A double-sized issue where big things happen! Norman Osborn is revealed to be evil! Spider-Man fights the Green Goblin! The return of the sins of Norman Osborn! Post-hypnotic suggestions! “The Living Brain” is no more! Acronyms, acronyms and more acronyms! And is ASM #900 actually more important of a story then most of us initially gave it credit for? Plus a bunch of other stories that most of us don’t really care about and don’t actually matter all that much (if at all).
(This cover is definitely a homage to another cover, right? I’m having a brain fart, what is it?)
CREDITS
Main Story
Writer: Zeb Wells
Penciler: Ed McGuinness
Inker: Mark Farmer
Colorists: Marcio Menyz with Erick Arciniega
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Epilogue
Writer: Zeb Wells
Artist: Todd Nauck
Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
PREVIOUSLY IN AMAZING SPIDER-MAN …
(Not pictured: Blood Hunt #1 or the previous ASM issue, but close enough.)
New York (and the entire world?) was taken over by vampires when the sky went dark! Spider-Man tried to help Kareen save White Rabbit – who had been transformed into a vampire – by killing the vampire that bit her (standard vampire rules). But then he realized that he couldn’t just kill this guy because it wasn’t his fault he had been turned into a vampire, but luckily for him Kareem (who had also become a vampire) killed him anyway. Spidey was determined to stop as many vampires as possible without killing them when he ran into … the Lizard!
And none of that recap matters, because this issue doesn’t mention Blood Hunt or vampires at all! You’d never know any of that had happened – or was still happening in other books – if you just randomly picked up this issue.
SUMMARY
In Oscorp’s sub-basement, the Living Brain is sending out a mechanical resonance.
(If you only have one arm and you hear a loud noise, do you still cover your corresponding ear? You can’t cover the other ear, so you’re not blocking the sound.)
Wait, “mechanical resonance”? Is this real, or another comic book made-up thing?
Wikipedia says a mechanical resonance is “the tendency of a mechanical system to respond at greater amplitude when the frequency of its oscillations matches the system’s natural frequency of vibration (its resonance frequency or resonant frequency) closer than it does other frequencies. It may cause violent swaying motions and potentially catastrophic failure in improperly constructed structures including bridges, buildings and airplanes. This is a phenomenon known as resonance disaster.
An example of mechanical resonance is “tidal resonance of the Bay of Fundy” which I only mention because the Bay of Fundy is in my province.
Also, resonances excited by marching soldiers have caused several bridge collapses. There is a sign on the Albert Bridge in London warning soldiers to break step when crossing. Imagine, crossing a bridge in unison could make it collapse. Science!
Doctor Connors realizes that the sound is not feedback – it’s TLB(1) sending out a message. Cue an old fashioned teletype machine spitting out some paper which Connors reads, pauses, looks to the camera reader, and dramatically says “Get me Peter Parker.”
Meanwhile, in Chelsea, Spidey has just rescued a real estate agent from falling from a window washing platform. Norman calls him to tell him about TLB’s message that Dr. Connors received. There’s a bit of two conversations happening at the same time as Spidey tries to talk to Norman, and the agent thinks he’s talking to his own real estate agent about renting. Spidey has an uncharacteristically angry outburst towards the agent about his own credit score and leaves for Oscorp.
(Spider-Man getting angry out of nowhere? Foreshadowing!)
Peter arrives at Oscorp and meets with Dr. Connors and Doug(2) who explain that TLB “sent an analog signal by cannibalizing part of its super-structure to form a crude transducer” (yeah, sure), which it would only do if it was in great distress. Connors asks Peter if he had anything to do with TLB’s capture – Peter plays the secret identity game by explaining that was Spider-Man. Connors says that the signal contained the question “Who is Spider-Man?” and reveals the printed message’s answer:
(More foreshadowing!)
Peter doesn’t know what that means, just as TLB prints out another message.
Peter visits Norman in his office, who is signing some acquisition papers to reacquire some of his previous endeavors that he wants to bring back into Oscorp. Peter is concerned but Norman assures him that he’s just preparing Oscorp for when he’s ready to pass it on.
Peter tells Norman that TLB’s latest message is a collection of random words: “chalice” and “starlight”, which he reads out loud, causing the painting behind Norman to open, revealing his Gold Goblin equipment. Norman confirms those are his secret codewords and jokingly admits to Peter that he’s the Gold Goblin. Peter wonders how TLB could get these codewords – Norman mentions a recent breach and recommends replacing Connors and his team since they allowed this to happen, allowing TLB to send Peter this message of “only two words”. Peter says that there was a third word. Norman tries to stop him but Peter says “Aggregate”, which causes the Gold Goblin wall to open revealing … the Green Goblin equipment!
