Amazing Spider-Man #17 Review
Amazing Spider-Man #17 is out now! Here’s my review and recap as we see once more why Anna Marie is best girl!
Okay, it opens with Anna Marie and Peter at Aunt May’s for dinner. She’s still unaware that Doc Ock was riding in his body for a few months, so she believes they’re still together. Peter is once again being flaky on how to broach the topic, so Anna does it for him by saying they’ve split due to work but it’s rather amicable—which is the truth, more-or-less. She then points out that they can get back to their workplace faster by web-swinging and no one would blink an eye since Spider-Man has saved her twice. I like how she cuts through the neurosis and gets to the point.
Meanwhile, Sanjay is once again bitching about how Parker’s project has little profit rather than being a good thing for the city, which Clayton promptly calls her out on. He earns points in my book there. But sadly she goes back to the whining when Anna reveals that he has a secret entrance for his meetings with Spider-Man and they broke up.
At the same time, Ghost is screwing with their security system, kills a guard, and turns their testing equipment on them. Peter, through a combination of Spider-Sense, Anna being best girl and covering for him, and the Living Brain being a shield, he manages get them out and shift into costume. But not before Sanjay tries to take matters into her own hands and fails to reason with the guy sabotaging the place since he isn’t doing it for profit, but because he wants to.
The comic ends with Peter arriving just in time to see her get stabbed. There was also something with Black Cat, but all you need to know is she plans on robbing Aunt May next issue.
Okay, review time…
Yes, I’m bias in thinking Anna Marie is best girl. She was the one thing Otto did that stayed good in the end. Also, Sanjay lost me when she sold out Parker Industries by telling Black Cat how to sabotage the machine with Electro, which could have potentially killed them all or ruined the company. She did so intentionally, just now too, thinking that she’s the only one who can do something—only this time it bit her in the ass.
I don’t even mind the secret project, because I can see where they’re both coming from. Anna Marie still respects and honors Otto’s legacy and work, so she wants to continue. If she talked to Peter, I’m sure he’d agree. Sanjay… well, she only cares about the bottom-line and would be better off working at Alchemax.
5 out of 5.
Amazing Spider-Man #16 Review
Spider-Verse is over, so it’s back to the daily grind for Peter Parker in Amazing Spider-Man #16. Here’s my review of how things are going for the original web-slinger.
The comic opens at the zoo, with a villain known as Iguana commanding a bunch of reptiles to jump Spider-Man. Normally he wouldn’t be struggling so much against a C-lister, but he’s still aching from having his life-force drained and, on top of that, he has a big presentation today. Though it was funny the villain was offended that he was talking on the phone while fighting.
Anna Marie calls and tells him he needs to get there, but Sanjay hijacks the phone and calls him out on not being there for his project and she won’t do the presentation since she doesn’t believe in it (which was made abundantly clear when she helped Black Cat sabotage it in the first place.) To this, Peter goes on a long rant on how these people need the prison.
He goes on about how most people with powers are driven by pain and rage at not being able to control it, and even the worst that are monsters by choice would be so much less dangerous without their powers. They need compassion, understanding, and help. He says all this while kicking the crap out of Iguana, by the way, and tells her he’s on his way now the moment she lets it slip that Alchemax is in line next to get the job. Nobody wants that with how many shady figures are around there.
Liz Allen presents her brother as an example of reformed prisoner, with him cured of his power and now having a steady job, and the guys admit that Ty Stone’s project looks the most promising. Peter shows up just as they finish. He and Liz Allen are fairly friendly compared to their employees.
However, once Liz mentions Peter has a habit of snatching victory from impossible odds, Ty and her brother decided to make arrangements to prevent that. They go to Black Cat’s parlor, her being the new Kingpin and all, and arrange for some guy named Ghost to try and put the company out of business permanently as the comic ends….
Oh, and there’s also a thing with Black Cat wanting back everything she stole and her good luck powers only working when she’s a selfish bitch.
Okay, review time…
Not bad for an introduction to a new arc, but the solicitations lied to me again and that’s annoying. The cover art would have been better saved until the actual infiltration, but what can you do.
3 out of 5.
Spider-Man 2099 (2014) #10 Review
Trapped in Maestro’s lair, can Miguel escape back to the past to correct the future? Read my review of Spider-Man 2099 #10 to find out!
Our comic picks up after Maestro has curbstomped our hero and dropped him off in a cell. Maestro’s minister asks him what he was thinking locking the hero up unchained in a cell with a Sorceress Supreme. Clearly he knows that this can only lead to one thing, namely that they team-up and escape, but Maestro tells him that he doesn’t care what he thinks. He doesn’t even care about the future he’s conquered since he’s done all there is to do in this world and now he wants more.
Meanwhile, Miguel can’t even crawl over to the female Doctor Strange because he’s so badly beaten, but he manages to fire a web-line and she pulls him close enough to heal. He breaks her chains and they stomp through some guards in order to get to where Maestro has a time machine, with Miguel desperate to go back and fix this mess. There they find Doom’s Time Platform and he figures they just need enough power and there’s half-a-dozen Iron Man suits still in working order.
Maestro shows up and ganks the Sorceress Supreme using a Soul Dagger and an Invisibility Cloak. Miguel flips and manages to get off a shot of an Iron Man Gauntlet before hopping the platform to get back to his own time. He hopes he put Maestro down, because him coming back to the past would be a worse-case scenario. Sad to say, that’s exactly what happened because Maestro and the female Doctor Strange (or rather, the demon possessing her) tricked him into giving Maestro exactly what he wanted.
He ends up in the past right as the comic ends.
Okay, review time…
Honestly, I liked it. It was short, precise, and accomplished what was set out to be done rather than drag it by three more issues. Art was wonderful, and future materials were laid out for plot.
4 out of 5.
Amazing Spider-Man #15 (Spider-Verse) Review
The epilogue of Spider-Verse can be found in Amazing Spider-Man #15! How does it end? Read my review and recap!
The story starts with the various spiders going to their home dimensions, the most notable being Mayday. She returns to find out that both her mother and boyfriend didn’t die because her father held out long enough, meaning that she hasn’t lost everything. Even better, he left his outfit behind for her so that she’s now the new Spider-Woman rather that Spider-Girl.
Back at the Master Weaver’s domain, Otto starts cutting away at the Web of Destiny and threatens to unravel all of creation like a madman, though he claims he’s freeing them from destiny. Spider-Gwen and Miguel leave for their own time and dimensions, while the remaining 616-spiders take him down, but not before Otto has a failsafe in place so that even after his memories get scrambled once he goes back to the past and he returns the body to Peter, he’ll be back.
With that out of the way, someone has to replace the Master Weaver. Karn removes the Master Weaver’s helmet to reveal it is an older version of him, meaning that this was destiny. He sets out to repair the web, but can’t send Spider-UK back to his dimension because the incursions ended up destroying it. So he and Anya stay behind to do some good, while Peter goes back feeling like he can be a successful company owner and Kaine ends up hatching from the corpse of his Other form as the comic ends.
Okay, review time.
There isn’t much to say other than it’s a great send off for Spider-Verse. We see everyone home to where they belong, except a few living spiders and the rest who were dead, and the Inheritors are dealt with. Otto and Kaine have set the grounds for their return, and Mayday got her happy ending. It was easily the best crossover I’ve read and I can safely say it was a great story and great read.
5 out of 5 for both the issue, and the crossover. X-Men could learn a thing or two from this.
Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man #9 Review
Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man #9 review and recap! Read on to see my thoughts on the issue!
