Folks, get your box of Kleenex ready, because this one is sure to pull your heart strings. The Crawlspace brings you a very special rendition of Alford Notes.
Credit Where Credit Is Due
Story Title: Easy Being Green (no, for real – the solicits for next issue indicate that this is the title for the arc – but where are they getting that from? Have I inspired others to just make up names for issues? Does that make me an influencer? How do I cash in that?)
Writer: Zeb Wells
Pencils: Todd Nauck and Ed McGuinness
Inker: Todd Nauck and Wade von Grawbadger
Colorist: Marco Menyz
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramanga
Cover Artists: Jed McGuinness and Marco Menyz
Asst. Editor: Kaeden McGahey
Editor: Nick Lowe
Remedial ASM 101
Norman Osborn put Peter into the Winkler Device and gave him goblin inclinations. The Walking Brain put together a crack team consisting of himself, Curt Connors (with Doc Ock’s old arms), Ms. Marvel, Rek-Rap, JJJ, and Doug.
Disclaimer
On the way to work this morning, I was listening to the latest podcast from the Crawlspace and was graced with JR’s old bayou goblin-looking crone stripper story with BD yelling, “Make it rain!” and that’s all I could envision in my head when reading any panel with a goblin in it this issue.
It may have made the story better.
The Story – Pay Attention, This Will Be on the Test
Norman is divesting all of his business interests to Peter as soon as he can get Peter to sign off on it. Before Peter can arrive with the sin spear, The Walking Brain’s team arrives to fight Norman. Unfortunately, Doug and JJJ don’t fight. The Brain is working out the solution to the problem (seems a bit short sighted for someone called The (insert adjective here) Brain. This leaves only Ms. Marvel and Rek-Rap to fight Norman. Rek-Rap takes a glider to the chest (and dies?), Ms. Marvel is taken out by Curt Connors bumbling around with the extra arms, and the Brain, right after revealing he has all that he needs to stop Norman, blows up on his own. Kamala dons the octoarms and beats on Goblin for a while until Spidey arrives (after rigging the sin spear with pieces of the Winkler Device) and he and Norman jump down a hole, which seals up behind itself to prevent the others from helping. Spider-Man stabs Norman with the spear, but instead of it doing whatever he thought it would do, it seems to do exactly Norman wanted – dump the sins of Norman into Peter. To be continued!
Oh, and Kraven shows up at some point but does absolutely nothing other than frighten JJJ and say needlessly cryptic phrases.
What Passed and Failed
PASS – Norman being Norman – I felt he was well written this issue and enjoyed his scenes.
FAIL – The Editor – the word should be “do”. If only there was a job for someone to go through and check for these things… (and yes, I know I sometimes make typos and always welcome people to call them out and embarrass me for my shortcomings (and I didn’t proofread in order to get this out the day of, so search away!), but I’m turning this out in a day and don’t have an editor, associate editor, and assistant editor who green lights my reviews before publishing).
This is just a nit picky typo, but I do feel it is indicative of the larger problem this magazine has had – a lack of editorial leadership (or worse, incompetent editorial leadership). It shows in the pacing, the stories, and the lack of a solid support cast.
PASS – JJJ’s word balloon in this panel:
Classic JJJ!
FAIL – This editor caption box:
I promise that I am not just trying to dump on the editor here. I am sure that he does all sorts great things that I do not get to see, and I usually am all for editor caption boxes. But what point does this serve? Doug knows? But he’s responding to JJJ saying he thought he could take him. I do appreciate the reminder that Doug has had a run in with Kraven in case we had forgotten, but who cares? It makes no difference to anything happening here!
OOTI (Onomatopoeia of the Issue)
On a scale of 1 (POW) to 10 (BLRKBQRKPQRBLNB), CHUD rates an 7. It’s not that the onomatopoeia is great – it’s not. In fact it is a stupid sound for feet hitting another body. However, this is a stupid character (I mean that in a loving way) so stupid onomatopoeias seem to be on brand. Kudoos to expressing the silliness of the character through the sound effects!
