The Rek-Rap Limbo-Noir mystery thriller is continuing. Will we find out who the newsboy-cap-wearing/evil-tree-demon is? How does he know Peter? And more importantly, will Deb Whitman make a triumphant return in this issue? Folks, you’ll just have to keep reading to find out!
Credit Where Credit Is Due
Story Title: What Do You Get When You Don’t Pay Your Exorcist Bill?
Writer: Zeb Wells
Pencils: Ed McGuinness
Inkers: Mark Farmer, Wade Von Grawbadger (sounds like a demon from limbo), and Ed McGuinness
Colorist: Marco Menyz and Erick Arcinega
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramanga
Cover Artists: John Romita, Jr, Scott Hanna, and Marco Menyz
Asst. Editor: Kaeden McGahey
Editor: Nick Lowe
Remedial ASM 101
Rek-Rap and his demon buddies/enemies are causing a bit too much chaos in New York. Mayor Luke Cage wants them out and Ambassador Pryor of the Limbo embassy is tasked with making it happen. Her demon repo tree may just have some conflicts of interests from his past life, though, and when Spider-Man saves Rek-Rap from his demonic tree-maw, it may just cause him more problems than he was thinking he’d get from the ordeal.
The Story – Pay Attention, This Will Be on the Test
Randy, in his all-consuming quest to end super crime in New York despite his fiance and future father-in-law falling into that category, has come to bang on Peter’s door to ask for Peter to get in touch with his friend “who crawls on walls”. Unfortunately for Randy, Peter is not there. Doubly unfortunate for Randy is that the Repossessor IS there. Triply unfortunate for Randy is that the Repossessor (and if this isn’t the actual name for him, what a wasted opportunity) remembers that Peter owes him and decides to take Randy as “collateral”.
Meanwhile, Rek-Rap regales Peter of the time he took on Kraken the Hunter only to have a small man appear, develop a giant mouth, and eat him. He then goes on to say how this happened several other times too. He only stops when they are interrupted by Norman Osborn coming in and kicking them out of Oscorp in an effort to maintain some sort of safety for all of the other innocent employees working there at this time.
Interlude: There is going to be a gang war and the one who is pulling the strings for the Maggia is none other than COUNT NEFARIA (yeah, I wasn’t too thrilled either).
Spider-Man is mean to Rek-Rap, makes him cry, and then leaves him in the alley where the Repossessor finds him, swallows him, and sends him to Limbo’s limbo. When Peter gets home, he discovers that Randy has been kidnapped, realizes he needs Rek-Rap, and goes to find him only to be caught by the Repossessor and promptly swallowed (well, mostly).
What Passed and Failed
PASS – Kraken the Hunter – Do I really need to explain why this is a pass? Almost gave the issue an A just for that.
Now, I hold the Spider-Ham universe in high esteem and they have come up with some awesome animal names for Marvel villains, such as Ducktor Doom, Doctor Octopussy Cat, the Green Gobbler, Baron Zebro, and the Bee-Yonder, just to name a few, Raven the Hunter is not bad and is a better rhyme, but give me Kraken the Hunter any day!
FAIL – Count Nefaria – I don’t care enough about him to want him involved in Gang War. Maybe when I learn more, I’ll be more hip on him. Fine! You talked me into researching more about him and the Maggia. I’ll put my findings below.
PASS – Supporting Cast Members – One thing we have been missing for a while is a solid supporting cast. I even love it when they have their own story arcs that have nothing to do with Spider-Man. While I wouldn’t have picked Randy to be the supporting cast to pursue deeper, I don’t mind it and am glad to see he is having his own story being told.
FAIL – Pacing – more on this later
OOTI (Onomatopoeia of the Issue)
On a scale of 1 (POW) to 10 (BLRKBQRKPQRBLNB), ZHHHZAAAR rates a solid 9. It’s pleasing to say out loud. Go ahead! Do it and don’t bother telling others within earshot why you are doing so.