Following where we left off, Miles mentions he never heard any of this, which means that Fury kept his word by keeping silent. That might explain why he was less than eager to make him the next Spider-Man at first. Though when Miles brings up Norman mentioning it, Jefferson mentions that it’s good he bit the bullet before continuing his story.
Kingpin, before he was the kingpin, tells Jefferson that his brother can keep doing what he does as long as he pays up and doesn’t disrespect him. He then tells Jefferson he works for him. Not just for money, but so that his family remained untouched.
Immediately after that, things got real as he began to move on conquering territory. Kingpin made it so that the greedy and seedy underworld dwellers working for him got richer than they could without, and all they had to do was mention who they worked for to get what they wanted. It goes to show that, even in the past, the Kingpin did not screw around.
It was getting to be too much for Jefferson, and he wanted out. But Fury pointed out they didn’t have enough evidence to do something to him yet and if he leaves, the Kingpin will kill him. He was trapped in his role whether he liked it or not.
Anyway, the next meeting with Kingpin has Jefferson going to a seedy warehouse with Toad, the mutant, giving one of his men Mutant Growth Hormone. If you’ve never read X-Men, then to summarize it, using it gives you temporary mutant powers. When one of his men takes it, he gets beefed up, and they talk business.
Jefferson, still having some morals, calls Toad out for selling out one of his own kind to make the growth serum. Fighting ensues, and then SHIELD busts in. Afterwards, there are arrests and a mutant trafficking operation is shut down, and Jefferson gets the chance to join up with SHIELD officially.
He tells Fury to shove it because he didn’t want to have anything to do with his world, his brother’s world, or Kingpin’s world, and just wanted to be better. A week later he met Rio at a physical therapist office and fell in love. Then he had Miles and as the years passed by he kept worrying if he would make the same mistakes as him, and then the ugliness.
He apologizes for what he said, for lashing out in anger. He’s not over his wife’s death, not over his brother’s death, and not over passing up the chance to become an agent of SHIELD and do some good in the world. Miles says he’s never been mad at his Dad for it, and they should have like a year of no drama to get their lives in order as the comic ends.
Okay, review time….
The issue is solid and hopefully wraps up the bit about Jefferson; we see that not everyone is cut out for the life of a SHIELD agent. More so when he has to do this sort of thing. It gives you an understanding of the way things are, but Miles clearly forgives easier than I do. It’s what makes him worthy to be Spider-Man.
4 out of 5.
Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man #7 Review
Okay, we’re entering the climax of the whole Norman Osborn and Peter Parker subplot. Read my review and recap of Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man #7!
It starts with Osborn telling Miles he can tell him the secrets of his father if he listens to him, but Maria Hill tells him not to listen. Osborn then goes from a rant about how he and they are immortal, he would kill everyone to avenge what’s been done to him, someone is pulling their strings, and then state’s he’s their father again before transforming. So we can see that he grows progressively insane the longer he’s without shock treatment.
Peter and Miles jump into the fray once again with Maria Hill providing support fire to drive him off. Miles, unwilling to let him run and pull this crap again since he knows all of their secret identities, gives chase and brings him down to the ground, impressing all parties involved except Norman, who gets back up only to get put down again by both of them.
Maria Hill tells all of them to leave while she handles the police. Once they’re out of sight she puts three rounds into Osborn’s head, which JJJ did only to get killed for it afterwards. She takes it a step further and sets him on fire just to make sure he stays in hell this time and apparently that worked.
At the warehouse where Miles met with them before and received his web-shooters from Aunt May Peter gives them back to him and gives him his blessing before telling the others he’s going soul-searching to discover what he’s there for and who bought him back. In truth he’s leaving with MJ and going someplace far away. As the comic ends we see that Katie’s parents are Hydra and Miles’ father has returned to talk to him as the comic ends.
Okay, review time…
Good art, good story, but there are some times when I feel that they mixed up the panels and it got confusing. Also Fridge Horror kicks in here when you realize that Peter running off by himself will likely get him killed by Morlun’s family once Spider-Verse reaches here, unless it takes place before this but short of mass memory wipes that seems unlikely.
I give it a 4 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 #7 (Edge of Spider-Man) Review
Okay, the next Edge of Spider-Verse and Amazing Spider-Man are both in one comic, so I can knock out two reviews in one here!
The comic begins with Peter, Cindy, and Anna Marie sitting in a tree—well, apartment room—with the first two K-I-S-S-I-N-G…. I’ll stop now. But anyway, Anna Marie has to play their babysitter until Cindy splits to find some place to live that doesn’t involve humping Peter, while Anna then tells him to ease up on being Spider-Man.
Meanwhile some people are stealing an Inhuman in its cocoon while wearing an original Ms. Marvel suit. Naturally the new Ms. Marvel can’t have that while Anna compares Peter’s method to Otto’s and suggests he leaves small things to the cops. That backfires the moment he gets wind of the incident with the Inhuman and goes after them.
He arrives just after the new Ms. Marvel gets there and stomps on the fake Ms. Marvel before getting a backhand into Peter, who she fangirls over since he dated the current Captain Marvel. Was that information public?
Either way, the mooks get their crap together while dropping hints how one knows Spider-Man and the imposter Ms. Marvel has basically kidnapped the Inhuman because her powers suck compared to the real Ms. Marvel and they’ve reached a creative dead-end, kind of like Marvel. Anyway, since it ends there after she transforms and I have no intention of reading another series for the conclusion, let’s call it a 3 out of 5, avoidable in the grand scheme of things.
As for the Edge of Spider-Verse part, we come across the British Spider-Man in Otherworld, a sort of hub for all space and time. There he’s watching as Morlun and his family kill off the spiders until one manages to spot him with some tech and he cuts the feed, deciding he needs to tell the other members of the Captain Britain Corps.
Naturally of the two women who are in charge, one of them chews him out about the limited scope of his totem being killed off since all of space and time is collapsing with incursions. Yeah, after Wolverine screwed the time-stream over on top of Beast bringing the O5 that reboot is looking more and more realistic in the aftermath of the Heroic Age. Shame DC did it first, but whatever. It would explain some of the bull that they’ve put out lately…
Uh, back to the story, the other lady believes this may be the source of all their problems and gives him the go ahead to play hero along the multi-verse as the comic ends. In all honesty, this should have been separate from the Amazing Spider-Man since both needed more pages that could be used to flesh out their story, like Spider-UK going out to save a few Spiders like Otto and set up the good team or finishing off the team-up.
But as it is relevant to Spider-verse I give it a 4 out of 5.
Edge of Spide-Verse #3 Review
The Edge of Spider-Verse continues with the third issue! What fate will befall the Spider-Man of this story! Read my review and find out!
This time our Spider-Man isn’t a variation of Peter Parker, but a guy named Aaron Aikiman who worked in researching insect venom for medical purposes. They don’t go into details why he decided to inject himself with his treatment, but he basically becomes Iron Man and Spider-Man all rolled into one. After going through a summary of his life and relationship, which honestly is confusing because they’re trying so hard, we then skip to him patrolling the city to deal with a rash of kidnappings.
He catches the creature responsible, only it turns out to be one of the victims and as soon as it gives a cryptic message he has to rush the guy to the hospital. There he finds out its some of his tech responsible of it, or rather that belonging to his girlfriend, and he goes to confront her about it. Turns out she made the tech for her daughter when she woke from a coma, only it was some otherworldly creature that possessed her and had her make more machines to kidnap more people and continue the cycle.
He rushes out to deal with that, but before he could do anything, Morlun pops out of a dimensional doorway to confront him as the baddies run off saying mankind is doomed as the comic ends….
