Oh man! Spider-Man is certainly in a jam with having to hold that building up from crushing that mother and her children! I can’t wait to jump into this issue and see all the heroics involved! I wonder who he’s fighting? Who knocked over the building? How can he get out of that without getting crushed? Oh no! Is he going to get crushed? Could this be the end of our favorite web-slinging hero? Guys, let me read this thing and I’ll meet you below the credits so we can really get into all of it!
Credit Where Credit Is Due
Story Title: Love Is in the Air
Writer: Zeb Wells
Artist: Emilio Laiso
Colorist: Bryan Valenza
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramanga
Cover Artists: John Romita, Jr, Scott Hanna, and Marco Menyz
Asst. Editor: Kaeden McGahey
Assoc. Editor: Tom Groneman
Editor: Nick Lowe
Remedial ASM 101
All fresh start here. The sins of Norman are gone and really nothing left over from other storylines matter here with the exception that along the way, Peter met a girl from Ravencroft. Luckily, she works at Ravencroft and is not an inmate.
The Story – Pay Attention, This Will Be on the Test
Peter is late for a date. Is it with MJ? (No, she’s still with Paul.) Is it with Deb Whitman? (No, there is still some unfathomable bias against her in the Marvel office although we all know she is truly the one for Peter). Is it that lawyer that I can’t remember the name of? (No, she is… well, I don’t even know her name, so I have no idea what she is doing right now.) Is it Peter Parker’s dream girl Lisa Skye? (No, we (and Peter) aren’t that lucky to have her come back.) Turns out it is Shay Marken, the girl he met at Ravencroft after Aunt Anna hulked out from taking mutant drugs that MJ was selling. (How said is it that I just gave an accurate depiction of what happened in real Marvel current continuity?) She is not happy about him being late. They talk about what needs to happen if Peter is going to actually be a responsible person, but Peter ditches her when he sees Rhino and Screwball running in the streets, but thinks twice about it and instead lectures them as Peter Parker. It works and they stop and Peter goes back to kiss Shay while Screwball sets Rhino up on a dating app.
What Passed and What Failed
PASS – Screwball and Rhino – yeah, it was silly with their interaction, but it was funny and we needed a funny, low-stakes moment to balance the serious nature of the conversation/responsibility lecture/date. I know a lot of people hate Screwball, but I’ve never had a problem with her.
FAIL – The art – the superhero and super villains look just peachy, but the large requirement of this issue relied on faces and we really needed someone who could draw faces well, though that seems hard to find in a Spider-Man book lately.
PASS – A Peter Parker Centric story – It’s about time.
OOTI (Onomatopoeia of the Issue)
On a scale of 1 (POW) to 10 (BLRKBQRKPQRBLNB), SLAM! rates a 2.5. Typically a pedestrian sound such as this would rate no more than a 1, but I gave it an extra .5 for the exclamation point and another full point for it drawing attention to the word EMERGENCY on the door, which I thought was a nice touch from the artist showing Peter was going out to handle an emergency. Why did I pick such a lowly sound to highlight in this review? Because it is the ONLY onomatopoeia in the whole issue. Of all things Spencer for Wells to channel, he picks this quiet art? Geez!
Analysis
This felt so short! When I hit the final page, I assumed there must be a back up story or something, but I turned the page and found to my surprise the letters pages.
However, I did not hate this (rather enjoyed it mostly) and I feel like there is merit to this story, if not with a few caveats.
Peter arriving late, with a black eye, and missing shoes is a good start to showing how utterly loserish he has been for quite a while now. I know he has always had that Parker luck thing going and plenty of times when his time as Spider-Man, but I don’t think I’m alone when I feel that before, Peter’s bad luck made you feel bad for him, even when you could see that there were steps for him to take that probably could have avoided this. Now, though, it feels more like Peter’s “Parker Luck” just makes him into the joke and our protagonist is a moron. Shay calls him on it. She becomes the stand in for the reader in this case and points out, for all intents and purposes, that by focusing on his Spider-Man responsibilities (though she doesn’t know the Spider-Man part), he is being irresponsible to his Peter Parker self and those in his life’s orbit. This could be a key moment for the path of our hero. He has lost his way and he desperately needs help from someone who can remind him that he doesn’t need to give up being Spider-Man, but just as equally, he can’t give up on being Peter Parker either. That does not honor Uncle Ben’s memory.
