The Chi-Town Breakdown: Giant-Size Amazing Spider-Man: Chameleon Conspiracy #1


This is it!  The final curtain call for The Chameleon Conspiracy!  It’s Part 4, so what is in store?  Was it worth the extra 2 bucks you paid for it?  Did we get the answers that we sought?  What’s going on with Teresa Parker, if in fact that is her REAL NAME! What about Ned Leeds and can he be trusted?  How will pregnant Betty explain all of this to her future kid?  Finisher sings “Karma Chameleon” with everyone!.  This and more!  It’s a giant issue folks and we got a lot to cover and there’s no better edutainment than seeing it right here, on the Spider-Man Crawlspace!



(Writer)
Nick Spencer & Ed Brisson
(Artist)
Ig Guara, Marcelo Ferreira, Carlos Gomez, & Ze Carlos
(Colorist)
Morry Hollowell, Andrew Crossley, & Erick Arciniega
(Letterer) VC’s Joe Caramagna
(Editor)
Nick Lowe
(EIC)
C.B. Cebulski
Date Released
6/30/2021
Issue Number
#1
Price Tag:
$5.99
For a different perspective:
Alford’s Notes and Ryan’s Reads


Story:  Spidey swings through the air with the greatest of ease, to find the invisible plane with not dead pal Ned Leeds. ♫  Spidey and Ned land safely on the flying casino only to find out that the all you can eat buffet has ran dry and the guest are fighting.  Chance and Foreigner are battling Chameleon duplicates of Jack O Lanterns!  In fact, all the supervillains there are Chameleon duplicates.

It’s a conspiracy I tell ya!  Speaking of which, we scene shift over to Finisher informing Teresa Parker of Chameleon’s tragic past, only to discover that she and him have a lot in common, but more on that later.  Spidey tries to keep Jamie safe while Ned Leeds get payback on Foreigner, while Chameleon supervillains destroy the power that keep the ship in the air.  Since the Catalyst has enough power to crash land the ship safely Spidey retrieves both it, the Clairvoyant, defeats Slyde and helps Jaime and Ned power it up to the ship.  As the Clairvoyant predicted, they crash land safely.

Meanwhile Finisher unravels more about Chameleon’s past.  Showing Teresa that Dmitri isn’t the only “Chameleon” out there.  There’s a whole slew of them out there!  Elected Officials, Titans of Industry, Celebrities, Social Media Influencers, Dark Mark, and of course DOUBLE AGENTS!  He requests for her to bring him the Clairvoyant and he’ll reveal the truth about her true identity.  Elsewhere, Jaime comes to terms that he has made a mistake and hands over the Clairvoyant to Spidey in hope that he can put it in better hands.  Ned Leeds heads back to Betty to “live happily ever after” and Spidey meets up with Teresa.  Spidey hands over the Clairvoyant to Teresa thinking it’ll be in better hands.  After a hug, he swings away.  Teresa destroys the Clairvoyant.  During the emotional breakdown she had in Chameleon’s cell it is revealed that Teresa Parker is a Chameleon Duplicate trained by Finisher.  Peter Parker has no biological sister!  Dun Dun DUN!!  She doesn’t care though, to her, she’s Peter’s sister and flies off to “finish” The Finisher! Also Taskmaster and Black Ant plan on helping Foreigner (if the pay is good) get back at Spider-Man and Ned Leeds for running the casino’s accounts dry, not knowing that it’s actually Silver Sable that took up the collection.

Doc Ock recruits Clone-Kraven the Hunter as the fourth member of the Sinister Six and his payment will be the acquired possession of the fifth member…The Lizard!

Wait, there’s MORE!  After a hard day being shot in the shoulder as if it were nothing, Chameleon gets a visit from Kindred!  Who…”needs more serum.”.  Interesting….


The Breakdown:

  • Not Peter’s Sister.
  • Kindred’s Serum.
  • Foreign Policy.
  • Leeds’n To Believing.
  • Nitpicks.
  • Grade.