Okay review time….
Yeah, that world is screwed and that spider-man is dead. Morlun is far more of a threat than Karn is, so you know he’s dead. Overall I really couldn’t get into this story though. I get what they were doing, trying to show that Karn isn’t the only one actively hunting, but using an unfamiliar character and trying to cram that much backstory into a one-shot isn’t going to cut it. Unless Aaron somehow survives, this is the last we’ll see of him and it makes the issue kind of a waste…
2 out of 5, you can skip it and you won’t miss much.
Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man #5 Review
Okay, if you’re confused about why there are two Spider-Men and Green Goblin is back, you’re not alone. But, in my review of Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man #5 we cover the aftermath of the fiasco last issue.
Our comic begins with Peter, if that is him, and Miles being held up by the police. They have orders not to use their guns because it’s a residential area, but as soon as the two make a break for it Miles gets shot. Again, Spider-Sense should negate that risk but he has the excuse of having a weaker version that Peter. Still, it’s nothing lethal and, with Maria Hill’s help, both manage to get away.
Anyway, the two fake Spider-Men are brothers who look nothing like the originals, so they aren’t clones. One wants to capitalize on this to go cross another item off their list, but the other wants to play it safe. Whoever they’re working for doesn’t take disappointment well, so the reluctant one has to go along either way and they get dolled up for another robbery.
Maria Hill, in the meantime, helps Miles out because Peter Parker helped her out when she was a beat cop and then she got the collar for when he put down Kangaroo, so he pretty much made her career and she wants to help them both. At the same time, Green Goblin pays JJJ a visit in his penthouse apartment while the faux Spider-Men go rob an evidence room that holds super powered goodies.
Green Goblin, now Osborn again, paid JJJ a visit so he can go on record and give him an interview. It turns out that Miles’ Venom Blast managed to fry the crazy out of him for a time, making him more lucid and capable of remembering he killed his son. He believes that SHIELD, Roxxon, and Hydra are responsible and he needs to take power because those in power took everything from him. When he confirms he’s not done fighting, JJJ tries to put him out of his misery with a bullet, but considering how the last few times someone has done that hasn’t worked out that’s probably just a waste.
As the comic ends, Miles goes back to Queens while wearing a shirt over his uniform, which should bring up alarm bells either way, and goes to see MJ. He asks if Peter is there and she tries to send him away, but Peter then tells her to let him in so they can talk.
Okay, review time.
Well, this is sort a wind-down after that big battle the last time. While I would have loved to see how Katie Bishop, Jessica Drew, Aunt May, and Gwen Stacy took the news, we did learn why Maria Hill is so supportive of Miles. But seriously, I mean really, the one guy who shoots happens to land the shot on someone with Spider-Sense?
Unless Miles being injured later on makes it so that Peter has to die again to save him, it’s a waste. Anyway, 4 out of 5.
Edge of Spider-Verse #1: Spider-Man Noir Review
Spider-Verse is coming and the first in the Edge of Spider-Verse series is out with Spider-Man Noir. Read my recap and review below.
Our story begins in New York 1939 in a movie theater where some people are reviewing footage caught of Spider-Man beating up some robbers and questioning whether or not there’s a place for a vigilante now that most of the mobsters have been taken out. One of the people, a woman, hopes to meet him soon for the blood of the spider-god runs through him, while Mysterio gets a diss by someone choosing to pay for a monkey over his show. Even in the past he couldn’t win…
Anyway, at the World’s Fair we have Peter, Aunt May, and Mary Jane browsing around. Apparently MJ went overseas for three years to record a war in Spain and changed, but not really relevant unless you’ve read the past series I’m assuming. They go to Mysterio’s show when Peter’s Spider-Sense starts acting up but nothing immediately comes of it, and the show ends with Peter realizing Mysterio’s a fake but saying nothing since it made MJ smile.
After the show Mysterio and his assistant go on about his plan to become a new Kingpin once they get Spider-Man’s blood when Fisk shows up telling him they got the last living member of Goblin’s gang. They do a recap about how Spider-Man got his powers before he asks about Felicia Hardy.
They go to see her, where Felicia is wearing a mask, and when she refuses to move it they kill her friend. It’s a gore-discretion shot so you can’t see, but her face has been disfigured by the last person who thought she could lead them to Spider-Man. Fisk notes that he can do nothing to her that hasn’t been done so she won’t talk, but Mysterio goes with the holding the former love interest hostage gambit.
He leaves a message in a newspaper for him to come and make a blood-sacrifice or she dies, and Peter goes along to save her while his Spider-Sense, which is new for him I guess, is blaring. At the show, where the audience thinks it’s just a show, he shows up and gets gassed, then put into a water closet death trap after having his blood taken.
Peter traps air in a web on his face to last ten minutes before breaking out of the chains and kicking Mysterio’s butt with one hit. The guy hunting Spider-Men pops up and then Otto does too and rescues him. As the comic ends Felicia steals the blood taken from Peter as he arrives to meet a few other Spider-Men in the year 2099.
Okay review time.
Spider-verse is shaping up to look decent. This is only the second time I’ve seen Spider-Man Noir, the first being the Shattered Dimensions game, so I don’t know much about him, but I’m eager to see his role in things. I can’t wait for this crossover to continue with Gwen Stacy next in line.
5 out of 5 folks.
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.
Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man #2
Our story begins with Norman Osborn returning to his defunct company, Oscorp, only to find his office robbed of almost everything important except for a picture of a stallion. Why this sole painting was left hanging isn’t clear, but it’s revealed to have hidden a retinal scanner that leads to a secret lab that must’ve been operating with one massive hidden power source given the lights work after over two years. He finds whatever he’s looking for there and gets to working on whatever he has in mind for the next issue.
Meanwhile Miles touches Peter in ways that are almost inappropriate while trying to figure out how he’s alive. Peter keeps asking for the web-shooters and states that he’ll leave once he gets them, but Miles calls his ass out on why he hasn’t told anyone he’s alive. The fact that this guy tries to skirt the issue alone is sending up alarm bells.
Eventually Peter tries to take them and gets a reflexive Venom Blast for his trouble, which if he had his Spider-Sense he would have dodged because it takes about three seconds to work on contact. Then again it worked on 616-Peter…anyway, he shakes it off long enough to knock Miles on his ass and then knocks him out, taking them while he was out cold. When Miles gets up he thinks to himself that it must be a clone, which honestly isn’t that far of a stretch when you consider that Scorpion is still around as far as we know, and runs off to tell Ganke.
The imposter Spider-Men show up at a Stark facility and beat the crap out of the guards while bantering with each other, with one guard calling for back-up. He comes out when the rest are down and tells them he doesn’t get paid enough to get his ass-kicked and just tells them to take what they came for. They tell him to help get something from the boat labeled “Latveria”, which can’t be good.
Miles and Ganke talk about the Peter Parker he just ran into, with Miles dropping the bomb on Ganke that Jessica is a female clone. The boy thinks Peter must have had a great tush. Puberty hit him hard given how he seems to go after every hot older woman he knows. Anyway they discuss the merits of telling May about this or not, since she’s been so good to him and through so much pain that he doesn’t want to trouble her if he’s wrong. It doesn’t help that Jessica’s phone is off.
The discussion derails the moment Miles’ girlfriend shows up. Both of them suck at lying, so she quickly figures something is wrong and asks if he’s breaking up with her. The comic ends as he decides to just come clean.
Okay, review time.
Not much progress other than the fact that “Peter” is being secretive and kind of a dick, shocker. Good art though. I’ll give it a 4 out of 5 for the time being.