This is the kind of talk Peter should have had long ago, though I feel that this would have been a better conversation between MJ and Peter – not because I am a it-must-always-be-MJ fan (Mainly because I know it will eventually come back to MJ – it is just inevitable). This works better because MJ can take this same conversation and frame it with the knowledge of his other responsibility.
I do have a problem with how it was resolved. I like that it was resolved for reasons I get into in a moment, but the method is questionable. He abandons her for his other “responsibility”. Instead of going after our insidious bad guys as Spider-Man, he goes after them as Peter. Don’t get me wrong, that was interesting, but what really is the difference between Peter stopping the bad guys and Spidey stopping the bad guys in the context of him committing to Shay or not?
I guess it doesn’t really matter in the context of the story, but it feels like Wells is showing that by abandoning his date and dealing with this as Peter Parker instead of Spider-Man he’s made some sort of turning point. Whatever the reason, I’m glad these are getting together until we can get MJ on board. This is a smart move by Wells. For one, Shay has great potential. Sure I don’t really feel any chemistry yet (largely because Peter has been mostly absent from this run), but a good writer can make that happen (and maybe we’ll get one soon enough). With her job at Ravencroft, we can get a chance where she will be in danger and it won’t be Peter’s fault, but he can rescue her anyway. Also, if this relationship has legs, it will eventually progress to her knowledge of him being Spider-Man. This can have one of two outcomes. The positive spin would be that she sees them working in tandem to help these criminals while keeping others safe. The negative would be if she has seen too many of these criminals hurt by Spider-Man and has some serious issues with who he is. If that is the case, I see this starting off as a possible Gwen Stacy routine where she hates Spider-Man but loves Peter and so Peter has to keep his identity secret from her.
But the main reason this is a good move for Wells is that Shay is one of his creations. Too often when a writer creates new characters – especially supporting characters – the next writer just ignores them and goes in their own direction. Maybe this is because they have their own thoughts and ideas of what to cover or maybe it is out of a sort of respect to the original creator. Regardless, in this case, on his way out, Wells is setting up a romantic relationship with a supporting character of his creation. If he doesn’t blow it on his last few issues, the next writer will have to pick up with that relationship, thus increasing the likelihood that Well’s character could last longer than, say, Lonesome Pincus.
Lesson Planning
I thought I would take a moment to explain to you my head canon that pretty much explains all that has happened since the deal with Mephisto. In my mind, Mephisto cannot change history, so he instead merged another reality into 616. This reality is mostly like 616, but instead, Peter is an irresponsible prick and never got married. Our 616 Peter merged with him and he picks up his life right where he was when he woke up in Brand New Day. He is fully 616 Peter, but there are bits of this other Peter as well. The merge is incomplete and only needs sorting when events of the new 616 timeline hits snags that are different. This also affects Harry, which is why Harry can’t remember his son at times and has conflicting stories regarding his death or lack thereof that is still be sorted from the merge. This explains how the end of Spencer’s run is screwed up since it is sorting out as Kindred brings it to light. You know what, let’s let it make Amazing Grace make sense and in that other reality, Ben died in the hospital while Peter cursed God for His inactions. My theory explains all character flaws since Brand New Day.
Misleading Cover
What the heck? Now that would be a good story – he’s late because he was holding up a building to save a family and now he has to hear this from Shay. What does he do?
Extra Credit
What supporting character would you like to see become more active in the comic (besides MJ)? Or, tell me the story that goes with the cover!
Final Grade
Again, this setup in this issue has potential. There are certainly things that didn’t fully connect, but there are plenty of things that can be great and I think Shay could have lasting power if Wells will leave her in a dating relationship for the next writer to pick up. All in all, it was a hard task to write an entire comic almost exclusively two people talking, and Wells did a good job with it. Unfortunately, since we haven’t had a lot of time with Shay (or any supporting cast for that matter), it doesn’t give me a lot to talk about. But, with there being a love interest other than MJ, you know that Chi-Town is having a fit and ranting about editorial mandates, so that is a plus.
