Craig’s Critique: Amazing Spider-Man #13 (Legacy #977): “Spiderians of the Galaxy” or “Did Anyone Read ‘Imperial’ And Knows What’s Going On In Space?”

4 days ago 3

Peter is still … lost in space⁽¹⁾. He becomes the leader of the aliens he rescued from Starblood. He vows to return all of them to their homes. All of this, plus … he teams-up with Starblood???

(Meet the new (alternate issues) status quo for the foreseeable future.)

CREDITS

Writer: Joe Kelly
Artist: Pepe Larraz
Color Artists: Marte Gracia & Erick Arciniega
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna

PREVIOUSLY IN AMAZING SPIDER-MAN …

Nothing that relates to this issue!

Ok, ok … back on Earth, Norman Osborn is still posing as Spider-Man, and Ben Reilly is still posing as Peter Parker. All of the charges against Roderick Kingsley were dropped⁽²⁾. Spider-Norman was confronted by Miles Morales, Silk, Spider-Gwen, Arana and (ugh) Spider-Boy, who fought him, but Norman stopped the fight when he realized that he was literally fighting children⁽³⁾. Meanwhile, the mysterious group who has been trying to kill Norman offer a proposal to Roderick Kingsley.

SUMMARY

NOTE: this issue switches from present day to a few days ago and back again many times. Watch out for whiplash.

Spidey and the rescued aliens break into a satellite above Gaileia 3 run by the Gothon Conglomerate⁽⁴⁾. They are attacked by guards and Spidey does his best to keep Rocket Raccoon from killing anyone.

(Unused storyboard for James Gunn’s planned Guardians of the Galaxy 4 movie before he left for DC.)

A few days ago, just after Peter freed the captured aliens, Rocket wants to kill the captured Dr. Xanto Starblood for kidnapping and experimenting on them. One of the aliens identifies themselves as Raelith the Wretched, and says that they shouldn’t kill Starblood – they should torture him indefinitely.

(“I like the way Snrub thinks.”)

Back in the present, Spidey also has to keep Raelith from killing any of the guards.

A few days ago, Starblood tells the aliens that they were all abandoned or dying, so he’s actually the hero here since he was trying to make their lives count for science. One of the aliens, Nial, seems very peaceful and chill, but when he realizes what everyone is talking about, he agrees that they should kill Starblood.

(Spidey isn’t finding any allies in keeping Starblood alive.)

Back in the present, Nial is on the ship while Spidey, Rocket, Raelith and Starblood (wearing a Death Belt to ensure he does what Rocket says) continue fighting the guards.

Suddenly Black Dwarf, one of the Black Order – the Disciples of Thanos⁽⁵⁾ – arrives.

(He was in the MCU but he was called Cull Obsidian there.)

A few days ago, Peter gives a rousing speech that convinces the other aliens not to kill (or torture) Starblood. Raelith asks if Peter is their leader now.

Back in the present, Spidey borrows Raelith’s weapon and attacks Black Dwarf. He launches Symbie at BD to distract him while he uses his new suit to put techo organic tendrils down BD’s throat, then uses Raelith’s weapon to electrify those tendrils (or maybe he does this with his suit, it’s not made clear), electrifying BD from the inside, knocking him unconscious.

(How Kelly didn’t have Spidey make a “Shocking” pun here is beyond me.)

With BD defeated, Spidey and his crew break open the contraband locker and deliver the goods to the people of Gaileia 3, while also returning one of the captured aliens to their people on that planet.

A few days ago, we hear Peter tell the group that he’s not a leader, but he’ll fight for all of them and get them home.

(He’s both the leader these aliens deserve and the one they need right now.)

Back in the present, Rocket asks Peter if his plan is to return each alien to their home. Peter admits that he’s lost, just like the rest of them. Rocket asks why Peter doesn’t head for the nearest stargate to get back to Earth and wants to know what happened to him back there.

Peter visit Starblood, locked in a cell, telling him that he can’t go back home to Earth until Starblood makes him stronger.

(This final shot of Peter is very different from how Larraz draws his face in the rest of the issue.)

TO BE CONTINUED!

INITIAL RESPONSE

So we have our new format of this book for the foreseeable future: one issue will be JRJR art with Spider-Norman and Ben-as-Peter on Earth, the next issue will be Larraz art with Peter in outer space, and alternating back and forth. So unless something happens to disrupt that pattern, it looks like I’m reviewing the Space-Peter issues. Oh, yay.

“Spidey in outer space” is probably second on my “type of Spider-Man stories that I am not interested in” list (right behind “Spidey and magic”). This type of story *can* work, but (in my opinion) it works best in a story where Spidey is not the main character. Spidey works best on Earth, in New York, fighting relatable villains. Not in outer space surrounded by aliens.

Given all of that, this story is not that bad. We have Peter stepping up and doing the right thing to help these freed aliens, and he has a plan for getting back to Earth. But his reasoning for not wanting to go back to Earth right away, and *why* he doesn’t want to go back right away, really drags my opinion of this issue (and this entire arc) down.