The Amazing Spider-Man #2 Comic Review
Well, the re-launch of Peter Parker’s story has started off strong, but can it keep its momentum? Find out in my review of The Amazing Spider-Man #2!
The comic begins with a young woman in a closed room watching videos of old spider-man fights to study his moves. Since she’s capable of using natural webbing like Ultimate Jessica Drew, it’s safe to assume she’s Silk. She even knows his secret identity, which doesn’t make sense if she was affected by the same spell that put up a psychic blind-spot, but maybe after he broke the spell she recalled someone else being bitten and put two and two together again.
Then we go back to where it left off last issue, with Anna asking why Peter didn’t tell her he was Spider-Man. In what must be the smartest thing that I’ve seen when it comes to secret identities, he comes clean about the situation with Doc Ock. She… takes it better than I expected, mainly by closing up her emotions and diving into cooking to think about everything logically. Peter wonders just how far Otto has screwed up his life once more as he gets a call from the Avengers stating they need to talk.
With Electro, he goes to lay low with a woman who seems infatuated with him. He explains that since he accidentally destroyed the prison while trying to spring the other bad guys none of them want to help him out and that his powers were screwed up. She likes the danger, so she’s probably one of those monster fan-girls you hear about.
At the Avengers Tower Peter explains once more that he was possessed by Otto, who changed his web formula so he has to wear pants out since his webbing underwear still won’t come off and he has to pee. And he brought cookies, which are the best thing they’ve apparently tasted. The medical scan comes clean and things seem to look up until Captain America reveals he knew Flash had Venom, which Peter was offended at finding out last since Flash is someone close to him and Venom is like a jilted ex-girlfriend with yandere tendencies.
As much as I like Captain America getting knocked around he does state that Flash had a secret identity like him and fair is fair. He also states he understands what it’s like to wake up and find the world’s changed so much and he’s trusting Peter to watch over the place while they go deal with the prison break and to get rid of those baggy pants. When he goes back to his lab to do that he finds that their rollout project’s glitch has gotten worse and since he’s not an expert in cybernetics like Otto was he begs for help inside his head.
Cue Anna coming in and making me realize why I like her so much.
She gets some privacy with Peter by lying about being pregnant, at least I’m hoping she was lying, and explains that she understands the cybernetics since Otto explained it to her so many times and can teach him since that was her last job as a T.A. before she left it to work with them. Then, after Electro accidentally kills the girl when she kisses him despite his warnings, she tells him where the dissolvent for the web fluid is and she’d cover for him, as well as getting to be his roommate until she can find a place of her own.
She earned that raise alright. Best character to come out of Superior Spider-Man barring Otto himself.
Peter goes out to confront Electro and learn once more that Otto has screwed him over by experimenting with Electro’s powers. He’s not the only one who’s been screwed over as we learn that the Human Torch is depowered at the moment in the audience and Black Cat is next to him and used her luck powers to stop Electro from being shorted out as repayment for freeing her from the prison.
Peter meets up with Johnny Storm later on and learns that Iron Man spread the word about him being Doc Ock for a time and they make up. Their time together even gives Peter an idea on how to use his newly founded company, namely building a new super-prison and depowering Electro as the comic ends.
Okay, review time.
Well, I liked the issue a lot. While I would prefer Peter ask why the hell it took so long for them to figure out Doc Ock was inside his body, he pretty much got word around to most people in the Avengers line. But he’s still dealing with the fallout in the form of Electro and Black Cat, who probably won’t care. Most of all, I like how Anna is dealing with this rationally despite how damn much it must hurt.
5 out of 5 folks. Buy it.
All-New Ultimates #2 Review
A bit late, but here’s my review of All-New Ultimates #2.
The story starts with the battle still underway and the New Ultimates are in their first dust-up gone wrong and turned into a mess. It quickly turn into the Serpent Skulls versus everyone else and they’ve got numbers on their side. I see a lot of issues in the fight alone, namely Miles getting hit by an opponent who isn’t faster than him while he has Spider-Sense. He shouldn’t be touched at all in this fight, although he’s still inexperienced, neither should Jessica have gotten jabbed by a needle. They been in goddamn war and came out better than this.
Anyway, the fight ends abruptly when SWAT shows up. Diamondback, who seems to have a thing for younger men in spider outfits kisses Miles goodbye as Cloak pulls the rest of the group out of there and back to their base in Hell’s Kitchen, where Cloak is down for the count because of Styx’s touch while Lana flat-out quits because apparently her powers weren’t working during the fight properly and she nearly got killed. They seemed fine to me, but she knows her body better I guess.
Back with the police in the alley, they’re summing up the situation with the only causalities being Styx and the police he grabbed, while someone wearing a hobo mask kills Stone out of what they claimed was justice. Given his experiments led to this, the guy is probably another victim. The Serpent Skulls themselves also note just how big a mess that brawl was and decide to move things faster and quicker since the police and the super kids are working at different angles, but because some other gang is knocking off their own they‘ve decided to just kill all the other gangs to show them what a kill sweep is.
We then go through a series of panels showing that Jessica was poisoned and tells Kitty, who decided she would join in, to call someone for help as she passes out, Miles is recovering from his own ass-whipping with an ice-pack while Cloak seems to be having trouble with his powers, Dagger is stretching, the guy who killed Stone is killing more people in the name of justice, the cop who got hit by Styx died and Lana’s boyfriend stood her up… again, didn’t her boyfriend get crushed by a car?
The comic ends there.
Okay, review time.
I’m not going to lie. This comic isn’t meeting my expectations, but since it’s the first arc I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt. But, while Miles is technically still a rookie, Jessica shouldn’t have gotten her ass-kicked like that. Kitty joining the team felt forced.
Issue gets a 3 out of 5.
Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man #1 Review
Okay, Miles has been around for a bit so it’s time he got a series named after him. So in this continuation of his life upon donning the Spider-Man mask again I’ll be reading and reviewing it to give you my biased opinion of what I think of it. This is the first review of Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man and it already contains swearing so beware!
The story begins at a top-secret SHIELD containment facility. Since Cataclysm ended the way it did, SHIELD has been disbanded and that means all their prisoners get transferred to a federal prison. That includes one special bastard who by all rights should be dead:
Norman-fucking-Osborn, aka the Green Goblin, aka the man who killed Peter Parker. Apparently he didn’t die and Fury thought to keep his ass locked up since nothing seems to finish the damn job. The guard, no longer assigned to watch him, knocks his teeth in for killing Peter and tell them to keep an eye on the bastard…it doesn’t take a genius to figure out how that’s going to end.
Meanwhile, in Brooklyn, two guys are discussing whether or not Captain America is dead. Let’s face it, they didn’t find the body so he’ll probably pop up later on. But this meta-discussion gets ended when some spider-man dressed douche-bags decide to make with the robbing of an armored truck. This is not what Miles needs.
Speaking of his needs, he’s making out with Katie Bishop when she’s asking where he was last night. Considering the shot of the All New Ultimates I would say he’s busy, but since he can’t explain that because she’s not in the loop she incorrectly assumes it was because Jefferson had came home. Apparently his Dad decided to simply abandon him…see my end notes about that. Either way the discussion comes to a close when a teacher tells him to get to class and we get an angsty teen shot.
We then skip to Long Island Expressway where Norman turns into the Green Goblin and escapes, shocker, and then back to Miles and Ganke. Miles is once again debating with Ganke on telling Katie his secret identity and Ganke argues against while now crushing on Dagger instead of Gwen. He’s got a thing for older women since puberty kicked in I guess….I can respect that.