B-
What’s Next?
TOMBSTONE RETURNS IN A SPECIAL OVERSIZED LEGACY #950! The newest Kingpin of Crime will show his power to the other gangs of New York City by publicly killing Spider-Man. And of course the easiest way to get to Spidey is to kidnap… PETER PARKER?! On top of our oversized main adventure, this issue includes some new instant classic stories!
Oh good. New instant classic stories. Well, have at Craig. I wonder if Shay will even be mentioned in this issue. Bets any one?
‘Nuff Said!
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I liked this issue a lot and felt like it proved Wells is capable of writing Spider-Man but I just think this editorial initiative (whereever that leads/ends up) is part of what is really hurting the title for the last several years.
@Aqu- Supposedly Shay will be appearing in “the 8 Deaths of Spider-Man”. I’m not sure if she’s going to make any appearances after that, though.
Bit of a misspell: How sad is it that I just gave an accurate depiction[…]
Also, if I’m not mistaken, MJ wasn’t selling drugs, just advertising them.
I had no issues with the drawing of faces.
I liked the issue, but if we go a little deeper, there are things that don’t sit well with me.
I think that, as someone else already kinda pointed out, the meaning of not going out in costume was showing a sort of growth for Peter as a person. Facing them as Spider-man would have inevitably led to a waste of time in the form of chasing and fighting, while reasoning with them as a civilian, trying to estabilish an emotional connection, was the more mature thing to do. In short, Wells is trying to show us that violence is not the solution for every problem and that the Spider-man costume brings some kind of baggage that sometimes can complicate things instead of solving them.
Of course this only works for this specific kind of situation, as others have pointed out.
This is how I interpreted the scene, but then I remember that it’s Wells writing, so maybe I’m overthinking it.
As much as I cheer for our hero to succeed in life, the kiss took me by surprise and felt totally undeserved and out of place. I agree with the female friend of Shy-town here.
As to why Shay is even here and is so patient? I think she figured out Peter is a super-hero (and she likes him a lot, of course).
I imagine her thought bubbles just being a repeat playing of, “I can change him. I can change him. I can change him…”
…Or this. LOL Well, she IS a nurse, after all.
However I’m not expecting Shay will ever be used again after Wells (especially with the next storyline being “Spider-man does Doom’s dirty work and dies 8 times”… Sigh). I lost count of how many times the next writer just blatantly ignores the previous-writer-introduced characters or status quo. Like, not changing them, just straight ignoring them as if they never happened to do their own thing. So, not holding my breath.
I think the reason Peter went outside in civilian clothes was because if he went out in his Spider-Man costume, they wouldn’t have listened to him- they would have attacked Spider-Man out of revenge.
Of course, Wells cheated by using two supervillains that were willing to listen to reason. The first time he left Shay, he had to save Betty from Kingsley goon’s who were trying to kill her. Now, Shay doesn’t know that, but the problem with the “Peter needs to balance his responsibilities argument” is that it’s a lot more difficult if someone is going to die if Peter doesn’t act.
I don’t know I feel like Shay is just here to give Peter an emotional moment to end Welks run on, but he kind of chickened out a bit
As Peter still went and stopped the villian. Whether he does it in costume or not changed nothing. Like if the villians didn’t listen to them woukd he have let them go? So what changed
If Wells wanted to do this Peter should have just ignored them if Wells wanted this to be a message about Peter Parker being important
Also Peter Parker needing to be important was not a theme of the run so this came out of knowhere
@Sam and @Evan
Sam – I am right there with you . I do not mind Peter having relationships to explore stories you cannot explore with MJ with the knowledge that eventually it will come back to her. The fast pace hurts this and I think the fact that we really have had little to no Peter in these issues for a LONG time. (When is the last time Aunt May had an important role? Peter does at least mention that he has an aunt, so that’s progress.)
Evan – You understood the assignment! A+++++++++++++++++++++++!
