Running Out of Time: A Review of The Amazing Spider-Man #23

 written by Zeb Wells

penciled by John Romita Jr. 

inked by Scott Hanna

colored by Marcio Menyz

We are now officially two issues away from the issue that Marvel itself  has billed as "the most shocking issue of The Amazing Spider-Man in 50 years" going as far to compare its revelations to the death of Gwen Stacy.  

Having barely escaped from what would have certainly been a fatal encounter in another dimension with Mayan god Wayep, Peter Parker aka Spider-Man is shocked to learn that even though he and Mary Jane Watson spent a week in that other dimension, mere hours have passed in New York.  As a result, he scrambles to get back to her, as she is trapped with a deadly, all-powerful creature bent on destruction.  Every decision he makes at this point is influenced by this sense of panic as he runs afoul of both the Fantastic Four and even Captain America. In the end, he turns to the last person in the world whose help he would want.

While this particular storyline started out with the return of Wayep and his disciple Benjamin Rabin, for this issue writer Zeb Wells and artists John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Marcio Menyz go full flashback mode, and to be fair, given the premise of the story it becomes more plausible to see why Peter would make the decisions he made back then, though we still aren't at that point of no return yet, that point where Mary Jane basically walks away from him for the man who, we now know, was a former follower of the maniac who has caused all of this havoc in the first place.  It's hard to read this story separate from the hype machine that Marvel has kicked into high gear, but Wells manages to keep things engaging. 

John Romita, Jr. has been going great guns on this run so far, but this isn't one of his splashier issues, even though the standard of quality remains more or less consistent. 

I continue to wait with bated breath to see what shocking development they've got in store for issue #25.

8/10

On Its Head: A Review of Daredevil #8 and 9

 written by Chip Zdarsky 

drawn by Marco Checchetto, Manuel Garcia

colored by Matt Wilson

Reading what I now know to be the countdown to Chip Zdarsky's swansong on this title, I have found myself pleasantly surprised by the direction in which Zdarsky has taken his story. I have been less interested in the "final battle against the Hand" hype and far more interested in Matt Murdock's recruitment strategy for his army, which seems absurd on its face, given that he is a lawyer, but which makes so much sense as he explains it. 

Daredevils, aka Matt Murdock and Elektra Natchios, take the fight to the Hand in their first major battle, with both sides suffering grievous losses of one kind or another. As they spend time licking their wounds, Matt is determined to strike yet again, even in spite of Elektra's assurance that they have struck a hefty blow against their foes, only for something to go horribly wrong.

Zdarsky really has put Matt through the wringer like few writers since Frank Miller have, which says a lot since Matt Murdock is arguably one of the most tormented characters in Marvel lore this side of Peter Parker, which might explain why the two of them get along so well. That his latest scheme manages to go awry isn't exactly a new thing, but it does seem to suggest that as he signs of Zdarsky plans to leave Matt in a pretty bad place, the way his predecessor Charles Soule did. 

I remain cautiously optimistic for the remainder of this story, which has about three issues to go before the new creative team comes on board, but I really hope there's a bit more artistic consistency, as new recruit Manuel Garcia (whose art seems to have improved quite a bit since I last saw it in the awful adaptation of the equally awful 2003 Daredevil film) draws quite differently from series regulars Marco Checchetto and Rafael de la Torre. 

 

7.5/10

Killing the Unkillable: A Review of The Amazing Spider-Man #22

 written by Zeb Wells

penciled by John Romita Jr.

inked by Scott Hanna

colored by Marcio Menyz

This review is a little late and I am waiting a little impatiently (for the first time in a while) for the next issue as I want to see what happens next.

In a nutshell, the mystery of how Peter and MJ split up comes one step closer to being revealed as they battle the otherworldly, nigh omnipotent menace posed by Wayep a Mayan god of death, who comes close to killing Peter when MJ steps in.  This also marks the origin of Paul, the man MJ has been married to since the relaunch of the title last year. 

Surprisingly little happens in this issue as Marvel builds up to "the big one" or issue #25 which has been hyped to be its most shocking story in 50 years.  Hype like that is very difficult to live up to, especially without any marquee supporting characters (so far) but I'm willing to give Marvel the benefit of the doubt here as long as they don't have any retroactive sexual trysts between middle-aged men and teenagers in the pipeline, or something similarly stupid. 

