Amazing Spider-Man 6, X-Force 9

Amazing Spider-Man 6

Black Cat unmasks Spider-Man on live TV but Jameson inadvertently blocks the shot the entire time in a swing and a miss at humor. Silk manages to bust Peter out of the fight before any lasting harm can come of it but they know now to be prepared for Electro and Black Cat at every turn, which is good because the villains, on the sort-of coerced advice of Sajani, plan an attack on Parker Industries' big reveal of their new Electro-depowering tech. Everything at the press conference goes crazy but the ultimate result is a massive explosion that falls on Parker Industries and Spider-Man's rep, though it does indeed manage to depower Electro. Black Cat escapes and finds herself back in the good graces of a slew of underling supervillains, pledging to become the queen of the thieves, while Silk gets an internship with a news station in hopes of finding more about her family, and Peter feels rejuvenated by the success of the Electro device and believes he's in a good place with his work and his friends Sajani and Anna Maria, who are whispering even now about undermining some of his work.

I've already voiced some disapproval and concern about this book as it has focused on a pair of villains who just come off as crazy and well out of their own character, particularly Black Cat (I think Electro has been slightly better and a little more interesting). Cat has oscillated between petty criminal and vigilante for some time now so this full U-turn to hardcore crime boss because she's been wronged continues to seem really far-fetched. It may seem overkill to keep harping on that but right now that's what the entire story hinges itself on so it's impossible to overlook or to overstate its significance. What's more, the writing has been exposition heavy and the repeated attempts at jokes and humor have come off forced and mostly weak. I think there are interesting nuggets here and there (Sajani's sort-of betrayal, Anna Maria as sort-of sidekick to Spider-Man, Peter's determination to "heal" supervillains, etc.) but they're hard to find right now beneath the problems of the book.

Total Score: 2/5


X-Force 9

X-Force has been revealed in the desert and, despite Dr. Nemesis' hopes for a dialogue, a fight breaks out between X-Force and Pete Wisdom's team. Meanwhile, Agent Mel, the leader of the soldiers, is taken right from under their noses by the guerrilla Quaddees they were chasing in the first place, which, along with the insane power the seemingly least powerful soldier has, serves to end the fight and open a dialogue, to Nemesis' satisfaction. The soldiers in this unit have volunteered for superpowers, essentially, that will kill them all within a year but that will aid Volga until then. Now aware of their situation and the stakes, they agree to accompany X-Force to find their missing commander. When the team finds her, they're overwhelmed by powered-up Quaddees. Psylocke and Meme manage to bust through and read the captured Mel's mind, learning about the experiments and the power of the soldiers. Unfortunately, there seems to be no reasonable way out of this scenario so X-Force is x-forced to stick to Mel's plan, which involves her own team self-destructing, more or less, to take out the Quaddees and to stop their own powers from getting out into the work. Wisdom leads his team back home, though he warns Cable first about the bugs around them as Volga's spies (which we saw just two issues or so ago).

Things remain a little confusing this issue, as they were last issue, but Spurrier's managed to clear up enough and to keep a lot of the banter entertaining enough to allow us to proceed with the story. It's a true in media res story overall as we only get bits and pieces of the soldiers' mission, only the parts we need to know as they pertain to X-Force, which makes for a bit of a confusing issue but still allows us to come out the other side with a slightly better sense of our team and of Volga's capabilities, not hurt by Wisdom's reveal. It's a particularly strong Dr. Nemesis issue (a character Spurrier unabashedly loves, and rightfully so) as his unending disdain for superheroes finds a real home with this team. Some strong writing and fun character moments (one of the constant joys of this series is watching Fantomex repeatedly assert he is the best as whatever he's doing only to be proven wrong immediately, a joke that never seems to get old) carry this one.

Total Score: 4/5

Amazing Spider-Man 4, Daredevil 6

Amazing Spider-Man 4
Slott (w) and Ramos (p) and Olazaba (i) and Delgado (c) and Eliopoulos (l)

