Peter remembers that he has family back on Earth! Another adventure with Spidey and his new alien space friends! The suit is revealed to be Warlock’s cousin!(1). All of this, plus … Peter gets lucky with an alien?(2)
(Insert the “How could the same thing happen to same guy twice?” GIF from Die Hard 2 here.)
CREDITS
Writer: Joe Kelly
Guest Artist: Emilio Laiso
Color Artists: Marcio Menyz, Marte Gracia & Erick Arciniega
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
PREVIOUSLY IN AMAZING SPIDER-MAN …
On Earth…
Norman told the Spider-Crew that he wouldn’t be Spider-Man any more. Chasm and Hallows’ Eve beat up some human traffickers. Norman confronts Ben (as Peter) just as one of the Sic Semper Monstrum guys attacks. Aunt May goes to Peter’s apartment and meets Janine (disguised as a blonde). Captain Kintsugi shows up to stop SSM but Norman (as Spider-Man) saves the day. The SSM group is upset, but they get some help … from Roderick Kingsley.
In Space …
Spidey and his group of freed aliens are going around doing good deeds, trying to return the freed aliens home. All the while Peter is secretly working with Xanto Starblood to make himself stronger so he can return to Earth and face Hellgate.
SUMMARY
Peter is back on Earth and reunited with Aunt May, who is burned alive (with Hellgate in the background), just as Peter wakes up on the spaceship – revealing it was all a dream (just this one scene, not this entire Spidey-in-space storyline).
(It’s Aunt May as you’ve never seen her before!)
On Skridd City, on the planet Galagus Otra, Dinwickett has captured Spidey and his alien group(3) who is looking for some money that Rocket owes him. Spidey asks if there’s something else Rocket can do, and Dinwickett asks Spidey to participate in a pay-per-view of “Betty Wrestling”. Spidey agrees, as long as he doesn’t have to kill anyone.
(“I have no more questions about this fight, so I agree to everything you aren’t telling me.”)
In the arena, Betty is revealed to be a giant pink T’Klathian. Spidey enters the arena, not understanding Dinwickett’s comment that it’s a two-on-one fight.
(Ah, a Marvel Two-In-One reference. I see what you’re doing, Kelly.)
During the fight Spidey hears Dinwickett taking bets that “the Technarch” will be the only one to survive, and Spidey finally realizes that his new suit is … (wait for it) … alive.
(Peter gets no respect from his team. No respect. No regards, either.)
Starblood explains that his restraining circuits overrode all of the suit’s cognitive functions and mental commands. Spidey insists that the suit be freed. Starblood tells him how to do this, which Spidey does, and he is immediately swallowed whole by Betty.
Inside Betty, the Technarch reboots, showing Peter some of its memories while he views some of Peter’s. It’s revealed that it is the son of Magus, a Technarch – same race as Warlock (the New Mutant, not Adam Warlock). Spidey learns that it fled from Magus and spent hundreds of years floating in space before Starblood found it.
(Oh good, another flashback of Peter’s history. Haven’t had one of these in awhile.)
They both realize that they are both feeling shame (the Technarch from fleeing from Magus and getting captured by Starblood, Spidey from being defeated by Hellgate and that if he goes home Hellgate will kill everyone he loves). So the Technarch removes itself from Peter and introduces itself as Glitch.
While the rest of the aliens attack Dinwickett’s goons, Peter apologizes to Glitch for wearing it, and Glitch puts some of itself back on Peter to protect him.
The fight fight with Dinwickett’s goons continues until Glitch reveals that it has communicated with Betty, who wants to renegotiate its contract with Dinwickett.
(The lesson here is that all contract disputes can be resolved by threatening violence.)
Back on the ship, Peter is talking with Starblood about Glitch, when Rocket comes in, discovering that Peter is secretly working his former jailor. Rocket is upset and runs off, just as Raelith the Wretched confronts Peter and asks why he gave up strength to let Glitch be free. Peter says it was the right thing to do, which makes Raelith kiss him. She apologizes, but Peter says it’s all right, as he kisses her back.
(Who is this in the left panel? Is it one of the other freed aliens?)
TO BE CONTINUED!(4)
INITIAL RESPONSE
Not much happens with Spider-Man here. It’s another Spidey-and-his-group-of-aliens-having-a-wacky-adventure issue which doesn’t really matter to the overall plot. He’s still stuck in space, afraid to go home. The only important things are the reveal that the suit is a Technarch – a member of Warlock’s race, and Peter deciding to make out with Raelith the Wretched, because … I guess what happens in outer space, stays in outer space?
I’d like to muster some enthusiasm about this storyline, but … I just don’t care about any of this. Bring on Spider-Norman and Ben-as-Peter!
WHAT I LIKED
Peter *finally* remembers that he has family back on Earth that (as far as he knows) thinks he’s disappeared. Too bad it’s just a dream sequence, but at least he’s thinking about Aunt May.
The art is good, and until I checked the credits, I didn’t know it wasn’t Larraz.(5)
Hmm, I thought the whole point of having two different storylines with two different artists was so that one artist didn’t get burned out by having to do two issues a month? (I’m sure Larraz had a legitimate reason for not being available for this issue).
Spidey trying to help out the freed aliens – Rocket specifically in this issue – is nice (although we already got that in the previous issue).
