Alford Notes: ASM # 7 / 808 – Trivial Pursuit part 2

It’s a fight to the death (OK, so nobody actually dies…)!  Everyone in the Bar with No Name versus Spidey and . . . Boomerang?  You’ve got to read this one!  Then read our humble review here and as a bonus, find out who that 8 Ball guy is!

 

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Story Title: Trivial Pursuit part 2

Writer: Nick Spencer

Penciler: Humberto Ramos

Inker: Victor Olazaba

Colorist: Edgar Delgado

Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramanga

Cover Artist: Humberto Ramos and Edgar Delgado

Designer: Anthony Gambino

Asst. Editor: Kathleen Wisneki

Editor: Nick Lowe

Published: October 10, 2018

Remedial ASM 101

Peter is broke so his old buddy and pal, Fred Myers (the one and only Boomerang), helps him out by taking him to a way to become “not poor real quick”.  That place?  The Bar with No Name to compete in Spider-Man Trivia Night!  Pete, going by the supervillain name The Liar, does pretty good and gets a perfect score.  Unfortunately, before there is a pay out, The Kingpin put a hit on Boomerang so high, that everyone decides to temporarily ignore the honor code of the bar and go in for the attack!

The Story – Pay Attention, This Will Be on the Test

So Peter and Fred are trying to stay alive long enough to get out of the Bar with No Name.  Unfortunately for this new and improved dynamic duo, every loser villain in New York is between them and the exit (excluding the Chinese knock-off of the Living Brain, of course, as he overloaded when Peter got all the questions correct).  The Kingpin is laughing his head off watching a live feed of the fight before going off to kiss some babies.  Boomerang shows a little more to his character as he makes a sacrifice play to save Peter, and one bomberang later, the two of them get away.  The Kingpin is a bit pissed at this and is about to raise holy hell, but it raises itself to meet him.  Our mysterious centipede demon pops up in a straitjacket (is that a new look?  I’m thinking I haven’t seen the jacket on him before) and, after killing the mayor’s two official sycophants*, has Kingpin kneeling before him.

 

What Passed

Are you kidding me?  Spencer using the whole of the Bar with No Name?  Can we have every issue here?  This was awesome!  While he has a tendency to write all villains as the lovable loser, he does add such another layer of character to them.  They are not just bad guys who sit around planning their next heist or bemoaning the interference of a hero, they want to have friends.  They want to have fun.  The whole Bar with No Name concept really jives with me and I love how it has taken a more fun twist as of late.  Trivia night!  Awesome!  And for Fred to more concerned about not being able to hang around his pals any more rather than being angry that they are trying to kill him, develops this character even more than Superior Foes did.  Most writers only develop villain characters by making them more of a threat to match the hero’s own increasing power scale, but Spencer just makes them more human.

I also especially liked the panels where Peter uses his “Liar” powers!

OOTI (Onomatopoeia of the Issue)

On a scale of 1 (POW) to 10 (BLRKBQRKPQRBLNB), EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE rates an 8.  It’s simple, yes, but brilliant in it’s simplicity.  By far the best Spencerian onomatopoeia yet.

What Failed

Nothing.  However, the least enjoyable aspect of this comic is the art.  I’m not a Ramos hater.  I’m rather  indifferent toward his style. I recognize the characters and can follow the action, which is all I really care about in the art, but there are two things that stand out to me.

1. The coloring – This is the same dark color scale that we had during the Slott’s run. Dark colors are more serious and depressing (all you have to do is watch Unbreakable or any of the DC movies compared to the Marvel movies – the color scale is darker in the first and brighter in the Marvel – it affects the mood greatly). I feel like the brighter, crisper colors work better with the lovable loser story of the Bar with No Name.  Now Neil my feel differently, but he hasn’t finished college yet whereas I have a master’s degree, so I’m right.
2. This panel – Besides the fact that MJ looks like she is listening to the Hypno Hustler, look at that unfortunate creature next to her. Is that a sultry Aunt May, an elderly Black Cat, or did Quicksilver just wander into this comic?