Parker Industries is trying to work out ways to safely capture Electro, including an electric proof net (which is such a cartoon idea. In fact, it's so cartoon that it's something Team Rocket constantly uses),  but again Peter is quick to disappear when an Avengers call comes in, to the concern of Anna Maria and to the frustration of Sajani. She storms off and is taken by the onlooking Black Cat, who has stolen some of the plans for the Electro capture tech and needs someone to help her understand them. Meanwhile, Peter arrives at the ORIGINAL SIN storyline, thrilled to be hanging out with his Avengers pals again, as the truth bomb reveals to him that there was another person bitten by the spider that bit him. Ezekiel Sims, totem of the spider and convinced that Peter is too, found young Cindy Moon and had her locked away while she trained and explored her powers, claiming to do it to stop Morlun from finding and killing her. Peter races to go save his totem sister and lets her out of the room she's in, telling her Morlun is dead. As Cindy, codename Silk, excitedly joins Peter out in the world, he admits that Morlun has a way of coming back from the dead and she flips out on him, proving that her skills are maybe even a little more advanced than his. Indeed, though, Morlun does wake from some sort of slumber, awakened by "the spider-bride." And then Peter and Cindy make out. PRETTY AGGRESSIVELY, YOU GUYS.

We're four issues back with Peter and it remains very clear that Dan Slott loves writing the true Peter Parker. He should, too, he's pretty good at it. There's always a sense of fun and, dare I say, whimsy to the character under Slott's direction. The other thing Slott always manages to do really well with Peter, even if it doesn't always look like it's heading that way, is construct a story that feels rather like it's closing in on our hero at all times. There are always wheelings, dealing, stealings, healings, and feelings that Peter isn't privy to but that the audience sees from issue to issue and that tend to culminate all at once. That's happening pretty blatantly here and it's entirely possible, maybe even likely, that it will wind its way towards an excellent conclusion. However, it's also possible that it will remain as skeptical-eyebrow-raising and frustrating as it is now. There are still moments to enjoy in this issue but the Black Cat/Electro storyline makes very little sense to me (with Black Cat on some sort of crazed revenge fantasy and Electro just crazed, seemingly to correlate with the worst parts of the last Spider-Man movie) and it's clearly making its way into the spotlight. On top of that, I've never been a big supporter of the Spider Mythology sort of storyline that the series occasionally heads back to. I like Peter Parker and I think his longevity and his appeal, part of it anyway, comes from the fact that he's just an average guy who gained these powers and, after a brief hiccup of being a jerk, realizes he has a responsibility to use his powers to help, not for self-profit. The totem stuff makes it feel that he's not an everyman, he's a very specific man and he was chosen to be Spider-Man, not that he himself chose to be Spider-Man. I think it weakens his story and plays more to the idea of fate rather than choice, which rather feels like the opposite of Spider-Man's story. LOOK, what I'm trying to say is that it's kind of weird that the Spider would have these two make out.

Total Score: 2/5


Daredevil 6
Waid (w) and J. Rodriguez (p) and A. Lopez (i) and J. Rodriguez (c) and Caramagna (l)

Daredevil's been ORIGINAL SIN'd and he's learned, perhaps, that there was more than meets the eye to his father, or, in the very least, that he'd repressed some seriously bad memories of the man who has stood so tall over Matt's life. Memories rush back to him of a beaten and bruised mother with Battlin' Jack standing over her and he has to know the truth. He tries to track his mother, a nun, only to learn that she and two other nuns have been arrested and await extradition to Wakanda for trial after trespassing and graffiti-ing on private Wakandan property. Matt can't believe the story and moreover can't believe the extreme punishment for what amounts to a tiny infraction. He attempts to investigate but is shut down in every direction, eventually leading him to stay silent in a closet in the Wakandan embassy for hours in the hopes of hearing some hint of the proceedings. Eventually he does, learning that there's a coverup from the American military involved as well. He confronts the Wakandan and an army general only find himself stopped dead in his tracks by a waiting sonic. The Wakandan informs him that Wakanda has purchased the land onto which his mother trespassed, making it officially Wakandan soil and therefore any crimes committed are to be treated as crimes against Wakanda, dealt with however they want. With perhaps more than a hint of WATCHMEN, the Wakandan tells Matt that he's only giving out this information because there's nothing the hero can do about it as the nuns were sent on a plane an hour ago.

