Remember John Romita Junior? He was the guy who drew Amazing Spider-Man back when it was good. He’s back for “New Ways to Die,” a story that promises to take Spidey out of his Brand New Day bubble and into the wider Marvel Universe while also reintroducing a few classic bad guys. Does the first issue justify Marvel’s relentless hype and advertising? Read the full review to see what a broke undergraduate from Colorado thinks!
Oh, and leaving comments is sexy.
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #568
“Back With Vengeance” (Part 1 of “New Ways To Die”)
WRITER: Dan Slott
PENCILS: John Romita Jr.
INKS: Klaus Janson
COLORS: Dean White
PLOT:
Luckily for the guy who doesn’t know how Peter Parker became Spider-Man (or gal, no one knows this mythical individual’s gender for sure), issue #568 starts with a two-page recap of those events. Since modern myths aren’t prone to redundancy, I’ll reiterate it here, with the important words highlighted so you don’t get confused.
Peter Parker was a teenage nerd who got bit by a radioactive spider, which gives him powers. He uses his powers to gain fame and fortune. One day, he decides not to stop a burglar because he figures it isn’t his problem. BUT HOLY BABY JESUS THAT SAME GUY KILLS HIS UNCLE OH CRAAAAAAP!!!!! With great power comes great responsibility! So he becomes a super hero.
If it’s still hard to get straight, don’t worry. It took me five cartoons, countless comics, and a movie to get right. Repetition is the key to learning. That’s why Nick Jr. plays the same episode of Blue’s Clues every day for a week.
On to the actual story! Spidey thwarts an attack by Menace on a Bill Hollister campaign truck. The ensuring destruction exposes a nearby illegal sweat shop owned by Hollister’s opponent opponent for mayor, Randal Crowne. After some advice by Harry Osborn, mysteriously taking the phone call from a rooftop, Peter sells his photos to Ben Urich at Front Line, where Robbie Robertson also now works.
Norman Osborn agrees to endorse Randal Crowne if Crowne uses his political clout to bring the Thunderbolts to Manhattan. Meanwhile, Dexter Bennet, a Crowne supporter, sends Betty Brant to write a smear peace on Martin Li, the billionaire humanitarian (and closet mob boss) who owns the F.E.A.S.T. Center, the soup kitchen where Aunt May volunteers. At the F.E.A.S.T. Center, Betty sees Eddie Brock, the former Venom and current cancer patient, who has decided to spend his last days helping the homeless.
Peter returns to his apartment and finds Norman Osborn and the Thunderbolts inside waiting for him. To be continued.
Then there’s a ten page backup tale by Mark Waid and Adi Granov about Eddie Brock suddenly recovering from cancer. I wish they had condensed this into two or three lines of dialogue and worked it into the main story, but then Marvel couldn’t have justified charging $4 for this extra-long comic. Commerce trounces art yet again.
THOUGHTS:
Dan Slott earns props for wielding most of Spider-Man’s recent history yet still making it cohesive and accessible. New Ways to Die draws from Civil War, Thunderbolts, The Last Temptation of Eddie Brock, One More Day, and nearly all of the subplots and characters from Brand New Day, making it exactly the kind of story readers of serial fiction want to see: one that’s constantly building on and adding to what came before. One of the new creative team’s cardinal sins was their failure, until now, to write adventures that couldn’t have happened at any other time in the character’s history.
The second cardinal sin, Peter’s portrayal as a loser, improves somewhat. Front Liner Pete is less pathetic than unemployed Pete, but it has to develop into something more than the freelance gig we’ve seen before. Peter Parker needs a career, not a job. Photography was a job for Peter, never a passion, and always something to supplement what he was really doing with his life, like working toward a degree or teaching. The creators and editors claim they want to make ASM the story of Peter Parker again, but so far that’s been the story of a man with no apparent goals or ambitions beyond subsistence. That does no justice to the journey from a high school student to a college student, a graduate student, and a teacher our hero has taken.
The third and final of the Brain Trust’s cardinal sins is their refusal to fill the logic holes regarding Peter’s secret identity, but I’ll get to that cluster f*** in my next review.
