Spidey is finally off of drugs! Brian is not revealed to be a villain … yet! Hobgoblin’s plan is foiled! All of this, plus … mushrooms save the day???
(I’m a sucker for a cover where the action knocks the title apart.)
CREDITS
Writer: Joe Kelly
Artist: Pepe Larraz
Color Artist: Marte Gracia
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
PREVIOUSLY IN AMAZING SPIDER-MAN …
A still-drugged Spidey can’t defeat Hobgoblin, who learns that Brian and Peter’s new boss have called the feds about Queen’s Cola. Spidey gets off of the drugs due to the power of emotional flashbacks. He hugs Itsy Bitsy and heads to Rand to stop HG from killing Brian. Oh, and some guy named Javi got a letter printed – no big deal.(1)
SUMMARY
Hobgoblin shows up at Rand to kill Brian and Naira Osmani-Milton(2) for contacting the feds about his Queen’s Cola plan.
(Credit where credit is due – the man knows how to make an entrance.)
Spider-Man shows up, realizing that with the drugs having finally worn off he is now detoxing and not at his best.
(Just want to say that I have the same belt as Hobgoblin. I like that he has an adjustable belt, in case he gains/loses weight.)
Spidey manages to ensnare Hobgoblin’s massive wings in a web trap(3) while he recaps HG’s plan:
Step 1: Put a drug that causes anxiety into Queen’s Cola.
Step 2: Consumers purchase and drink Queen’s Cola.
Step 3: Consumers get sick with anxiety.
Step 4: HG’s company sells a cure for the anxiety.
Step 5: Something exciting happens.
Step 6: Profit!
HG frees himself from his wings, and instead of continuing to fight Spidey, leaves to kill Brian and Naira.
(Hobgoblin has his priorities straight.)
Spidey catches up with HG just as he summons his wings back to him. HG is about to kill Naira when Brian emerges from the Mycology Lab(4) to save the day by … throwing a mushroom at HG???
(This was my reaction when I saw that Brian’s plan was to get a mushroom.)
But this is one of the “bad” mushrooms Rand had been working on to find a cure for the drug. Spidey kicks the mushroom just as it’s right in front of HG and it explodes(5) in his face, dosing him with his own drug. And in a scene that in no way is a reference/ripoff of the Kraven the Hunter movie, HG imagine himself covered with a legion of spiders.
(Visual depiction of a Spider-Man villain hallucinating being attacked by spiders.)
HG flees – from both Spider-Man and the imaginary spiders, with Spidey having saved Brian, Noira and the cure.
(King Arthur: “Run away! Run away!”)
Later, Peter talks to Norman on the phone about how Queen’s Cola has been taken off the shelves. Norman mentions that the cure to the drug has been on the shelves for 2 years, and that this seems “too smart for Kingsley” (hmm). Norman reminds Peter that HG wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for Norman and vows to hunt him down.
(Anyone sitting alone in the dark, staring at a fireplace while drinking a beverage, is clearly evil.)
Peter talks with Aunt May, who admits that while she knows that Peter was drugged, she still feels like at times she doesn’t really know him. Peter promises May that he’ll never push her away and she is “a hell of a mom”.
(Studio audience: “Awwww!!!”)
THE END!
Oh, also, during the HB battle, we see flashbacks of young Peter coming to young Brian’s rescue as he saves him from some bullies. Or is beaten up by them. It’s hard to tell what exactly is happening here. But it’s just a panel at a time so it would be hard to include them as they appear in the recap (and they don’t really add anything).
INITIAL RESPONSE
Maybe someone threw a positive mushroom at my face and then kicked it, but I thought this issue – and this entire arc – was pretty good. There were still some problems, although they weren’t as apparent in this issue as in the previous issues. But overall, this was a pretty good issue, and a satisfying conclusion to this story. Consider me pleasantly surprised.
WHAT I LIKED
The Spidey/Hobgoblin fight was great. Spidey’s got the drugs out of his system but he’s still not at his best. And HG is portrayed as a legitimate threat and written well here, and actually menacing. His goal is not to kill/defeat Spider-Man – it’s to stop Brian and Naira from releasing information about his Queen’s Cola plan. He has a moment when he could continue fighting Spidey but he literally says that Brian and Naira are his “soft targets” here.
(“Let them fight! Let them fight!”)
I was down on the art in the first issue, but maybe it’s growing on me. I think I liked it here. I still don’t like how Larraz draws Peter’s face straight-on.
(Maybe we just need Larraz to draw issues where we never see Peter’s face?)
Spidey uses his webs to trap HG’s massive wings. That’s a smart tactic which should convince HG to get rid of the wings altogether.
(“My comically oversized wings will never be a hindrance to me! Oh wait, I appear to be stuck. Fiddlesticks.”)
Using HG’s own drugs against him (even if it was a mushroom explosion to the face) is a clever way to end the fight and get HG out of there without having him arrested (although you’d think if your master plan was to create a drug that causes anxiety and let it loose on the public, you’d make sure you already took the antidote, or had it on you at all times).