Not Peter’s Sister:  Right now George is doing the happy dance.  It is revealed that “Teresa Parker” is nothing more that a trained Chameleon agent.  Richard and Mary Parker only had one child.  However…she was so deeply invested in her character that she continues on to believe that she is the true sister of Peter Parker and no one can change her mind about it, not even Finisher who gave her the assignment to BE Teresa Parker or our very own George Berryman.  This is a win for both fans or non-fans of the character.  For the non-fans, Teresa is nothing more than a Chameleon agent and continuity in the Parker legacy stays the way it started.  For the fans, everything about Teresa is there and hasn’t changed direction.  She accepts who she is and continues to fight the good fight.  Already trained to be a super spy, she can easily use her shape shifting powers to blend in during a mission.

Not sure if this is where Spencer wanted to go with it, but I dig it.  Spencer is a fan of Teresa and wants to continue on with her story, but wants to please the non fans as well.  On a personal note, I myself do not have a biological sister, but indeed have a *“Sister”, that I love and share a sibling relationship with.  If Peter follows that route then I share more with the webslinger that I even realized.  Now, I want to direct your attention to the ramification of this reveal that could have on Peter.  Let’s not forget that way back in Amazing Spider-Man #388 it was revealed that Chameleon and brought Simulacrum LMD of Richard and Mary Parker into Peter’s life to obtain information on Spider-Man.  While the Richard Parker LMD followed his programing, the Mary Parker LMD had a “change of heart” and wanted to protect “her son”.  Her artificial life was taken from the Vulture in that very issue and once Peter found out that Harry Osborn orchestrated this before he died, it led Peter down a very emotional traumatized life which was the beginning of the first Clone Saga.

Teresa is following the “change of heart” path.  However, Peter doesn’t know her true identity yet.  Once it’s revealed, I believe that this will be part of the “physical, metaphysical, emotional, psychological” weight that will impact Peter that Nick Lowe warned us about for the upcoming Spider-Man Beyond story that takes place in September/October.  Fitting, to say the lest.  First trauma lead to the introduction of Ben Reilly, second time will be the return of Ben.   Not sure if we are going to see anymore of Teresa’s adventure to find The Finisher, but I’m sure that will turn up after ASM 875.  Spencer is going to be knee deep in Sinister War and the Kindred Conclusion.


Kindred’s Serum:  Speaking of which, guess who pays a visit to Chameleon while he causally reads the book “How to endure Physical Pain Casually”.  Dmitri knows that Kindred is Harry, but the interesting part in this whole encounter is that Harry needs more serum from Chameleon.

What kind of serum?
What is it supposed to do?
Is it Goblin Formula Serum?
Maybe it’s serum that allows Harry his new demon powers?
Is it serum that Harry needs to inflict his needs onto someone else?

It’s a good bet that we get the answers to at least one of these question come next issue in ASM #70.  I want to say that this serum keeps Carlie Cooper and Dan Lyman in check, we haven’t heard from those two in awhile.  Maybe the serum keeps them “locked up” inside Kindred’s mind.  That’s what I’m leaning on, or it could be a serum that links to Harry’s drug addiction.  We won’t know more till later on, but I would love to hear your theories so be sure to comment below.  Their exchange also harkins back to Amazing Spider-Man #388.  Since they are “in business together…again.”


Foreign Policy:  I think Spencer wrote the Teresa/Chameleon portion of this story and Brisson wrote the Foreigner/Chance portion.  Here’s where I’m lost.  So all the accounts are emptied on Foreigner’s flying casino ship right?  Was it implied that Silver Sable emptied those accounts because it’s believed that those are the source of the “Treasury’s Missing Funds”?  Didn’t Foreigner raise that money to help Sable out anyways?  A lot of miscommunication going on here I think and soon Spider-Man and Ned Leeds will be caught in the middle of it.  Or will it be Ben-Spidey and Ned Leeds caught in the middle of it?  Not sure what’s going to happen, but hey, more of Taskmaster and Black Ant team up please!!!