Pop Quiz
Which villain was the first to use the Winkler Device?
A. Jason Stryker
B. Wilson Fisk
C. Roderick Kingsley
D. Norman Osborn
E. Hypno Hustler
F. Henry Winkler
Click above image to see answer
Analysis
Norman’s Plan – Phase 1 – Since no one remembers that Peter failed gloriously at Parker Industries, Norman seems to want to remind them by making all sorts of unethical business moves and then putting the company into Peter’s name. This seems like it would not work in real life because while it may make him look incompetent for taking on a company, wouldn’t it be obvious that these unethical moves were made prior to him becoming owner/CEO? Unless maybe Norman’s been signing Peter’s name to earlier transactions (I can’t seem to recall if that was mentioned earlier – I am sure if it was one of you will remember and tell me in the comments). But this is comics and let’s say that either steps were taken or it doesn’t matter for the scope of the story – I would have more concern for Peter if this wasn’t the end of Wells’s run. Since it is, maybe there will be follow up, maybe not. The new writer might not want to be saddled with it and only do it lip service or maybe he will make it a focal point of the new run. Or, quite possibly, Peter never signs and Norman goes down for the moves he set Peter up for.
Phase 2 – Norman wants the sins in Peter. Now, I really have no idea how this actually played out in this issue other than it looks like the sins went into Peter. In that regard, Craig’s complaint that we already did this just a little while ago rings a bit stronger. I am going to attempt to play this out so that I can make sense of it:
- Peter was put into the Winkler Device and had Norman’s mind imprinted onto his, causing him to black out at times and do horrible things like make a date with a lawyer and stand her up.
- Peter, for whatever reason, believes that attaching part of the Winkler Device to the sin spear and stabbing Norman with it will somehow stop Norman (in ways other than a typical stabbing might stop a person) and make him clean again (a la killing a head vampire).
- Norman’s plan is not to have Peter just bring him the sin spear, but for him to put part of the Winkler Device onto it and stab him with it.
- Peter takes the sin spear with part of the Winkler Device on it and stabs Norman with it which causes the sins of Norman Osborn to somehow enter into Peter which now leaves him with the sins AND the mind of Norman.
So now what? Norman was just stabbed in the chest with a large spear. He should be dying. He also didn’t get Peter to sign the papers, but maybe Peter will next issue. Does this mean that Norman no longer has the sins and is “good” again?
Or maybe I am just overthinking it and just be happy with a Oh No! response and anxiously await for next issue.
Team Walking Brain – What was the point? It seemed like this absurd combination of dolts were to provide comic relief after intense scenes, but they don’t really serve that purpose. It also seemed as if there would be some sort of Doc Ock story where he takes his old arms back, but unless his new arms were completely destroyed by Spider-Man, it doesn’t seem to be going in that direction. All they really did was get the Brain to where he wanted to be, but we didn’t really need all of that for it to happen. He could have accomplished the same feat with Rek-Rap and Ms. Marvel. What good is Doug and JJJ and Connors here? It just seems like there was no point at all to their inclusion, which is a shame because I truly feel that Ms. Marvel would not be a bad supporting character to Spider-Man and Peter Parker, but she’s just forced into the situation.
RIP Rek-Rap – Maybe? It’s quite possible that he survives this, I mean Norman survived it. Granted, Norman’s glider was smaller back then.
But then again, Rek-Rap is larger and is a demon, so he might be able to shrug these things off. Typically I would assume that Rek-Rap is dead. It makes sense for the story. Norman is evil and kills people. Also, Rek-Rap is Wells’s creation and he may be tucking him away so that nobody “messes him up” in the future.