(We all knew this was coming, but come on – this is a great splash page!)
Norman laughs while Peter begs him not to do this. He says “You were always stupid for a smart kid.” and pushes a button on a remote, filling the room with gas. Peter jumps to the ceiling but Norman says he won’t be able to stay up there very long. He summons his glider which hits Peter in the chest (but doesn’t impale him), causing him to fall to the floor. Norman proves that he’s still a good boss by calling his secretary and telling her to send everyone home as he casually tosses a pumpkin bomb at Peter.
Norman starts changing into his Goblin uniform while explaining that the gas has taken away all of Peter’s powers. Peter realizes that that he has lost all of his powers as he tears off his damaged clothes to change into Spider-Man. Norman, now in the full Green Goblin outfit, chases him down, taunting him, laughing at him. Spidey realizes that the Goblin’s laugh doesn’t scare him anymore – it just makes him angry.
(“Don’t make me angry, Norman. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.”)
As Spidey continues to hit the Goblin with normal-human strength punches, the Goblin reveals that “he” is not Norman – he is the sins of Norman Osborn. He/the sins mentions how he turned Ashley Kafka(3) into Queen Goblin, and then got into Peter to turn him into the Sinful Spider-Man – even confirming that when Peter had these sins he was the one that made a date with Michele (mystery solved!).
Spidey claims that the sins were buried with Kraven’s spear and wants to know how they got back into Norman. The Goblin removes his mask and switches back to good-Norman, who is frightened and admits that he couldn’t let the sins remain in Peter and had to get them out of him.
Meanwhile back in the sub-basement, TLB is making more noises. Doug thinks it’s killing itself, but Dr. Connors realizes “This isn’t a death … it’s a birth.”
Back upstairs, Norman is still pleading with Peter, who is completely taken in by this and allows the Goblin to get the upper hand … oh wait, no he doesn’t, he totally backhands Norman!
(This panel made me think of Cher slapping Nicolas Cage and saying these same words, and then I realized how old I am.)
Spidey demands that Norman tell him if “he knows”, if “he found it”, and if Norman let “him into my lab?” Norman turns back into the Goblin, headbutts Spidey, and flies him back to Peter’s lab to find whatever it is that Peter wanted to keep secret from him.
Back in the sub-basement, TLB is no more … he has been reborn as … THE WALKING BRAIN!’
(I was sure there was an old 1950s schlock movie called “The Walking Brain” or “The Brain That Walked” or something like that, but I couldn’t find anything.)
Meanwhile the Goblin flies Spider-Man into Peter’s office. Spidey is semi-conscious on the floor as the Goblin looks for whatever secret Peter was keeping from him. He spots Bug and picks him up, taunting Spider-Man, at which point Spidey tells Bug to give the Goblin “his present”.
(When is Norman’s birthday? Someone ask JR.)
Bug sprays the Goblin with a gas that Spidey reveals he reverse engineered to take away Norman’s powers. As powerless Spider-Man punches powerless Green Goblin, Spidey says that the Goblin is so predictable (he says this as he avoids the Goblin Glider that the Goblin had just called to hit him from behind – that old chestnut) and reveals that he never trusted Norman and that he took this job to be there to watch him for when he turned back into the Goblin.
As TWB(4) repeats his “Peter Parker is not Spider-Man” message to Dr. Connors, the Goblin – who is physically beaten – reveals that when the sins were “rattling around” in Peter’s brain they didn’t want to leave, so they left behind something just in case, and that it (the sings) had just the thing from when it possessed Queen Goblin – the Winkler Device(5)!
The Goblin reveals that the Sinful Spider-Man used TWD on himself after he buried “Kraven”(6) alive, adding that Kafka learned that he had used it (confirming what she said 2 issues ago).
Meanwhile, TWB explains to Dr. Connors that “Peter Parker is not Spider-Man” is not a message … it’s a warning!
(I love meta jokes like this in movies.)
The Goblin says a phrase (“Doctor Jekyll was heckled by Peter’s pride … so he fed the boy to Dr. Hyde.”)(7). Spidey violently reacts, grabs his head, says “Heh heh heh” – which gets an “Atta-boy!” from the Goblin(8) – and Spider-Man rips off the bottom half of his mask to reveal a demonic grin as he laughs. And laughs. And laughs.
