NOTE: this issue will not be at my LCS until next week, so I had to make my own banner image combining Puddin’ and this issue. Flawless!
Spidey, now with magical powers, breaks into Dr. Strange’s Sanctum Santorum with the help of Black Cat and … Dr. Strange? The children of Cyttorak discuss how they will win this covenant! Oscorp is no more! Spidey fights a magical man-sized bug at a baseball field! All this plus … a demonic girl on a tricycle?
(This suit will definitely appear in the next Insomniac Spider-Man game.)
CREDITS
Writer: Joe Kelly
Penciler: Ed McGuinness
Inkers: Cliff Rathburn, Mark Farmer & Wade Von Grawbadger
Colorists: Marcio Menyz & Erick Arciniega
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
PREVIOUSLY IN AMAZING SPIDER-MAN …
Joe Kelly started his run (2) with Spider-Man being chosen by Dr. Doom, Sorcerer Supreme, to help him. Spidey refuses and spends time with Aunt May, Randy and Shay to remind the readers of what a loser he is. After an obligatory appearance by Spider-Boy (to remind anyone not reading that book that this character does exist) Spidey is attacked by Cyntros. Realizing that this is the task Doom asked him about, Spidey accepts Doom’s offer and becomes “Earth’s new champion in the Covenant of Cyttorak”, along with a new suit, a cloak, and 8 magic reeds that will bring him back to life after being killed. Spidey wins but is killed. But don’t worry, he gets better – he shows Phil Coulson (who is Death now?) one of the 8 reeds and is brought back to life, just as Dr. Strange’s astral projection appears and tells Spidey that he’ll have to defeat the remaining scions of Cytorrak, likely dying 7 more times.
SUMMARY
Peter is taking a shower as he remembers being killed – painfully – in the previous issue.
Later Spider-Man is breaking into the Sanctum Santorum with the help of the astral projection of Dr. Strange and the Black Cat. They steal a magic book, which Spidey plans to read to increase his magical powers. Black Cat leaves, allowing Strange to tell Spidey that this covenant is rigged in Cytorrak’s favor and he will likely die 7 more times.
(I see what you did with the graffiti there, McGuinness. Stop that.)
Meanwhile, in the Crimson Cosmos, Morlun and the Inheritors the Scions of Cytorrak stand around and argue about who will fight Doom’s chosen champion.
(These are our villains for this story? Oh, boy.)
Back in Peter’s apartment, he’s reading the stolen book while Norman Osborn, who doesn’t want to have anything to do with this magical stuff, tells him that he’s shut down Oscorp and plans to start over.
(Someone should remind Norman that he once participated in a magic ceremony called “The Gathering of Five”.)
Peter realizes he’s late to meet May and leaves, and is instantly transported to Citi Field(3) , appearing in his Magic-Spider outfit, to battle Cyperion, who claims that if Spidey can touch him once then he will be conquered.
(I know nothing about them, but Cyperion looks like a Micronaut to me.)
They fight, but Spidey realizes that Cyperion has the ability to transport him/parts of him to “the infinitely divisible space between us”. While shrinking into the sub-atomic realm, Spidey uses magic and science to grow to an infinite size and stretch across the entire universe and back again to touch Cyperion, killing himself in the process, using up another reed.
(“Oh My God! You killed Spider-Man! You bastards! (pause) Anyway …”)
Later Peter is at a restaurant with Randy and Shay. Peter is not paying attention, especially when a little red girl with devil horns on a tricycle appears.
(Is the “TUFFY” on the tricycle a reference to something?)
TO BE CONTINUED!
INITIAL RESPONSE
Ok, I’m going to star this off by talking about Beyond (bet you didn’t see that coming).
Everyone remembers the Beyond arc, right? Spidey was critically injured, so while he recovered Ben Reilly took over as Spider-Man and he became the main character. I wasn’t reviewing ASM on the website during that story, but I was on the podcast a couple (?) of times to review some issues. I said at the time that I did not like the concept of Beyond, but it wasn’t fair when reviewing and grading an individual issue to say “I don’t like the idea of Beyond so that factors into this issue’s grade”.
