FCBD 2018 The Amazing Spider-Man: The Bogenrieder Perspective

“‘Snikt!’ ‘Jean!”

It’s an all-new creative team for an all-new era of Spider-Man!… But is that a good thing?…. Probably… Yes.

Amazing Spider-Man (2018) FCBD

Writer: Nick Spencer

Pencils: Ryan Ottley

Inks: Cliff Rathmann

Colors: Laura Martin

Plot:

The issue starts off with, what else? A page of Peter monologuing about his origin story and his “With great power comes great responsibility” mantra. We then cut to him revealing that he’s apartment-hunting with Randy Robertson, his best friend. (And, given that he hasn’t been a supporting character since Spider-Island, that statement loses all of its validity the second it’s spoken.) Turns out the apartment their agent is pitching to them isn’t exactly prime material, so they pass.

As they’re leaving and discussing the difference between wheatcakes and pancakes (That’s… honestly a good point) Peter and Randy are almost run over by the all-new Superior Foes: Boomerang, Shelectro, Rhino and a new Big Wheel. Suiting up as Spider-Man, Peter easily dispatches all of them, including stopping Big Wheel from crashing into a restaurant full of civilians. As the NYPD, led by Mayor Wilson Fisk, takes the Foes into custody, Boomerang manages to escape.

The issue ends with Randy and Peter finding an apartment that somehow doesn’t suck, and that they can afford it by subletting the third bedroom. Their new tenant?

Fred Myers, also known as Boomerang.

Thoughts:

When Nick Spencer was revealed as the new writer of Amazing Spider-Man in March, I remember the collective groan from the Internet and being the only person who said: “I’m okay with this.” There’s a justification for people being skeptical of Spencer assuming the reins; his Sam Wilson: Captain America title was bad, and Secret Empire started off strong but quickly spiraled out of control.

However, I have been one of a few to be in complete (If somewhat cautious, making that last part a total lie.) support for Spencer assuming the title. And this is why.

I had a few reasons for cautious optimism; for one, his runaway sleeper hit Superior Foes of Spider-Man. It’s an amazing book, and one of the only hardcover books/omnibus I own. (The other being the hardcover edition of Last Stand of the Wreckers; both for their outstanding quality setting them apart and the fact that omnibi aren’t cheap, so I have to choose carefully.)  Furthermore, another book of his that goes woefully undervalued is his Ant-Man: Second Chance Man and Astonishing Ant-Man run. (They’re technically the same book but are separated by Secret Wars and the subsequent relaunch.) It’s another book with a primarily comedic tone and renewed my faith in his writing due to his abysmal SamCap run.

And given that ASM has been described as a sort of sitcom-style book, the least I can ask of this run is for a breath of fresh air. If anything, it’s at least tonally different (Radically so) from Slott’s run. And the further we get from Slott’s run, the better.

And, while the run certainly recycles a lot of material from the infamous Howard Mackie run, they certainly come back in a better-written light than they were with Mackie, such as Randy Robertson being Peter’s roommate. The key to these plot elements is them being well-executed, a box the Mackie run and reboot both had trouble checking.

Thankfully, Spencer does have some grace in delivery. While it’s not Tom King’s Vision or Jeff Loveness’ Nova, it accomplishes what it sets out to do; establish the status quo, tone, and cast. In about ten or so pages, Spencer has far less space to establish his take on Peter (With an entire page being dedicated to reminding readers of his origin for the umpteenth time.) than the average #1 and somehow manages to stick the landing without incident.

Like his Ant-Man run, Spencer laces Peter’s dialogue and inner thoughts with a sharp layer of sarcasm and snark, though subtle enough that it doesn’t come off as forced. (A common and painful occurrence in Slott’s run that tried to be played straight but ended up looking terrible in practice.) It’s a welcome change of pace, but does seem off; then again, that could be having to adjust to a new writer after reading the same writer for 8-10 years. Still, nothing too amazing, but not as offensive as an introduction to a new writer could have been.

Also radically different is the art team. Ryan Ottley of Invincible fame is the new main artist for the series, and he certainly hasn’t lost his touch since leaving Image for the House of (no) Ideas. As opposed to Stuart Immonen’s curved and elegant designs, Ottley retains his well-known geometric and blocky designs. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing; as an artist myself, the one consistent thing about my art is that it’s far blockier than it needs to be, but can be utilized stylistically to make something nice to look at. Despite his somewhat simple art style, Ottley is no stranger to detail; individual teeth on characters are even visible (If looking a little odd given how simple the rest of the face looks) and environments are either clean and incredibly smooth or gritty and given as much detail as is needed to sell a place or a person’s condition. (Peter and Randy’s first apartment viewing comes to mind.)

Cliff Rathmann and Laura Martin also do a bang-up job as well, creating a much cleaner line job as opposed to Wade von Grawbadger but much flatter and less shiny environment than Marte Gracia. All of these choices are, in my opinion, for the better and fit Ottley’s art style, and I hope this quality level of art sticks going into the actual run.

The whole “my roommate is a supervillain and my other roommate doesn’t know jack” concept is an intriguing one, but could easily fall apart without proper reasons that don’t fall into a contrivance to sell it. For all we know, it could simply be the first arc’s conflict, but Boomerang as a consistent supporting character isn’t necessarily a bad thing, considering Spencer puts a fair amount of care into his characterization. (And, given my theory that this is a stealth sequel to Superior Foes in the same vein as the new West Coast Avengers follows up on the last volume of Hawkeye, he may have bigger plans for Fred down the road.) The only thing that worries me is the large number of characters on the cover of the new #1. While Spencer could easily write a book about just Peter, Randy and Fred and I would read it, Spencer also has to deal with the loose plot points and character arcs from Slott’s run, which is baggage I wouldn’t wish on anybody. So as long as he manages to maneuver his way around those holes in the ice, we should be in a good place.

The entire point of a Free Comic Book Day issue is to establish the creative team of a run and encourage newcomers to get into the series. And given the past few Spider-Man FCBD issues (See: the 2011 FCDB by Slott and the Peter Parker: Spectacular Spider-Man FCBD issue by Zdarsky) have not been really indicative of the runs they are supposed to advertise (The former was absolute trash (Which may have been subtle foreshadowing on Slott’s part at that point in time.) and one was absolutely misleading.) I’m not sure how this one will turn out without hindsight as my best friend. But, if this is by some miracle an indicator of how things are really going to turn out for Spencer’s Spider-Man, then I’m definitely on board.

Final Grade: A