For my part, I liked Rek-Rap in small doses. This scene only makes sense if he dies. He is a funny comedic relief element and would be a perfect character in these back up stories that they pad out $10 issues with. If he is not really dead, then what was the point? Norman could have knocked Rek-Rap out to serve the same purpose. It would be false stakes and, in my opinion, bad story telling. The stakes here should be fully focused on Norman and Peter. At best, this is just a distraction from the real story. At worst, this is a useless distraction to generate false intensity.
Alas, poor Rek-Rap! I knew him well, Hornacek: a demon of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy! Let’s take a moment of silence for Rek-Rap.
The Walking Brain No More! – It’s a nice setup to make us think that the Walking Brain completely goofed and destroyed himself for no reason, thus completing the comedic failure of the rest of his team. However, they focused a bit too much on the head dropping down the hole, so this was pretty much a part of his plan all along.
A little while later, we get confirmation that the real event is happening down that hole, so whatever the Bodyless Brain has on Norman, he’s in the spot to enact it, I guess. My assumption is that his plan largely relies on stopping Phase 1 plan of Norman and Spidey will have to figure out how to defeat the goblin inside.
I do love Gobby looking at the camera and saying he didn’t do that. Classic Gobby!
Misleading Covers
This cover is AWESOME! I want this story! Does anyone else think that this was the cover for #54 (see below) and the next cover should have been this one? Seems like something an editor should catch? Or an Assistant Editor? Or an Associate Editor? Sheesh…
Extra Credit
What cool team name should we have been calling the Walking Brain’s team?
Final Grade
Did I like it? No, but I didn’t hate it. Do I think we needed this whole issue just to get the Walking Brain’s head down that hole? No. Norman pulled his own weight and carried this issue on his back so that it wasn’t a wash out. I just feel like this was a transition issue that didn’t pay out on the Walking Brain’s team arc. We could have cut much of that out and still gotten the story told and saved us two whole issues ($10!). I have no problem with transition issues, they are sometimes needed. I detest padded out stories to get to a magic number.
C
What’s Next?
THE MIND-BLAZING CONCLUSION OF “EASY BEING GREEN!” The SINISTER SIX will try to fight. But they should have run. Who can possibly put a stop to Peter Parker’s spree of mayhem and destruction? (Hint: No one).
Oh, well, they’ll be coming back. Wait a minute! Why does Craig get TWO Sinister Six fights I get the ANYTHING-BUT-SINISTER-SIX fight? And why is Craig on the evens? I distinctly remember at some point being even and I don’t remember switching to odd. What a crock!
‘Nuff Said!
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Paul Penna – yeah, we do seem to be cycling a lot with these sins. I’m wondering if the sins are now contagious instead of moving as a single unit. Does Norman still have the sins? Or is Norman still evil despite his previous sins going off? Because it doesn’t seem like he’s all the sudden nice Normie again. The good news is, it’s got to end soon.
So, the Sins were in Peter, then they were in Norman, now they’re back in Peter again. *Sigh*
Didn’t predict this, because, well, we already got the Sinful Spider-Man story.
So, apparently this wasn’t Norman Osborn/the Green Goblin’s plan to frame Peter. It was the sins, using Norman Osborn’s body, to turn the company over to Peter and then jump into Peter’s body and possess him… presumably turning Norman good again?
Now, I don’t think the sins are a sentient entity, they’re impulses. But when in Norman’s body they have access to his memories, his cunning, his ability to think. But they’re driving him toward their goal, which is to get back into Spider-Man, and give him the backing of Oscorp too.
It’d be a good story, if we hadn’t had Peter possessed by the sins previously, or even brainwashed into serving the sins during this arc. I gotta think this time the sins will fail (I’m hoping we don’t get another even more blatant retread where the sins need to be removed from Peter again), even possibly being banished for good, leaving both Peter and Norman free of them. But really we’re just getting a story we’ve already gotten, treading the same ground. Really this and the sinful Spider-Man arc should’ve been the same story, with the sins being dispelled at the end of it.
I really want this story to be over.