I’m experiencing the same thing with The 8 Deaths of Spider-Man. As a story, I don’t like this. This is not a Spider-Man story I’m interested in. I’m not even sure it’s a Spider-Man story. Yes, Spidey has been involved in mystic stories before, but they are the exception, not the norm. Yes, Spidey has had new powers before – the Captain Universe powers during Acts of Vengeance – but even then he was still involved in *Spider-Man* stuff. This … this feels like Spidey has been placed in a Dr. Strange story.
But as I did with individual Beyond issues, I will try to review these issues as individual issues and not let my feelings on the overall story concept affect my review.
That being said … I did not like this issue. At all. I just don’t care about anything going on here. Even during the lows of the Zells run, I cared(4). But for this, I just don’t.
WHAT I LIKED
The art is nice. McGuinness is great as usual.
I will admit that I didn’t notice on my first read that Spidey has 6 arms here.
(Would have been nice to have Spidey mention having had 6 arms before here.)
While I don’t like what they’re actually doing, I do like that we are seeing supporting characters from the previous run – Norman, Randy and Shay. I assumed that during this story it would be entirely about this mystical story and we wouldn’t see any supporting characters continuing from the previous issues so it’s nice to see them appearing here.
I don’t like good-Norman, but I do like that they’re actually doing something with him here. Shutting down Oscorp is a big deal and should lead to something with him. I did like how he’s completely uninterested in this entire magic plot and is only interested in talking about Oscorp and himself.
Kevin.
(I’m rooting for these two crazy kids.)
I did not realize who Kevin was when I first read this issue, but when I skimmed the previous issue for my “Previously” section I realized that this is the guy that Spidey saves at the start of the previous issue. So for him to show up here – if only for one panel – was fun. This feels very Joe Kelly-ish. Now I’m hoping that Kevin shows up in every issue of T8DOSM.
(Just a reminder of who Kevin is from the previous issue.)
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
Sigh. I just don’t care about this story.
Peter died in the previous issue, and all we get is one panel of him thinking about it in the shower, and that’s it. This should be something traumatic. And that’s a HUGE problem with this story(5). It’s called “The 8 Deaths Of Spider-Man”. He has 8 magical reeds that will bring him back to life after he dies during this Covenant. This story is 8 issues(6). We know that Spidey is going die 6 more times, likely once in each issue. And we know that each time he dies he is going to defeat the enemy because he has to die in the next issue. So what’s the point in caring about the outcome of each issue? We know he’s going to die and come back. I was watching a reaction video to Deadpool and Wolverine this past week, and during the fight in the car, the reactor said “These guys are both virtually immortal so what is the point here?” And that’s what’s happening here. We know Spidey is going to die in each issue and come back to life, and he’s going to win each battle because he has to go onto the next issue … where he’ll die and come back to life again. Why should we care?
While it’s nice to see Black Cat again as a non-romantic ally, their dialogue here makes no sense. Felicia literally broke up with Spidey during the Zells run, and yet here she’s talking as if she wants a relationship with him and that he had broke up with her.
(“Why don’t you want to be in a relationship with me? Well yes, I did just break up with you …”)
We get introduced to the Scions of Cytorrak – the enemies for this story, and for the two pages where we see them sitting around arguing with each other, I was getting flashbacks to Morlun and the Inheritors during Spider-Verse. This is not a good thing. I didn’t care about the Inheritors, and I don’t care about these people.
Norman saying that he doesn’t believe in magic – he literally participated in a magic ceremony to give him great power. Also, his sins were recently taken away by a magic shotgun, and transported into Peter by a magic spear. Norman believes in magic.
The battle with Cyperion – again, I have no idea who this, so why should I care? Spidey does use some science together with magic, which is nice, but he literally dies here … again … and it’s like it happens off panel. This is only the second death of this story and it’s like the story itself is already bored with the idea of Spidey dying. The only thing that happens is that Peter’s eyes turn blue for a moment.
(“Don’t it make your brown eyes blue?” Ask your parents, kids.)