Miles reminds him that she’s taken and out of his league and then goes pouty face when Ganke mentions he helped him be Spider-Man. He then decides to call up Mary Jane and gets some advice. She tells him that yeah it’s good to tell the girl because she shouldn’t have to find out after his death makes the front page of the news. But she also warns him that it’s like being married, you tell her then you’re connected for life, so make sure she’s not a villain or decides to go the woman-scorned route if something goes down.
Miles stress-level continues to rise as he learns about the fake spider-men and knows that he’s going to probably be framed for a crime he didn’t commit soon enough. As he enters his home he finds someone ransacking the place looking for something and when they turn around it’s…wait for it…wait for it…wait for it….
It’s Peter Parker!
Okay, review time.
Really, Peter’s back…yeah, I’m not buying it. Last time I checked, Scorpion and Jessica were the only clones still running around so I say it’s him. Actually, did those two Chameleons twins get killed off or not, because that would explain so much…
The debate about telling girlfriend or not doesn’t really interest me because it’s been done before and they have us another shot of Miles being angsty, probably because he resents being Spider-Man again now that it cost him his last family member. His life was so much better before he put it on…
Speaking of which, was the Marvel staff smoking something hard when they thought that up. Jefferson abandoning his son and Miles going angsty? You’re having the African-American father, who was reasonable up until the mask came off, abandon his son? Just to make him a troubled teen rather than the chipper kid he was like ten issues ago? Really?
This…is not the type of controversy they should be trying to stir up. It’d be one thing if Jefferson was shown as abusive before, rather than just one stress-induced incident that they could both sit down and talk about after the end of the world. I mean, he was a semi-bigot with grievances against Spider-Man, but seriously they pulled that out of their asses over the course of ten pages rather than ten issues like Jefferson one day finding his spider-suit and then stewing it over.
I shouldn’t have expected better. I blame myself…no, wait, I blame Marvel. C’mon now, having Jefferson abandon him is just fucking cheap and plays into negative stereotypes on top of Miles going angst over it. The only excuse that I’d accept is that he died and they’re hiding the body. I don’t fucking want broody Miles because his Daddy left him, that daddy issue shit gets old.
You don’t see Cloak bitching about his circumstances…just saying…and for fuck’s sake, stop taking off your mask Miles!
Anyway, I can’t give this a perfect score because of the above and we know that Peter is either a clone or a shape-shifter who appears after SHIELD is closed down. Really, sending super-villains to federal prisons just begs for it. Given that in 616 Mystique breaks in and out of SHIELD for a hobby it’s fairly obvious. In fact I’d like to be proven wrong…
It gets a 3 out of 5. Clean it up, Marvel.
Amazing Spider-Man (2014) #1 Review
After taking his body back from Doc-Ock Peter Parker now has to pick up the pieces of his life in the aftermath of the Superior Spider-Man. Read on about my review of the first issue in the relaunch of the Amazing Spider-Man!
The comic opens to a flash-back of that faithful day when he was bitten by a radioactive spider. Only this time it reveals that before it died it managed to bite someone else. Meaning that all this time there was someone else with Spider-Man’s powers but not active in the series…so we’re just going to pretend they didn’t copy this idea off Miles Morales for Silk, huh?
In the present we have the animal-themed cosplayers stealing jeweled eggs. One of the bystanders who just moved here wonders if it’s an event when he nearly gets pushed over and his baby almost crushed. Luckily he gets a web-line to pull him upright as Peter is on the case, chasing them down while naked with the exception of his mask and webbing-underwear, much to chagrin of everyone (with the exception of one woman who takes a photo for later). How did he end up in this state?
It started four hours ago when he held a press conference announcing that he’ll no longer work for Spider-Man (technically speaking it isn’t a lie since he’ll be making it for himself) and Peter is over his head with all this. He just learned he’s the owner of a company, his aunt doesn’t need some cane to walk again (which he states he’ll owe Doc Ock for), and he’s just unfortunate enough that Anna Maria found the wedding ring and note asking her to marry him. Yeah, this won’t end well.
Technically speaking he’s probably going to run the company into the ground since Otto was a genius in cybernetics and he gets confused looking at their big rollout project. Considering that he has more people who depend on him now, and these poor bastards are terrified of him at that, this a different set of responsibilities to go with his robot butler and doctor degree. He quickly decides to get back to something familiar, namely patrolling New York where he’s hated and feared by many.
It’s here he runs into the rabbit woman and her new flunky, Skein, who can control fabrics and threads. Before she could turn them into some kind of deadly weapon or whatever she was going to say he knocks her out since he’s got a secret identity to protect. Unfortunately he ends up nude and has to cover his privates in webbing in public, meaning this gets put on twitter and everyone sees it.
The Avengers figure he’s back to normal since only this could happen to him, Johnny Storm laughs his ass off, and Mary Jane is probably glad she broke up with him now. The humiliation continues after he rounds up his last bad guy and gets told off by an old lady about public indecency.
He makes his way back home to find Anna Maria there. And guess what, she knows he’s Spider-Man because Otto was getting busy with her while in his body. And the main comic ends there on a damn cliff-hanger.
Following it are a series of short stories involving the Black Cat, Electro. Kaine, and Miguel O’Hara. It shows how they’re going to be involved in the story and what they’ve been up to since Otto’s gone.
Electro was tired of being a joke and decided to try and free the inmates from prison to gain some respect. He lost control and killed a good portion of them before blacking out, due to what he believes is the modifications Otto made to control him in the Superior Spider-Man Team-Up series. Cue revenge planning.
Likewise Felicia Hardy, the Black Cat, was arrested and beaten by Otto. She lost everything because of him and is constantly verbal harassed by an inmate who clearly intends to do her harm. Apparently the lady didn’t also know that her powers involved luck and pissing her off makes you unlucky. She learned this as Electro’s attack fried the power dampeners and then her, while Felicia escapes unharmed and is going to fuck Peter over pretty bad next issue.
Meanwhile Miguel O’Hara, Spider-Man 2099 is making himself home and doing the hero-thing when he comes across a young woman about to get capped. He makes short work of the assailants, but learns that the population of the Marvel universe in this decade is ungrateful as she berates him. Gee, you think she wanted to die (foreshadowing, anyone?) but that’ll have to be picked up in his on ongoing series in two months.
We then go down to Huston Texas, where Peter is searching for his clone brother Kaine. The woman he interviewed describes that he transformed into a spider-monster, which Peter notes is because of The Other. If you read then you know he got killed off by some Werewolves and came back because he made a deal with it….seriously, go read the Scarlet Spider series.
Doctor Meland approaches Peter and pegs him immediately as Kaine’s brother and tells Peter how Kaine was in pain and anger about never stacking up to him and tells him to ask around about him. Peter learned Kaine came down there to get away from the life of a spider, only to fight crime. He wanted the power but none of the responsibility, but he took it on anyway. He had friends, a city that counted on him, and was as much a hero as Peter was. It ends with a shot of Kaine fighting alongside all the other New Warriors against the evolutionaries which hasn’t happened yet in their series.
Then there’s some alternate reality thing that I lost interest in, and thus will gloss over, and the comic ends.
Okay, review time.
Since I really only started reviewing and reading spider-man when Otto took over I find that this relaunch is right up my alley for the most part. It’s picking up right where superior left off, but that also means if someone skipped the series they are going to be confused about what transpired. Peter is realistically screwed over and has so many responsibilities now because he doesn’t have Otto’s level of genius in that particular field and the enemies Otto made.