(Every time I read that “A person eats 8 spiders every year while they sleep” internet fact, I worry about things like this happening to me.)
I appreciate that the issue took the time to give us 3 pages at the end to wrap up the plot and explain to the readers what happened after the battle. It feels like too many issues don’t do this.
While I have problems with the flashbacks in this story, I did like Peter and May’s interactions here as they reference them. All is forgiven!
And having Uncle Ben’s stolen jacket in the final panel is a nice touch (although I still think the idea of Peter stealing it is ridiculous).
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
Hobgoblin’s wings and flaming sword. I didn’t like them when Slott introduced them for Phil Urich, and I don’t like them here. Just give him his glider back, and let him shoot lasers and throw sonic toads, you cowards!
(Pictured: a menacing Hobgoblin. Not pictured: a Hobgoblin with wings or a flaming sword.)
No Itsy Bitsy. She was such a big part of the last 2 issues, it just seems strange for her not to appear – or be mentioned – at all in this issue.
(Itsy Bitsy’s content in this issue.)
Brian was not revealed to be evil at the end of this story. I’m sure that will eventually happen, and it will turn out he is the person Norman inferred was behind Kingsley’s plan. I didn’t skim the Wikipedia summary of DC’s Hush for nothing.
(Taking a selfie with Spidey without asking permission first? Obviously a villain.)
They’re obviously setting up Naira as someone with their own story, introducing a step-something who she is worried about. I don’t care, but we’ll see what comes from this.
(Is this her step-child? I can’t imagine her calling a step-sibling “Honey”. And who calls a step-relative “step-spawn”?)
I’ve complained a lot about the flashbacks in the previous issues, so I’ll try not to repeat myself. And they’re not as bad in this issue, but at least in the previous issues they added something to the story. But in this issue all we get is Peter and Brian dealing with some bullies, and I’m not even sure of that’s what happens. Peter and Brian have some bruises and bloody noses, but we don’t see them fighting anyone. Did Peter come to Brian’s defense? Or the other way around? Or did he show up as the bullies were leaving? Who knows? What matters is these particular flashbacks are completely superfluous.
On the subject of these flashbacks, they are really pushing Brian as Peter’s friend, and possibly his best friend (“Randy who?”). I’m just not buying it. If he and Peter were really “Freaktastic Four forever” then where was he when Aunt May died, Peter was put on trial for murder, became a global businessperson, got married, lost his baby, etc? I know, the actual reason is that he hadn’t been created yet, but still – come up with a valid reason where this character has been all of this time to explain why he’s such a good friend and yet we’ve never seen him before. And he’s obviously going to turn out to be a villain, so just get around to it already.
(“Best friends forever! Oh, by the way, I won’t talk to you again for about 15 years!”)
Am I crazy or does Naira look a lot like Shay? Or is this just me? Can’t we draw distinctive characters?
(One of these is Shay and one is Naira. Which is which? Or are they both Shay? Or both Naira?(6))
LETTERS PAGE SHENANIGANS
(To paraphrase Bertone on the original ASM Classics podcast, “Nick Lowe wrote that letter.”)
WHAT THIS ISSUE MEANT OVERALL
This was a solid conclusion to this story, with a good Spidey/HG fight. The ending was satisfying and wrapped most everything up.
Again, still nothing more about Hellgate. That backup in the first issue was certainly worth those pages, right?
GRADE
B+
This is a pretty good issue, and a satisfying wrap-up to this story. Not a fan of the new status quo of Peter’s best friend we have never heard of, and the flashbacks of a young angsty Peter who stole, swore, got drunk, and yelled at May and Ben were completely out of character. Let’s just pretend those never happened, ok?
NEXT TIME, IN AN ALL-NEW ISSUE OF AMAZING SPIDER-MAN …
(How exactly is Black Cat balancing on that webbing? It’s attached below her. It’s not solid. To paraphrase Morbo, “Webbing does not work this way!”)
The Black Cat returns. We haven’t seen her since … well, the arc before this one. Well, JRJR returns. We haven’t seen him on the book in a long time … oh wait, he was one of the regular pencillers in Zells’ run. Well, the story is about … I have no idea.
FOOTNOTES
(1) Narrator: “It was, in fact, a very big deal.”
(2) Yes, that is her actual name. I wouldn’t have known it – or that she actually had a name – if I hadn’t read the credits page.
(3) Hobgoblin having his giant wings trapped by webbing this easily feels like a critique by Kelly on HG having wings instead of a glider, which reminded me of this great moment:
(4) Kelly was obviously watching/playing The Last of Us while writing this issue.
(5) A kicked mushroom producing this much of a cloud seemed ridiculous to me, but apparently it can happen.
(6) The first one is of Naira in this issue, and the second one is of Shay from the credits page of issue #3.
English (US) · 