Greetings! And welcome to my first writing of Comic Book Mojo. Here I’ll discuss the books I’m reading, or those that catch my attention. This may be a tad more sporadic than my collectible writings, as I only get a small handful of books each month. And I don’t always visit my Local Comic Shop (LCS) every week. But, in saying that, this will be my first writing on the new website, so...
This week I picked up the latest reboot of The Amazing Spider-Man at my LCS, Downtown Comics West. I haven’t collected Spidey regularly since Brand New Day, outside of a handful of stories. Spider-Verse was good. I tried Superior Spider-Man, to no avail. I was enjoying All New, All Different Amazing Spider-Man, the reboot that had Peter Parker as a tech mogul. A poor man’s Tony Stark, if you will. But the Marvel pricing and shipping schedule did that in. Now that Dan Slott’s decade plus run has finished, there’s another reboot. This time being brought to us by writer Nick Spencer and penciler Ryan Ottley. Here we go!
WARNING:
I’m not going to avoid spoilers about the story. So, beware!
The book opens with Pete reminiscing about his time with Mary Jane. Until his is awoken by his roommate playing video games. At five in the morning. We’re introduced to Pete’s roommates, Randy Robertson and the loud and rude roommate, Fred Myers. Randy is the son of longtime supporting character and Pete’s boss at the Daily Bugle, Robbie Robertson. Fred is better known to us as the super villain, Boomerang. Pete knows that Fred is Boomerang and has brought him in as a roommate to follow Fred’s scheme, which has caught the interest of Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin of Crime. And because they needed help with the rent. Oh yeah, Fisk is also now the Mayor of New York City! Something our Marvel heroes are none too fond of.
We cut to a splash page of an alien/otherworldly invasion in which Avengers, X-Men, Defenders, and Fantastic Four members are attempting to end. And then Spider-Man shows up. Surprisingly, Spidey is greeted with less than stellar enthusiasm. This is because just a few weeks prior, Spidey was ambushed by the new Mayor, who gave him a Key to the City! Spidey refuses and leaves, just as Kingpin reveals his reasoning behind showering Spider-Man, a hated enemy, with praise and adoration. In doing this, Kingpin hopes to drive a wedge between Spidey and those whose approval he desires, the other heroes. And it seems to be working. None of the other heroes seem to want Spidey’s help against the invasion. Bummer.
We get some recap of how Peter’s life has flowed recently. As I mentioned, he’s back at the Bugle, as Science Editor, and he has the respect of his peers. That is, until they attend a presentation at Empire State University. There, one of Pete’s former classmates, Cindy Lawton, demonstrates a new, bleeding edge anti-plagiarism tech called WATCHR. Catchy. She decides to call up recent alumni, Peter Parker, to scan one of his papers from his recent graduate studies. Lo and behold, the paper comes up as fraudulent! The true author of the paper is none other than Dr. Otto Octavius, AKA Dr. Octopus! This is because Pete’s time in graduate school came when his body was occupied by Doc Ock, who decided he would take Pete through graduate school as another way to prove how he was better than Peter. Of course, Peter can’t reveal this to save himself, and has his degree put under review and his standing revoked. This causes him to lose the respect of his peers. Then he is fired from the Bugle. And laughed at by Mary Jane, whilst Peter reminisces some more about how much MJ has sacrificed for him. MJ softens a bit, as news comes across of allegations from Pete’s former employees and new legal problems. Finally, he arrives at Aunt May’s to receive the brunt of her disappointment. Ouch.
INTERLUDE: There’s a nice center spread ad for the new Fantastic Four reboot, of which I will likely check out.
Back to the invasion. The heroes are being overwhelmed as Spidey reflects on what has happened and how he didn’t take responsibility for what happened with his degree and the fact that he didn’t own up to not being the actual person who achieved it. It is during this reflection that he notices a pattern to the portals that are opening and releasing the invasion. With a “Bye, Felicia” joke directed at Black Cat, Spidey launches himself at the portal, feeling that he is likely launching himself to his end. Thinking back on loved ones and how they’ve always lifted him up and made him better, Spidey plows headlong into…a ship operated by Mysterio, who is bragging on himself, to himself. A couple of quick fight panels later, and we see a webbed up Mysterio hanging from a building explaining to Spidey how he just wanted to do something different. A big gesture that just might turn his life around. Which strikes Spidey in a profound way.