WHAT I LIKED

I have not been a big fan of Larraz’ art on this book, but I have come to like it during the action scenes (the out-of-costume Peter scenes, not so much). I can understand why they chose to have JRJR do the Earth issues, and Larraz do the outer space issues – it gives each story its own look (and gives each artist a break from having to draw every issue). The action scenes involving aliens, other planets, and spaceships really seem to fit Larraz’ style.

(Batter up!)

Peter stepping up to be a leader to help these aliens get back to their lives is exactly what Peter should be doing. We don’t often see Peter as a leader – we sometimes have Spidey amassing a team (Maximum Carnage, Revenge of the Sinister Six, The Outlaws) and he’s usually the leader. He’s kind of the default leader here because Rocket is not a leader-type, and the rest of the aliens just seem to want to be told what to do to get them back home. So Peter doesn’t want to be the leader, but he ends up being one, which works.

I also liked Peter keeping the aliens from killing Starblood. Yes, it’ll probably come back to bite him when Starblood eventually betrays them (we all know this is coming, Death Belt or no Death Belt), but it’s exactly what he would do here (his actual motivation for keeping Starblood alive, I’m not a fan of).

I might be crazy but I might be coming around on Starblood. I didn’t think much of him in his previous issue but I kind of liked how he arrogantly spoke up for himself while the aliens discussed torturing and killing him. I don’t like the character, but more of this from him, please.

(Starblood, not reading the room at all)

Despite my problems with the final panel, I really liked the shot of Peter’s face there. Completely unlike every other drawing Larraz has done of Peter’s face, especially with half of his face in shadow as he admits he wants to work with Starblood.

(To paraphrase TOS, “Look at me! I am white on the right side!”)

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

Spider-Man in outer space. Nuff said.

The entire “See Imperial for more information” explanation for what is going on in outer space is infuriating. I assume I am in the majority of readers who are not reading Imperial and have no idea what is going on in outer space in the Marvel universe. Can this comic gives us more information as to what is going on?

(How about “No, I won’t”?)

Besides Rocket, I don’t really care about any of these named aliens. I know it’s only been one issue, maybe some of them will grow on me? I doubt it, though.

Symbie. Ugh. I wonder what Tyler has to say about this.

(Hey, remember when symbiotes were dangerous and feared? Well, here’s Symbie! Isn’t he adorable?)

While Larraz’ art shines in the outer space action scenes, there is still the occasional panel where you realize that he should not be doing panels where we see human faces, especially Peter.

(Seriously, how is Larraz still drawing Peter like this?)

A big problem I have here is that Peter doesn’t seem to care that he’s in outer space and has been separated from his life on Earth. He doesn’t mention Aunt May, Shay, his life, his job, him being Spider-Man stopping crime in New York – any of that. He doesn’t seem that interested in getting back to Earth. He does say that he wants to go back there – eventually – but he is no rush at all.

(Panels from this issue showing Peter worried about not being on Earth.)

Peter revealing that the reason he doesn’t want to go back to Earth right away is because he needs Starblood to make him “stronger” first – no, just … no. Spidey has defeated the Sinister Six, the X-Men, Firelord – a herald of Galactus – all by himself. But Hellgate is the one that has him so afraid to return to Earth as he is now to face him? Hellgate does not deserve to be included on the list of “Spider-Man villains that he is afraid to face because he thinks he can’t defeat them”. This really left a sour taste in my mouth.

(I tried to come up with a joke about Hellgate featuring this famous line but ran out of time.)

As I suggested in my previous review, there’s nothing here to elaborate about Peter’s initial arrival in outer space, which to me, is the most interesting part of Peter’s story in outer space. That was what I expected. Prove me wrong, Kelly!

Spidey’s new costume. Does anyone like this?

(Peter’s reaction after being asked if he thinks anyone likes his new suit.)

WHAT THIS ISSUE MEANT OVERALL

Well, we got the new status quo in the “Peter in space issues”. He’s the leader of these aliens, he’s going to try to get all of them home, and is working with Starblood to make himself “stronger” so he can go back to Earth (eventually) to face Hellgate again. This seems to be what we’ll get in these alternate issues for the foreseeable future. So if you like this, you should like these “Peter in space” issues.

This really reminds me of the beginning of the 1990s Clone Saga where we had two of the books starring Peter as Spider-Man, and the other 2 books starring Ben as the Scarlet Spider. They each had their separate stories, and for me, it worked. Will this work here?

But when a book has alternating issues where the odd issues contain the hero and the even issues don’t, I should be more interested in the issues containing the hero. Sadly, that is not the case here. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but bring on Spider-Norman and Ben-pretending-to-be-Peter!

GRADE

C-

For a Spidey in space issue, this wasn’t as bad as it could have been. But Peter’s complete lack of urgency to get back to his life on Earth, plus his need to make himself “stronger” before he returns and faces Hellgate again, really brought my opinion of the issue (and ongoing story) down.