Leeds’n to Believing:  So, it isn’t revealed that Ned Leeds is a clone.  Not revealed that he’s a Chameleon agent either.  We still don’t know who the mystery man is that helped him after he dug himself out of the grave.  So what do you think?

  • Is Ned for real?  His story actually makes sense from a comic book state of mind.  Goblin formula regenerated him and healed his wounds.  So he’s been playing it low and working in the dark.
  • Is there something more?  He came really close to killing Foreigner.  You almost saw the goblin madness in his eyes until he stopped to see what he had done or almost did.

I’m sure we’ll get more on Ned in future issues.  He may be part of Peter’s support system when Peter takes a break.  Peter/MJ and Ned/Betty are the new couple duo.  I would actually be okay with that.  It’s not forced and there’s good history between the two couples.  I know a lot of fans rather have Harry and Liz, I get that.  I do believe that after this Kindred Affair, that ship will have confirmed that it sailed away to be remembered and not relived.


Nitpicks:

  • Spidey, if you are worried that Ned need to stay safe then you really shouldn’t have taken him into danger.
  • Chameleon still shot, still bleeding out, still doesn’t seem to bother him.  In fact, he just lays down and reads a good book!  HOW?!
  • “White Russian for the man in white”?  …. as far as puns go, that wasn’t THAT bad.  
  • Foreigner looks just fine considering that Ned beat his face in just a few panels earlier.  This is why you shouldn’t have rotating artists on one issue.
  • Couldn’t MJ make a cameo…?

Grade:  Giving this one a B+.  The writing was good and so was the art.  Based on the writing I guess that Spencer handled the Teresa/Chameleon portion and Brisson completed the Foreigner/Leeds arc.  I however would prefer ONE writer, but I understand that Spencer is knee deep in concluding his run on ASM.  That brings me to the art.  Aces all around, but I prefer Carlos Gomez as the lead artist for this book.  Just love the way he portrays Spidey and his supporting cast of characters.

Remember folks, I told you to “ENJOY THE RIDE” and Spencer’s run is coming to an end in September.  How have you enjoyed it so far?  I LOVED IT!  His last issue is #74 or legacy number 875!  It’s not over yet and we’ll see how you feel about “Brand New Day 2.0” that follows.  Hopefully it’s BETTER…MUCH BETTER… that the first time they did this, so I’m cautiously optimistic on what to expect.  I can’t believe Brad is making me review Flour-Man in September/October…yikes!  Better dust off my chef hat for that one.  You can absolutely guarantee that Mark and I will be on an alternating schedule to review three books per month.  One for Mark, One for me, and if Ryan gets into the mix, one for him.

Speaking of which I will see you next week with ASM #70 and Dark Mark will be covering The Sinister War books.  We’re coming to the end folks!!!

* Chi-Town has a sister!  No worries, she’s not a Chameleon Agent, but she IS a very good writer!  Runs in the family.  🙂  Click the link up there when I mentioned her and take a look at her page or buy her published books!  Tell a friend!

 

 

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14 Comments

  1. While I agree that Teresa’s “voiceover” during the final pages comes across as “I may be real or I may be a Chameleon, nobody really knows”, the placement of that panel with her unmasked in the cell as a Chameleon on the final page, with the look of anguish on her face from learning that truth, strongly implies that that final page did actually happen.

  2. @Gabriel is 100% correct. Teresa did not return to the cell – it was her What If (fittingly a disaster ending like What If stories mostly were). That said, whether she is “real” or not is left open making every one happy as was observed.

  3. To me, bringing the Finisher back feels like Spencer doesn’t like seeing ASM Annual #5 on the “Spider-Man Killed A Guy” lists on the internet, and how Spidey cavalierly “killed” him in that story (written by Stan himself, no less). So he decided to retcon that death to say “No, Spidey didn’t actually kill him.”

    If Spencer had stayed on for many more years I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t retcon all of those deaths from those lists, so that by the end of his run Spidey had never killed anyone.