(“Hey, remember the Sinful Spider-Man?” “Yeah.” “Do you miss him?” “Uh, not really.” “Sure you do! Well, he’s back!” “Oh. Well, ok, I guess.” “Yeah, you love it.”)
Hey, if we’re doing a story about the Sinful Spider-Man, you know what that means … more introspective “Kraven” scenes!
(“Why do I keep coming back to this cemetery? Nothing good ever happens when I come here.”)
“Kraven” is at the grave where he buried the spear containing Norman’s sins, and has discovered that the sins are not here, if they ever were. He realizes that they have gone home.
Flipping ahead to the epilogue … In the sub-basement, TWB is in the lab with Dr. Connors and Doug, accessing the main Oscorp server.
(I have no idea if this is just gibberish, but just in case these words turn out to be the most important thing in this story, I’m posting this here.)
TWB hijacks the security cameras, allowing them to see the Green Goblin as he does … something to Spider-Man – we don’t see it, but apparently he’s putting some new outfit on him, adding “There’s that smile!” TWB tells Dr. Connors and Doug that they’ll take the access tunnels. Connors wants to stay and help Spider-Man, but TWB says “That is not Spider-Man. Not anymore.”, adding that he is the only one that can save him. Connors agrees to help (and volunteers Doug, who is finally named) and TWB says there is only one thing they must do:
(“Cause she knew what she was doin’, when she told me how to walk this way, she told me to walk this way, walk this way …”)
INITIAL RESPONSE
Well, we’ve been waiting for this for what seems like forever. We knew that eventually Norman would become evil again and put the Green Goblin costume back on. And we finally got it. While Peter wasn’t the one to figure this out (thanks, TLB), he is actually prepared for this and has a contingency plan. Competent Spider-Man again! (where was this Spidey for the first 40-several issues of this run?) While there is some stuff in this story that I didn’t like, most of it was stuff established in previous stories and therefore not the fault of this issue. So I think … I kind of liked this story.
WHAT I LIKED
For such a big issue where big things happen, it’s really a small story with very few characters. Spidey goes to see Norman, who accidentally reveals that he’s evil again, they fight, there’s some Living/Walking Brain shenanigans, and Spidey gets mind controlled. That’s it. And yet so much happens here.
I fully expected Norman’s reveal to be that he finally decided that today was the day to unveil his master plan and attack Spider-Man when he wasn’t suspecting it. But nope, Peter unveiled Norman’s secret without even trying. I liked how it happened almost by accident. Norman was planning on doing this eventually, but not today, and had to improvise.
(Why is Norman holding a chess piece? Who is he playing chess with? Is it (metaphorically) Peter? Or does he view Peter as his pawn?)
I’ve said this about the last few stories, but this really feels like Zells is wrapping up all of his outstanding plots – we’ve had the “Aunt Anna goes crazy” story wrapped up, the “Ned and the Hobgoblin” story wrapped up, and now we’ve gotten to the “Peter works for good-Norman Osborn” plot. If I didn’t know better I’d say that this was a new writer hired on and told to wrap up all of Zells’ outstanding plots before they can start their own stories, so they’re wrapping them up one after the other very quickly.
I loved the turn once bad-Norman is revealed, and then how bad-ass he is when he unleashes the gas, tells his employees to leave the building, and calmly puts on his Goblin costume as he monologues.
(What happens when all these employees show up the next day? “What did Mr. Osborn do when he let us all go home early yesterday?”)
I liked how the Goblin’s explanation actually fills in some gaps and answers some questions – who made the date with Michele, did Peter really have TWD used on him. Do these make sense? I still need some more details on these to say for sure (will we get any? Probably not).
And like the past few stories, we get more competent Spider-Man! He tricks Norman into taking him to Peter’s office, thinking that there was some secret thing there he didn’t want Norman to get ahold of. And then getting him to think it was Bug and hold it up in front of him so Peter could activate the gas in it. And then, even though his powers are gone, he easily defeats the Goblin, pointing out how predictable his attacks are.
(Ooh! Sick burn!)
“No matter what I said … no matter how hard I tried … I NEVER TRUSTED YOU!” These words are so satisfying to read from Peter – it’s what the readers have been saying he should’ve been saying for months … or has it been years? It’s hard to remember how long this has been going on (now if only these words felt earned, or that they didn’t contradict previous issues, but we’ll get to that later).
