Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #546 Review

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #546
TITLE: “Brand New Day”
WRITER: Dan Slott
PENCILER: Steve McNiven
INKER: Dexter Vines
COLORIST: Morry Hollowell

PLOT:

The issue opens with a full-page splash of Peter sucking some random chick’s face, followed by an image of Spider-Man pointing a gun at the reader, shouting “Just shut the @#*% up and give me your money!” Oh Slott, you’re a cheeky one. Symbolism aside, this is actually a mugger who enjoys terrorizing New York in our hero’s guise.

More mundane matters than street crime, such as poverty and unemployment, have kept the real Peter busy. In the middle of a moping session, Harry Osborne invites Pete to chill at a nightclub with him, his girlfriend Lily Hollister, and Lily’s forensic scientist roommate, Carlie Cooper.

Meanwhile, China Town ’s crime lord, Mister Negative, introduces himself in an awesomely violent way, resulting in him acquiring a spooky glowing tablet.

At the nightclub, the kiss from page one is explained. The random chick, Mia Flores, wants to “nab” Peter to get into Harry’s entourage. Peter slinks away from the club to avoid her, but he runs into Carlie. They start to get friendly when the Spider-Mugger shows up to snag one of Peter’s webshooters, mistaking it for a watch. Pete tags him with a tracer and gives chase in civilian garb so as to not give the Bugle more cover fodder. That move costs him the perp, because Peter Parker cannot prevent the escape with his webs.

The pursuit leads Peter to a soup kitchen where Aunt May happens to volunteer. May introduces her nephew to the proprietor Martin Li, who looks a little like Mister Negative.

Peter visits the Bugle looking for a paycheck, but he finds Jonah busy preventing a hostile takeover and unable to pay anyone. Peter blows up in the old man’s face, causing Jonah to erupt in a fit of anger that ends in a heart attack.

A couple of vignettes (read: glorified advertisements for future storylines) compose the rest of the issue. There’s also a two-page spread with art by John Romita Jr. that summarizes Spider-Man’s post-OMD history, but it doesn’t satisfactorily answer many of my burning questions.

THOUGHTS:

Mephisto and Joe Quesada lied when they said everything but the marriage still occurred. What I’m seeing here amounts to a total reboot. Perhaps ironically, Peter’s new marital status has fewer ramifications than the other changes, especially Peter’s completely secret identity.

Harry’s resurrection fits comfortably into continuity, but the way they deal with the unmasking raises many questions. Apparently, some people still remember Spider-Man revealed himself during Civil War, but they can’t recall who was under the mask. Does that mean the denizens of the Marvel Universe know that someone tampered with their memories? Does Spider-Man himself remember unmasking? If so, then why doesn’t he seem more concerned that this huge event in his life suddenly seems not to have happened? Or if not, then why doesn’t he care that other people remember him doing something that he has no recollection of? Did part of Mephisto’s spell subconsciously compel everyone, including Spidey, to accept what they see and stop asking questions?

I’d normally give the writers time to address these issues before getting confused and upset over them, but it looks like they might never address them. In writer Bob Gale’s words, “There’s going to be some geeks out there who try to fit all this into a particular time bubble and piece together what happened. They can waste their time doing that, but I say just read these books and enjoy them.” In other words, we should accept what we see and stop asking questions.

That’s actually the best way to approach this issue, because it serves as a pretty decent and functional tour of Peter Parker’s new world. The subplots are intriguing so far, and the supporting cast is already broad and well developed. Dan Slott does an eerily good job of channeling “classic” Spidey both in the main character’s voice and the in the story’s overall tone.

I’m not sure if I like this take on Peter Parker yet. He’s completely self-absorbed, rash, and immature. It isn’t necessary to recapture the early 80s feel by abandoning all the growth Spidey has undergone since then. He should be a relatable hero with human flaws, but a character can only be so flawed before he becomes pathetic. His reasons for not changing into Spider-Man to catch the mugger were petty and this could very well lead to another Uncle Ben-type tragedy. I hope that we’ll start to see some of the positive attributes the protagonist, and not just his capacity for mistakes.

Also, the altercation with Jonah came out of nowhere. Now that Mephisto deleted their post-unmasking confrontation from memory, Peter and Jameson haven’t interacted for months. So why does Peter lash out now? Surely he’s taken worse abuse than this in the past. The moment isn’t poorly done, but it hasn’t been earned yet.

FAVORITE QUOTE:

HARRY OSBORNE: “You know, earlier, Carlie was telling us you can tell a lot about someone from the inside of their mouth.”

RATING:

3.5 webheads out of 5. A good start, all things considered. The reboot was a misguided move, but at least Marvel is taking this new direction seriously and using their top creators to turn out a quality product. There’s plenty I haven’t addressed yet, like the mind-blowing art, but that’s what next week’s review is for.

REVIEWED BY: CrazyChris