  4. This Conspiracy has just brought more questions without answering much. And that could be a problem knowing that Spencer is going to leave soon.
    I would have liked this issue a little more without that knowledge.
    Anyway it seemed more an introduction to some kind of Chameleon Conspiracy that has not yet resolved.

    I interpreted that scene with Teresa as having happened for real: it’s not the first time Spencer does something like that, using thought captions that relate in meaning to another context. In this case he uses them to show what happened before.
    However IT IS a little ambiguous, so I can see why many interpreted it as a possibility.
    Mind you, even if she is a chameleon, that doesn’t mean she isn’t Peter’s biological sister, as the Finisher explained: there is still the chance she was taken from the Parkers after their death and raised to be a chameleon.

    @Michael: I too thought that the Finisher might have just been a fake to mess with Teresa’s mind by Chameleon’s plan.

  5. @Mark: ” Maybe he is looking at a way to heal his decaying body?” Remember that issue (and in you made that aware in your investigation notes) when Kindred looked at his arm where a rat was coming out and he said “We all have scars”, maybe that’s where he needs the serum for? I’m up for it, maybe we’ll be on the podcast.

    @Warren: Gonna have to agree with you. I don’t want to feel cheated with Spencer’s run.

  6. I read the Teresa scene as Chi-Town did – that she is a Chameleon but that she has decided to choose her own path. I suspect Spencer deliberately left it ambiguous enough to have both readings be valid. He might come out with something more definitive on that count before he leaves but if he doesn’t, her status quo can continue to be open to reader debate while not getting in the way of telling new stories with her. Intrigued by the scene with Kindred and the Chameleon at the end. Clearly there’s a surprise or two left when it comes to Kindred. With this issue down, there’s just nine more left (including the SW issues) before Spencer closes the book on ASM. Really hope it all ends in a satisfying way. I’m not sure what that has to entail exactly but I do know that, ultimately, the whole Kindred storyline has to mean something and leave Peter and MJ in a different place than they were at the beginning of this run. Either the marriage is restored or else their memories of it (and of the deal that dissolved it) are restored. Anything less, I think, would feel like a cheat and a waste of time.

  7. I am not a Chameleon duplicate, though I suspect that Credible Hulk and Light Mark are.

    I read the Teresa is a Chameleon completely as her thinking out what might happen if she found out the truth, and as Jessep more or less told Kaffee in _A Few Good Men_, “[She] can’t handle the truth!” I’m pretty confident that is the supposed reading. Now we have a Schrodinger’s Teresa.

    I first thought the serum might be for him to use on someone else, but then thought maybe the only way he can look like Harry is to use the serum, so the bandages do have some purpose (to hide his rotting face). However, the idea that it is not a Chameleon serum, but rather a healing serum does have some intriguing properties. Maybe he is looking at a way to heal his decaying body?

    I wouldn’t be adverse to a Spencer reflection. I have a feeling that the podcast will probably tackle that, but I’m up for something in writing if Chi-Town is.

    “but she IS a very good writer! Runs in the family.” Who besides your sister writes well in your family? Your brother?

  8. @Gabriel: Like you said, both are equally true. I honestly felt the same way you did, but looking into it, I think Spencer is going with Teresa is a Chameleon Agent.

    @Michael: All good points! I think Gabriel is out of the picture. He may show up in Ben’s run.

    @Sam: Yep. Still I question the way it was written. Like after she talked to Finisher, she held that gun, thoughts got to her head and her emotions enabled her shape shifting powers. That’s my thought.

    @Sthenurus: That be a neat thing to do, if Mark is up for it. I wouldn’t mind it, I highly expect a farewell letter from George when 875 hits. He wrote a Thank You letter when Spencer started.

  9. Wow, it sure would be something if Kindred turned out to not be Harry. I kind of like that idea, since then we wouldn’t have some Harry duplicates to deal with, on top of all the other duplicate characters. Interesting that there’s been so much ambiguity, at least for me, regarding the time-frame and the outright reality of the scene with Teresa.

