Crime is rampant across New York City as Spider-Man is nowhere to be seen. Peter Parker is wounded and still recovering from his defeat at Hellgate’s hands. Shocker gets some sidekicks and works for Tombstone. MJ reveals to Peter that she is Venom. Randy and Shay remind us that they are characters in this book. All of this, plus … Norman Osborn is the voice of reason???
(NOTE: not only does this cover not happen in this issue, it took place weeks before this issue starts.)
CREDITS
Writer: Joe Kelly
Guest Artist: Michael Dowling
Colorist: Marte Gracis
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
PREVIOUSLY IN AMAZING SPIDER-MAN …
Spider-Man and Hellgate fought.
Oh, I’m sorry, that was the recap for two issues ago. Here is the recap for the previous issue:
Spider-Man and Hellgate fought. And Hellgate won.
PRE-SUMMARY DISCUSSION
So there have been press releases telling us that in a few issues, Spidey is going to end up being split into two people, with one of him in outer space, and the other of him in New York fighting crime, with the one on Earth acting rougher and harsher. I’ve also heard that it’s Peter in space, with Ben Reilly in New York posing as Spider-Man. I have no idea which one of these is true, if either, or if it’s both. But that’s a press release, not this issue. And there is nothing about that in this issue. So I chose to write this review without that in mind. It’s *just* based on what’s in this issue.
SUMMARY
We have a flashback of Aunt May taking a pre-teen (?) Peter clothes shopping. He plays with some superhero action figures.(1)
(Was I the only one thinking of President Skroob playing with his Spaceballs action figures?)
In the present, Shocker is robbing a bank (?) with his gang – the Aftershocks – who all seem to have similar weapons to him. Shocker sees Peter on the sidewalk, with his leg in a cast and using a crutch. Peter doesn’t do anything to stop Shocker, allowing Shocker and the Aftershocks(2) to escape while Peter listens to Jonah’s podcast which tells us that it’s been weeks since Hellgate defeated Spidey, and crime is rampant because Spidey has been MIA.
(Our hero, ladies and gentlemen.)
Peter is doing well at work as he and Brian make a presentation to Dr. O-M. Brian tries to setup Peter with a co-worker, Astrid, as Peter gets a call from Norman Osborn.
(This is the only Astrid worth talking about.)
Peter talks to Norman outside Rand. Norman tells Peter that “Spider-Man needs to return” and isn’t sure if Peter is retreating or just avoiding the situation. He suggests Peter talk to Aunt May, which causes Peter to angrily walk away.
(“Throw my girlfriend off a bridge? I can overlook that. But show up at my work and tell me to talk to my Aunt? That’s too far!”)
At F.E.A.S.T. May is cooking with Ricardo(3), who suggests that giving Peter space may not be the right thing to do.
In Harlem, Shocker has passed his audition for Tombstone, who offers him a job working for him.
Peter is talking to someone (likely Shay) on his way home when he finds Mary Jane outside his door. She says that Aunt May is worried about him, but takes this opportunity to reveal to him that she is Venom. Peter has no reaction and enters his apartment, leaving her in the hall.
(Gotta say, I didn’t see this reveal coming when I turned this page.)
Shay is talking to Randy about Peter ghosting her these past weeks. She is suspicious about his injuries because as a nurse she has access to medical records(4) and can’t find any record of him treated at a hospital, or how he got injured.
Suddenly the Aftershocks appear, who are being attacked by Captain Kintsugi(5). The Aftershocks knock him down and are about to kill him when Spider-Man shows up to save him.
(No sign of a cast, and what are these bracelets around his wrist/ankles? Hmm.)
TO BE CONTINUED!
INITIAL RESPONSE
Well, after two issues in a row where the issue is basically one big fight, at least we got something different. But different doesn’t automatically mean “good”. Did anything actually happen in this issue? Some stuff, but it doesn’t feel like it mattered. Why is Peter acting like this? Who knows? It really feels like we missed an issue between the previous one and this one.
WHAT I LIKED
This wasn’t another issue where the entire issue was one big fight. Normally that wouldn’t be worth mentioning, but the last two issues were basically just fighting, so getting something different was nice.
I do like Shocker and Jonah telling us that without Spidey in action, crime in New York drastically goes up. It reminds us of how much Spidey does to stop crime – large and small.
(Jonah does strike me as the kind of person who would not use earbuds.)
While Peter is recuperating and out of action, he’s taking the time to throw himself into his work. He’s likely had perfect attendance during these past few weeks, so this actually backs up the support that his boss gave him in previous issues.
I like that Norman Osborn is the voice of reason here regarding Peter’s new attitude. Who saw this coming?
(Our hero, Norman Osborn.)
Kelly continues to include Tombstone in this background of this book. It’s not likely that he will use him as much as Zells did, but he *is* the head of all the gangs in New York, so it’s nice for him to show up now and then to remind us of that.
MJ not only reaches out to Peter to make sure he’s all right, but she finally tells him that she’s Venom. This should have happened much sooner, but at least she told him instead of him finding out on his own.
(“But … I’m pregnant, and Paul’s the father. We’re 80% sure the child is not imaginary.”)
(Feels like I was scraping the bottom of the barrel in this section)
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
The previous issue ends with Hellgate defeating Spider-Man. This issue starts weeks later, with Peter injured and recuperating, and not appearing as Spider-Man at all (until the final page). We’re never given ANY explanation for Peter’s behavior here. We’ve seen Spidey be injured by a villain before – worse than this – and he’s always been back in action right away – how many times have we seen Spidey in action with an arm in a sling? Or whenever he stops being Spider-Man, we’re always told *why* he makes this decision, it makes sense, and when he eventually decides to suit up again, we’re given enough information so we know *why* he makes that decision. NONE of that is in this issue. I have no idea why Peter is acting like he is here. We’re just told that he’s acting like this and expected to accept it.
