GW issues. But The Heat (who I have no idea if this is a person or a group) has also been mentioned on every (?) GW map – what happened to them? And the Yulan Vampires? It just feels like the final map with Tombstone being in control of everything comes out of nowhere when there are definitely other crime lords/groups still active that weren’t at this Central Park battle.
@Geiseric:
Yes, there’s a closeup on Jackpot’s gauntlet, but that’s when Spidey’s talking about “bad luck”. She’s literally the only character there that has any powers that are luck-related – I think that’s what that is about. And we also have two closeups of She-Hulk during this monologue – does that mean that Spidey is talking about her?
And in the panel when we see Jackpot fighting Count Nefaria, Daredevil/Elektra and Spider-Woman are also in that panel fighting Nefaria.
Aunt Anna Hulk is next issue? *Quickly checks review schedule* Well, crud!
As for the Sinister Syndicate, I don’t have a problem with them turning away from Janice. For one, she was acting not at all like herself lately and two, they have more more power now working under the new crime boss, so why throw away the promotion just for something as silly as friendship.
@Hornacek- Oddly, we never got a clear answer as to how Trapstr relates to the original. She was introduced in a story by Zdarksy as part of a joke about Peter feeling old and later when she showed up in in Spencer’s run we never got an origin for her.
If you look carefully at issue 39, she is part of the Syndicate but she’s got no speaking lines. And then in issues 40-43 she’s absent and no, she doesn’t show up in any of the tie-ins either. But suddenly in issue 44, she’s defeating She-Hulk.
Re: Mr. Negative- this is odd. I looked through Deadly Hands of Kung Fu: Gang War 3- Peter and friends are fighting the Inner Demons and Clan Yulan and Shang-Chi uses the Ten Rings to knock them out. But Lady Yulan and Mr. Negative don’t seem to be among them. And since Mr. Negative’s power enables him to corrupt and control anyone he touches, he shouldn’t have trouble finding new goons. Unless Yulan and Mr. Negative WERE there, and the art just didn’t show them? But that would be an odd choice- to have them essentially captured offscreen.
There’s also the remains of the HEAT- but they’re going to be taken care of in the Daredevil tie-in next week.
??? We do have a close up on her during the monologue? First it focuses on her gauntlet when he’s talking about bad luck (which I’m not sure if that is foreshadowing or not) then it focuses on jackpot fighting mooks when it talks about taking and taking and not realizing it till it’s to late. I don’t think it’s being subtle there
@Michael:
Who exactly is this new Trapstr in relation to the original? Does she have all of his original equipment/formulas?
“where did Trapstr come from?” Yeah, you’re right! While her Marvel Wiki confirms she’s part of The Syndicate, she isn’t listed as being in the previous issue, or any of the subsequent issues until this one. Did Zells just forget that she was in The Syndicate and remembered in this issue and just added her and hoped no one would notice? Unless she was on some mission for Janice, separate from The Syndicate, that took place in one of the tie-in books? I didn’t read any of them so I have no idea if this is true.
“he probably figured they’d attack Masque and not Spider-Man!” But Shotgun’s goal here isn’t to stop the gang war, or help Spider-Man. His original goal was to assassinate gang threats, so wouldn’t the former heads of the Maggia count?
“Maybe Romita forgot to draw them until the final scene?” If that was true then we wouldn’t have had Zells have Spidey call attention to their sudden appearance.
“” Took another look at #43. Janice has The Syndicate hold back until she orders everyone to attack Madame Masque’s people. Tombstone points out that she’s hanging back while the rest of her team fights, and she says “I’m gonna have one chance to take Masque out.” So I don’t think she was sacrificing The Syndicate. She was literally waiting for the one chance to attack Madame Masque while she was distracted from The Syndicate attacking Masque’s team.
“The problem was the only one who saw that was Tombstone, so it would just be his word against hers.” I mean, Janice and The Syndicate have worked together for a long time. They’re friends – most (all?) of them attended her bachelor party. If Tombstone goes to them and says “Janice is gone. She tried to sacrifice all of you for her own goal”, are they really going to believe Tombstone, a stranger to all of them? That their leader and friend had suddenly turned on all of them?
What about Mister Negative? Did he get taken out in one of the tie-ins? It feels like there are still a lot of named gang leaders still around, but this ending wants us to believe that Tombstone is the only one left.
“I realize it’s subjective but I always thought it was obvious Purple Boots was supposed to be Masque.” Masque’s boots when she’s in her super-villain outfit are white. And when she bashes Hammerhead she’s barefoot. We never (?) see her wearing purple boots – either as Masque or as HH’s girlfriend. And that shadowy figure in that last panel – it does not look like Masque, or a woman at all. That definitely looks like a man.
Oh yeah, now I remember that coming up next is the return of Aunt Anna. Remember the last ASM issue she was in? SPOILER: I’ve written 8 reviews since that annual when she was imprisoned.
@Geiseric:
I don’t know if Spidey’s monologue was really about him and MJ breaking up. Maybe in a meta context, but from Spidey’s perspective, it felt to me that he was just talking about the gang war and how it started (i.e. Randy getting shot).
If it had been about him and MJ then wouldn’t we have had multiple closeups of … ugh … “Jackpot” during that speech, and Spidey looking longingly at her?
