Having event fatigue? Well good news! Here is an issue you can pick up, read, and put down having the finished the story. Old Pete’s down on his luck, but things are looking up! He’s got a new job, a new gal, and maybe even a new lease on life. Let’s dive in this together, folks, and see if our boy Spidey is back! Excelsior!
The Devil in the Details
Story Title: Back to Ground
Writer: Dan Slott
Penciler: Stuart Immonen
Inker: Wade von Grawbadger
Colorist: Rain Beredo
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramanga
Cover Artist: Alex Ross
Editor: Nick Lowe
Published: November 15, 2017
Remedial ASM 101
Just to catch you up, here is what has happened:
Poor Peter Parker is down on his luck. He lost his company. He has no money. Any sense of responsibility he has shown in the past seems to have been lost as well. He is currently living on the couch of Bobbi Morse, AKA Mockingbird while Harry Osborn Lyman does all of his work.
The Story – Pay Attention, This Will Be on the Test
Spider-Man and Mockingbird are looking for some bad guys! And they found them down on the waterfront. They are just some random nobodies, so Spidey takes some time to explain to the reader that he has a NEW JOB! He’s so excited about his NEW JOB that he reprimands the bad guy for keeping him out so late and then refuses to join Bobbi in her bed (the only action he gets in this comic is on the cover) because he wants to make sure he arrives on time. This NEW JOB is with the Daily Bugle as science editor. Now the hard working reporters who already work there don’t exactly greet him with open arms since, you know, this new boss of theirs has never actually written a newspaper article and has just failed at running his own science based company. Go figure! Some people! Bobbi also has a new job working as head of security for Humanitech Robotics, so Peter takes advantage of this and takes his reporters there for the nickel tour. The place if full of cute little robots (that are called androids and looks just like the Android logo) that use the word “execute” more frequently than a dalek. The head of Humanitech is happy to have them until one of the reporters figures it would be a good idea to break open one of the robots to see what makes it tick. Gee, with reporting skills like that, you have really wonder why Robbie went outside of the science department to find an editor. This sets off Peter’s spider-sense (heck, mine was going off at “execute”), so he and Bobbi come back in their alter egos that night. Being an expert in trapping brainwaves after his run in with Ock, Spidey realizes that the robots are all being powered by pieces of sand that are sentient. Thinking Sandman is in there, he sets them free and is surprised to find a villain named Quicksand escapes instead. Spidey convinces her not to kill the Humanitech boss, and so she runs away. Harry and Liz then buy the facility for Alchemax and we see that their freaky nanny, Emma, is stealing blood samples from the kids.
POP QUIZ
Despite Spidey acting as if he had no knowledge of who Quicksand is, he has met her before. In fact, Quicksand, Sandman, and Spidey all faced off together against which villain?
a. Sandstorm (In Web of Spider-Man)
b. The Sandblaster (In Marvel Team Up)
c. Sandy Sal the Hostess Gal (In a Hostess as by the same name)
d. Silicano, the sand volcano (In a Spidey Super Story)
What Passed:
Peter Parker is not a joke. He makes a few jokes and sometimes people don’t like him, but none of it is over the top and neither Peter nor Spider-Man are an embarrassing laughing stock. This felt a lot more like Spidey than we have gotten in a while.
The jokes were well done and not over explained.
Mockingbird helps, but does not save the day.
OOTI
On a scale of 1 (POW) to 10 (BLRKBQRKPQRBLNB), KESH rates a 4. Meh. However, I did particularly like the screams of the sand as they jumped to freedom.
What Failed:
The issue is a little exposition heavy, something that can be ignored if the story is done well, but is still a little irritating. Since I have been following the story for a while now (791 issues, to be exact), I don’t need as much hand holding as I read, but it felt like too much even for a first time reader. Not being one, it is hard to tell.
Peter’s hair! Dang if it doesn’t look like he was going for Syndrome and failed.
Analysis:
I liked this issue. This wasn’t part one of sixteen, there was no need for Mockingbird to save the day. It read quite a bit like an ‘80s comic (minus a big fight scene).
I know a lot of people don’t like the Mockingbird relationship, but it is being done pretty well. In this issue we get a little more character from her, she treats him with a bit more respect than in the previous issues, and we really get a sort of anti-Black Cat vibe going here. In the ‘80s Spider-man dated Black Cat, which had a much different feel to it than any of his other relationships, and this one has a similar feel. It is echoed a bit when Mockingbird calls him Spider, just like the Black Cat used to. Do I want this relationship to succeed? Of course not. But I don’t mind letting it play out for a while. Bobbi Morse is no Deb Whitman, but she’s alright.
The scenes with Robbie made me start thinking that Robbie knows. At various times in the history of Spider-Man, they have hinted that Robbie knows Peter’s secret ID. In this case, with Robbie suggesting Peter come through the front door, blowing off the getting past security in front of the other reporters, and the way he explains how Peter does not have to be at the office all the time really seemed to shout that he knows. What do you think? Does Robbie know?
Little Normie asking if he can create his own robot army would be cute in any other kid, but it is down-right creepy here.