I was a big fan of Warlock back in The New Mutants, so I liked the reveal that Peter’s new suit is actually a member of his race.
(NOTE: this did not end well for Doug.)
While I feel that any pages that recap Peter’s history are just a waste of space (and have been used much too often recently), I did like how it was interspersed with Glitch’s history so they could learn about each other. And we did get some new (?) information of Hellgate telling Spidey that if he ever returned to Earth there will be (cough) hell to pay.
(“Don’t come around here no more …”)
I do like that the fight is resolved not by Spidey defeating Betty but by Glitch communicating with her (?) and convincing her to stop fighting and demand a new contract from Dinwickett.
Symbie does absolutely nothing here, so I guess the less of him, the better. For all the hype Nick Lowe had about this “breakout character”, so far it’s turned out to be nothing (watch me have to eat my words in the *next* issue).
(Panels in this issue of Symbie contributing anything meaningful to the story.)
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
At this point I feel like a broken record, but … it’s Spider-Man in outer space. Nuff said.
We get another “Spidey helps out one of the freed aliens” adventures, which is nice, but we got that in the last issue. And there’s no progression of the overall story. At least in the last issue, the alien Spidey was helping was reunited with his family. Here Spidey is just helping Rocket with a debt, which, let’s face it, he probably has lots of. And Rocket is still around after this issue. So what was gained here?
Spidey agreeing to participate in a pay-per-view fight without getting more information about what’s involved is kind of reckless. He has no idea who he’s fighting, what’s involved, if it’s to-the-death, and he just agrees? This seems … dumb.
(Yes, agreeing to do a pay-per-view event without asking any further questions is always a good idea.)
So in the previous issue (of this space storyline), there was a huge group of freed aliens. But unless I missed something, all we see in this issue are Rocket, Raelith the Wretched, Nial, Symbie and Starblood. Did the rest all get returned to their homes off panel?
What else is there to say about Peter working with Starblood because he has to make himself *stronger* before he can return to Earth and face Hellgate? Why not return to Earth immediately and go get some help from the Avengers or Fantastic Four? I get that we want Spidey to fight his own battles, but if he really feels that he can’t defeat Hellgate on his own, there’s nothing wrong with going to other heroes for help – he’s done this in the past (in the classic Firelord fight he tries to call the Avengers for help when he realizes he’s out of his league). Especially since this is keeping him from returning to his life. Peter does seem to be in any rush to get home.
Rocket is right to be upset with Peter for working with Starblood. This guy captured all of them, imprisoned them, and was conducting experiments on them. For Peter to be allowing Starblood to continue doing science and help him? What is Peter thinking?
(Rocket is rightfully upset with Peter here.)
Raelith the Wretched kissing Peter – it’s fine I guess. We see a couple of times in this issue that she’s impressed by his willingness to help others before himself. And he literally freed her from captivity, so it makes sense she would look up to him. But it feels like this shouldn’t be allowed – they are not equals here, it almost feels like a student kissing their teacher. Also, it’s worth noting that their conversation before she kisses him is the FIRST time they have talked to each other in a one-on-one situation (that we have seen). Peter literally knows nothing about this woman except her name, and that she voted to kill Starblood.
The BIG problem here is Peter reciprocating Raelith the Wretched’s advances. It is completely out of character. As I said, this is the first time these two have had a conversation together. Unless he feels that there is no way to ever get back to Earth, Peter has a girlfriend. Yes, they are not exclusive, but Peter has never been a “dating multiple women at the same time” kind of guy (no matter how much Joe Quesada and Marvel want to rewrite history and say that happened during the Lee/Romita era all the time). For him to start making out with Raelith the Wretched here – who is a literal stranger to him – is just wrong. For a book that often gets Peter’s character wrong, this is a HUGE misstep.
(Is it just me or does this feel icky and gross?)
LETTER PAGE SHENANIGANS
Javi!
WHAT THIS ISSUE MEANT OVERALL
There’s no progression in the overall plot. Peter is still lost in space. We do find out that his new suit is actually a Technarch. Rocket now knows Peter is working with Starblood. And Peter chooses to make out with Raelith the Wretched because … he’s on vacation and it doesn’t matter?
I’m repeating myself here, but when you split your book into two separate storylines – one with the hero, and one with supporting characters, and the story with the hero is not the most interesting of the two storylines, you are doing something wrong.
GRADE
D
I was going to give this something in the C range, but Peter making out with Raelith the Wretched(6) really pulled the grade down. Marvel finally gave us the Peter Parker that Joe Quesada promised us after One More Day. That is not a good thing.
NEXT TIME, IN AN ALL-NEW ISSUE OF AMAZING SPIDER-MAN …
(“Spider-Man” vs. Hush! Because you demanded it!)
FOOTNOTES
(1) Not really. But until I hear different, that’s how I’m reading it.
(2) Shay who?
(3) This group needs a name. If you have any suggestions, post them below.
(4) But not in the next issue.
(5) Hmm, I thought the whole point of having two different storylines with two different artists was so that one artist didn’t get burned out by having to do two issues a month? (I’m sure Larraz had a legitimate reason for not being available for this issue).
(6) I didn’t mean to say “Raelith the Wretched” each time I mentioned her but it just sounded funnier each time I did it.
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