John Romita Jr. turns in an okay issue, even if he and wells distinctly feel like they're treading water a bit. 

Hopefully I get to continue the story soon. 

7/10

Mysteries Revealed: A Review of The Amazing Spider-Man #21

 written by Zeb Wells

penciled by John Romita, Jr.

inked by Scott Hanna

colored by Marcio Menyz

Finally, after nearly a year of patiently waiting for Marvel to explain their in media res start to this series reboot, which basically tore out a huge chunk of narrative between the end of the "Beyond" era and the beginning of this one, we readers are finally getting some real answers...or at least, the hint of some answers. 

The issue starts with Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson living out their separate lives, with one about to go to work and the other trying to get her husband and kids out the door, when something cataclysmic happens, something both Peter and Mary Jane recognize, and they realize that someone terrible has returned to their lives.  At this point the story flashes back to the epilogue at the tail end of the "Beyond" saga in which Peter and Mary Jane were about to move in together, only for their momentary bliss to be interrupted by a ray of light. We now found out what the source of that light was.

To make a long story short, it's not looking good for our favorite wall-crawler.

I am generally not a fan of the whole in media res concept; sometimes it feels like a cheap way to generate tension and drama in a story without really earning it yet, by placing the character in a bad situation straightaway.  Fortunately, in this instance, Zeb Wells has told strong enough stories over the last year or so to more or less keep me engaged long enough to find out what happened. It's gratifying that in this issue, he picks up exactly where he left off at the end of the "Beyond" saga; it's nice to know that answers are forthcoming. 

The only problem I foresee, and I hope I'm wrong, is that by setting this story up as the reason that MJ no longer wants anything to do with Peter, Wells may have us scratching our heads and saying "that's it?" or worse, may have Peter do something grossly out of character just to justify his shocking story twist. It's a tightrope he and editorial have chosen to walk, so I wish him luck with it. 

I am also genuinely intrigued in Wells' villains of choice: the Mayan deity Wayep/Wayeb and his disciple Benjamin Rabin, both of whom Wells co-created, but neither of whom I have seen in the pages of a Spider-Man comic since the earliest days of "Brand New Day" back in 2008. I'll readily admit that the characters, who looked pretty fearsome until the story was abruptly ended, felt distinctly underused way back then, so it should be interesting to see what Wells has in store.  

I'm glad to see John Romita, Jr. back on art chores for this issue.  This really is some of his strongest work on a Spidey book since the JMS days.

8.5/10

Hot Date: A Review of The Amazing Spider-Man #19 and 20

 written by Joe Kelly

penciled and colored by Terry Dodson

inked by Rachel Dodson

Following the multi-issue crossover with the X-Men books that was "Dark Web," The Amazing Spider-Man gets back to telling its own stories, this time courtesy of a guest creative team in writer Joe Kelly and artists Terry and Rachel Dodson.  Gratifyingly, the team also takes a bit of a break from all of the drama in Peter Parker's life lately as he and Black Cat go for a weekend away from it all at a posh ski resort. After a brief moment of awkwardness in which the two of them see Mary Jane and her husband Paul at the exact same resort, they soon find themselves chasing down what appears to be a super-villain related commotion only to find Tombstone's henchwoman White Rabbit actually renting out supervillain gear to several Silicon Valley types for a weekend retreat. What seems like easy money to White Rabbit, however, is a disaster just waiting to happen, and happen it does, forcing Spider-Man and Black Cat to put their awkward holiday on hold.

I've been reading comics for over four decades now, and it's genuinely entertaining when someone comes along with a fresh storytelling concept.  Joe Kelly's idea of supervillainy as material for a corporate retreat feels fresh and most of the jokes land. I also appreciate how Kelly writes White Rabbit, a fairly old character (40 years as of writing) in that he manages to make her feel a little less like a Harley Quinn knockoff.

Unfortunately, as much as I'd like to give this entertainingly written two-parter full marks, I simply cannot bring myself to do so because for some strange reason, the usually reliable and talented husband-and-wife duo of Terry and Rachel Dodson seriously drop the ball in terms of the art. It's not that they've lost any of their talent; the problem is that the art of both of these issues looks distinctly unfinished, as if they drew Spider-Man and the Black Cat but couldn't be bothered to draw anything more than sketches of the remaining characters. It's bizarre; I've never seen the pair of them off their game like this, especially considering they're just guest artists.  This is really disappointing considering the caliber of these creators. I still have fond memories of their awesome run on Marvel Knights: Spider-Man with Mark Millar nearly twenty years ago. I'd hate to think they lost their mojo from that time. 