@Aqu@
“The ‘I wanted you to do this, it was my real plan all along’ twist can work only in some situations: authors too often use it to show how cunning a character is, but most of the times it just comes off as a very silly and extremely chance-dependant plan.”
This kind of twist *can* work but only if the writer has seeded previous issues/stories with clues/hints that this twist was always planned. It doesn’t work if the writer comes up with the twist at the last moment. For example, if you rewatch The Sixth Sense you can see all of the clues for the twist and realize “Yes, that twist makes sense, they gave us hints about it.” But there is nothing in the previous Zells issues that indicate that Peter never trusted Norman and had this plan all along. It seems clear that he started to write this story and realized that the readers hated the “Peter completely trusting Norman” story, and he had to come up with a story where Spidey outsmarted the Goblin, so he came up with the idea that Peter had this plan all along. But if you reread the previous issues there’s nothing to indicate that at all.
“As I understand it, it was estabilished one or two issues ago that the sins are sentient and are the Goblin persona (which contradicts everything we saw so far with the sins, but whatever), so it’s Green Goblin’s plan, not Norman’s. And apparently the Green Goblin’s plan seems to be discarding Norman’s body to stay in Peter as the SpiderGoblin. Ugh, how original.”
If this story ends with the sins being permanently fused to Norman and no longer being a separate thing then I will forgive a lot of this story. I’ve never liked the idea that Norman’s sins were a physical thing that could be removed from him, leaving him a good person.
“Rek-rap isn’t dead.” Don’t toy with my emotions. Rek-Rap being dead here is the only thing going for me here.
This story is a mess.
The “I wanted you to do this, it was my real plan all along” twist can work only in some situations: authors too often use it to show how cunning a character is, but most of the times it just comes off as a very silly and extremely chance-dependant plan.
“At this point, I am not sure Norman knows what Norman’s plan is.” Make that “I am not sure Wells knows what Wells’s plan is”.
Anyway, yeah, of course Norman doesn’t know the plan. As I understand it, it was estabilished one or two issues ago that the sins are sentient and are the Goblin persona (which contradicts everything we saw so far with the sins, but whatever), so it’s Green Goblin’s plan, not Norman’s. And apparently the Green Goblin’s plan seems to be discarding Norman’s body to stay in Peter as the SpiderGoblin. Ugh, how original.
Really, I have to know what’s so charming in Peter’s body that every villain wants to physically possess him.
The Walking Brain plan was indeed to plunge in the hole: the last scene with JJJ and Doug was there to make it clear.
The caption box had the only function to remind the reader that character isn’t new, probably because they realized nobody recognized him (and with reason, I’d say).
Rek-rap isn’t dead. If I remember correctly his origin, his massive body is symbiote matter for the most part. He also say “cool” when he is stabbed.
“Tonight, a comedian died in New York.” – Rorschach
I swear, every time Rek-Rap says something, a comedian dies.
@Dark Lord Mark:
It was the League of Comic Geeks website where I saw the “Easy Being Green” title – I recognized it as soon as I saw it. They could have made it up but they seems so sure that’s the title, so I’m assuming they got that from Marvel.
I assume TWB’s head being down there with Spidey and the Goblin will be key to Spidey saving the day in the next issue, so we can retroactively say that the Spider-Squad arriving and fighting Norman here did make a difference. But for this issue alone, it just seems like they literally did nothing. If they didn’t show up here at all, Spidey would have returned with the spear and had the exact same conversation with Norman, with the same results.
I think Norman said “I didn’t do that” because he has some integrity. He didn’t want Ms. Marvel to think he would do something so stupid as to blow up TWB like that.
C.H.U.D. was not a movie I (or anyone) knew from the theaters (maybe it never got a theatrical release?) but it seem to explode in video stores. There always seemed to be a poster or a cardboard display of C.H.U.D. in every video store when I was a kid, and everyone knew about the film.
