Amazing Spider-Man #13 (Spider-Verse Part 5) Review
Amazing Spider-Man #13 (Spider-Verse Part 5) review!
Things are reaching the climax in Spider-Verse and they start with the Inheritors announcing their failure to their father. If you read Scarlet Spiders #3 you know they cannot clone themselves into spare bodies, and Silk has discovered the one world they can’t travel in. What this means is that for the first time they have the advantage, but Solus has no fear since he has the Scion and by tonight there won’t be any left once they complete a ritual.
Back with the group of Spiders, Peter is shocked at seeing that his Uncle Ben was a Spider-Man. But he corrects them by explaining he gave up being Spider-Man, which even Otto finds to make no sense with him being the man who teaches nearly every Peter that with great power comes great responsibility. Ben explains that his version of the Green Goblin killed Peter and Aunt May and it broke him.
Otto calls him out on being a coward, which led to his world being ruined. Ben explains that his version of Otto held the world hostage with nuclear weapons and thus he ruined the entire dimension when it went off early. Our Otto takes that more than a bit hard, but Peter decides to give the clue that Spider-Woman sent back only for none of them to be able to read it, meaning they lost an important players for nothing according to Otto.
Silk takes this hard since she was the one who lost her device and left Spider-Woman stranded and excuses herself to go rescue her. Spider-Gwen follows her, thinking they can go in and out without anyone noticing. Of course, the Spider-Woman tie-in says otherwise.
Meanwhile, the India Spider-Man is still coming to terms with how he feels like one in a million considering all the similar Spider-Men. Spider-UK assures him that each one of them is unique in their own way, much like the members of his Captain Britain Corps. This brings him some comfort right as Otto loses his patience with the scroll and has his computer scan it for any matching languages.
This act leads to Peter pointing out the resemblance to Anna Maria Marconi, which tells Otto that Peter is from the future. This means that he loses in the end, which doesn’t bode well. Before he can make out anything, Anya explains she can read it because of her power and that it’s a prophecy that says that the spiders will end the Inheritors existence in a thousand years, so the only way to stop it is to perform a ritual with the blood of the Other, the Scion, and the Bride.
Much to their horror, both Silk and Kaine are on Loom World. Silk’s rescue attempt ended up getting their device busted again, which makes for like the third time she’s screwed up in this event. Kaine went there for revenge since the attempt to stop the Inheritor clones succeeded at the cost of Ben Reilly’s life. With both of them on Loom world, the Inheritors can smell them and go off to hunt them.
Anya puts together a team to go and get an advantage they can use from the second scroll, while Kaine hulked out on the Other to go kill some of the bastards. Jessica is stuck on Jennix’s world, but Miles ‘ team will go pick her up, and Miguel is working on something in the old Safe Zone and will be there in five or so minutes, so that leaves the rest to deal with the final battle… except for Ben, who doesn’t have it in him.
Kaine, in the meanwhile kills Solus in a single panel like some mook, despite him supposedly being hopped up on Uni-Force. This drives Morlun to the point of rage and he tears one of Kaine’s limbs off and stabs him through the head with it. Whether or not this kills him is unknown, but either way he’s down for the count. Silk and the other two Spider-Women come under fire by the twins and the beast tamer, who brought a bunch of Green Goblins with her.
With rest of them, Peter tries to get Ben to come. But it’s ultimately Otto who gets him back onto his feet, stating he never gave up no matter how great his mistakes, and an easy victory is never rewarding. Peter and I can’t believe it, especially when you consider this is a villain talking, but it does the job and gets him into action.
Now they’re all heading to the final battle as the comic ends.
Okay, review time….
I loved this issue with a burning passion. Nothing was wrong with it. Even Otto got some decent lines and character development. I honestly wish they’d bring him back once this is over.
Anyway, 5 out of 5.
Amazing Spider-Man #9 (Spider-Verse)
Okay, a lot is going on in Amazing Spider-Man #9 and these are my thoughts on probably the biggest issue yet in the Spider-Verse event.
The comic opens with Peter Parker being called in for work by JJJ, which is the first clue it’s not our Peter. The second is that Morlun gets his hands on him and starts feasting on him while the third is that they live on the moon. We then cut to Morlun’s siblings and the gluttonous one deciding to see what he’s hoarding on the 616-universe.
After that Peter gets woken up by Silk who tells him the solution to their problem when it comes to wanting to make spider-babies is for him to leave since the great web is closing in on him or something cryptic like that. This is further compounded when Mayday, Spider-UK, Anya, Miguel, Jessica Drew (616), and Spider-Ham, show up and tell him the short version that Morlun’s brother it coming. Peter immediately says to get in the damn portal before he shows up.
Kaine is not so lucky as the glutton found him and attacked the New Warriors (they’ll probably make it). He tries to skewer him with his Other powers, but that just makes the glutton want him more until Gwen Stacy, Ben Rilley, and Bruce Banner show up with the Old Man Spider. They get Kaine out but Bruce gets his spine snapped and they have to leave him behind.