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I really liked the return of “Kraven” at the end. I joked that it wouldn’t be a Sinful Spider-Man story without him, but given what he went through in that previous story, it makes perfect sense for him to appear here. Now how does this fit in with his involvement with the Sinister Six – who knows? And how did he explain to them having to leave their team meetings to go dig up a grave for a spear because he had a bad feeling?
(“Kraven” is coming to save all of us!)
I liked how in the epilogue we didn’t get to see what the Goblin was doing to Spider-Man. We have an idea, based on covers/variant covers of upcoming issues that Marvel has released, but it really works here by just hearing the Goblin’s dialogue and seeing Dr. Connors’ reaction.
Finally, this story is full of great action and the art is gorgeous. I didn’t plan to include so many splash pages in my recap but I couldn’t help it. It’s really good. And so many great double-page splash pages in this story. Oh, what the hell, here’s one more.
(“Oh God” indeed.)
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
TLB is a ridiculous idea that was ok in the 1960s but I didn’t like it in the Superior run, I didn’t like it ASM #900, and I don’t like it here. It looks like it (or TWB) will be the hero we don’t want *and* the hero we don’t deserve to save Spidey here. Oh well. We were all set to write off ASM #900 as a throwaway story that would never be mentioned again, but it may be one of the most important issues for this story.
You’d think Norman would have better security on his Gold Goblin/Green Goblin cache. Shouldn’t he have it so only *his* voice can open by saying those words?
The gas that Norman uses on Peter takes away his Spider-Sense, strength and wall-crawling – *all* of his powers. Since when can Norman do this? We have seen Norman create a gas that can take away Peter’s Spider-Sense before, but all of a sudden Norman has a gas that can take away all of Spidey’s powers? (to quote another podcast I listen to regularly, “Since when???”) If the Goblin has this gas, why not secretly dispense it a little at a time in Peter’s lab to take his powers away slowly without him realizing it?
(Green Goblin’s gas bomb can take away Spider-Man’s spider-sense. And that’s it.)
The Sins of Norman Osborn. I talked in the Sinful Spider-Man reviews about how I do not like the idea that these are a physical or separate thing that makes Norman evil. That they can be physically removed from him and then he’s no longer evil. That’s not this issue’s fault, but this story uses it as a key plot point, which annoys me. If Zells could finish this story by fully integrating these sins into Norman where they are no longer a separate thing and become permanently part of Norman’s personality, I might give that issue an A+(9).
So when Peter first became the Sinful Spider-Man, he hunted down “Kraven”, buried him alive, tried to kill Tombstone in the hospital, threatened Norman, and tried to kill Paul … but somewhere during all of that he … made a date with Michele? Why? The “Ben made that date” or “TLB made that date” theories I heard on the Discord don’t make sense, and yet they make more sense than the Sinful SM making that date.
(Sinful Spider-Man: “I’m having so much fun doing evil things, why not make a date with that woman I met one time?”)
So Peter never trusted Norman? Never? This would be satisfying – and make sense – if we hadn’t had multiple issues during this run where Peter tells Norman that he believes him and he’s his friend and he trusts him and … no, uh-uh, I’m not buying it. No way is Peter that good of an actor. It’s almost like Zells had written those previous issues as if Peter really felt that way, but based on the readers’ response he got to this point and thought “Ok, no one likes Peter trusting Norman like I thought they would … I guess I have to have Peter say that he was just acting all those times.” Or, like I said earlier, this fits into my “this story is written by a new writer who has to wrap up Zells’ plots” theory. It’s like they said “Hmm, I have to resolve this ‘good-Norman’ subplot, but Peter completely trusts Norman … I know. I’ll have Norman reveal he’s been evil for months, and Peter can say ‘I knew it all the time, I was just pretending to believe you!’ That’ll work, even though it contradicts all of those previous times Peter believed him.”
(Peter Parker, Master Thespian.)
Oh wait, we’re not done with other activities the Sinful Spider-Man was doing off panel during that previous story. What we also didn’t see is that after he buried “Kraven”, he went and got TWD, used it on himself because … I guess as a failsafe in case the sins were ever removed from him? Did the Sinful Spider-Man in that story seem like the kind of guy who thought he might lose and therefore better setup a mind control contingency plan for the future?
Big picture time: Peter is infected with the sins of Norman Osborn … again. Or maybe it’s just regular mind control – although he looks a lot like he did in that previous story (minus the black suit). If it feels like we’ve done this story before, that’s because we have – only 18 issues ago! By the same writer! And apparently we’re getting some form of Spider-Goblin in the next issues. Oh boy, Spider-Man dressed up as the Green Goblin while under mind control, we haven’t had that before … oh wait, WE HAVE!