People seem to notice he’s not the same as he was for the last few months, but it should still be addressed by him telling the Avengers Otto was wearing him as a meat suit for a few months and then asks why it took them that long to put two and two together. I mean, really? Months? As much as I loved the series it shouldn’t have gotten that far if the Idiot Ball wasn’t being passed around.
For the most part my main concern is Anna. The man she loved is gone, and I am fond of her. How is he going to explain all of this without coming off as an asshole (technically he was the victim, but he has a shoddy record when it comes to explanations)? And since she knows his secret identity, will the writers go the route of Carlie and MJ and have her leave the stage or will they pull a Gwen Stacy to make Black Cat unredeemable?
On another note, I can’t wait until Spider-Verse comes into play. Miles Morales in 616, all is right with the world unless Marvel somehow screws it up.
Issue gets a 5 out of 5 and is a must buy.
Superior Spider-Man Series Finale Review
A bit late, but here it is: My review for the last issue of Superior Spider-Man.
The story starts with Osborn holding Anna Marconi hostage above Alchemax and declaring his kingdom the Goblin Nation, while the sky is filled with gliders and corrupted Spider-Slayers. Peter Parker emerges with his mind intact at his lab and learns some of what Otto has been up to, including that Carlie had been infected and somewhat cured by Otto’s genius. Given he’s dealing with foes hopped up on Goblin Formula it’s a good thing to have, and he gets to inform Carlie he’s back to normal and get the story of how Osborn came back strong.
As soon as he gets enough of the cure to use he heads out into the field and starts with calling to make sure his aunt is safe after all this. Given how he was before, it makes MJ’s new boyfriend wonder if he’s bipolar. At the same time Mayor Jameson is ruined while Ty Stone is auctioning off the goddamn robots that are fighting off the Avengers like a merchant of death.
Peter swings by the Empire University just as Miguel O’Hara gets done trashing all but one. You can understand he’s a little mad about what just happened when Otto ditched him, but Peter explains and he believes him. Because that’s exactly the sort crap you would expect to happen to him.
So they spiders go out and save the Avengers from the Hobgoblin. They are just as confused by the costume switch and behavior change as the rest of us, but put it on the back burner so they can kick more Goblin ass. And Peter starts by depowering Carlie’s sister in Alchemax, where we hear the most disturbing laughter coming from Normie…who seems like he’s about to go the way of the Osborn name and snap.
Liz Allen arrives and tells them they need to get out of the building before it blows when Ty Stone activates a Spider-Sense Jammer that cripples Peter until Miguel knocks him the Hell out, which he’s been dying to do and I don’t blame him. Ty still doesn’t seem to get that Miguel doesn’t have Peter’s power set since his powers come from a different source. Liz says that she’ll see him answer for that, but the Green Goblin was on the roof and forcing her to work for him.
On the roof Osborn tries to tease Otto about not being a hero, but as soon as he hears one quip he knows Peter is back and tries to flee and leaves him to save the girl. Peter doesn’t, instead he makes it so she can save herself while he beats down on him and unmasks the goblin. It reveals that he doesn’t look like Norman anymore since he did one of the smarter things a famous villain who wants to go in hiding can do, he got plastic surgery.
He reveals that he built up Alchemax as a legacy for the Osborn name, one for his grandson, and he left the bombs so that the collateral damage will leave it looking like it wasn’t spared by the goblins and thus suspicious. Peter reveals that he needed to keep him talking so he could use the mini-spider bots he smuggled on him to inject him with the cure. Then he saves Anna and Osborn from falling to death, because he’s Spider-Man and no one dies when he’s around.
Sadly his luck ends there as Liz “accidentally” trips the jammer that makes it possible for Osborn to get away. Osborn, now clean of the insanity of the formula, decides just like Otto that his vanity as a villain was getting in the way. Only he decides to be a better and smarter villain since he got what he wanted in Alchemax.
So, the comic’s first part (Goblin Nation: Conclusion) ends with Miguel swinging off and Anna Maria ignorant of the fact that the man she loved is gone. This….won’t end well at all, considering she thought he was Peter Parker. She’s lost the man she said she can’t imagine life without and doesn’t even realize it yet…ouch.
For the aftermath of this, Peter makes up with his Aunt May and tells her and her beau he’s “officially” quit working with Spider-Man and plans to make a press conference about it so they hopefully don’t get targeted again while MJ believes he’s telling the truth about Otto being in his body, because that’s what happens because he’s a hero, and decides she wants it to end. She knows that he’s made his decision to be a hero and respects it, but politely tells him to stay the fuck away so she doesn’t get wrapped up in it.
Peter accepts it for the most part, with lots of regrets, but swings off to go talk to Jameson because unlike most things so far he understands what the man is being harassed for because of Otto. Carlie, his other ex, says she’s doing the right thing considering she’s suffering from some after effects of the formula and she considers them lucky to be alive when Gwen didn’t get out of an encounter with the Green Goblin alive. She decides she’s getting the fuck out of New York for someplace safe and wishes MJ well.
Peter’s conversation with Jameson doesn’t go so well either. Otto has made him look worse and Jameson is owning up to his mistakes, but Peter feels that he shouldn’t take the fall for something that the Green Goblin did with the robots. But it’s too late and he leaves, vowing to start kicking some ass of his own as the comic ends.
Okay, review time.
Overall…it was okay. Don’t get me wrong, it settled things somewhat, but the art didn’t have the same impact as the other issues for some reason I can’t lay my finger on. And then there’s the resolution. I figured what was going to happen to Carlie and MJ leaving his ass since the purpose of the series to burn some bridges and bring back some other loose cases, but they really left a lot of things hanging that I believe they’re going to address in the upcoming re-launch of the Amazing Spider-Man series.
I give it a cool 3 out of 5.
As for the series as a whole, it gets a solid 4 out of 5 because the artwork was lovely and the plot was excellent. There were times when I thought it was somewhat sporadic and the sheer stupidity at which the Avengers exhibited at times also annoyed me, but I could be biased in my opinions there. Still, I liked Otto’s approach and will honestly miss him until his inevitable return.
It was a fun read and one of the things that got me into comics, so I will miss this series.
All-New Ultimates #1 Review
All New Ultimates has arrived, the series that takes the teen heroes from the Ultimates line and makes them into a unit of ass-kicking vigilantes. Here’s hoping they aren’t as dysfunctional as their predecessors as I review the first issue.
Our story begins with a group shot as they discuss their units name shortly after the end of the Cataclysm: Survive and, immediately after, we go to Hell’s Kitchen in the morning. This place is a nightmare in the regular continuity, so it should come as no surprise Ganke Lee is promptly mugged by some gangbangers with superpowers until Cloak and Dagger pop up to save him. It seems like they’ve been doing this for a bit since this is the third time this week they’ve had to kick ass and take names according to them. They try to get him to go to a hospital, but he declines so they take him to their home.
Like their counterparts they reside in an abandoned church and are soon joined by Miles, the new Spider-man, since Ganke is his BFF (their caption, not mine). It turns out Ganke came to get some Legos, which leads me to think that his obsession is unhealthy, but Miles claims not to judge so why should I? Anyway, they leave as we skip to the Lower East Side, where some cops have busted into a Poor Man’s Roxxon-lab only to find a half-melted corpse as the two suspects have run away.
Back in the Church Lana has arrived after talking to her parole officer and immediately bags on Cloak and Dagger’s home and they exchange phone numbers using SHIELD tech since the organization has been scrapped for failing to stop Galactus. Then they get down to business. Since Roxxon was no longer under SHIELD’s protection, for the reasons listed above, a local gang seized one of their labs and has been giving out what amounts to untested Mutant Growth Hormone. Naturally this ends with a high rate of fatalities and they want to resolve this. So they go the vigilante route, although I think Lana’s parole officer might have something to say about that.
