Are you one who likes Spencer’s take on bad villains, Kindred plot progressions, onomatopoeias, and mysteries to ponder? Then this is the issue for you! This issue has everything you are looking for, EXCEPT what you see on the cover! Why are we wasting time with this opening blurb? Face front, Clever Crawlspacers! It’s time to review ASM #64!
Credit Where Credit Is Due
Story Title: King’s Ransom part 2
Writer: Nick Spencer
Artist: Federico Vincentini
Colorist: Alex Sinclair
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramanga
Cover Artist: Mark Bagley, Edgar Delgado, and John Dell
Asst. Editor: Lindsey Cohick
Editor: Nick Lowe
Published: April 21, 2021
Remedial ASM 101
Kindred is locked up in Ravenscroft. Kingpin wants the Tablet of Life and has sent every enterprising villain in New York to get it from Boomerang, who has a Tablet-Sense for where the pieces are. Randy and Janice’s secret tryst has been discovered by their dads and they have been captured by Crime Master and Madame Masque to boot! Oh, and Spidey has a weird new suit.
The Story – Pay Attention, This Will Be on the Test
The bromance of Kingpin and Baron Mordo is quite effective at making Kindred uncomfortable, much to Nroman’s dismay. Robbie and Tombstone agree to put aside their differences for the time being to team up and find their children, which they do by terrorizing poor Mirage. Spider-Man gets his butt kicked by Madame Masque and Boomerang heads off to find the last piece of the Tablet solo. Oh, and Doc Ock has a disappointing graveside visit.
What Passed and Failed
PASS – Free dental – I like how Crime Master and Madame Masque have a new enterprise going and, while the important part is the power upgrade, Mirage is more excited by the free dental!
PASS – Robbie and Tombstone’s bickering
FAIL – Ahh! The Eyes! What happened to Peter’s eyes??????? They are cheek level now!
PASS – Shades of Aunt May! I love it when Peter is referred to as being frail.
OOTI (Onomatopoeia of the Issue)
So many good ones! I liked the sound of Fred’s head hitting the post (THUNCH – I bet that causes a concussion!), but I am settling down on a DOUBLE OOTI (a Crawlspace first)!
On a scale of 1 (POW) to 10 (BLRKBQRKPQRBLNB), FA-THEEW is a 6 and DRMNNNNNN rates a solid 9.5. Now, if my laser gun made a wimpy FA-THEEW sound, I might just have to consider making some adjustments.
Analysis
Kindred – Lots to go on here, even though we get only a few panels. But that is the beauty of the Kindred story – we only need a few panels to get a lot of possibilities from it. First, let’s look at this panel:
We’ve been trying to track the centipedes on Kindred. For a while, it appeared as if he only had one, which would make sense since the other centipede was snacking on Carly Cooper (or whatever it was doing). However, notice that here, there is NO centipede. Artist mistake? Possibly. The only other explanation is that Kindred somehow managed to get that centipede out to do some work elsewhere (not Doc Ock, that centipede was way too small). If so, then Kindred is not as contained as we were led to believe.
But Baron Mordo’s ability to hurt him so leads up to think that he IS as contained as Kingpin believes him to be and that now Kindred is rethinking that whole “I’m right where I want to be” remark he made earlier. Norman is so upset by this torture of Kindred, that I am thinking he may take back on the Goblin persona to come to Harry’s rescue. Whether that will happen as taking on all of Norman’s sins again and being a villain once more or he becomes a Goblin with a heart of gold remains to be seen.
The issue bookends with Kindred narration, but we will get to that later.
Weird Suit Change – how does this work? Where does his clothes go? I am assuming that the suit acts like the symbiote in that it can just mimic whatever clothes Peter wants to be wearing.