Analysis
Rek-Rap’s Kraken Story – This was by far the best part of the issue. For one, the colorist did an outstanding job making this feel like and older comic. Also, the writing of it felt very What The…?! And it gave me something to go down a rabbit hole of research on. So, allow me to reveal my new-found knowledge. It all stems from this series of panels right after Kraken the Hunter reveals his plans to marry Rek-Rap alive:
The strength of tuna…. Well, now I’ve got to know just how strong tuna are! Sadly, there is no data on how much a tuna can bench press, but I did find out that they are some of the toughest fighters when it comes to reeling them in. If you go for lesser tuna (like yellowfin), you may be able to get away with fishing line that has a 40 pound breaking limit. However, some of the bigger tuna (like bluefin) will take anywhere from 130 to 200 lbs breaking limit. So, let’s say a massive tuna can break a 150 lbs line. What does that mean? That means that one tuna can pull so hard that a line designed to hold up to 150 lbs will break. Now, you may say that this doesn’t sound like a lot, so let me direct you to National Geographic who feels like this is so impressive that they gave tuna-catching its own show (Wicked Tuna). But, you may say, isn’t that the same channel that created Rocket City Rednecks? And to that I say, well, yes. But my argument isn’t invalidated by that as I want to point out that when a tuna pulls so hard that it can break a 150 lbs fishing line, it is generating over 150 lbs of pressure with no leverage. That’s the kicker! So, maybe having the strength of 13 tuna isn’t something to sneeze at after all.
Poor Rek-Rap. His idol pretty much told him to go to hell. That’s just uncalled for, Peter!
Gang War – So the Maggia is spearheading this gang war and we find out that it is being led by Count Nefaria. What you may not know is that the first time the term “Maggia” is used is way back in Avengers #13 and in that issue, the Maggia is being led by Count Nefaria and he couldn’t even steal some furs because the Avengers came in to save the day (well, not for the cute little animals that were already killed, but for the purveyors of said cute little animals). Well, armed with that knowledge, I am now a little more inclined to accept his appearance in this story.
It isn’t until a little later, in Amazing Spider-Man #73, that Silvermane is introduced as the leader of the Maggia. Despite this connection to Stan Lee writing, I must say that the inclusion of Count Nefaria does not instill me with hope for the upcoming arc. I liked the idea of the Gang War because I wanted more street-level story-telling, and maybe it still will be, but it doesn’t feel like it from this. I do agree with Michael (I’m pretty sure it was Michael in the comments) who thinks that Madame Masque is not dead and that she and Tombstone are in this together.. The introduction of the Count does not dissuade me from that notion.
The Repossessor – I tell you, I stopped thinking about Gus long ago. I never liked his character and I was more than happy to see him just disappear. For those of you who immediately spotted that newsboy hat and thought of Gus, then kudos to you. I just put it out of my head and even with this issue, which makes it obvious that this is Gus, I probably would have just ignored it all. That’s a problem for me as a reviewer and reader of Amazing Spider-Man – this arc seems to be about the mystery of the identity of the Repossessor and I just don’t care enough.
This arc – You might be saying, “Dark Mark, this feels more like a Cobwebs article than a review,” and to that I would like to say, “The Cobwebs articles are more entertaining than this.” But, the spirit of your remark would be that I didn’t really focus on this issue and instead went off on tangents about tuna (and I could give you so much more – my rabbit hole went deep, my friends) and old Avengers comics and that is because in my humble opinion, the story itself is not entertaining. Rek-Rap is funny when done well (for those of you who can ignore that his origin story is from Dark Web and not hold it against him). But even for me, a Rek-Rap fan, I need him in small doses. A one-and-done or backup story is perfect for him. This is a three-issue arc and he just cannot sustain that level of interest for me. Plus, this issue went nowhere slowly, which was disappointing for me since I thoroughly enjoyed the last issue.
Final Grade
I like Rek-Rap in small doses. He’s great for a one shot. With nothing really happening here and having him in the last issue, this feels like we are stretching out the story longer than it needs to be.
D+
What’s Next?
GANG WAR: FIRST STRIKE! Can Spider-Man and Rek-Rap both survive the repulsive REPO?! THE LAST ISSUE BEFORE GANG WAR!
Gang War is coming! Yeah, coming like a three-legged turtle. Are they pushing Gang War so hard because they are just excited about that story or because they can’t think of anything to say exciting about this issue? Regardless, Craiq and his cat will get you through that one and I get to start in on Gang War! Ha! Take that, Hornacek!
6,146 days since Deb Whitman was in an issue of a Spider-Man title.
‘Nuff Said!
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Listen Notes
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“I suspect this is another case of Chi-Town sneaking onto the staff page and inserting errors to make me look bad. He’s a tricky one, that rapscallion.”
I NEVER feel the need to make you look bad, Mark. You do that all on your own.
Norman Osborn is the MVP of this issue. He is saying what the readers are saying: “Get this Rek-Rap out of my office/story!”
@hornacek — If it makes you feel any better, until this review I thought Count Nefaria was a woman.