In Chelsea Kitty Pryde is staying in Jessica’s place. She’s having second thoughts about everything. First she was hated as the leader of the mutants, now everyone loves her for punching out Galactus while hopped up on Giant Man Serum until Thor tossed his ass into the Negative Zone. She doesn’t want to be in the spotlight and doesn’t want to go back to Utopia for some reason, so she crashes with Jessica who asks her for a haircut.
Lana makes it to her government housing just as the two suspects from the lab, Stone and Styx, try to break into an old Roxxon outpost. The Serpent Skulls are already there and Lana hears the resulting squabble and gets her new team involved…and gets their butts kicked by Styx and Stone until the cops show up and decide to try and arrest them all. So it’s back to people getting ready to shoot at Miles already.
Things go pear shape as Styx melts the skin off one of the cops trying to get Miles and the other cop shoots him dead. Then the Serpent Skulls pop out of the lab intent on beating the hell out of everyone without a tattoo. The comic ends with the leader of the game, Diamondback, telling them to get started.
Okay, review time.
I’ve got to say this isn’t exactly a strong start for their new series. Leaving aside the artwork being inferior to the Ultimate Comics Spider-Man and the characters looking awkward at time, some of their dialogue seems out of character and there seems to be some continuity errors.
For example, Poey was the nickname of Lana’s boyfriend, Sid. He was crushed to death in Cataclysm by a random car to spur her into the hero scene. Now, while I’m all for retconning that meaningless death, I need some sign prior to this that he made it.
Then Jessica’s combat abilities seem to have been downplayed. Let’s be frank, she has training and Spider-Sense (and it’s not the weak version Miles has). She shouldn’t get hit by someone without super powers or extreme circumstances like war.
All in all, I can’t give this more than a 3 out of 5 and hope they do better next issue.
Superior Spider-Man #30 Review
Someone dies tonight in Superior Spider-Man #30 and you can find out by reading my review of it.
This big issue starts off with Superior Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2099 beating down on the hijacked Spider-Slayers when the Goblin King shows him he has Anna Marie hostage and gives him an ultimatum. He’ll give him a pass to finding her if he leaves Spidey 2099 to fight the robots alone, which he can’t possibly handle on his own. Otto ditches his ass, leaving Miguel calling him a fake because the real one wouldn’t do that.
As he swings over the city, we see that it is still going to Hell and for once Otto blames himself completely. The Avengers are busy handling their own things, when Iron Man and Captain America claim they can’t over look Cardiac’s clinic having the stuff it has and since Spider-Man helped they’re going to arrest him too once this is over.
Really? You can’t unsee the whole medical treatment thing and want to arrest Cardiac and Spider-Man for that? Bullshit.
Leaving aside how the super-cops constantly break the damn rules to do what (they believe) is right, this is what you’re trying to arrest him about? Of all the flimsy-ass things, the fact that they are punishing two men for giving life-saving medical treatment to people who need it (the very same people they are supposed to be pulling from the wreckage) really doesn’t do wonders for my opinion of them. And after AvsX and Uncanny Avengers, that’s saying something.
JJJ is completely and royally fucked at City Hall, since his bots went rogue. He shifts the blame, but Liz Allen has paperwork saying she warned him they weren’t tested and ready. A traitor shot reveals she has a Goblin Mask, making it clear this was how the Goblin King got control over them, doing it for her son’s sake.
Menace leads Otto underground as Peter, in the Mindscape, reaches the point where he gave Otto his memories before his first death while in Otto’s body. In other words, he gives himself his own memories that Otto remembered, that he lived. Yeah, wrap your head around that for a minute. In the end he recovers his own sense of self and pops out of it to make Otto jump and save the little girl who he performed brain surgery on from being hit by a train.
Otto decides enough is enough and calls them both out on their flaws as they swing back to his lab at Parker Industries (which Peter has no idea where it came from). Otto was arrogant, flawed, and liked to overcompensate, while Peter was so guilt-ridden about being better than others that he sabotaged himself. So they both have to own up, with Peter saving the day as the Superior Spider-Man while Otto erases himself from the Mindscape so he isn’t distracted.
The comic ends with Peter getting dressed in his old suit and saying it’s his turn to play Goblin’s little game.
It may be a little pre-mature, but I feel as though if they were really going to wipe the slate clean (get Peter back to being a Street Hero rather than an Avenger, ruin all his previous relationships, make him a menace, etc.) in time for the upcoming movie, they could have done it in another way. Then again, it worked. I came into this series all for Otto and, while I still think he made good points and l liked his character, now I’m cheering on Peter.
So this issue gets an 5 out of 5. Well-played, Marvel. Well-played…
Superior Spider-Man #29 Review
The Goblin Nation arc continues in Superior Spider-Man #29 and I’m here to give you my thoughts on it as I review what went down.
The story picks up where it left off, with Anna being brought to the Goblin King by Menace. He tells her to hush up since he’s watching a News Report saying that Peter and Carlie were buried alive, leaving Menace and Anna distraught as their sister/lover were thought to be killed. The Goblin King brushes the death of Carlie off, saying he’ll make her a new sister, thinking that the death of Spider-Man’s best friend was the real tragedy since it was so boring.
The goblin raid continues and it’s revealed that just about every hero in New York is out there and trying to stem the flow, with the head of Alchemax trying to have the mayor unleash the Goblin Slayers to help save people for the PR boosts. JJ, however, doesn’t’ want them out until they can take down Spider-Man with it being made apparent his grudge was getting in the way. It’s enough that one of his staff members leave him behind, saying enough is enough.
MJ is with May and the others she saved, as far away from New York as she could manage, telling them to keep calm and explaining that it was their only choice. She receives a call from Otto, who she tries to get to calm May down, only for him to brush her aside as he tries to cure Carlie with Sanjay. That ends when the Goblin King hacks his number and tells him to put on the mask and meet him.
The Goblin King apparently took killing Spider-Man personally, because he wanted to be the one to do it as his number one enemy while Otto was number two, so he destroys everything related to his legacy, including his childhood home, the place where he had his accident, the clinic where he saved a little girl, and the place where the police have stashed all his goodies. He then tells him that he’s got a classmate of his as a hostage and tells him to meet him at the university.
Trying to get there he ignores a mugging and tries to have the police chief come help in his place, but they think he’s in on it and JJ unleashes the Spider-Slayers to search for him. When he finally arrives, the Goblin King has Lamaze as the hostage. He states he saw the footage of Otto trying to save him during Stunner’s rampage (he must’ve glossed over Anna being there) and assumed he was the closest thing Otto had as a friend.
Disappointed, he threatens to leave and find someone else he cared about. Otto tries to gut him like a fish, but the goblin turns out to have hacked his mechanical arms and turn them against him. One is about to kill him when Lamaze intercepts it, leaving Otto confused about why he would do such a thing.
Lamaze states that it was because when Spider-Man saved him and Anna from Stunner, he regretted running away when she needed help and since then all he wanted was a chance to do what was right. To that end he thanked Otto for showing him what it meant to be a hero and then dies in his arms. Okay, credit where it was due, that was bittersweet.
However, the moment is ruined when the Spider-Slayers show up. Jameson is willing to lose everything to kill him and manages to get Otto in a pinch until Spider-Man 2099 shows up and shuts them down. But, unlike everyone else who grabbed the idiot ball, he knows something isn’t right with Peter and wants answers. Sadly the comic ends before he can get them as the Spider-Slayers are hacked by the Goblin King and grabs both of the Spider-Men.
