Craig’s Critique: Amazing Spider-Man #42 (Legacy #936): “Madame Masque Is Magic Now?” or “So long, The Fisks, Auf Wiedersehen, Good Night”

The gang war continues!  And I know what you’re saying … “Craig, I really enjoy these Gang War issues where Spidey barely appears, but I feel that in those issues he’s at least doing something.  Couldn’t we have an issue where Spidey barely appears and literally does nothing?”  Man, do I have an issue for you!

(This cover is lies⁽¹⁾.  Beetle is never in the same scene as Spidey and Tombstone, and he is never unconscious.  What are we doing here, Marvel?)

 

CREDITS

Writer:  Zeb Wells

Penciler:  John Romita Jr.

Inker:  Scott Hanna

Colorists:  Marcio Menyz

Letterer:  VC’s Joe Caramagna

Variant Cover Artists:  ME.  I DID A VARIANT COVER.  NOBODY READS THIS SECTION SO I CAN MAKE WHATEVER CLAIMS I WANT HERE.

 

PREVIOUSLY IN AMAZING SPIDER-MAN …

On a January morning, Peter Parker finishes his shower, comments on how he’s not looking any younger, puts on his wedding ring, and has breakfast with his wife, MJ, and two kids, Richard and May.  He goes to work at the Daily Bugle where his boss, Jonah, and the managing editor, his uncle Ben, are arguing about …

Sorry, my mistake.  That’s the “previously in Amazing Spider-Man” that we all wish was what was happening in this book.

The Kingpin, his wife (?) Typhoid Mary, and a bunch of Hellfire Club goons showed up at Tombstone’s apartment.  Kingpin and Tombstone couldn’t make nice, what with Typhoid flirting with Spidey (or was it She-Hulk?), and a brawl broke out.  Meanwhile Janice/Beetle, the Syndicate, and White Rabbit showed up at The Rose’s when Digger attacked them.  Madame Masque is making plans using Silvermane’s head as a paperweight.  Kingpin’s goons show up at The Rose’s and shoot at … someone.  Kingpin receives a call from his goons, interrupting his one-on-one with Tombstone, whom he tells “It’s over”.

 

SUMMARY

(If you think I’m going to list the differences in this map from the previous issue … then you’ve read my reviews before⁽²⁾.)

Kingpin tells Spidey, She-Hulk, and Tombstone that he made sure that his son’s battle with the Beetle resulted in his own desired conclusion.  Tombstone is enraged that Kingpin just admitted to killing Janice, but She-Hulk, being a good lawyer, says that Kingpin is being evasive and that there’s something he’s not telling them.

(What is happening with the look on Tombstone’s face?  Is She-Hulk grabbing his butt?)

At The Rose’s apartment/HQ we see that Digger was the one shot by Kingpin’s armored goons, not Beetle.  The goons leave with The Rose and give a phone to Janice, who talks to her father, telling him that she’s all right.  Kingpin tells everyone that he’s leaving them (and this event) now – he’s got a new life, wife and sons⁽³⁾, and he is no longer interested in gang wars.

(The most disturbing scene you’ll probably read in a comic this month.)

Before leaving, Kingpin tells them that this gang war was not an attack on the city but an attack on the Maggia, and that Madame Masque has claimed all of their power.  Spidey says that he thought she was dead.

(Madame Masque’s actual response to Spidey’s comment.)

Meanwhile the Syndicate is a bit worse for wear after their battle with Digger, and they all need time to recover.  But Beetle is eager to keep going, since they now have control of Harlem.  White Rabbit reminds her that Madame Masque will come after them, and that they’ll need every gang and weapon.  Cue Digger, who is not dead (how many times has this guy died?), who wonders where The Rose is.  Beetle tells him that he abandoned him, and White Rabbit offers him a job.

(“Hey, did I miss anything while I was dead again?”)

Madame Masque is “putting on her face” (literally) while Shotgun tells her that Beetle now has control of Harlem.  Suddenly Shotgun talks as if he’s coming out of a fog, saying that he was sent here to kill her and wonders what he’s doing here.  Masque chants something, strengthening her mind-control of him⁽⁴⁾, revealing that she has mastered the worlds of technology and magic, and that’s why Shotgun is working for her.

On the Upper East Side, Mayor Luke Cage is talking to Spidey on the phone about Madame Masque, who he’s heard has been working with A.I.M. agents left over from Crime-Master’s gang.  Spidey asks if he can join them, but Cage says that he’s busy at the office.