While it’s … “nice” that Shay is still here – if only that the book didn’t instantly forget about her – her only function seems to be to remind Peter about what a bad boyfriend he is. And why is Randy there with them? Are Randy and Shay friends? Do they even know each other? Since when? Are they a throuple? Honestly, that would be more interesting than what we’re getting here.
And while we’re talking about Randy, he’s appeared in two issues in this story and he’s acting like his fiancée’s father didn’t try to kill her and she didn’t leave the city, seemingly forever. This should be all he is thinking about, and yet if you skipped the Zells run and were just reading this you would have no idea this had just happened to him. It seems like he’s only here to remind us of how bad a friend/boyfriend Peter is.
(“Janice who?” Also, Shay’s hair by Randy’s face makes it look like he has a weird moustache/soul patch.)
WHAT THIS ISSUE MEANT OVERALL
It’s the second issue of this 8-part story and I’m already bored with the overall plot/concept. I know Spidey is going to die in every issue, and he will defeat each enemy because he has to go on to the next issue so he can die again. What is the point? Why should I care?
Come on, Kelly – prove me wrong. Make me care about this story.
GRADE
D
If you couldn’t already tell, I really didn’t like this issue. It’s not that it’s bad (it is, but not objectively bad like some of the Zells stories were) but I just don’t care, which is a really bad thing for a comic book. At least during some of the bad Zells stories I still cared (a bit) about the stories and characters. But here – for this issue and the overall story, I don’t. This just isn’t a Spider-Man story. Why okayed this?
NEXT TIME, IN AN ALL-NEW ISSUE OF AMAZING SPIDER-MAN …
Spider-Man dies! Again! Good luck to the new reviewer. Hopefully we have someone on the job by then.
FOOTNOTES
(1) Actual issue titles? Have I time-travelled back to the 1990s?
(2) “Run” is generous. This is an 8-issue story and then Kelly is gone. And he’s not actually writing every issue. This is basically a limited series that has been shoved into ASM.
(3) I assume this is where this happens. I know that Citi Field is an actual baseball field in New York, but surprisingly my baseball knowledge is what I get from pop culture, not actual sports knowledge.
(4) I mean, not a lot, but at least a little bit. More than I did here.
(5) I know I said I was going to try not to let my thoughts on the overall story factor into my review of this issue. I am failing already.
(6) Is this correct? I thought I heard this story was 8 issues, which would make sense from the title.
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@Ryan:
The more I hear about Cytorrak and his scions the more they sound like the Inheritors – a bunch of spoiled kids sitting around in another dimension arguing about who is going to “win” and take over for their father. In my opinion, this shouldn’t have been in a Spider-Man story then, and it shouldn’t be in one now.
@Aqu@:
“Good point about Norman’s previous rites, I read it so braindead that I forgot that.” If it wasn’t for TGOF or Norman’s Sins then him saying that he doesn’t believe in magic would make complete sense and be (in my opinion) completely in character for him. That just shows how badly those two stories were added to Norman’s character. He should be someone who doesn’t believe in magic at all.
I haven’t seen any previews but I also assume that in the penultimate issue Spidey will die twice and he’ll realize that he has to fight one last enemy who will kill him, but this time he can’t come back to life. Or something like that.
You’re right about Ben, this should be something that Peter thinks about. The whole dying thing here should be a *huge* deal for him, but apart from a couple of panels it’s like it never happened and hasn’t affected Peter at all. Maybe after a few more times it will affect him more, but I doubt it.
Kelly seems to be good about little details in the background.
I was so busy that I got to read the last two issues only recently one after the other, so I recognized Kevin no problem.
The story is garbage. Period.
I’m not against magic in Spidey’s book, but it really feels badly put together. Even Kelly doesn’t seem to bother writing it all.
Good point about Norman’s previous rites, I read it so braindead that I forgot that.
BTW, don’t worry about the 8 death = 8 enemies, because it’s basically guaranteed that as a “twist” Spidey will lose at least one life too many against one of them, being then cornered against the last enemy. It’s a twist so basic that you can see it coming, so much so that I think it was spoiled in the preview.