Okay, review time.
The fallout continues as we see more character assassination on Peter by Otto, who’s getting a taste of what it’s like to be on the opposite end of the whole situation for once. Not only that, but he’s dragging Jameson and several others down with him in the process. That being said, I’m calling bull that the Avengers and every hero in New York are being pressured. New York is where like 90% of them are concentrated at. It’s the one place where the only way for things to get this bad was if they had super-powers again like Spider-Island.
However, I did like the issue and I’ll give it a 4 out of 5.
Superior Spider-Man #28 Review
THE WILD CARD APPEARS!
Well, it’s going down as the Green Goblin has declared war on the Superior Spider-Man in issue #28, so let’s get it on.
The comic begins with civilians in the distance watching Spider-Island burn as the attack begins. The Green Goblin gave him a chance to join up, but since he refused all he can do is retreat or die, which he reluctantly does after his favorite henchmen, #23, gets killed off in an explosion while the rest of the Spiderlings up top are getting slaughtered. He orders the ones still alive to hold the line while he escapes with his robot, so they’re all dead I’m sure.
Inside his noggin we have Peter Parker, who tried hiding in his memories and got sucked into seeing just what type of life Otto has lived. An abusive father and a smothering mother, bullies outside and only science as a bastion against the world, it’s really no wonder he turned into a villain. But for all their similarities, Peter had Aunt May and Uncle Ben, and that allows him to hold onto his sense of self as he continues to ride out Otto’s memories…for now.
Back to the Goblins, they destroyed Spider-Island in less than ten pages and the Goblin King has come in for a report. When they report Otto has gone missing, he’s not really worried since he knows his every weakness and orders his men to seek out the people important to him in order to draw him out. Namely the people important to Spider-Man, since he doesn’t know that Otto is wearing Peter Parker’s skin, as you may recall when he first got his hands on the journal and questioned Carlie one it.
At Alchemax, Mayor Jameson has called together the media and informed them that he’s transformed the Anti-Spider Patrol into Goblin Slayers, to which MJ states he’s out of his mind from her living room. She’s with her new boyfriend, who isn’t part of the inner circle, so he doesn’t see why it’s a bad thing. Before she can explain why, the little goblin kids who threw her off a roof and then bombed her club make a third play for her and she busts out the web-shooters.
MJ proved goddamn genre savvy after being the damsel in distress enough. She knows what’s going on and knows what her role in this is, the Wild Card. So the first damn thing she going to do is remove all the pieces off the board.
Back to Otto, he finally arrives at Parker Industries, where his partner is waiting and furious that he’s been missing for a month and tells him the police have been harassing them since Carlie went missing. That’s when Wraith showed up and tried to make him talk, but he knows about her tricks with fear gas and lets her get knocked out by Carlie, who has arrived for him just as a couple of the Ninja Goblins try to kidnap Aunt May and Jay Jameson, only for them to have been take away to safety by MJ already as Peter Parker loses himself in the memories of Otto in the mindscape.
Carlie chases Otto around, making it clear she knows who he is without saying his name as she cuts through the robot butler and defense system of mechanical tentacles. To this end he splits up with Sanji Jaffrey and confronts her alone, willing to defend his legacy now that Spider-Island is gone and kill all the Goblins. Luckily he kicks her right in the earpiece, which allows them to talk in private. Carlie reveals she’s still somewhat sane and needs Otto’s help in holding onto it before she loses control again, cryptically mentioning that he has no idea what the Goblin King has in store for him and the world.
As the comic ends, we see that Carlie’s sister was the only one who managed to get a piece on the board as she finds and kidnaps Anna Maria without her even knowing it by claiming to have been sent by MJ to retrieve her….crap…
Okay, review time.
So the plot moves again as Otto’s first line of defense has been breached. We see a good portion of the people who have been involved in Otto’s time as Spider-Man acting reasonable with more on the way, including MJ doing a magnificent job as the Wild Card. As for Carlie and Anna…well, damn. One’s going to have to live with the fact that she has killed people while on the Goblin Formula, so I feel bad for her, and the other is getting the Gwen Stacy treatment like I feared because the Goblin King wasn’t an idiot. I’ll give the dude credit, he plays hardball.
The art didn’t pop as much as it did in the past, at least to me, but the darker tone probably matches the mood as this is taking a dark turn already. So I won’t hold it against the artist.
A perfect, must have issue that gets a 5 out of 5.
Superior Spider-Man #27 Review
Okay, we are at the climatic arc of Otto’s time as Spider-Man as the Goblin Nation kicks off with a bang rather than a whimper and here’s hoping I’ll be able to review it all the way to the end. So, let’s get to my review of Superior Spider-Man #27.
We start 31 days after Otto quit the Avengers, where he is watching as Goblins rampage over the city with him questioning why his drones aren’t picking up on anything. He quickly realizes that the Green Goblin is behind it, and goes to look for all information related to him inside his mindscape. Ghost Peter is there, hiding amongst the thirty-one memories that remained after Otto dumped the rest and wondering how he’s going to reclaim his body. Again, I would like to point out that once he does get his body back there is so much of who he was missing he’s going to be effectively an amnesiac.
Unfortunately for Ghost Peter, he stupidly ventured into Otto’s memories again (having forgotten he did that once before) and ends up as part of them and most likely will be out of commission until near the end. At the same time, Otto is looking over his Spider-Bot to figure out what’s wrong with them when his girlfriend walks in and points out that he’s been skipping work and forgetting to eat. He thanks her and tells her he’s been thinking of making her a partner, with a panel revealing a wedding ring box in his pocket.
And here’s one of my biggest gripes once Peter comes back. This romance, this heartwarming romance between a woman who has fallen for Otto (in Peter’s body, granted), will end in a tragedy. I blame Otto, I truly do, but all I can do is pray she doesn’t get the Gwen Stacy treatment with the Green Goblin running around.
Speaking of which, after Anna gives Otto his eureka moment with the face recognition software being the problem, we see on the television reporters hounding Jameson with questions to if the Green Goblin and Spider-Man are working together since he got rid of all the competition. Jameson denies it but takes a little trip to Alchemax to visit that little bastard Stone and Spider-Man 2099, Miguel O’Hara, to get his Spider-Slayers since he believes they are working together and Spider-Man must die. And he wants him to know it was him who was responsible.
Yeah, that’s going to end badly for everyone involved.
Spider-Man pays a little visit the guy who made the facial recognition software since he’s avoiding Otto as Peter and he learns about the Goblin Protocol and where the Goblin’s army can be found. So he goes underground to pay them a visit as Captain Watanabe pays Parker Industries a visit, as she wants him for questioning just as much as the rest of his employees. The Green Goblin is waiting and has him sit down for a little chat, revealing he knows he’s Otto wearing his skin by reading Carlie’s Journal.
Otto actually sits and listens to his proposal for an alliance to rule the city…right up until he said Otto was his second. When you have an ego as big as Otto’s, that gets you enraged and he declares himself Spider-Man and that he was going to rid the city of him. Green Goblin tries to fry him with lightning at that, but he reveals that it was the virtual projection made from the tech that Stunner used as he wasn’t stupid enough to go into enemy grounds on his own when he has an army and a brain.
Green Goblin then points out that he was still stupid enough to make his base of operations public and calls for his goblins to destroy Spider-Island, ending the issue.
Well, there was a lot going on in this issue and I must say I’m liking the intro into the final arc. The art was good, the plot was moving, overall it’s a must-have issue and gets a perfect 5 out of 5.
Twilit Dreams Circle 