As a political science student with campaign experience, I enjoy it when comics fall into my area of expertise. The roll of the media in politics warrants exploration, and it’s topical. Spider-Man is unique in that he lets writers tackle these issues from an “everyman” perspective, so we can see their impact at the ground level. There’s a great tradition of that, from Stan Lee addressing Vietnam, drugs, and racism to Straczynski tackling education, poverty, terrorism, and civil liberties. If Slott can make New Ways to Die half as meaningful, then he’ll be a step closer to earning his place in Spiderdom’s upper echelon.
Or he could give me a kickass Spider-Man vs Bullseye fight. I’ll be happy either way.
RATING:
3.5 webheads out of 5. This is one small step in a good direction, but Spider-Man needs a giant leap. It’s too early to tell if New Ways To Die can save this sinking ship.
REVIEWED BY: CrazyChris
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Menance just appears to be a poor mans demongoblin. Infact most of the new characters introduced thus far have been forgettable. There’s such a rich history of Spidey universe villainry that’s just rotting away in the archives.
I feel sorry for the new writers, there’s no way they can win. Seems like I read stuff like this during the Renumbering/ Reboot which was probably about as good but without the ruined history. They could of mystically made Spider-man single then and it would probably get as much trouble but Mackie,Byrne, or the Marvel Intern would of come up with something more plausible. Maybe Peter get’s a chance to undo his marriage through cosmic chance after he told by The Watcher his wife will die if they stay together. He would forget then….
Hey, that would make some good fan fiction there.
Ah, poor Slott.
oh yeah i have to agree with webzspinner about venoms eyes now being all human style. im not a fan of that either. and his teeth arent as wildly ferocious as before they always look kinda round and small.
news ways to die for me was better only because i felt more of an attatchment when norman and eddie made appearances. that lame goblin skull face guy (i cant even remember the dudes name which shows how much i care, menace?) …oh man that guy sucks. yeah i agree with webspinner that eddie has changed alot from the buffed out bodybuilder from the earlier days, but maybe they are really trying to start him at a super duper low cause they are planning building him up through the issues. who knows, ill read it no matter what and im never canceling my subscription but man, one of these days i hope they just get back to the classic stuff and stop trying to change so much. the stories were never broken the villains were never broken ,so why did they try and “fix” it. oh well, im sure people felt this way during the whole clone saga too. its just a big phase. i never thought that coming from cool stories like peter during the civil war, and back in black and even one more day would drop to whats happening now in the book. but hey at least the cover by j.r.j where spider-man is tearing off the suit kicks ass.
Ok… this makes me sick (not the review, the comic). When I stopped reading ASM back in 2000, Eddie Brock was a 6’4, muscular man filled with psychotic rage, enhanced by the costume he wore. I understand they retconned everything about Venom so now Venom is little more than a vampire jumping from host to host, and Eddie is a cancer patient.
My problem is this, I read this issue, and why is Eddie only 4 feet tall? The asian guy is taller than Eddie. Betty looks taller than Eddie. What is up with that?
Also, I’m glad Eddie found religion again, and is trying to make amends, but that doesn’t mean he has to be a pathetic loser! They need to work Eddie into being
a formidable force again. Have him rebuild his life. Get a career going. Something that Spider-Man can inadvertently ruin, so Eddie forms Venom again and goes back to whupping (I’d love if Venom turns into a religious zealot attacking Spider-Man as an agent of the devil, thinking his crusade is holy).
Back to the review… Good as it can be, considering the poor material to work with. Story was meh, art was mediocre (I HATE McVenom with blue human eyes. looks LAME). Eddie Brock the AntiVenom HOPEFULLY will be better… doubt it. And I miss MJ.
Nuff Said.
Meh… you know the drill… ship sails and springs a leak, they do a temp plug with a good writer/artist combo… or in this case, a good writer and John Romita Jack*** (we have a history… don’t ask…) and when they think they can keep it afloat for a little while longer, they jump ship until it springs yet another leak.
How’s that for a comment, you sexy beast, you?
Crazy Chris, good review as always. Even handed approach. I think New Ways to Die is an improvement over the previous arcs, but by no means is it great or living up to it’s hype, yet. I am refraining from commenting on the threads until I see how the rest plays out. For example, Slott is addressing may sub-plots, but if at the end of the arc, none have progressed it will be a big disapointment. Pretty good so far, but let’s see the payoff…