Madame Masque and Crime Master’s Plan – I like it! It’s a clever take by Spencer to have them running their own con here in order to kill Tombstone to break into the underworld scene. Apparently Kingpin has over-organized organized crime and new blood has no room to compete. I don’t know how this pertains to the underworld set up in Daredevil with Libris at the head of it, but I am assuming she will be fine as long as they stay in Tombstone’s district. What intrigues me is what if they succeed in running Tombstone out of the business for a little while? Will they be able to work together and share their new territory?
Opinion Column – Mirage wants to have a space to express his ideas. Why not just get a blog or a column at Threats and Menaces? You know what, I hope Robbie gives him the chance. I would LOVE to be able to read a Spencer-written Villain express his views in a newspaper column! Speaking of Mirage…
Not to be confused with the girl in the New Mutants with the same name, Desmond Charne was a holography specialist and uses his knowledge of holographics to commit robberies. He can make himself invisible and create realistic illusions.
He has been murdered a few times. Once by Scourge, but then was resurrected by Hood. He was also shot by an assassin, but that didn’t actually kill him, just laid him up in a coma for a while. Superior Foes fans will remember he was in the Sinister Sixteen, but was killed by Boomerang who pushed him off a building (to be fair, Boomerang thought it was a hologram). He got better when Ben 27 clones him in Clone Conspiracy, but died from clone degeneration. Dr. Strange later brings him back to help with some Las Vegas project.
You probably know him best from his debut at Ned and Betty’s wedding.
But Wait! There’s More!
After the credits, we get a bit more comic (so if you stopped your Comixology a little too early, boot that sucker back up!). Doc Ock has a role to play in the Kindred story.
So he’s trying to find out why he has gaps in his memory and to do this he digs up a grave, but the coffin is empty. Then a Kindred-pede crawls in his ear and short circuits him. This leaves us with a few more mysteries:
- What gap in memories and why the old Octopus body? Well, if you last remembered Ock as being Superior Octopus on the West coast, then you, like me, missed where Dr. Octopus mad ea deal with Mephisto in order to defeat Spider-Man from earth-44145, which is Spider-Nor-Man. I did not read this story nor can I tell you where to find it, but apparently this deal restored the old Doctor Octopus body AND mind, so he has no memory of his time as Spider-Man or as Superior Octopus. At first glance, this would make it appear that Kindred is pulling him in because of his deal with Mephisto, maybe? Since we seem to have Peter’s deal as a major sticking point for Kindred. But the question remains, why would Harry care about Ock’s deal? Why would Harry care about Ock at all? Is there a story that I have forgotten that involves harry and Dr. Octopus?
- Whose coffin might that be? We are dealing with Kindred, so it could be Harry’s, but Harry never died in this altered reality, so there shouldn’t be a grave. Outside of this, I have no idea of what body Ock was hoping to find nor what about that person’s corpse would be able to give him the information he needed.
- Does Kindred have plans to use Ock to get to Peter or does Kindred have plans to make Ock come to terms with issues, much like he does for Norman and Peter?
Extra Credit
Give me your take on the whole Ock ending! What am I missing? What are your conjectures?
Misleading Covers
I was really hoping to see Kingpin decked out in those purple pants and yellow ascot instead of his usual modern look with a red scarf for some reason. WHY IS THERE A RED SCARF? Plus, no Gog! The cover clearly indicates a Gog presence!
Final Grade
I loved this issue. Sure, Spider-Man is not front and center, but all of these characters are important to Peter’s life, which I think has value. This isn’t the same as introducing some new element and focusing on this. We are very much grounded in Spider-Man throughout this story. Plus it was a fun read – more fun than I’ve had in quite a while!
A
Your Turn
What grade do YOU give it?
Homework
Well, Nick Lowe gave us a caption box to show us a former Robbie vs tombstone fight, so your homework is to find a copy and then read/re-read it! There may be a test!
What’s Next?
It is ALL OUT WAR! All the super crime lords of the Marvel U are competing at the whims of Mayor Wilson Fisk! Their task? Get the Tablets of Life & Destiny and Death & Entropy. Also, KILL BOOMERANG! Spider-Man, Randy and Robbie Robertson are caught in the crossfire!