@Chase the Blues Away:
Yeah, some issues took place over 2-3 days, but that issue was basically 15 minutes. And if Fisk was just stalling for time by fighting Tombstone because he was waiting for the phone call about Janice, then why didn’t he wait in the car until the phone call happened and *then* go see Tombstone?
The reason, of course, is so we could have that fight in that issue. But what’s the in-universe reason?
And don’t make me think about Kingpin and Typhoid Mary being married and … intimate (shudders).
Agreed that Hammerhead disappearing from the plot was stupid.
Re: Trapstr defeating She-Hulk- We saw in Fantastic Four 14 that the Thing had a hard time getting out of her paste. And the original Trapster’s paste was able to hold the Thing on several occasions. So Trapstr defeating She-Hulk with her paste makes sense.
One thing, though- where did Trapstr come from? She appeared briefly in issue 39, didn’t appear at all in issues 40-43 and suddenly shows up in issue 44. Maybe she and Hammerhead had a tag-team thing going.
Re: why Shotgun freed Silvermane and Nefaria- he probably figured they’d attack Masque and not Spider-Man!
Re: Danny and Shang-Chi- Wells did have Peter wondering where they were last issue. Maybe Romita forgot to draw them until the final scene?
Re: the Syndicate being more loyal to Janice than Tombstone- Wells did have Janice willing to sacrifice the Syndicate to defeat Masque last issue, so that might make them reconsider their loyalty. The problem was the only one who saw that was Tombstone, so it would just be his word against hers.
The problem with Tombstone becoming gang leader by default is that Tombstone ISN’T the only gang leader who avoided being captured. The Rose was taken away by his father and there’s no reason he can’t use his father’s resources to exert influence when the Gang War is over. Is there some mob rule that if you run away from a fight you become boss but if your dad drags you away you don’t?
I realize it’s subjective but I always thought it was obvious Purple Boots was supposed to be Masque.
Re: next issue- the solicits were vague- something about the aftermath of Gang War and Ravencroft. However. the letters page explained that issues 45-46 are a two-parter picking up on the Aunt Anna storyline and featuring the return of He-Electro.See, in X-Men 31-32, Peter helped the X-Men cure the people who Orchis poisoned with the Krakoan drugs. However, we didn’t see what happened with Aunt Anna specifically . We’ll see next issue.
More bad news, the letters page says we’re entering Phase Three of Wells’ run. Between that and this issue’s cliffhanger with Tombstone and Janice, I think Wells is going to be on Amazing at least until the end of 2024.
You forgot to mention that Spider man’s little monologue about bad luck is also supposed to be him talking about why he and MJ broke up.
It makes zero sense because them breaking up is more or less completely because of bad luck resulting in a convoluted series of events happening but whatever.
God forbid we ask MJ directly what her opinion is on this as she wasn’t important anyway
@Hornacek Don’t forgot we also had an issue of Tombstone and Fisk punching each other only for Fisk to start the next issue by saying, “Ha ha just trolling ya, I’m taking my kid and going home, see ya losers, it’s time to have sex with my wife now that we’ve beaten you up as foreplay”
@Dark Mark:
I would love it if the next issue starts with Spidey still wearing a suit with the back and the back of his head ripped open and still emitting that brown smoke.
That tailor was from the JMS run. I always associate him with ASM #500 but I don’t think he appears in that one – it was an earlier one-and-done issue where Spidey met a tailor and helped him out, and he gave Spidey a design for a new suit (the Last Stand suit from the SM1 PS4 game). But Spidey is wearing the LS suit in the future scenes in #500.
The fact that we see that purple-booted figure shoot a sigil onto Silvermane that starts the mind control seems to confirm it’s supposed to be Madame Masque. But I would love some mental gymnastics that reveal it is actually Norman.
Great review, Hornacek! You hit on everything I would want to add, so I am left with nothing to say (shut it, Chi-Town). I will say that rain cover looks like Peter didn’t bother to fix his suit before going out there again. Maybe that superhero tailor is still around. I forgot his name. Do you remember who I am referring to?
That figure might still be Green Goblin. Wells is known for putting something in the books and coming back to it issues later.
@Chi-Town Spidey:
I stole that “Because SHUT UP, that’s why!” line from someone who uses it as a catchphrase, I can’t remember who. I’m not sure but it feels like something the Pitch Meeting guy on YouTube (“Super-easy. Barely an inconvenience.”) says a lot. I highly recommend his channel, his videos summarizing TV/movie pitch meetings to executives are both smart and hilarious.
@Chase the Blues Away:
I forgot to give a grade for the entire event – or at least just the ASM issues. I guess I would give it a C- too. I really liked the First Strike issue, and also the first and second (?) proper ASM event issues. But then it just became the Tombstone/Beetle/Madame Masque show. We literally had an issue where Spidey spent most of it sitting around watching Tombstone and She-Hulk drink while they all waited for a “Fisk” to show up.
“Why not just shoot them in the head? Because SHUT UP, that’s why!” That is the best part of this review! I laughed out loud. “Why buy this book? Because SHUT UP, that’s why!!” LMAO!
Great review! But obviously Peter’s back and hair are smoking because he’s an action figure and the plastic is still cooling off after the Silvermane action figure used his laser ray hands accessory (only available when you buy the Maggia deluxe exclusive set)
I give the entire event a D for Dumb and Determined to be Disappointing