Amazing Spider-Man 28/829 – Who Run the World part 3

Beetle and Randy sitting in a tree…. What could go wrong with Peter having one roommate a super villain while his other roommate is dating one?  We’ll find out this issue, folks!  Can Spidey save his new best pal Boomerang?

 

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Story Title:  Who Run the World part three

Writer: Nick Spencer

Penciler: Kev Walker

Inker: John Dell

Colorists: Laura Martin and Andrew Crossley

Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramanga

Cover Artist:  Ryan Ottley and Nathan Fairbairn

Asst. Editor: Kathleen Wisneki

Editor: Nick Lowe

Published: August 28, 2019

Remedial ASM 101

The Syndicate is after Peter’s roommate Fred, AKA Boomerang.  They attack him in the soup kitchen F.E.A.S.T. where Peter’s aunt and his other roommate, Randy, work.  After capturing Boomerang, we learn that Beetle has two secrets.  One is that she is working for Kingpin and the other is that she is dating Randy.

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

Spidey watches from the skylight as Randy kicks out Beetle for destroying F.E.A.S.T. Spider-Man realizes that Beetle somehow moves much faster than he does now for reason so he doesn’t follow her to find Fred, but rather goes into his room to retrieve his old spider-tracer tracker and hope that Fred really hasn’t washed that uniform in that past few weeks.  Meanwhile, Kingpin shows and demands possession of Boomerang.  Spider-Man shows up, and is hampered by too many police officers that he really doesn’t want to hurt.  Fred outs Beetle as a backstabber and either she or the Kingpin blows up the whole building, but Fred, ever his wits about him, shows Syndicate what he has on Kingpin and they decide to fight Kingpin and let Spider-Man escape with Boomerang.  They end up in custody, but someone eventually frees the Syndicate and Beetle goes on to have her father’s men rebuild F.E.A.S.T. while using her lawyering skills to get the permits May Parker needs.  This makes Randy think maybe their relationship can work after all.

What Passed and Failed

Passed – Spencer writing bad villains.  It’s a no brainer.  If he wasn’t writing Spider-Man, I would love to see him write a Cheers-esque version of the Bar with No Name.  Take my money every week on that, Marvel.

Failed – the art.  The costumed characters are fine, but faces, particularly Randy and Beetle’s faces looked off and disproportionate.

Passed – Spider-Man trying to use Kingpin pretending to like him against him and then having Kingpin turn it around.  Hypnorang?  Is that even a thing?

Failed – Where is Spidey?  I want my Spidey interacting with the bad villains. More Spider-Man and Boomerang team-ups!  I can’t wait for the completely real and totally not my bad photoshopping title to come out:

Passed – the Trapstr’s big feminist moment:

Only to have her reveal that she has been hacking Beetle’s emails to Randy!

 

OOTI (Onomatopoeia of the Issue)

On a scale of 1 (POW) to 10 (BLRKBQRKPQRBLNB), VRRRTCHOOOOOMM rates an 8.  I’ve got to honest with you.  I really have no idea what is going on here.  This is followed up by another big onomatopoeia which looks like maybe Beetle shot something, but I think the two are related.  Whatever the case, the cool onomatopoeia makes up for the unclear story progression!

Analysis

The story is a fun read.  It is not a life-changing story (which is completely fine – we need little fun tales more than we need the major events where everything changes because we demanded it).  There are a few items that it develops:

Randy and Beetle’s relationship – Getting a subplot with a supporting character feels like the old days when they were a huge part of Peter’s story.  The complexities of making this work promises loads of story potential.  Wait until Robbie and Tombstone finds out!  What happens when Randy wants to go on a double date with Pete and MJ?  Peter could soon have TWO super villains hanging out around his apartment.  I liked how Janice shows she does care by making things right again.  She didn’t have to.  There is more to her now than just a legacy super villain.

Boomerang and Kingpin – I really want to know what this thing is that Boomerang has that is so important to Kingpin.  It is so important that even the Syndicate put their freedom in jeopardy over it.  What could it be?

Final Grade

Well, I love Spencer writing bad villains, but this issue did not have enough Spidey for my taste and the art was jarring at points.

B-

Your Turn

What grade do YOU give it?

 

What’s Next?

• The aftershocks from Mary Jane’s recent decision are felt throughout Spider-Man’s life!
  •  With that throwing Peter’s life into upheaval, a super villain rearing their head is NOT HELPFUL!

 

Extra Credit

Now, that pronoun “their” bothers me.  I get that now we are supposed to accept the plural pronoun for singular non-gender specific meanings.  The English teacher in me still rankles at this change.  So either the copy editor messed up here or they are trying to conceal the identity of the villain (which by hiding the gender would suggest a female) or they are talking about Kindred.  That last part bothers me.  They have said too often that it was a male.  The previews department has used the masculine pronoun twice now to describe Kindred.  Fake Mysterio said it was a man and then revealed the name (not to us) showing that the identity was known to him.  To change that now is cheating.  Maybe it is just trying to stir up people who aren’t paying attention.  Hmmmm……

What do you guys think?  Is the super villain Kindred or is there another story in this mix?

 

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 Alert* I have it on good authority that Chi-Town has submitted YET another letter.  I call upon all Crawlspacers to submit a letter of their own!

 

 

 

‘Nuff Said!