I know it won’t happen, because nobody in the office cares enough, but this would be the right time to tie all together with the s*°t they did to Ben: Peter dying over and over again here causes his soul to crack like it happened to Ben, whose soul had then shattered completely for one death too many (and no, that wasn’t fixed by Ock’s cloning, it made no sense then and it should be clear by now), causing him to behave erratically even before the mind-wipe. So the two embark on a (brief) mystical quest to heal Peter’s soul and restore Ben’s, returning him to his hero’s status. Problem solved, everyone is happy, the end.
The only good thing in this issue (or was it the previous one?) is the panel showing Peter’s footprints on his apartment’s ceiling: I mean, if you keep walking on it barefoot, it may leave a stain. Neat detail!
I’m still trying to figure out how the Scions of Cytorrak are any different than the Inheritors.
@Hornacek
There has been mention of children but never seen until now. So they are original to the story. Also I believe it was back in the 70s that Dr Strange said there were certain rules how these deities could manifest on Earth. Hence Juggernaut and 20 years later the various Exemplars. Kurt Busiek said he really researched to make sure outside of Cain Marko there weren’t any other versions running around. Also how there could be variations if Juggernaut by different hosts. It’s funny how all the other Exemplars have been constantly ignored but everyone goes back to Cyttrock and Wattom when as it’s been established since the 60s there are much more of those chaos gods out there. But it’s nostalgic writing that goes back to the well. I mean if you look at this story. Daddy Cyt is basically sitting on his throne going: “argue and do stupid things my children I’m waiting for this story to end.”
@Ryan:
I know nothing about Cytorrak except that he has a jem/jewell that gave Juggernaut his powers. Are his scions/children/whatever an invention of this story or did they already exist?
I really didn’t have anything to say about how they looked except the one that Spidey fought – I have no idea why “Micronaut” jumped into my head when I first saw him fighting Spidey, that’s probably 100% wrong, and my apologies to Micronauts fans out there.
In fact, his look actually reminds me Roberto, the insane robot on Futurama that is often committing crimes.
I also don’t want to sound like a jerk to Ed McGuniess but the designs for the children of Cytarrak. Really aren’t ground breaking. Least not how Kirby and Ditko or even Gene Colon would design these long time characters. Sure they are all new but you kind of see them as: “well I tried with the designs to look like the children of a long time MU god.” Verses how you saw George Perez designed the Examplars of the same characters in the late 90s. They felt more natural of the old Marvel Universe deities.
@André L. Santana:
Yeah, this definitely feels like a satellite title. Or a limited series.
Anyone remember “Marvel Comics Presents”? A weekly book with 4 different stories in it starring 4 different characters? You only had ~8 pages for each story in each issue, and they would usually be characters without their own book. This story feels like it would fit in that title perfectly – Spidey getting magic powers and having a magical adventure.
As I was reading your review, I asked myself three or four times if this was a Spider-Man story that took place in his main title.
Unbelievable.
@Evan Berry:
I figured the “TUFFY” was a reference to something. I’ve been looking at signs in the background in Kelly’s issues – he seems to like putting things in there.
The fact that The Scions of Cyttorak are just hanging around some other dimension talking about the evil things they’ll do just screamed “Morlun and the Inheritors” to me.
“Happy belated Thanksgiving to everyone, and especially to Craig, who celebrated six weeks ago.” I think you mean “American Thanksgiving”, as it is more accurately called. “Thanksgiving” is an original Canadian holiday. 🙂
That Spider-man keychain was a stocking stuffer I got at Christmas years ago. Someone just painted half of a golf ball and put in on a keychain.
@Ryan:
Great minds think alike!
It would be fun if due to the Goblin sins being permanently removed Norman would be forgetting about all of the evil things he did as the Goblin, and Peter kept trying to remind him. “No really, you *do* believe in magic! You participated in a magic ceremony years ago to gain ultimate power.” “Peter, that doesn’t sound like me at all. I think you’re mixing me up with someone else.”
@Dark Mark:
Yeah, the supporting cast appearing is a plus, but not what they’re doing. What is Randy *doing* right now? We have no idea. Same with Shay – what is going on with her? We don’t know. If this was the Tom DeFalco/Roger Stern era most/all of the supporting cast would have their own subplots independent of the main story, and they would usually be interesting. That time is long gone though.
