Spider-Man #238 (2016) Review-Javi’s Take

“He’s not a zombie, Ganke! He’s just…back from the dead.”

Can Miles stop his zombie uncle from leading The Sinister Six in their heist? Will Lana’s duplicity be discovered? What of Miles’ love life? Hey, what’ve Rio and Jefferson been up to?

WRITER: Brian Michael Bendis

ARTIST: Oscar Bazaldua

COLOR ARTIST: Brian Reber

LETTERING: VC’s Cory Petit

COVER ART: Patrick Brown

TITLE PAGE DESIGN: Idette Winecoor

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Kathleen Wisneski

EDITOR: Nick Lowe

STORY: The Iron Spider decides that The Sinister Six will strike tonight. Miles and Ganke touch base, with Barbara overhearing their conversation and turning away. With the heist now in progress, Lana drops a pin so Miles can find them. Spidey swings in, taking down Hobgoblin, but the Red Hulk arrives, tipped off from Hobby that a Spider-Person was involved in the heist, and goes after Miles in a case of mistaken identity. The Sinister Six (minus one Hobgoblin, but plus Lana) cloak the helicarrier and make their getaway. In Philadelphia, Jefferson takes Rio to meet Cable.

THOUGHTS: Trying to get noticed by Bleeding Cool’s Swipe File, Brown delivers a cover reminiscent of Peter Parker: Spider-Man #22. Or maybe it’s Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Annual #1? I’ll let you decide, but I definitely see some inspiration there. Having pointed that out, I do like the cover and it’d be perfect for a Crawlspacer to cut out some eyes and use it as a mask on the next live podcast taping!

Opening on a secret meeting where the Six work out the details of their heist, Bendis goes a little meta with Hobgoblin, having him comment on how he hates elaborate movie style plots requiring just the right person at just the right time. Not sure if he’s referencing the over-complicated Batman v Superman or Captain America: Civil War, but given how Marvel has taken shots at the cinematic DCU before, it could go either way. Just check out Screen Junkies’ Honest Trailers for those two movies to see what I mean about just how labyrinthian those two schemes are.

I really liked the transition from the Sinister Six scene to that of Ganke and Miles. It flowed really well digitally, with Sandman getting in Iron Spider’s face, then swiping next and seeing a similar panel between Ganke and Miles. I don’t think I caught it on my first print readthrough.

As Miles and Ganke talk about resurrections, we’re still not any closer to the why of it all really other than to keep assuming it’s tied in with what went down in the latest Secret Wars. At this moment, I can’t even remember if Miles has brought up Rio’s resurrection to Ganke. I’m gonna have to dive into my back issues for a refresher.

I did like the trope of Miles’ dual identity causing trouble for his love life. The problem is at this point Barbara is too underdeveloped for me to care. Their whole relationship, which Miles has described as his first serious girlfriend, has been all tell and no show from a development standpoint. We’ve seen a three panel montage of them spending time and a few glances here and there, but I have no idea what her personality is beyond being possibly jealous and suspicious of Miles’ relationship with Lana. I have no reason to root for them to be together because she is a complete enigma that I’m not invested in at this point. Peter and Mary Jane they are not.

While on the topic of tropes, we get a second one in the form of heroes meet, there’s a misunderstanding, and they fight instead of give each other a second to talk and set the record straight. But wait! We’re not done yet! Spidey runs out of web-fluid mid-air, too! It’s a Spider-trope-a-palooza! Still, that venom blast inside the Red Hulk’s mouth really had to hurt!

You’ve gotta feel bad for Lana. Her mom really lays into her this issue. I’m surprised Miles didn’t enlist Fabio to help him out with this, knowing that he has feelings for her. It would’ve been a great way to have Fabio impress her by coming to her rescue and show how much her cares for her as she’s oblivious to his affections.

Closing out the issue, Cable makes an appearance, just in time to remind you that Deadpool 2 is coming in a few months and he’s going to make his big screen debut! I appreciated Rio’s show of strength when it comes to looking out for her son and the dramatically staged to…be…continued…panels.

This issue was okay. The art overall is solid, although faces can be a tad mushy sometimes. Some dramatic panels helped balance it out, like Spidey kicking Hobgoblin, the helicarrier liftoff, and Cable’s reveal. In terms of plot development, we had a big event in the heist being successful, but it feels like feet are still being dragged. What of Danika’s cliffhanger from last issue? We get no movement on that front. It was also disappointing that Aaron and Miles didn’t get a chance to face off again and it made the heist seem like a fairly easy feat. Maybe it’s a trap? Things are quickly coming to a head and Bendis is gonna have a lot to wrap up in his two remaining issues. Here’s hoping he can!

MY GRADE: C+

JAVI’S HUH?: How is the Spot sitting in that…spot?

Miles said he was out of web fluid, but last I checked, he lost his shooters in Tokyo and hasn’t replaced them since. How has he been getting around all this time? Jumping?

I’ll let you decide, dear reader!