Finally, for something silly … every time I read “The Walking Brain” I hear the The Walking Dead theme music in my head and I can’t stop giggling. I need someone in an upcoming issue to exclaim “*WE* are the Walking Brain!”
WHAT THIS ISSUE/EVENT MEANT OVERALL
The “Norman Osborn is a good guy” plot finally came to an end. How long will the respective gases that took away Norman’s and Peter’s powers last? Will their powers come back at the same time? Who gets their powers back first? Will TWB, Dr. Connors, and (issue MVP) Doug save the day? The idea of a Spider-Goblin doesn’t fill me with hope though. Save us, “Kraven”!
Also, this issue apparently takes place after Blood Hunt is over and the world looks to be back to normal. So I guess I don’t need to read that event since I know it ends with the good guys winning?
GRADE
B+
This issue finally resolves a very long subplot, so that’s appreciated. The art was great, I like the fight between Spider-Man and the Goblin, the monologuing Norman/Goblin was great, and the reveal surprised me, even though I knew it was coming. I don’t like that we’re returning to the Sinful Spider-Man again (and so soon), and the whole “sins of Norman Osborn are a transferable thing” still annoys me, but this issue was a good start.
NEXT TIME, IN AN ALL-NEW ISSUE OF AMAZING SPIDER-MAN …
Oh right, there are other stories in this issue! I almost forgot. Well, no need for full reviews of them. Here are bunch of … mini-reviews!
Cat-Nipped!
Writer: Marv Wolfman
Penciller: Terry Dodson
Inker: Rachel Dodson
Colorist: Terry Dodson
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Synopsis: Black Cat is stealing a bunch of inexpensive/worthless stuff. Spider-Man investigates and discovers they’re all pieces her father failed to steal. Spidey gets to her hideout, she gets away, and he discovers she left them all behind to be returned. She just wanted to complete what her father couldn’t.
Review: This was a nice story with Marv Wolfman returning to write Spidey for the first time in … years? Decades? Also, he created the Black Cat! Dodson art is always nice. And her causing a bunch of boxes to fall so she can get away feels like it’s right out of the Wolfman Black Cat issues where she would set up traps before to make it look like she had actual bad luck powers. Easily the best of these backups (not a high bar).
Grade: A
Time To Make The Doughnuts
Writer: Nikesh Shukla
Artist: Chriscross(10)
Color Artist: Andrew Dalhouse
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Synopsis: Spidey is getting a doughnut from Lionel, a food truck guy, who needs to leave to deliver medicine to his mother, so Spidey offers to take them to her. He meets Mrs. King who serves him lunch while teaching him the importance of food and cooking.
Review: This was an ok story but nothing much happens. Spidey learns to stop and smell the roses, except replace “roses” with “doughnuts”.
Grade: C+
Don’t Thing Thrice, It’s All Right(11)
By: Lee Gatlin
Synopsis: Spidey thinks he spots the Rhino’s silhouette in an apartment but it’s a bunch of heroes (including the Thing) wearing party hats having a surprise birthday party for the Watcher (yes, really). The next day the Thing gets an ice cream cone dropped on his head by Johnny and is covered in wet cement, so Spidey thinks he is the Rhino again (Yes, Really). And the next day the Thing stops the (actual) Rhino after a bank robbery when Spidey shows up and tries to determine who is the Thing and who is the Rhino (YES, REALLY). He figures it out by asking the Rhino to say the Thing’s classic catchphrase, to which the Rhino says “Sufferin’ Succotash!”
Review: This was pretty bad. I don’t like this art at all, and the jokes are juvenile. I did smile when the Thing got an ice cream cone on his head, was dunked in cement, and actually looked like the Rhino, but that was it. Oh wait, there’s a thought balloon – can’t remember the last time I saw one of those!
Grade: D
Secrets
Writer: Joe Kelly
Artist: Juan Ferreyra
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Synopsis: Nine months ago, Spider-Man is being attacked by Niffleheim Imps so he goes to see Dr. Strange. Spidey tries to explain that this was caused by hanging out with Thor, and then notices that Dr. Strange has multiple wounds on his chest and arms. He asks if Strange wants to talk about it, but he is in the middle of getting multiple injections (or having things withdrawn from him?) so he teleports Peter away while mentioning the Covenant. Spidey swings off as he hears Strange yell in the distance.
Review: I have no idea what was going on here. Was this referencing an existing story from the past? Who are the Covenant? If a story starts with “9 months ago” it’s usually because someone gets pregnant and we flash-forward to the birth.