From how I remember it, when Spidey got the Captain Universe Powers he only got a small portion of them – he didn’t get the full powerset until the finale of AoV. And even still, he was not instantly good at using these new powers. He made mistakes, he overcompensated, etc. He had to learn how to use them. But with this magic here, he’s instantly good at all of it.
Yeah, there being “8 deaths” in the title and Spidey having 8 reeds and knowing that there are 8 enemies/challenges really takes any sense of wonder or “unknowning” out of it. Kelly could still surprise me, but after these first two issues, I’m not counting on it.
@Hornacek – After Mark’s comment below, the only addition I’d like to make is that “Tuffy” on the little demon girl’s tricycle is a reference to the Huffy brand (akin to “Starducks” in Ultimate Spider-man). I think when I was little my bike was a Huffy: https://www.huffy.com/huffy-bikes-130/
The Scions of Cyttorak hanging around like the Inheritors and speaking of proving who’s worthy to rule somehow reminds me of King Lear’s daughters, though somehow I doubt that comparison can stretched much beyond that single line.
Since Ben Reilly has essentially died 26 times (or was it 27?), you’d think that this series would maybe give Peter and him something to bond over or at least compare notes on, but I guess Ben was made a villain again not too long ago, so nevermind.
Happy belated Thanksgiving to everyone, and especially to Craig, who celebrated six weeks ago.
Excellent banner with Puddin’, by the way! She even has a Spider-man keychain.
You really hit the marks on what I’m planning on my review later. I will admit having supporting cast members show up and actually you know… talk. Is something nice for a change, but sadly about Peter “you are an idiot” sadly. The Norman thing was me just going: “Oh no, not this crap again after years and years of the character being directly involved in what they say they don’t believe in.”
My thoughts exactly – you nailed everything I felt with this book from Norman’s ridiculous magic comment to Randy’s new mustache. However, while I did figure Kevin must be someone, I did not feel the need to look it up and I completely forgot the Kevin incident from last issue.
The pros are certainly the inclusion of the supporting cast. This is so unexpected. I figured Peter would be all magic all the time and we may pick up the supporting cast with the next guy, but this is a pleasant surprise. You are spot on about how Shay only seems to serve as a reminder that Peter is a bad boyfriend. She must be desperate. It feels very Deb Whitman-esque. There were many Spider-Man books at the time and no writer felt invested in her, so they kept showing Peter ditching her on a date to turn into Spider-Man, which eventually someone turned into a plot point for her character. Randy too seems only to show that Peter is a jerk friend. The inclusion of these characters is great. However, they only seem to have a life when Peter is around. Sometimes you get supporting characters who seem to have their own lives when not on the panel, but we don’t have that feeling with these guys. To be fair, Kelly is doing a limited series, so the fact that he is bothering with them at all tells me he has potential to be a great writer.
The biggest con with this is the magic – and that’s not just because I don’t like cosmic or magic stories – is that Spider-Man is practically on par with Dr. Strange here. So he gets a spell or magic suit and can now understand all the magic stuff out there? It kind of cheapens the whole magic-mastery discipline, doesn’t it? What would be awesome is if Spider-Man had to defeat these guys without super magic? And what if he had to defeat nine creatures, but only had eight reeds with the full expectation from Doom is that he won’t need to waste the ninth reed since the ninth creature would be defeated. At least that would put something up for stakes.
Oh well. Enjoyed the review! A good read the morning after stuffing myself silly the American way!
Yeah, the next 4 (?) reviews feel like it’ll be more of the same of what I wrote here. Prove me wrong, Kelly. Please.
I don’t envy you at all that you have to review this book. I remember reviewing the beyond bs and that wasn’t fun at all. This..seems like the same thing. Wells run was worse than the Beond run though.
Citi Field is where The New York Mets play. Peter Parker’s favorite baseball team. It replace Shea Stadium in 2009, and before that Spidey got married to Mary Jane in 1987 there. There’s pictures and videos of it everywhere of the event but “don’t tell C. B. Cebulski that. Har Har Har”