I love the anecdote of Monty Python writing LoB and getting to the end and not knowing how to end the film and realizing that (SPOILER) Brian dies and people will hate having such a sad ending, so Cleese went to Idle to write a song because – according to him – Idle was always great at writing songs that would make people happy. So Idle wrote ALOTBSOL and it totally works – the main character dies but you finish watching the film whistling, tapping your foot, and smiling in spite of yourself.
@ The Frantabulous Hornacek –
I know I read your review, but I either missed the footnote or don’t remember it, but the solicits for this came from League of Comic Geeks, so maybe they just made it up. I always assumed they used official Marvel tag lines. Maybe whoever in Marvel marketing that sends those out is getting just as frustrated with no official title and realized it was in his power to do so. Not all heroes wear capes (or have web pits).
I didn’t think about it, but you are right of course – the team didn’t even delay Norman. They just got their tails whooped and let The Walking Brain transform and drop his head. I guess we could say that they gave the Walking Brain time to figure out his next move, which is odd since I would have guessed he already knew what he was going to do, but maybe he just needed to be in that room before he could finalize his calculations. So they did that. Thank goodness JJJ and Doug were there for that. I am 100% certain that the head dropping down that hole was intentional. But was also funny, especially the Green Goblin having to, for some reason, assure Ms. Marvel that he didn’t do that. Sure he’s a murderer and proud of it, but he didn’t mess with that robot.
Third option – they need an updated grammar book. Maybe Marvel’s too cheap to renew those things and they are still over there using pre-Noah Webster era books.
“How could you mention the CHUD onomatopoeia without mentioning the classic 1984 horror movie C.H.U.D. where the title stands for (of course) Cannibalistic Underground Humanoid Dwellers?” Because I am a scaredy-cat when it comes to horror movies, all the more so when I was a teenager. I almost blew it with my wife when I was dating here when she picked up _Halloween_ from a Blockbuster (some of you Neil-aged readers might not know that is – think of a Netflix you can walk inside of) and we watched it and I completely freaked out. It was 9:30 on a Friday night when that movie ended and I jumped up, turned the lights on, said I had practice in the morning and just flat out left. That was after I was 19 or 20. So no. Young teenage me did NOT watch C.H.U.D. and had no idea such a movie ever existed.
“I still don’t know what Norman’s plan is.” At this point, I am not sure Norman knows what Norman’s pan is.
Always look on the bright side of life, my friend.
I mentioned in one of my footnotes from the previous issue’s review that this arc is apparently titled Easy Being Green. I found that on a non-Marvel website discussing this issue – can’t remember which one – but they talked as if this was something official from Marvel and not something they made up themselves. For whatever reason the actual ASM issues don’t want to tell us this.
“Kraven” does the most important thing – keep Ms. Marvel and the rest away from Spidey and the Goblin, as we want the final issue of this story to be just Spidey fighting the Goblin on his own. Also, this Spidey-Squad are completely superfluous to this fight. Do they do anything noteworthy in this issue? They fight Norman, but they don’t defeat him. Norman wasn’t trying to escape so it’s not like they delayed him until Spidey returned – Norman was literally hanging around there waiting for Spidey to return. *Maybe* TWB’s head blowing up will result in something vital in the next issue (his head does fall down the hole, as Mark points out), but as of right now, if you removed TWB, Ms. Marvel, Curt, Jonah and MVP Doug from this story, it would not make *any* difference to the Spidey/Goblin story.
From MermaidPearlEditorial.com: “Why is ‘make due’ so often confused with ‘make do’? The answer is the latter didn’t become the correct spelling until the early 1900s. Make due, historically, was frequently used until that point. Nowadays, when saying you’ll make due something, it usually features a noun or pronoun (e.g., it) in the phrase to specify the subject is owed or expected to occur.” So obviously Zells and Wacker are either time travelers from the early 1900s, or they are over 100 years old.
I assume that editor’s caption box for Doug was meant to remind the readers that Doug is not a brand new character and was around in the Beyond era. Because you’re right, it adds nothing else to that panel.