The fact that Emma has vials of blood from the Osborn kids is intriguing. Here is a rundown of what I think she might want it for:
- She is a plant for Norman and is attempting to help him get back the Goblin formula with the hopes that there is some residual effects in their DNA. Crawlspace odds – 80%
- She is going to create some specific blood virus from these samples that would only target these little cuties. This could be used to blackmail Alchemax. Crawlspace odds – 50%
- She is going to create a specific blood virus that will not affect them, but would clean out the rest of their family either because Norman wants to raise them himself or because she is some goblin fan (probably has a goblin head tramp stamp). Crawlspace odds – 30%
- She wants to be a goblin and thinks she can extract the formula from their DNA. Crawlspace odds – 35%
- Normie clones! Crawlspace odds – 15%
- This is a super-efficient nanny who is running health screens on the children. Crawlspace odds – 3%
- None of the above because what do I know? – Crawlspace odds – 100%
If Slott is ending his run at 800 or so, then this would be a nice way of resetting the board. He starts with Spidey hitting the Big Time and ends with Spidey back to where he started. That’s a big if, though.
Extra Credit:
Put on your thinking caps – what reason (no matter how ridiculous) could Emma have for taking blood from Stanley and Normie?
Final Grade:
A clean one issue story with a continuing Osborn subplot, no embarrassing moments, Spidey doesn’t need anyone to save the day, Robbie Robertson… I give this one a
B++
I teetered between A- and B+ here. I wish we had more issues like this one.
Your Turn:
What grade do YOU give it? Don’t be shy! Post it in the reply. Elaborate or not as is your fancy.
What’s Next?
VENOM INC. Part 2
- Spider-Man finds himself between Eddie and a mysterious new figure!
- And Black Cat and her gang find themselves face-to-face with an amped-up villain named Maniac that might just rip those faces right off.
Plus, we got this visual blurb of the next issue:
It asks if this is the hand of the Green Goblin, but if you look, it is actually two different people’s hands – they are both right hands. Typically, Green Goblins work alone so who are these two people rifling through the weaponry?
‘Nuff Said!
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@Mark
I’m not a big fan of the comparison to Black Cat. If Slott wants Peter in a relationship with Felicia then she should be written into the book. Bobbi is her own character and should have her own unique qualities, which we some of in this issue regarding her feminist views. I’m not a fan of Bobbi either. I just don’t think the relationship is developed enough. I don’t have a sense of her personality. I don’t know much about her.
@ Jason – I probably like this issue more because I haven’t liked the issues around it, so when I get what should be an average issue, it feels like it is better. I’ve been guilty of that in my reviews before.
How do you feel about the parallel to the Black Cat storyline? I’m intrigued by it enough to be interested in seeing what comes out of it.
I think the nanny has been in it before in the background. Slott usually does a longer build up to ideas like this, but maybe he didn’t have much room in the Secret Empire tie-ins and he won’t have much room in the upcoming Venom crossover, so he had to go ahead and get something out there. That’s my theory, anyway.
I wasn’t a big fan of the issue. There wasn’t much build-up to these androids being a threat. Spidey figured out the silicon was made of sand way too quickly. The “fight scene” lacked an actual fight.
I too picked up on the Mockingbird/Black Cat comparison with Bobbi’s use of “Spider.”
The subplot involving the Osborn blood is intriguing, but it didn’t leave me on the edge of my seat counting down the days until the next issue, unlike suspenseful endings in the 90s. I have a hard time accepting someone as evil without first being introduced to the character and being given a reason to question her motives. It would be great to have seen Emma as the doting nanny and then finding out she’s secretly working for Norman (that’s my prediction) so he can resume being the Green Goblin.
@Neil – Without having read this issue yet, from your description of this new character we’ve never seen before suddenly appearing and being given a name, is she the new version of SSM’s Mason Banks?
Why would Robbie give someone he knows was not ready or qualified to run his own company the job of editing his own news group? Granted, they did seem to play up the idea of Robbie playing favorites…
I get that Bobbi’s a feminist and started the whole “feminist agenda” thing, and I respect that, but some of her comments did kind of come across as being a little unnecessarily obnoxious about it (granted, characters in Slott comics are as subtle as a sledgehammer).
Remember when Aunt May was so gung-ho about Peter getting with Mary Jane, even when he was dating Betty? At this point I’m not unconvinced she’ll just accept any girl for Peter as long as she’s nice enough and it gets her grandkids…which is kind of ironic given most AU’s have her dead by the time Peter and Mary Jane actually have kids.
I’m not sure how long Peter and Bobbi are here to stay since he seems to be getting on her nerves the more they’re together and he’s still stuck on the couch. Mockingbird feels like Felicia if she was an out-and-out hero and generally got more exasperated then amused by Spidey’s antics. Though I guess Peter was Felicia’s straight-man while Bobbi is Peter’s.
Somehow I can’t help but think this whole Alchemax storyline is going to build up to the return of OsCorp somehow. I mean, Harry’s now working for the company, Liz was shown to be working with Norman in the past, and the blood of a Goblin kid is involved…
The Green Goblin Mrs. Doubtfire mini series! Take my money, Marvel! Ok, I’m laying Crawlspace odds at 35% on that one!
Bring it on, Negative Neil! Show me the folly of enjoying this issue!
For extra credit- Emma is Norman. He turned himself into a woman to get close to his grandsons. It’s the unintentionally offensive remake of Mrs. Doubtfire we’ve all been waiting for!
I mean, we have Norman run away in ASM #28, have a brief reappearance to realize the Green Goblin is inside of him the whole time, and suddenly we have this new character who has never been seen before conveniently collecting blood samples of the Osborn kids.
Good review, Mark! Now watch as Negative Neil comes back! (I change personalities more often than characters between writers!)