We see an unmasked Spider-Man speaking to someone off panel about how he almost died. How nothing has felt right for a long time, and he knows why. How they’ve been through so much together, and how if this person hadn’t been there, Pete wouldn’t have survived. How, although he can do so many things, he needs this person. How he doesn’t have the answers, and maybe this is a mistake, or isn’t fair…when he’s interrupted with “Whoa, whoa. Easy, Tiger…” and a big smooch from Mary Jane. MJ says, “We’re in this together, Pete. We always have been.” *sniff*
There is an interlude story by Spencer and Humberto Ramos, which finds Mysterio in court for this current offense. Determined to represent himself, Quentin Beck (Mysterio, for those of you unfamiliar) is presented with a lawyer in the form of Janice Lincoln, daughter of the villain Tombstone, and villain in her own right as the Beetle. At least, I think she still is. After some banter, Janice is seemingly stricken with an ailment, that results in her vomiting various bugs and pests, while the remainder of the court inhabitants are hit with similar ailments. This brings the appearance of a new (new to me, at least) character, who is apparently the cause of everyone’s afflictions. If the character’s name is mentioned, I don’t recognize it. Although, he is very similar to an old character design of my own, even this seeming power set. Hmmmmmm… This new player claims to know Pete better than he knows himself and reprimands Mysterio for not doing a better job of “setting the stage”. After reminding Mysterio that he “walked him out of hell once”, the new guy decides to give Mysterio another chance. The courtroom resets as if nothing happened, and Quentin changes his plea and asks for help.
Back to Peter as he is walking the halls of ESU with Cindy Lawton. She informs him that the board has already completed their investigation and recommended a full revocation of his academic credentials. She then hands him a textbook and syllabus, which confuses Pete. She informs him that the board was swayed by the impassioned defense of Peter, from an esteemed faculty who insisted Pete be given another chance. And this faculty member can be very difficult to say no to. Pete walks into the classroom and is greeted by Dr. Curt Connors, AKA the Lizard, who tells him to take a seat. I’m sorry, he tells Pete to “have a ssssseat.” Cue Peter’s surprised face. Hoo boy!
So, I really enjoyed this issue. I’m not overly familiar with Nick Spencer, other than I know he’s the guy that made Captain America a Hydra agent. But, for the most part, I enjoyed his writing. The way the story jumped from the invasion to flashback caught me a little, but not so bad as to take me out of the story. The characterization and presentation was good. This felt like Peter Parker/Spider-Man to me. I look forward to getting to know Spencer’s storytelling a little better.
As far as Ryan Ottley, I’d never read an issue of Invincible, which he’s known for, so I wasn’t familiar with his work going in. His art is clean and easy to understand what is going on and what emotions are being conveyed. At times, his work felt somewhat similar to that of Erik Larsen, which isn’t a bad thing. I feel his style is a good fit for this title. As with Spencer, I’ll be happy to become more familiar with his work.
As I mentioned, I’ve not regularly read Spider-Man for many years now, so there were a few things I wasn’t familiar with having happened. Such as Robbie now the head of the Bugle and Fisk as the Mayor. Who is the baddie in the courtroom, speaking with Mysterio? And, is there a reason why Dr. Connors is teaching as the Lizard? Is the seemingly rekindled relationship between Pete and MJ a retcon or a remedy of Brand New Day? All answers I hope to find out down the line.
And yes, seriously, I got choked up at that last panel with Mary Jane. Sue me. This is the Spider-Man I’ve been missing for over a decade. Call me the crotchety old comics fan that wants everything “the way it used to be”. I don’t care. I can handle most other changes, but I want my Spidey!! I want the down on his luck Peter Parker. I want him with MJ. This is what makes me passionate about Spider-Man. Passionate enough to write my first ever comic recap/review. Passionate enough to be there for the next issue and probably more.
Well, I hope you enjoyed reading this as much I did writing. I feel as if I did way more recap than I did review. But I’m happy with it, for a first time of such. So, until I think of a catchphrase for this column…I’ll see you next time.
Comments