Lots of bad villains going at with Spidey in the middle?????? Marvel TAKE MY MONEY!
The week following will be the Giant Sized King’s Ransom #1 to wrap up the Kingpin part of this story. Don’t worry, it isn’t one of those $10 deals, but I wanted to you be on the look out since it will not be #66 like one would think.
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!
‘Nuff Said!
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“Ahh! The Eyes! What happened to Peter’s eyes??????? They are cheek level now!”
I think that because Spidey has his head tilted to his left, his left eye looks lower on his face than it actually is.
Ahaha, thank you.
I did with the bit I could add that it hadn’t already been said. But in Chi-Town’s review. :p
(No preferences, it was just more appropriate for the topic)
@Aqu@ – No problem! Just stir it back up again! I’m game!
Sigh, recently I cannot read the new issues early enough and I always come to the reviews late, when all the hot of the discussion is quenched. Damn.
@Evan, @Sthenurus, and @Michael
Evan – OK, I won’t spend my time on those issues! I’m not soft spoken – years as a teacher and swim coach have cured that, but I am rather introverted and would rather not be around too many others outside of my comfort zones of home, pool, and classroom. I am going to assume that by choosing mine first, you were making a statement that you wanted the high quality review first. 🙂 Do you know what the term “enabler” means? I have a problem with research – you should be telling me NOT to make spreadsheets!
@Sthenurus – et tu, Sthene? OK, *maybe* I’ll consider trying to map out Doc Ock – but no promises! 🙂 It does seem that Ock would be looking for his own body to find answers about his gaps in memory, but what would his corpse tell him and why would the artist go out of his way to not show us the tombstone? I just don’t know. Maybe if I… NO! You guys aren’t tricking me into another chart. Oh, and thanks for the kind words!
@Michael – I’m going to go back and read those. I read the Superior Spider-Man run, but maybe I missed some because I sure don’t remember Mephisto being in and now that I think about it, I don’t remember how that run ended. And now I’m thinking I must have missed the “on Fire” as well. I had stopped collecting during that time and thought I had read all those that I missed, but these gaps in my memory are too complete to just lay on my extreme old age. Thanks for pointing me towards those. Now that Evan has freed up my schedule by not requiring me to re-read Ends of the Earth, I should be able to knock those out by next issue!
@Mark- my bad. I meant “MIND on Fire”- Amazing Spider-Man 581-582, the story where Slott explains how Harry came back from the dead.
BTW, Ock’s deal with Mephisto was in Superior Spider-Man 11-12, in 2019.
As usual, great review Mark!
I think dock ock was looking for his old body. Hence why finding it empty was strange. But which body? Doc died many time. Once killed by Kaine, once when transfering his consciousness into Peter’s Body. Then he “died” again when he relinquished his body to Pete, then got his backed-up consciousness (circa Mid superior vol 1 run) into a cloned body to become the superior octopus/superior spidey again, then made a deal with mephisto to go back to his old body/mindset in the last issue of superior vol 2. Confused yet? We need a flowchart of this crap!
@Mark — No, definitely don’t go back and read it. I might even be mistaken in my reference. I was just citing it as a time when Doctor Octopus’s body was deteriorating, such that he was essentially nothing more than a husk with a very powerful brain. (This was right before Superior, if I remember correctly.) That’s how I remember his old body, so to see how he “got better” sometime before this issue would have really confused me if I read this off the shelf. I think Ends of the Earth is when Silver Sable “died,” though, and when Peter got another fancy armored suit. No, better not go back and read it.
This pandemic is especially difficult for those of us who are soft-spoken. It’s hard for people to hear me even without the mask. If I were Spider-man, I would need some kind of amplification system. There’s no way to intimidate villains if they can’t even hear you mock them.
By the way, if it makes you feel any better, even if Chi-Town beat you by “three stinking minutes,” I clicked on your review first, as it was the most recent. So there’s that, right?