Yeah, if Peter’s leaving Shay to stop super villains as himself instead of Spider-man is supposed to be an indication that he understood Shay’s insights, maybe Wells himself didn’t understand what Shay was trying to say. After all, whether he stops villains as himself or Spider-man, he’s still walking away from another obligation and, in his place, I think I’d rather have the freedom to swing around and shoot webs while doing so. At least in this way he could then, if he wanted to, explain his reasoning for leaving, which he can’t do if he was Spider-man at the time — though, to be fair, since nothing has stopped him from lying to protect his superhero alter-ego in the past anyway, I guess that doesn’t really matter. I guess Wells realized that he couldn’t find a way to write a story in which Peter Parker held up a collapsing building, so he abandoned that particular catastrophe and opted for Screwball and Rhino and dating apps instead.
I think the cover must be a holdover from an older, previously discarded story in which Paul, feeling increasingly emasculated and insignificant in the face of Mary Jane’s ever-abiding love for Peter, went crazy and blew up the building that he and Mary Jane were living in before making his escape. Spider-man then had to save her and the two kids from the collapse. After this harrowing event, Mary Jane realized what a jerk Paul was and, in a deeply revelatory moment, she tells Peter that she has always loved him and that the children are actually his. Peter proposes then and there, and Mary Jane opts for a summer wedding. Unfortunately, editorial got wind of this story and canceled it, but since the cover doesn’t rely on the ability to draw faces well, they decided to keep it and instead demanded that the colorist change the hair.
A while back, I remember thinking to myself, “Well, if we’re not going to have MJ, why don’t they go for a new, never-before-seen romantic partner?” It was worth a try anyway, but it suffers a lot with the fast-paced plot.
@Geiseric, @Chi-Town, and @Hornacek
Geiseric – One hundred percent agree, my friend. On the one hand I am thinking that this could be a good move for the story and give us some non-Spidey Peter for a change, but on the other, we know Wells is going out so we will either not see Shay again or they will break it off in these next few issues and it will all be for naught. I thought about mentioning that incredible patience she has with him, but time got the better of me. One way you could read it is that she is so desperate for a relationship that she is willing to put the time and effort into this loser. I imagine her thought bubbles just being a repeat playing of, “I can change him. I can change him. I can change him…”
Chi-Town – I don’t min this romance lasting as long as we need it to get to a writer and editor team that will do a Peter and MJ correctly. Spencer could have been that. He allowed MJ to have her own life and not just be there for when Peter needs someone. She’s a round character and so that brings in its own type of magic. Shay, as Geiseric points out, is a blank slate. Why is she putting the time in? I’m willing to give the next writer a chance to give us a reason to root for her for the time being. MJ needs to get her messed up story resolved before bringing Peter back into it. But, as odd as it feels to type these words, you’re not wrong here, buddy. Rant away.
Hornacek – Well, I meant “have at it”, but I do like the twist it took, so I’m not changing it. Be ready, friend, the readers are coming.
“Well, have at Craig”
Should this have been Well, have at it, Craig”? Or were you telling the readers to have at me?
You know for a fact that there is an editorial mandate on Peter/Mary Jane 616. Joe Quesada’s “swan song”. Not sure why he wants to be remembered as the guy that destroyed Spider-Man and your “Lesson Planning” pretty much confirms that.
Shay will play in to the next writer since the artist has been teasing her in the panels that he posts on Twitter. I do hope this “romance” is short lived. To quote a female friend of mine. “If a man shows up and asks for a kiss after he just left and came back begging for a win, I’m grabbing my purse and leaving with pepper spray in my hand.”
You are right, this scene works better with Mary Jane. Peter works better with Mary Jane under the right writer. I admire that you are giving Wells credit here as a writer focusing on Peter, but I’m sorry, this how run is just a Rek-Rap death fake-out bummer that is just a waste of time and money. Marvel can do better for 616 Spidey, they just chose not too.
I’m ranting and venting, I know. However, you do stick the landing with your reviews, pal. Keep it up.
I think the biggest problem this issue has is Shay is kind of a blank Slate. Like Peter talks her up but realistically all the time they have spent together is three dates that all have ended poorly
Like why is Shay even here? This is a guy she met 1 month ago and is showing a remarkable amount of patience.
It doesn’t help that we know the last arc is tombstone bullshit so Wells run is going to end with Shay doing nothing with her.
I don’t get why she at the very least wasn’t introduced early in the run, but this is how Wells writes romance, half assed