Grade: C-
None of these stories are worth the extra cost of this issue, but that shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.
NEXT TIME, IN AN ALL-NEW ISSUE OF AMAZING SPIDER-MAN … (for real this time)
The Sinister Six show up to … save everyone from the Green Goblin and the Sinful Spider-Goblin? Sure, why not. Also, why is Electro so prominently displayed on this cover? Shouldn’t Doc Ock be in that spot?
FOOTNOTES
(1) I’m just going to call The Living Brain “TLB” from now on. Don’t worry, it renames itself soon.
(2) He isn’t named until the last few panels of the epilogue, but I’m calling him Doug in every appearance.
(3) Not really Ashley Kafka. She’s a clone.
(4) Yep. The Walking Brain is now “TWB”.
(5) TWD – so many similar acronyms this issue.
(6) Not the real Kraven. He’s a clone. Still calling him “Kraven”.
(7) Anyone know if this is an actual quote from the Jekyll and Hyde story, or from anything else? I couldn’t find anything using Google.
(8) Ok Zells, we get it, you’ve seen No Way Home a bunch of times!
(9) Come on, Zells. Call my bluff!
(10) Please tell me these kids grew up to become comic book artists.
(11) I didn’t know this was a Bob Dylan reference until I looked it up.
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Thanks, John — Yep, I definitely remember this issue:
https://www.marvel.com/comics/issue/60536/the_amazing_spider-man_2015_28
@John:
To be fair, I’ve tried to block out most of the Slott run (LOL).
I don’t like the idea of a villain coming up with an easy way to remove all of the hero’s powers. Once they do this, this should be their first weapon in all future fights. Norman should win all future battles with Spider-Man by starting each fight by using this gas. Any fights from now on where Norman has access to this gas and doesn’t win the fight makes him look incompetent.
“Lowe says this same gas was used during Amazing Spider-Man #98 as mentioned by Michael).” Lowe is once again wrong (what a surprise), as the gas used in #98 only took away his ability to stick to walls. He still had his other powers.
@Evan Berry It was issue #28 (unsure what that is in legacy numbering). It does have Silver Sable in it, but she has a sword fight with some other random person at the same time as Peter fights Norman.
Yeah, I agree that Wells probably didn’t know about that issue either. He didn’t call back to the multiple separate colored gases, and Norman’s dialog seems to be more clearly referencing ASM (1963) #98 with “you recognize the smell. the sting at the back of your throat.” So it’s probably just convenient that Norman had used gases to take all his powers away before.
@John — You’re right. I sort of remember that happening now that you mention it. I’ve looked online, but I’m having trouble finding which issue it was. I think either Mark or Neil wrote the review for it. I thought it was one of the issues with Silver Sable, but I think it might all be running together, as it does.
I’m willing to bet Zeb Wells didn’t remember that, either. In the words of Hornacek, Pepperidge Farm remembers.
To be fair, Norman actually DID neutralize ALL of Peter’s powers with gases before, but I don’t blame people for not remembering this as it was during Slott’s worldwide run (Amazing Spider-Man (2015) #28) where Peter and Norman actually had a similar fight to the one in this issue – both having no powers.
It was multiple separate gases though. The first took away his Spider-Sense, the second taking away his Spider-Speed (and strength presumably), and the third taking away his sticking power (Lowe says this same gas was used during Amazing Spider-Man #98 as mentioned by Michael).
So I’m guessing he just consolidated all those into one.
@TWDM:
Thanks a lot. No worries about being late getting to the review – I was late posting it. The Survivor finale was last Wed so that ate up my entire Wed evening. But the season is over so I should get the reviews out sooner (until next season starts in Sept).
“Here’s hoping that Rek-Rap and the Walking Brain team up to bring this story to a triumphant ending! ” We can only hope. Wait, what’s the opposite of hope?
Have fun with 51!
Hey Hornacek – late getting to the review, but loved it all the same. According to the Marvel Facebook post from 2014, May 9th is Norman’s birthday.
Here’s hoping that Rek-Rap and the Walking Brain team up to bring this story to a triumphant ending! 🙂
@Geiseric:
Yeah, I have heard nothing about who is taking over after Zells, or when Zells is leaving, if he’s leaving at all. But that Kelly story feels like it is either (a) filling in a gap from a previous story, or (b) setting up a future story that will be followed up on by Kelly later.