(At least he’s not wearing that ridiculous mask I saw him wearing in his own tie-in issue.)

In Harlem, Janice returns to her home/HQ.  While she’s plugging the latest Spider-Woman tie-in, she finds Madame Masque in her office.  She asks the rest of the Syndicate to leave, giving Electro⁽⁵⁾ a chance to plug the Jackpot tie-in.

Madame Masque and Janice have a “You think *your* childhood was rough with a criminal father?  Let me tell you how rough *my* childhood was!” competition.  After realizing that neither is giving up, they resolve to meet at Central Park at dawn to settle things.

(I was kind of hoping Zells was pulling a Kill Bill v2 here – setting up this big fight and them have the two of them immediately fight and it be over in seconds.)

Tombstone, Spidey and She-Hulk are on the roof – he’s worried that Janice will either lose this war to Madame Masque, or win it.  She-Hulk says it’s time to call in the reserves – good thing we’ve got a lot of tie-in books with many characters that can be brought back to the main story!  Spidey and She-Hulk leave to gather their forces, with Spidey saying that these gangs started a war against his city and shot his friend, and they’re about to have a very bad day.

(This is meant to be a big powerful moment, but I couldn’t stop looking at Spidey’s hands.  He’s either controlling marionettes or yelling “Surprise!” to someone.)

In Central Park, Madame Masque is there with Shotgun, Rabble (for whom Masque puts in a quick plug for Miles Morales’ tie-in), Silvermane (back in a full cyborg body), Count Nefaria, and a whole lot of beekeepers -er- A.I.M. agents.  Silvermane and Count Nefaria are sporting the same sigils that Masque put on Shotgun to control him, so they’re obviously mind-controlled too.

Janice is also there with the Syndicate, Digger (who’s all-in on working for them now), White Rabbit, and a whole lot of random thugs.  The two sides square off and rush at each other …

(“They make take our land, but they will never take … our freedom!”)

TO BE CONTINUED!

 

INITIAL RESPONSE

You know when you’re watching a serialized TV show, and you get near the end of the season, and right before you get to the finale, the penultimate episode is all about putting all the players in their places so they’ll be ready for the big finish? (a “place-setting episode” I think is what they call it)  That’s what this issue felt like to me (Lost would do this a lot in its penultimate episode every season).  There’s nothing wrong with doing this – it’s required when you need to have everyone ready for the big finish.  Some shows/stories can do these type of episodes well without calling attention to itself.  This issue didn’t do that for me.

 

WHAT I LIKED

I liked how Kingpin showed up in this story just long enough to get his son out of danger and take him away from all the Gang War shenanigans.  It feels like every gang war story I’ve read in Spidey over the years ends up with Kingpin taking control at the end (this may just be me Mandela Effect-ing myself – all I really remember from previous Gang War stories is Daredevil in a Kingpin fat suit).  So if this holds, I appreciate that for whatever personal reasons, he wants nothing to do with taking over the gangs now and is like “I’m out of here – you guys figure this out!”

I kind of like the Syndicate tricking Digger into thinking The Rose abandoned him, and him joining up with them because he literally has nowhere else to go.

Once again, Madame Masque continues to be the best part of this story.  I liked the scene of her and Shotgun where it’s revealed he was initially sent to kill her but she used magic/technology to mind-control him, which explains why he turned on Hammerhead and joined up with her.

Seriously though, someone please explain to me if this whole magic/mind control/sigil thing is part of Madame Masque’s history, or if this is something new.  This seems kind of late in the story to suddenly bring in magic as an explanation as to why certain people have been acting the way they have.

Also, what was going on with Madame Masque sandblasting her own face?  We’ve seen her without the mask when she was posing as Hammerhead’s girlfriend, so I assumed she had a normal face under that mask.  But this looks like it’s disfigured before she uses the sandblaster and puts the mask on. Again, someone more knowledgeable about the character please enlighten me if this is part of her character, and what she’s doing here.

(Kids, don’t try this at home.  Seriously.)

While I don’t like mentions of other tie-ins books in a story like this one, I felt that these were brief enough to just mention that other stuff is happening, and that if you didn’t read them you wouldn’t be lost by just reading this book.  This is the bare minimum I want when dealing with tie-ins, but we’re in a time when acknowledging the bare minimum when it’s done is required.