All the spiders meet up on Earth-13, a safe zone because the Spider-Man there still has the power of a god and the only reason he hasn’t gone after the Inheritors is because his power is tied to his dimension. Anyway, long story short they need Peter there because he’s supposedly the chosen one. The comic ends in the Ultimate Universe as Jessica Drew (1610) and Miles Morales come under fire by the glutton’s sister.
We then get an epilogue where the head of the Inheritors holds a feast on a number of Spiders, quells his children’s squabbling, and then reveals he knows all connected to the great web after enslaving the Master Weaver before they munch on the collected Spider-Men.
Okay, okay review time.
A lot going on, most of it I like. There are some glaring issues, like the text being wrong and you have to wonder why they would just call out their secret identities in public. But I do like the characterizations of a good number of the spiders and the story is moving.
I give it full marks, 5 out of 5.
Amazing Spider-Man #8 (Edge of Spider-Verse Tie-In) Review
Amazing Spider-Man #8 and the next tie-in to Edge of Spider-Verse are bundled together once again. What are my thoughts on the matter? Read my review and find out!
The comic picks up with Ms. Marvel having a fangasm as she gets to perform the slingshot maneuver and knock down the monster woman. It won’t keep her there for long, so they grab the cocoon and split, but it starts hatching. Meanwhile Cindy Moon is learning the hard way that rent in New York is a bitch, but she can’t stay with Peter since they keep acting like horny teenagers and then gets the Spider-Man treatment in the same way the Daily Bugle does him by the Fact News channel.
Anyway, the cocoon hatches into a baby and Ms. Marvel has to take it and run while Peter holds the Kree off. It goes poorly for both, with Ms. Marvel calling them monsters for shooting at her while she was carrying a baby. In all fairness, I think like half of the Marvel Universe would agree there and so does one of the henchmen, which is why he turns on the other two. They put together that Minerva is doing this without the Kree Empire’s permission and she runs off by him claiming to call them. Oh, and Silk does up her new outfit.
This part of the comic ends with Ms. Marvel getting complimented and then rushing back to school, while Peter gives the henchman a job at his company since he feels for him.
The next part has Spider-Girl from her own series running afoul of an inheritor known as Daemos, who intends to eat Peter, Mayday, and her baby brother. Peter, despite the bum leg, and MJ buy the kids some time to get away as more of the dimension traveling Spider-Men come to save them. Mayday wants them to help her parents, but they can only pick up the kids’ signals meaning that they’re dead. As the comic ends Mayday vows to kill the bastard and he states she’s more than welcome to try.
Okay, review time.
Not much to write about on the Amazing Spider-Man part. It was filler, at best. Padding and not relevant to the current story, so 3 out of 5 on that. The other part though, that was messed up. Mayday was a fan-favorite and Marvel just killed off her father and mother. The fan outrage is going to be a firestorm, but 5 out of 5 for such a short tale.
Amazing Spider-Man # 6 (2014) Review
So, will the world learn of Spider-Man’s secret identity in issue #6 of the new series? Read my review and find out.
Picking up where the comic ended, JJJ once again tries to expose Peter’s identity to the world instead of doing something to stop it, with everyone in a panic that its’ about to happen….except JJJ stood in the dead center of the shot. Contrived, maybe, but no one was fooled into thinking otherwise. Even though Black Cat gets the mask off, Silk manages to wrap his head before they can get a decent shot and splits with him.
Black Cat then goes to a villain bar to get muscle, but no one really sees her as much since she’s working with Electro, who killed basically half of their numbers when he tried to bust into the prison. Meanwhile Silk and Anna are getting Peter onto his feet as Electo asks Sajani if the device can really cure him when Black Cat arrives. Later on they’re getting ready to prep the device when Black Cat and Electro sneak in while Peter and Silk keep making out in the backseat when she senses something wrong because her spider-sense is better and then suit up, while Anna gets a promotion.
Anna goes to shut the project down and clear the area when Black Cat and Electro get to the machine and she uses it to amp up his power as the web-slinging duo arrive. Black Cat decides to turn Electro into a bomb and its killing him, meaning if he’s really Spider-Man and not Otto, he’d save Electro. Yeah, needless to say he gets right into it and she condemns them both to death before Silk saves them.
In the aftermath Electro is depowered, Silk goes to work for the news company in order to search for her family, Black Cat is back into good graces with the villains and is intent on copying Catwoman on being a new Kingpin (real subtle Marvel), and Sajani arrives to see Anna getting along with Peter. As the comic ends we see that Sajani actually told Black Cat willingly how to destroy the device because it was a bad business model, which doesn’t paint her in a very good light. Then again, she joined up with Otto’s graces…
Okay, review time.