How could you mention the CHUD onomatopoeia without mentioning the classic 1984 horror movie C.H.U.D. where the title stands for (of course) Cannibalistic Underground Humanoid Dwellers?
I mentioned in my review of ASM #48 that Gerhard Winkler (the inventory of TWD) may be one of the most important villains in Spider-Man history.
I still don’t know what Norman’s plan is. Does he intend to transfer his consciousness into Peter’s body (aka Superior Spider-Man 2) so he can own Oscorp in Peter’s body? This would make sense if Norman was dying (like Otto was) but we’ve had no indication of this. If not, why would he not want to continue owning Oscorp as himself? Even if his plan to make Peter evil with TWD worked and was not undone last issue, evil Peter would own Oscorp and not Norman. Evil Peter seemed to be happy to be Norman’s lackey, but this would probably not have lasted forever. This still makes no sense.
Even if Norman’s sins get into Peter and take him over again, Norman would be good again and not have his company. Given the choice of Norman keeping his sins and still running his companies, or transferring his sins to Peter and he would run the companies, with Norman left good again, why would Norman choose the second option?
If Rek-Rap does die here then this issue would jump up at least 2 letter grades for me, but I’m not buying it. I suspect we’re going to see him alive and well next issue, saying “Nothing can stop the frantabulous Rek-Rap!”
TWB saying “Watch this.” and then blowing himself up made me laugh more than I probably was supposed to. It reminded me of the end of Monty Python’s Life of Brian where the Judean People’s Front arrives. They’ve been talked about the entire film, and when they show up, and Brian thinks he is going to be rescued. The JPF says they are “a crack suicide squad” … and proceed to kill themselves, meaning they don’t rescue Brian, or do anything of consequence … except die themselves.
@Geiseric and @Evan
Geiseric – Man, I hope not. I think Superior Spider-Man was done well and well enough not to revisit it. It is in a similar vein of Kraven’s Last Hunt or tossing Gwen off the bridge. Anyone else, and it is just going to seem a cheap copycat. Plus, they are still doing stuff with Doc Ock as Superior Spider-Man in all the Spider-Verse stories, Norman doing an even superior Superior Spider-Man will struggle to find its own footing. I’m not quite sure that is the case and I think it has more to do with how you said the sins seem to have a mind of their own. They are treating them almost like the sins themselves are a demon that is seeking to possess another soul. I guess we could say that the transference into the spear has somehow made them incarnate and their own entity, which might now make sense since it has been said that Norman made a deal with Mephisto, but I am just speculating. I don’t like the idea of the sins causing people to do things. Norman is a complex man who has made decisions and committed certain acts to get ahead in life. He does not tolerate anything that could distract him from his goal and he looks with disdain to those who are not powerful like him (Harry) or are powerful, but wasting their gifts (Peter). These actions, with maybe a touch of obsessive compulsive madness, are what drives him in my understanding of the character – not some sentient demon sins. I will be glad with this story idea goes away for a while. The other thing to consider here is that he still seems to be his nasty self when the sins enter Peter (which leads me to think this isn’t a Superior Spider-Man thing), so maybe this is more like a vampire thing now and the sins are contagious? Or maybe he is still the evil Norman he has always been, but now there is a separate sin entity running amok in the Marvel Universe. Sort of similar when there were “seeds” coming off of Venom making new and different symbiotes. This could explain why Kafka didn’t revert to herself once the sins were loose.
Geez. This makes my head hurt trying to wrap around it! What is the consensus here? Are the sins their own entity now or are they still a part of Norman. Can the Green Goblin exist as Norman if the sins are in someone else? I guess we could say that Norman is out there creating new sins.