Where is Hellgate? He was all over the previous two issues, and after defeating Spider-Man, he’s disappeared. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not clamoring for him to return. But it seems weird that the last two issues were all about him, he defeated Spider-Man, and he just disappears?
(Hellgate’s appearances in this issue.)
What about the Black Cat? She ran away from the fight with Hellgate, she has to know that he defeated Spider-Man – badly and publicly. She knows that Spider-Man has not appeared in the weeks since, and yet she never goes to visit Peter to make sure he’s all right?
(Black Cat’s appearances in this issue.)
What was with the one page of young-Peter flashback? I kept waiting for another flashback to appear later to follow up on this, but it never did. What does that flashback have to do with anything else in this issue? If you know, tell me.
They are really pushing hard on making Brian the goofy friend/co-worker. That appears to be his entire personality. How does this guy have enough say-so at this company to convince his boss to hire anyone solely on his recommendation, let alone Peter?
(Seriously, who would hire anyone based on *this guy’s* recommendation?)
The Peter/MJ scene should have affected me much more than it did. And it should have been a much bigger deal. Not only is she *finally* reaching out to Peter as a friend, but she’s revealing to him that she’s Venom. And yet it seems like Peter couldn’t care less. At first I thought this was the return of emo-Peter from 8 Deaths of Spider-Man. This should have been a much bigger reaction from Peter (maybe we’ll get more in later issues to explain this reaction, but it just doesn’t work here).
(Didn’t Norman say “Heh” in a Zells issue indicating that the Goblin was still in him? Am I reaching here?)
Shay and Randy show up just to remind us that they are characters in this book. I actually forgot that they would interact with each other when Peter wasn’t around. It’s like when you saw Elaine and George hang out without Jerry.
Captain Kintsugi was built up during the Hellgate fight issues. I thought their focus was Hellgate, but now they’re just wandering around the city fighting random crime? Who is this person? And how in the world does Shay of all people know their name?
(“That Captain Kintsugi, he’s so hot right now.”)
In less than one year, Joe Kelly has written two separate stories where Peter Parker is acting out of character and not wanting to be Spider-Man(6).
POST-SUMMARY DISCUSSION
It’s hard to read this issue and not have the information of the press release in the back of your mind. Has this split already happened? Is that why “Peter” is acting so different? Is he meant to be “different” when he finally suits up on the last page and attacks the Aftershocks? Is the Spider-Man we see on the last page the same Peter as in this issue? Is Peter already in space and this has been Ben this entire issue? (if so then why is he in a cast?) Or does none of this have anything to do with this issue? Who knows?
I don’t know if having this press release knowledge makes this issue better or worse. Without it, Peter seems incredibly out of character, and there’s no explanation for it. But with it, we still don’t know if this is the explanation for how Peter is acting, and if it is, it still doesn’t explain it very well.
Is this going to be a “first issue of Dying Wish” situation? ASM #698 had Peter acting a bit differently, but not incredibly out of character. But at the end of that issue you realized that “Peter” in that issue was actually Doc Ock in Peter’s body, which made rereading the issue with that knowledge incredibly satisfying. If we find out later that Peter has already been split/replaced/whatever, will rereading this issue with that knowledge give this issue more weight? Again, I have no idea. But I do know that ASM #698 was a good read the first time you read it without that knowledge. This issue does not have that going for it.
LETTERS PAGE SHENANIGANS
(Surprisingly, Nick Lowe does not address this 8 Deaths feedback in his responses to these letters.)
WHAT THIS ISSUE MEANT OVERALL
You can make a good issue where not a lot happens, the hero has a reason they don’t want to fight anyone, and they don’t actually appear in costume until the end. ASM #18 (volume #1) is a prime example of this (although a LOT happens in that issue) – Peter is afraid that Aunt May will die if anything happens to her, he spends the issue seeing the effect this has on the city, we get a lot of interesting developments with other characters, and by the end of the issue Peter makes a logical decision to get back into the suit.
(It’s sad that we have 6 issue #18 of ASM, and will likely have more in upcoming years.)
But this issue does none of that. Not a lot happens here, most of what happens is not that interesting, what *should* be interesting (the Venom reveal) is not because of Peter’s reaction, and Peter’s behavior is not explained. We see Spider-Man at the end of the issue but we have no idea what changed to cause him to appear, if anything did. It’s all very … disappointing. And frustrating.
GRADE
D+
I started this review thinking I’d give this a C, but as I wrote it I kept realizing how annoying this issue was and talked myself into a lower grade. That doesn’t happen very often.
NEXT TIME, IN AN ALL-NEW ISSUE OF AMAZING SPIDER-MAN …
What happens next issue? Do we find out what is going on with Peter’s attitude? Will we get more about Hellgate? Will we get information that Peter is already gone/split/replaced? Who knows?
FOOTNOTES
(1) What does this flashbacks have to do with this issue? Who knows?
(2) If “Shocker and the Aftershocks” isn’t a music band soon in the Marvel Universe, then what are we even doing here?
(3) That’s not a euphemism. Stop it.
(4) According to Google, “In the United States, a nurse typically does not have automatic access to another hospital’s medical records. Access is generally limited to situations where the nurse is directly involved in the patient’s care at the specific hospital with the record, or when the patient has authorized the release of their information.” So I have no idea how Shay would be able to check if Peter was treated in any New York hospital.
(5) Remember him? The guy who made a mysterious appearance two issues ago, and then appeared during the battle last issue for 3 panels and did absolutely nothing? Yeah, that guy.
(6) This comment was inspired by the late great Kevin Cushing who once said on the podcast “In one year, Bendis has written issue #17 of the Avengers twice.” (not sure about the issue number)
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