Well, this first arc has been… interesting. The flaws are they’ve basically killed all the character development Black Cat had and they are pushing Silk like an overeager drug-dealer outside a rehabilitation center with a banner stating the first one’s free. I mean come on, we get she’s new and awesome. I even approve of the whole web-shaping abilities and how she can change them, but being faster and better Spider-Sense?
Bull.
Anyway, still loved the rest of it so…4 out of 5.
Amazing Spider-Man (2014) #5 Review
Okay, after that last issue we have a new character in story who’s serving as the love interest of Spider-Man. Where does it go from here? Read my review of Amazing Spider-Man #5 and find out!
The story picks up with Black Cat crashing a secret gambling parlor, where a villain named Eel is getting ready for a meeting. And she’s brought a friend with her, Electro, to steal his thunder. Even Eel thinks he’s too dangerous, but she’s confident he can’t shock her.
Meanwhile, Peter and Cindy are in the process of doing things in public that are highly illegal and they’ve just met. It takes her revealing she knows who he is to dampen those spider-urges and get the blood flowing back to the head that has a brain in it. They both snap the hell out of it and wonder if it’s some kind of primal connection, but she’s fine with it since it’s the first time in years she’s kissed someone.
At the fact channel they’re waiting to do an interview with Sanjani, but she’s been kidnapped by Black Cat. As far as the kidnappings go, it’s not bad. She’s sipping on champagne and eating caviar as they get information out of her as to how they’re trying to cure and contain Electro. Black Cat then takes a stroll in the bad part of town with a couple of others who were outted by Spider-Man with plans to pay him back big time.
Then we finally see Anna Marconi, Otto’s ex-lover, coming into their apartment to see Peter making out with Cindy on the ceiling. Cindy kinda gets territorial, but she’s not in the mood to argue. Instead she tells Peter Sanjani’s gone missing and he needs to get his butt over to the tv station. There he finds and congratulates JJJ for bouncing on his feet and begins the interview about his plans to cure villains like Electro, who may see their powers as a curse, while said villain shows up with Black Cat, and threatens to kill Peter unless Spider-Man shows up in fifteen minutes.
Since Peter can’t just disappear into a costume without a little help, Cindy suits up and buys him time. He and Black Cat get into it, with him claiming his innocence, while Electro and Cindy duke it out, until a stray electric blast nails him. Black Cat then prepares to reveal his identity to the entire world on camera as the comic ends.
Okay review time….
Well, the story is moving along and the art is nice. I find the whole threatening to reveal his secret identity thing kinda pointless because he can make his mask stick to his face with the stick’em powers he’s got, and he really should have packed an insulated suit the moment he first went after Electro.
Still, 5 out of 5 from me!
Amazing Spider-Man #4 Review
Our story begins at Parker Industries, where they are testing an anti-Electro suit when Peter gets the call from the Avengers. He’s thrilled, since it means he’s not on their shit-list anymore, and runs off to explain he was brain-swapped with Doc Ock while Anna Marie tries to cover for him, but Sanjani is having none of it.
While in the battle he gets hit by a barrage of images that basically tell him that Cindy Moon, Silk, not only got bitten and developed powers, but where she is. He pieces together that she was the replacement for him Madam Webb mentioned, not Kaine. Once close enough to the location he can feel her and realizes Ezekiel kept it from him.
She warns him not to free her, because if he does Morlun will come. Morlun… well, he killed Peter. I’m going to gloss over that when you can go to http://arousinggrammar.com/2012/08/01/spider-man-takes-on-morlun-pt-3/ and read that series of articles for yourself to get a summary of the ass-kicking he gave him multiple times. The dude is a monster and she is right to fear him, but Peter believes he’s dead and rips the metal door off its hinges.
This gives up an ominous shot of a figure far, far away, who can smell her presence and is about ready to begin what he calls the Great Hunt. Considering that Kraven fucked up the Spider-Family the last time someone called open season, that’s bad. In this case, I’m betting Spider-verse.
Anyway, Cindy comes out pissed and has greater spider abilities than him. He calms her down by saying Morlun is dead and she does a complete-180. Then she makes her suit out of webbing and they take a swing through the town.
As they do this, Sanjani is about to quit when Black Cat catches her. After all, she needs someone who knows how everything works to tell her about their plans and gadgets. Really, the timing couldn’t have been better.
Peter, in the meantime, finally catches up with her and she learns that her parents are gone from where they lived. She’s upset, he tries to comfort her and makes it worse by revealing that Morlun’s died twice. Since that means he can come back, all her sacrifices were wasted. Then, after a brief spat, we have kissing as the comic ends.
Apparently spider-sense makes you horny. This can only end badly.
Okay, review time.
I was eager for this issue. I really was. It was a good issue, but Silk screams Mary Sue right out the gate. Better powers, attracted to the main character, a soul-bond of some kind. It’s this type of thing that made his last girlfriend, Carlie, a scrappy character. I’m trying to like her, so don’t fuck it up Marvel.
5 out of 5 is my review. You need this issue.
Twilit Dreams Circle 