As for why bring the spear to him, I would it is a Lord of the Rings thing. Like Boromir said – bringing the one thing the Dark Lord needs right to where he is is stupid, but it was the right thing to do. I guess bringing the spear to Norman was stupid, but Spider-Man felt it was the only way to stop this. Plus he clearly isn’t thinking straight after that Winkler Device and I think the assumption that we are supposed to make is that Norman implanted the idea into Peter in a manner that makes Peter think he is being subversive. But of course, I might be making the wrong assumption and maybe that Winkler Device setup will do something weird that Norman wasn’t anticipating. I was wrong once my freshman year in college and am quite aware I could be wrong again at some point in time.
Evan – You know, I did double check before posting that. I was 98% sure that “due” wasn’t acceptable here, but then I thought maybe it’s the British spelling or something like that. Of I humble thank you for the correction and have thus made appropriate changes in the above text. 🙂 I do proofread Cobwebs because I have more time, but usually after I spend 3-4 hours writing the review, I’m fried and feel like it I’ll take the hit to my ego in order to get it out in a somewhat timely manner. It was nice when Chi-Town was writing because he struggles with spelling “it”, so my mistakes looked so minor in comparison, but now that Craig is opposite me, well, I really need to just up my game.
As for the Hamlet allusion, anything for my favorite Crawlspace bibliophile and curse you for even uttering the “He’ll probably come back next issue as a mutant” line. I hate muties. 🙂
@Dark Lord Alford — I saw that “make due” typo in the preview, and my first thought was, “Huh. I guess I have been misspelling that phrase my entire life.” I guess that says something for my level of self-confidence and how I face the world…but humility is endearing, right? Right?
Here’s a typo correction request for you: You have “…the real even is happening down that hole,” instead of “event.” There, I’ve done my part.
I greatly appreciate that Hamlet reference. It made me laugh.
Don’t worry, I’m sure Rek-rap isn’t dead. He’ll probably come back next issue as a mutant.
I think the point with the company switching is just so Norman can have his company in the body of Peter.
A superior spider man plan
Though I’m extremely confused why Peter brought the spear to GG considering he asked for it. Like he assumed that he wanted him to destroy it but that’s not what he asked him to do
Also it’s it’s weird the sims are now sentient considering the first arc they very much weren’t and were just an extension of Peter.
Like if the sins have a mind of their own why did they go after MJ? Why would they care?
@Steve and @Michael
Steve – Don’t lose faith, my brother. I pray too. So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. I made those words of wisdom up just now. Completely didn’t steal it from, say Tolkien or anyone.
I serious think that to see the change we want to see, we need to rehaul the entire Spider-Office. We could get a top writer like Jed MacKay in, but if he is hampered by editorial, marketing, etc., it won’t matter. Note I said hampered and not guided. A good editor is there to protect the IP while also assisting in developing the writer’s creativity. We haven’t had that for a long time. There has to be a balance between the financial bottom line and what is good story telling.
Michael – I think it is great that Doug is being used again. I like to see old side character return, but that caption box – what the heck? Granted, you don’t have much space, but there was not much there to actually guide my thought process with it. I vaguely remembered the event and since it had no real bearing on the events in the issue, it just left me scratching my head.
I didn’t get that the Doug in this story was supposed to be the Doug from the previous Beyond story. Did anyone? They really should have made that clearer when Doug was reintroduced. Especially since Doug is ALSO working for the Taskmaster in the current Deadpool arc.
My guess is that Doc Ock WILL get his arms back in issue 54 or 55 somehow. But we’ll see.
I don’t think Peter attaching the Winkler device to the spear was part of Norman’s plan. My guess is that screws Norman’s plan up somehow. But we’ll see, again.
Kraven DID have a purpose but it was just to keep Kamala from chasing after Peter. The same thing could have been accomplished by having Kamala get knocked out.
Every 2 weeks I pray that amazing will be good again, every 2 weeks I am disappointed, please God fix this book, I don’t care how, just someone step in and put a stop to this, spider Man hasn’t been a street level character in years, demons, Mayan gods, other dimensions, time warps, body hopping, the list goes on….