@Mark — See? You have at least one person who appreciates your in-depth character biographies and analyses. You’ve demonstrated once again that a review can be infinitely more entertaining than to book itself (even if not as entertaining as Cobwebs 😉 ). If Count Nefaria has a skull on his cane, he must be evil!
That’s some nice onomatopoeia right there, by the way. The increasing size and rotating angle of the letters, as well, as their contour, add to the effect. I said it out loud quite enthusiastically, but I think by now my coworkers are used to weird noises coming out of my mouth. They pretty much ignore me at this point.
Also, are we supposed to laugh at Rek-Rap’s crying? It makes me sad.
I want Shocker to show up in a large version of the car that Silvermane’s head drove around in.
@Hornacek – “Who will appear next issue to make use believe that they are behind it all, not Count Nefaria, Silvermane or Hammerhead?”. My guess – Shocker. I mean, according to Superior Foes, he was head of the Maggia for a spell, right? I’m going all in on Shocker being the brains behind this all!
I got to the end of this issue and it felt like there were 4-6 pages missing. I thought for sure there was a backup story after it. Was there less pages in this issue, or was it just me?
I only made the hat connection for Gus/Repossessor during last issue’s review because when I Googled “Marvel Gus Debt Collector” and the first search results was of a picture of him wearing that hat.
The only thing I know Count Nefaria from is that he is the villain in Uncanny X-Men 94 – the first appearance (in this series, not counting Giant Sized X-Men #1) of the new X-Men team.
Last issue we were made to believe that it was Silvermane who was behind the Gang War machinations, not Hammerhead. Now in this issue we’re made to believe that it’s Count Nefaria who’s behind it all, not Silvermane or Hammerhead. Who will appear next issue to make use believe that they are behind it all, not Count Nefaria, Silvermane or Hammerhead?
@Sthenurus, @Robin, and @Michael
Sthenurus – Thanks! I really enjoyed last issue, but this lacked pretty much everything that I liked about it. I enjoyed the Kraken part and then the rest just fizzled out for me. I sometimes wonder if this is the fault of a writer who doesn’t have a good handle on pacing or if the writer is under pressure from editorial to stretch out things for deadline and numbering requirements. I’m not dismissing the very real pressure of numbering for marketing purposes, but I feel that if this is the case, a good editor might be able to still tighten up story lines and allow for a filler issue here and there to bump up the numbers and timeline rather than one story dragging out too long.
Robin – You are correct – It should be Amazing Spider-Man #73. I fixed it and have no idea why I would have written it otherwise. I suspect this is another case of Chi-Town sneaking onto the staff page and inserting errors to make me look bad. He’s a tricky one, that rapscallion.
Michael – I am a clumsy oaf to say you said Tombstone instead of Hammerhead. The two momentarily merged in my mind as one character while I was reading this. I so want to get into this Gang War and I just can’t get the enthusiasm going for it. Your predictions do seem to be falling in place. It could be that Silvermane believes that is in good standing with the Count and relayed the Count’s order to kill Masque and believes that Hammerhead reports to him only and not the Count as well. Just not enough information so far to fully grasp it. Good point about Norman’s sins – went right past me. Just not on my game today. I will strive to be ready for the Gang War issue. Either that or I will have you shoot me the review and just publish it under my name! 🙂
@Mark- Yes, it was me who suggested that Masque was alive. I suggested that she and Hammerhead were in this together, not Tombstone. I don’t think that Nefaria is the main threat, though. I think Hammerhead and Masque are going to double cross Nefaria and they’re going to be the Final Bosses of the crossover.
The one thing that’s confusing is the details though. Last issue Silvermane said that Hammerhead proved his loyalty by killing Madame Masque. And this issue Nefaria said that he ordered Hammerhead to kill Madame Masque. I guess that Silvermane asked Hammerhead to kill Madame Masque as a demonstration of loyalty and Nefaria ordered Hammerhead to fake his daughter’s death? Or Nefaria was really willing to kill Madame Masque as part of his plan and that’s what made Masque and Hammerhead decide to double cross him?
Re Norman yelling at Peter: I think that’s a sign that Norman is starting to turn into the Green Goblin again now that his sins are back and Peter doesn’t realize it.
Agreed about the pacing- it’s obvious that the Repossessor was a serial killer when he was human but we don’t get any sense of the details this issue. Which means that next issue will probably feel rushed.
I think Amazing Fantasy #15 is an error
As always, great review. I give this issue and the entire story arc a c-. It’s boring, feels like it’s completely irrelevant to anything and is basically just filler.