I doubt he’s doing anything because we are getting another anthology issue at 950 as Marvel is being a bit greedy with their anniversary issues. Be weird unless Kelly is also writing a story for that one
Geiseric:
Yeah, during that Kelly story I was having flashbacks to the many times Dr. Strange showed up in the JMS run and we kept getting editor’s notes saying “Wondering what Dr. Strange is talking about? See the XXXX series coming this fall.” From what I recall, none of those Strange stories ever happened.
If you told me that Kelly was going to be the next ASM writer and this story was setting up something that was going to be his first story, that would make some sort of sense.
I mean that Joe Kelly story doesn’t seem to have much to do with Spider man, seems more like a Dr. Stranfw story and Peter is there I guess
@Michael:
“Re: Connors covering one ear- I think that was a reflex back from when he had two arms.” I don’t know any people that have lost a limb, so I have no idea how this works for them. But Connors lost his arm many years ago. You would think he would have learned to live with only arm and that he wouldn’t instinctually try to do things with his missing arm. Again, maybe this instinctual responses from when someone like this had both arms never go away. It just seems weird that he would try to cover one ear when he knows he can’t cover the other one.
“Connors really SHOULD be suspicious of Peter’s ID when this is over. First, the Living Brain tells him ‘Peter Parker is not Spider-Man’ and then the Living Brain says about Spider-Man ‘That is not Spider-Man, Not anymore.’ You’d think Connors would get what the Brain is hinting at.” I agreed. Of any of Peter’s longtime supporting cast, Connor feels like someone who should know, or have figured it out by now, considering how many interactions he has had with both Peter and Spider-Man. I’m guessing that when this is over Peter will be able to spin this he is not Spider-Man but Norman became the Goblin, mind-controlled Peter and made him put on this new Spider-Goblin suit and do evil things. Maybe having his Spider-powers taken away by Norman may help with this since he can show that when he was Spider-Goblin he didn’t use any spider-powers, just what the Spider-Goblin suit could do.
“It does seem like Wells’s run is ending. Issue 56/950 is the beginning of the final confrontation between Peter and Tombstone, so it’s probably going to end a few issues after that.” Yeah, after this Norman story, a final Tombstone story seems like the only story Zells has left to wrap up. Will Paul be gotten rid of in that story? Or will he be kept around for the next writer (assuming Zells is leaving after the next Tombstone story)? Who knows?
“Re: Norman’s gas- Norman DID use a gas that could neutralize Peter’s ability to stick to walls before in Amazing Spider-Man 98.” As soon as you mentioned this I could picture the cover in my mind, and when I looked up that issue it was just as I pictured it. The Marvel Wiki summary doesn’t mention this gas at all, but Spider-Fan’s summary does. It was a gas/mist that seeped through his costume. It didn’t mention him regaining this power in this issue, and the following issue never mentions him not being able to wall crawl at all, so I assume it came back rather quickly (or off panel).
“A few people didn’t like that Peter felt sympathetic toward Felicia in the story- she could have injured or killed that truck driver.” Yeah, I thought about how Felicia flipped that truck over and could have killed many people, but back in the Wolfman BC issues wasn’t she causing serious accidents to happen so she could get away, and also assuming that Spider-Man would stop to stop these accidents and save people instead of catching her? So I gave that a pass.
“I wonder when the Black Cat story was supposed to take place. There’s nothing mentioned after the death of Felicia’s father in Amazing Spider-Man 195 and Felicia doesn’t call Spider-Man Peter. Maybe this was supposed to take place relatively early in Felicia’s career.” Yeah, there’s nothing in that story to set it in a specific era. I could easily see it happening back during Wolfman’s ASM run.
“Re: the Joe Kelly story” It just feels weird to have this story take place 9 months ago. Why do this? Marvel doesn’t usually like establishing amounts of time between stories. So if this is a reference to an existing story in the past, that means 9 months of Marvel time has elapsed since it and the present. It just seems confusing for no reason. Plus the ending say “THE END … FOR NOW” so I also wondered if this was going to be followed up in another book, or a future ASM issue? Either way, it didn’t make sense to me at all.
Re: Connors covering one ear- I think that was a reflex back from when he had two arms.
Connors really SHOULD be suspicious of Peter’s ID when this is over. First, the Living Brain tells him “Peter Parker is not Spider-Man” and then the Living Brain says about Spider-Man “That is not Spider-Man, Not anymore.” You’d think Connors would get what the Brain is hinting at.
It does seem like Wells’s run is ending. Issue 56/950 is the beginning of the final confrontation between Peter and Tombstone, so it’s probably going to end a few issues after that.