Bad Villain Spotlight

With Spencer’s throwing in bad villains left and right, I’m going to try a new feature here and do a crash course in a bad villain.  The first one will go to 8 Ball, the one guy who is ALWAYS shown in the Bar with No Name.
*
The first 8 Ball was a guy by the name of Jeff Hagees, who was blown up by the Wrecker.  After that, another guy took up the mantle (in a style worthy of Miles Morales picking up Peter Parker’s mantle, I’m sure).  We don’t know who he is and he is now gone.  The guy we’ve been seeing lately is the THIRD incarnation of 8 Ball (because fans demanded it).  He got his gear from the Hobgoblin and we still do not know his name.  In fact, we don’t know his power set either, though we can guess that it is the same as the first 8 Ball, which is nothing.  He should have Jeff’s exploding pool balls, flying pool rack, floating eight ball, bullet-proof helmet, and a cue stick that can absorb any force applied to it and magnify it a thousandfold.
*
Now you know, and that’s one to grow on.

Analysis

The Villains – While most new writers like to create their own set of villains and supporting cast members, Spencer likes to take what is there and say, “There’s more to tell!”  See the What Passed section for more commentary on that.

The Lie – OK, we know Fred is lying when he tells the heart breaking story of the LMD Sinister Six.  It’s what he does!  He can no more stop lying every chance he gets than Zach can stop whining about clone flour.  But I want to believe!  Let’s pursue the idea as if it has a shred of truth to it.  Let’s say that he does have four LMDs he’s trying to use as friends.  How much would that have cost him?  Well, I did an exhaustive search for the price of a LMD in the Marvel Universe and came up short (well, maybe exhaustive isn’t the word, but I did search for a full five minutes).  Then I looked for the price of the most realistic humanoid robots out there today.  Back in 2016, ASIMO would have cost you two and a half million dollars, but it isn’t very passable for a human.  Today, the more realistic looking robots Erica and Sophia would cost a little over $200,000 (according to this article), a steal, really.  Sadly for those of you who identify with Fred’s loneliness, these robots are not yet for sale.  A LMD can duplicate powers, which is a heck of a lot more than Erica can do, but let’s go with the $200,000 cost anyway, plus a little extra for the finishing touches.  That means Boomerang paid just under a million dollars to pretend he’s hanging out with friends!  So, I as much as I would like to believe the story and feel bad for poor old Fred, I’m going to have to put this into the lie category.  Now, if Black Ant freezes up after trying to sing, then that puts Fred’s story back on the truth table!  So what does this mean for Peter falling for it?  It’s going to bother some people, but for me, it is reminiscent of his encounter with the Black Fox who also played on Spidey’s heart strings a couple of times to get out of an arrest.  There is also some Christmas issue where the Sandman escapes both Spidey and the Torch because he laid out a load of sentimental bull and got away.

The Kingpin – The Kingpin shows a surprising amount of concern for his two assistants when he tells them to get out of there.  This scene tells us that whoever this demon is, he was with Kingpin at least around 2007 our time (due to references to Vanessa’s suicide.  It could possibly be much longer than that.  If you haven’t gotten the point by now, the Kingpin’s reaction to the demon lets us know that this isn’t just the Hobgoblin or some other regular foe.  This dude means business and Kingy is scared enough to bow before him.

So who is this mysterious Centidemon?  Well, lots of theories are out there, but Crawlspace odds are riding at 80% that it is this guy from “7 Little Superheroes”:

 

Extra Credit

Who do YOU think the mysterious demon is?

Final Grade

I loved last issue and this issue!  I am in Spidey heaven and can’t wait for the next issue!  Good characterization still dominates this run.  I took points off for the art, but it was so good it still gets –

A+

Your Turn

What grade do YOU give it?

 

What’s Next?

The heist of the century is ON!
*
Who are the Thieves Guild of New York?
*
Spidey might dying trying to find out.

 

Nick Lowe has asked people to let the Spider office know how they are doing by sending an email to spideyoffice@marvel.com and to make sure you mark it “OK to print”.  If you get published, make sure to draw our attention to it!

 

Special Thanks

I want to thank Chi-Town for filling in for me last issue!  You did great!
I also want to thank Eddie.  Eddie, you know why I’m thanking you, but you probably don’t realize the impact you had on me.  Thanks, mate!

 

* Sycophant – (n) a brown-noser, butt-kisser, one who overdoes the flattery to obtain good graces and favoritism

Now go and practice your new vocabulary knowledge by praising me in the comments section!

 

‘Nuff Said!