    All I keep thinking is how little kids who have only been exposed to MCU Spider-man will be really puzzled by this blond man who calls himself “Ned Leeds.” 🙂

  10. I really liked the issue, but nothing much was solved, which is a problem only 5 ish issue away from the end of a run…

    @gabriel I understood it the same way as chi-town, but your reading of the scene makes me question it. But as you put it, it achieves the same result either way!
    @michael I so wish it’d be Gabriel. That’d be the ultimate plot twist and it would redeem the character. Also it’s be beautiful if a character from the second worst Spidey story of all time would solve the consequences of the absolute worst story of all time! If Spencer’s manages to redeem both sin past AND OMD… Wow!
    @Sam to be fair spiderman beyond isn’t Spencer idea. It’s absolutely possible he had no idea what was gonna happen after his run and marvel decided to tack that one after the fact for a “fresh start”. Wouldn’t be the first time!
    @chi-town @dark mark are you guys gonna do a retrospective of Spencer run once it ends at 75? I’d love to see your in depths thoughts once the run is over. What worked, what didn’t, and where you’d rank it in the pantheon of spider runs.

  11. I assumed the serum reference was to do with the serum Chameleon sold to Silver Sable back in the 2099 arc. The serum that heeled her.

    Kindred’s outfit was odd this issue. It seemed to have a bit more green in it than we’re too.

    I also want to congratulate Nick Spencer on his restraint. If the Clairvoyant had existed in the previous writers era we’d be getting Madam Webb style “the end is near” teases every issue. Jamie or Theresa would use the Clairvoyant to see Spider-Man Beyond and then be incapacitated before they could warn Peter.

  12. @Gabriel, glad you brought that up: it’s how I read that moment too. Not as a flashback reveal, but as a possibility playing out in Teresa’s head.

    Hope I’m wrong, because the way Chi-Town understood it would be more definitive, while at the same time achieving the same outcome. Kind of like how Spencer reset Kraven in the Hunted arc.

    Does anyone find it strange that Ben Reilly hasn’t made an appearance yet? Knowing that he takes over in 5 issues, you’d think he would’ve at least been referenced at some point. I know an image of Scarlet Spider appeared on Kindred’s magic mirror, and that Ben’s been involved in the Korvac arc in Iron Man, but when was the last time he was even mentioned in ASM?

    Great review btw, always a pleasure to read!

  13. The serum Kindred is after is almost certainly the serum that enables Chameleon to change shape- Boomerang once used it to disguise himself as a baseball player. That’s what Chameleon meant by keeping up appearances. This raises the possibility that Kindred isn’t Harry. But Chameleon calls Kindred “Osborn”, and we’ve seen Norman and Kindred in the same place at the same time. I suppose it’s possible that Kindred is Gabriel but that raises the question of why Gabriel would be reluctant to harm MJ or Felicia. Or why Gabriel would care about OMD. (Kindred could be calling the Chameleon “Osborn” ironically, though and Kindred could be someone other than an Osborn, but that raises the same difficulty- who other than Harry would care about OMD and be reluctant to harm MJ and Felicia?)
    Alternately, Kindred could be using the serum to make himself look human or to disguise himself as someone.
    Judging from the covers, Taskmaster, Black Ant and Foreigner will be appearing in Sinister War. Also appearing on the covers is “a” Hobgoblin. I wonder if it’s Ned or Roddy?
    I’m wondering if the Finisher is really calling the shots. We only ever saw a hologram of him. It could be that he’s in a coma or something and this is another one of the Chameleon’s tricks and he’s really in charge.

  14. Chi-Town, I think you didn’t undestand what that scene in the cell with the chamelon meant, she didn’t go there and the chameleon reveal that to her, she was thinking how that scene would play out if she was an robot.

    It’s like the envelop in the original clone saga, there is no actual aswer because she realises that doesn’t matter to her to get an aswer, and I think it is best that way, because there is people who likes her as Peter’s sister and now they can keep thinking this is true, and there is people (like me, and George) who doesn’t buy into it, and now can say she isn’t really Peter’s sister.

    Both are equally true, and both are equally false, it is better that way.

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