It's a pity the the art falls so conspicuously short of the writing, because these two issues were a genuinely good, fun read. 

6.5/10

Super-Late: Dark Web Finale #1

written by Zeb Wells

drawn by Adam Kubert (with Francesco Mortarino and Scott Hanna)

colored by Frank Martin

The Spider-Man/X-Men crossover "Dark Web" finally ends in pretty much the only way it can, and yet manages to be pretty decent.

In a nutshell, Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man teams up with the X-Men and Madelyne Pryor, aka the Goblin Queen, team up to retake New York from Ben Reilly, aka Chasm, the King of Limbo. Ben has the entire army of Limbo on his side not to mention his formidable lover Janine Godbe aka Hallow's Eve, but Pete's got a couple of surprises up his sleeve as well, all of which he will definitely need if he's going to free New York from Limbo's thrall.

As big event issues go, this one was well-put together, with some well-paced scripting by Zeb Wells and some nicely dynamic art by veteran Adam Kubert, who gets a bit of an art assist towards the end by Francesco Mortarino and Scott Hanna and lively colors by Frank Martin. The story ties up nicely with a bit of a status quo change, albeit one more relevant to the X-Men's corner of the Marvel Universe than to that of Spider-Man. It's nothing spectacular from a writing perspective, but it made for okay reading. If nothing else, though, I was glad that Adam Kubert closed out the story with decent art after Ed McGuinness put in a solid four issues of brilliance over in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man.  

More than the somewhat paint-by-numbers resolution to the story, though, what appealed to me the seemingly "meta" way in which Wells handles the question of what to do with Ben Reilly moving forward.   He kind of acknowledges that, as bad as Ben's behavior was over the course of this story, it is still overshadowed by the many tragedies that have befallen him, and as a result he still doesn't quite work as villain, so he quite literally ends the story in Limbo, with Marvel keeping him on ice until they figure out the next big story to drop him into. Hallow's Eve, in contrast, is getting her own miniseries soon so I'm at least glad to see they appear to have some kind of plan moving forward.  

 Ben Reilly is a character with a whole lot of potential far beyond just being a Peter replacement or a Spidey villain, and I do hope Marvel figures out what to do with him eventually beyond just killing him again or worse. This story, to be fair, treated him well enough.

7.5/10 

High and Dry: A Review of The Amazing Spider-Man #18

 written by Zeb Wells

penciled by Ed McGuiness

inked by Cliff Rathburn

colored by Marcio Menyz and Erick Arciniega

As "Dark Web" draws to a close, with Madelyne Pryor having made peace with Jean Grey, Ben Reilly's plan to steal back his memories from Peter quite quickly falls apart, even as Peter struggles to escape from Limbo with J. Jonah Jameson and Robbie Robertson.  Embittered by Madelyne's decision to call off the attack on New York, Ben swings off, while Hallow's Eve, aka Ben's girlfriend Janine Godbe, decides to take matters into her own hands, and gives this tale one more monstrous twist.

One can see in this story how Ben Reilly well and truly is Peter Parker; even when he's going full on bad guy and teaming up with a bad guy who actually manages to get what she wants, he still manages to lose. If that isn't a variant of the infamous Parker luck, well, I don't know what is.  Granted, Ben's plan wasn't all that great, but it basically worked for Madelyne, didn't it?  Marvel pretty much telegraphed last issue and in its marketing for the X-Men issues that Ben's  and Madelyne's paths would diverge, but I was honestly surprised that it happened at the very beginning of the issue.  I guess it makes sense given how the issue actually ends.

McGuinness delivers another solid issue, his last for this story. Including the mammoth 900th issue, he's drawn the equivalent of eight whole issues for Zeb Wells' current run, and I'm really looking forward to seeing him again in the future, hopefully sooner rather than later. In the meantime, I'll content myself with Adam Kubert finishing off this story.

I sincerely doubt Marvel would go through all this trouble of featuring Ben Reilly in the yearlong "Beyond" saga and designing him a cool new supervillain suit just to kill him off yet again, so I am cautiously optimistic for how Zeb Wells will end this particular chapter of the never-ending epic that is the Clone Saga of Spider-Man. 

8/10