Re: Norman’s gas- Norman DID use a gas that could neutralize Peter’s ability to stick to walls before in Amazing Spider-Man 98. You’re right that he’s never used a gas that could neutralize Peter’s strength before.
A few people didn’t like that Peter felt sympathetic toward Felicia in the story- she could have injured or killed that truck driver.
I wonder when the Black Cat story was supposed to take place. There’s nothing mentioned after the death of Felicia’s father in Amazing Spider-Man 195 and Felicia doesn’t call Spider-Man Peter. Maybe this was supposed to take place relatively early in Felicia’s career.
I also wonder if this was Wolfman’s intended ending to Amazing Spider-Man 204. Felicia had a mysterious reason she was stealing in that story but it was finished off in Amazing Spider-Man 205 by David Micheline, who used his own ending.
Re: the Joe Kelly story- I’m wondering. Wolverine’s old writer Ben Percy is leaving and Saladin Ahmed is taking over as the new writer. Wolverine 50 is coming out next week and it features a story by Saladin Ahmed that will serve as a prelude to his run. So I’m wondering if this is the same thing- Joe Kelly is the new writer and this story is meant to serve as a prelude to his run.
@Evan Berry:
“When I first saw the solicit for the Spider-Goblin, my first thought was ‘Didn’t we just do this?’” Exactly! If it was at least done by another writer in a previous run, that at least would be something. But this was the same writer, 18 issues ago!
“For what it’s worth, the Jekyll-and-Hyde line that turned Peter goblin-y isn’t from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” I didn’t think so, Google didn’t turn up anything, but it seems weird enough that it might be from some J&H adaptation I’ve never heard of.
“I just read Marco’s review of this week’s issue of Spider-Gwen: The Ghost Spider, and there doesn’t appear to be anything introspective or contemplative about “Kraven” at all.” Before “Kraven” appeared in the last Sinful SM story I didn’t consider the character introspective or contemplative, but that story … I wouldn’t say it “turned me around” on that character but I came out of it actually interested on where “Kraven” went from here. Which is why I was so disappointed to see him back with the Sinister Six as if he had learned nothing (“I am not my father!”). Although wanting revenge on TLB for kidnapping him does seem to be a reasonable reason for him doing this. I just wonder how that will fit in with him wandering off to investigate the Spear of Destiny. Will he more interested in getting the sins out of Spider-Man, or getting revenge on TLB?
“Vampires!” Yeah, the problem with an event where the entire city/world changes is that it’s rare that every book is going to reflect this new status quo for the entire event. It’s hilarious that last issue actually reflected Blood Hunt, and this issue completely ignores it, as if last issue never happened. We didn’t even get a “Wow, that whole vampire thing was crazy. Glad it’s all over” dialogue from Spidey, with an editor’s note saying “Read Blood Hunt on sale now”.
Yeah, it wasn’t until my second or third runthrough of the review that I realized The Winkler Device already had TWD acronym. At least no one in this story said “It turns people into Goblins!”
“I sort of expected an edit from you with ‘Zeb Wells’ written over Norman’s face, and ‘Spider-man readers’ written over Spider-man’s face.” That would require Photoshop skills and software which I do not have. I’m stuck with snipping panels from the issue or finding random images in Google Images.
“Another great review!” Thanks.
@hornacek – When I first saw the solicit for the Spider-Goblin, my first thought was “Didn’t we just do this?”
For what it’s worth, the Jekyll-and-Hyde line that turned Peter goblin-y isn’t from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
I just read Marco’s review of this week’s issue of Spider-Gwen: The Ghost Spider, and there doesn’t appear to be anything introspective or contemplative about “Kraven” at all. I guess the writers of the different titles don’t communicate. As you’ve said before, too bad there isn’t a person whose job it is to coordinate the titles and help to ensure they adhere to some semblance of consistency. Vampires!
It’s funny that The Walking Brain makes you think of The Walking Dead, because the entire review, every time I saw TWD, my brain interpreted it as an abbreviation for The Walking Dead. You’ll have to forgive me if I start typing “The Winkler Brain” or the “The Walking Device.” Or why not just combine them: The Christopher Walken Device”? Now, I couldn’t definitely see that turning people into goblins.
That “Snap out of it!” panel makes me think of the Batman-slapping-Robin meme. I sort of expected an edit from you with “Zeb Wells” written over Norman’s face, and “Spider-man readers” written over Spider-man’s face.
Another great review!