Uh oh, Mark — I think you’re gonna have to make a Doc Ock spreadsheet…
@Michael and @Comet
Michael – Ah! The Doc Ock/Captain Stacy connection. That would be qood place to start! Harry and Gwen were high school friends, so there is certainly a connection there. I wouldn’t think it would be one strong enough to make Ock a key player in Kindred’s machinations, but maybe enough to bring him in as a bit player or pawn. Good call, Michael! Point me in the right direction here – where’s the “Man on Fire” story you are referring to? I must have missed that. Either that, or my extreme old age is affecting me (which would be a great excuse if it weren’t for JR, who is a little older than me, continuing to rattle off issue numbers with no reference!). The fact that Spencer doesn’t let us see the tombstone makes the identity pretty important. So let’s consider here – 1. Doc Ock’s grave – obviously important to him, but how would it be empty be a surprise and what information would he be able to get? 2. Harry’s grave – so if Harry did have a duplicate buried, where is it? How would that affect Ock? 3. Someone else – ????? I feel like I should really be able to connect some dots here, but it could just be like that whole “who is behind the vault door” thing in which there is no way we could know.
Comet – Precious Tritium…
@Chi-Town and @Evan
Chi-Town – We agree? Holy crap! *checks quickly to make sure the planets are in alignment and the sun going through eclipse – sighs in relief* Man, I sure hope that’s what happens. You sent me that blurb about a Sinister War coming up this summer and I CAN’T WAIT! It’s a weird feeling because usually when an event is coming, I feel completely opposite!
@Evan – Speak up! I can’t hear you over all this noise! I need to write someone in Marvel that would answer me to find out exactly who’s in charge of putting onomatopoeias in the story. According Peter David’s book about writing comics, it’s the writer, but it doesn’t seem to be the case with Spencer, so I’m not sure what is going on there. As for the Ock/Mephisto story, I can’t really weigh in. I missed it and have no idea where I would find it. I saw his old body and was a bit confused since the last time I remembered seeing him was in his Superior Spider-Man series, which wasn’t too bad to read on MU. I had to look up why he was old Ock again. I’m sure someone who reads this review will know and point me in the right direction. And I read Ends of the Earth, but for the life of me, the memory of what actually happened in it is fleeting at best. I remember Sandman was there…I think… Yeah, that’s it. Should I go back and re-read it?
Harry and Otto together?
“Nobel Prize, Otto! Nobel Prize!”
Re: Harry and Ock- Ock was partly responsible for Captain Stacy’s death. Harry knew Gwen for years, so he probably knew Captain Stacy pretty well. It does seem like there’s more to Harry’s motives than that, though.
Harry told Peter during “Man on Fire” that his father had Mysterio create “a duplicate for the coffin”. Now it’s not clear if Harry was just lying or if that’s what happened in this altered reality but either way, it makes no sense for Harry to tell Peter that unless there was a coffin.
I don’t think it’s Harry’s corpse Ock was after though. How would Harry’s corpse help Ock regain his memories? The obvious answer is Ock’s own corpse but maybe that’s TOO obvious.
Wait…wait…wait. You’ll have to forgive me — I haven’t actually read this issue, so I may have missed something. Do you think that a story about Doctor Octopus losing his memories Mephisto-style was written purposely to make him a part of Kindred’s storyline, and was that the plan from the beginning? It will be interesting to see how large a role he will play. I think if I did pick up this issue and find that Doctor Octopus was back in his old body (which I suppose isn’t deteriorating anymore — Remember Ends of the Earth?), I’d be very, very confused.
When I saw the preview and all of the onomatopoeia therein I knew we would be in for a treat. I’m most comfortable in quiet and peaceful environments (like libraries and bookstores), but make my comics loud! (Sorry, didn’t mean to raise my voice.)
We…agree..on the grade. WOW! Great review Mark. Think the Sinster War will consist of the Sinister Six, Sinister Syndicate, and the Savage Six? All those villains right up your alley.