The Madame Masque/Janice meeting and conversation was something I didn’t expect to be such a big moment.  Going into this event I assumed that Tombstone and Hammerhead⁽⁶⁾ would be the main antagonists, not these two.  I did chuckle at each of them trying to explain how they had the worse upbringing by a criminal father.

White Rabbit continues to be the best part of any Janice/The Syndicate scenes.

(I need White Rabbit to be chewing gum and blowing bubbles in every panel.)

 

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

Again, Spidey is in this book but he’s not the main character.  He doesn’t do anything here.  He yells at the Kingpin, calls Luke Cage, and says it’s time to summon his team.  His biggest accomplishment is saying that he’s going to do something – gather the team for the battle coming next issue – and this will likely happen off-panel with the team already assembled in the next issue.

I like JRJR’s art, but something is off in parts of this issue.  There’s the surprised Tombstone panel I posted above, some of the shots of bloody Kingpin and Tombstone look weird, and some of the people in the background look like they weren’t finished being drawn.  Is this just me?

(Do the mind-control sigils cause characters to appear like this?)

Whatever is going on with Kingpin and Typhoid Mary, I want it to stop.  I don’t need to hear about it ever again.

The Beetle’s new costume bears mentioning in every issue it’s in.  I really hope this Gang War ends with Tombstone finally coming face-to-face with Janice and saying “That suit is ridiculous.  Get rid of it.  What were you thinking?”

The final 2-page panel of the gangs rushing towards each other in Central Park is supposed to be an epic moment getting you excited for the battle in the next issue, but it just made me laugh.  I’m just imagining all the other people in Central Park telling them to keep it down because they’re interfering with their pickleball matches ultimate frisbee games⁽⁷⁾.  Also, the sight of the gangs rushing towards each other made me think they were LARPers.

(This is what I assume all LARPers are like.)

Again, this *really* felt like a place-setting issue.  Some important stuff did happen, but none of it had to do with Spidey.  And it feels really obvious that anything really big is being held back for the final two issues instead of being included here.  You can do a place-setting issue and make it interesting and not obvious, but this wasn’t that for me.

 

WHAT THIS ISSUE MEANT OVERALL

Like I said, this issue was Zells putting all of the players into the positions they need to be in for the big final battle to end the whole story.  Which he did, so we’re ready for the next two issues.  But you can do a place-setting issue and still have things happening that are interesting.  This didn’t do that for me.  And not to beat a dead horse, but I like Spidey to do something of importance in his book.

 

GRADE

C-

I was close to knocking this down to a D+, but there is some interesting stuff in here, but none of it is done by Spider-Man.  This is an Amazing Spider-Man book and not only is he barely in it, but when he is he does nothing.  Like I said, you can do a place-setting issue/episode and have it be interesting, but this wasn’t it.

 

NEXT TIME, IN AN ALL-NEW ISSUE OF AMAZING SPIDER-MAN …

Once again, there’s no actual image of next issue’s cover so I had to use the updated checklist.  Only a couple more issues until there are no more checklists!

 

FOOTNOTES

(1)  Any excuse to show this GIF:

(2)  Differences in this map and the one from the previous issue:

• THE ROSE (northernmost one) is now BEETLE
• BIG BEN is now THE MENAGERIE
• THE ROSE (southwesternmost one) is now MADAME MASQUE
• MR. NEGATIVE (north-east part) is now MADAME MASQUE

(3)  Wait, what?  Sons as in plural?  Did Kingpin and Typhoid Mary have some kids?  Please tell me he adopted.  Or there is a long-lost son(s) that he never knew about that suddenly showed up recently.  I don’t want to think about current-Kingpin having a baby.

(4)  I’ve said in previous reviews that my knowledge of Madame Masque is basically this story, but this whole mind-control ability just came out of nowhere.  Was there any hint that she could do this in previous issues?  Or is this part of her character from way back?

(5)  I thought she was called “Electra” but according to the Marvel Wiki she’s “Electro”.  Was she ever called Electra?  Or a different version of “Electro” to differentiate her?

(6)  Where are you, Hammerhead?  Still beaten bloody in Madame Masque’s basement?  You were the star (and my favorite character) in the buildup to Gang War.  I’m still hoping you return in the final issue and reveal that all of this was part of your plan.

(7)  I’ve never been to Central Park so this is what I assume everyone does there.