Let me say this first: I think the Wakandan storyline, while a bit farfetched because of my biases towards Wakandan and the idea that Black Panther wouldn't check his cellphone once in a while from someone who he's been so close to in the past as Daredevil, is a fairly interesting one. I think pitting Matt against such a powerful nation on behalf of his rarely-seen mother is an intriguing storyline. I think that the abusive father storyline, while not necessarily unexpected out of a down-and-out boxer, is perhaps a bit overdone in the Marvel Universe as a whole. Not to say it's not pertinent or meaningful for the character, particularly one like Matt who rather sees his father through rose-colored glasses (because ALL OF HIS GLASSES ARE ROSE-COLORED, though I suppose he doesn't really see through them so never mind, my bit is ruined). Still, I couldn't help saying "aww, nooo" when the reveal was made. Again, it's not necessarily unexpected and it's not exactly farfetched (it may not even be the first time this has been seen from Battlin' Jack, I'm not sure) but it did kind of make me go "aw, can't we just have one character without daddy issues?" I'm not saying this to minimize the horror and wrongness of abuse (particularly in the light of Ravens running back Ray Rice's minuscule two-game suspension for pretty clear and public spousal abuse and the terrible comments from the terrible people on the ESPN comment sections on any articles referring to it) but rather to shine it as something of an overused trope in fiction (important to remember they could just as easily have not made Jack hit Maggie as these aren't real people with real histories) which makes the actual act seem less flagrant by its overwhelmingly abundant usage. LOOK, maybe when I make a real statement of some sort, I shouldn't conflate it by adding two long parenthetical statements in the middle. LOOK, maybe we're all just learning that now?

Total Score: 3/5

Amazing Spider-Man 700.2, Amazing Spider-Man 700.3, Superior Foes of Spider-Man 6

Amazing Spider-Man 700.2
Morrell (w) and Janson (a) and Buccellato (c)

Peter knows something is wrong with Aunt May, he knows it deep down and his spider sense seems to be confirming it. Despite the freezing and horrible conditions, he leaves to go across the city and help her. However, on his way he finds disaster after disaster that require assistance and he makes his way through all of it, saving lives and helping people but slowing him from getting to Aunt May and weakening him throughout it all. He nearly doesn't make it but a dream of Uncle Ben pushes him to cross the last bit of New York he needs to cross to Aunt May, where he finds her passed out on the floor of her freezing home. He warms her back up and puts her in her bed, wrapping her tightly and watching over her as she recovers. Satisfied when she comes to, he sets to work around the house, boarding up the windows and removing the debris and shoveling out the front. She insists he rests and reminds him that Ben always said that this is nature's way of saying everyone needs to slow down.

Not a bad little story (though still somewhat inexplicable that we've seemingly kicked off a new series not set around the time of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 700 but all with that title and starring Peter Parker in different Peter Parkery situations) and it works to show off a little taste of Peter Parker. Overall, though, it still feels weird to have this series going and the story itself isn't anything of such importance or such originality that it feels like it absolutely required an ASM tie-in? I don't even really know how to classify this book. On top of that, as an issue removed from everything else happening with Spider-Man at present, the writing gets a little clunky and insists a little too much on explaining everything that's happening, which might not so much be a flaw in the writing as it is a flaw in Peter Parker, Captain Over-Explain-Your-Feelings over there. Janson's art is strong almost all the way through, but his post-storm Peter looks a bit like a 50 year-old man, which I get in the way of "he's had an incredibly long day" but I don't so much get in the way where it looks like he's gained a bit of weight. Maybe that's too judgmental. WHATEVER. I STILL DON'T UNDERSTAND THIS BOOK AND IT'S NOT ABOUT TO GET ANY BETTER BECAUSE...

Amazing Spider-Man 700.3
Casey (w) and Green and Wong (a) and Simpson (c)

So this was the point where I realized this little series was still going. Here we see Spider-Man fight Firebrand in a scrapyard and pretty much win the fight until Firebrand pins him and goes all out, burning him to a crisp but exhausting himself in the process. Firebrand is later picked up by an ambulance team and they see Peter there too, though he's unrecognizable with his burns. Peter awakes to find himself in a hospital bed and eventually realizes (though the audience knows the entire time) that this is an underground hospital specifically designed to treat supervillains who have no where else to go. Peter didn't come in with a costume but did still have his very damaged web shooters on him, which the surgeon general of the hospital takes to examine later. They start fixing him up and, a little healed, he begins to investigate the place. He figures out what it is and knows, despite his injuries, he has to get out because they'll soon figure out who he is. By issue's end, they have, with Firebrand returning to consciousness and revealing who he came in with and the surgeon general identifying the web shooters.

It's a somewhat interesting premise for the story but it's a little heavy-handed, with the extremely heavy-handed surgeon general preaching about fixing these people who have nowhere else to go and constantly talking about how they must do this because WHO ELSE shall look after these people? Despite this and despite the obviously criminal people he starts hanging out with in there, it takes Peter an awfully long time to figure out where he is. I also have some amount of trouble believing that the surgeon general, after years in medical school and presumably years working as a doctor, has the knowledge to identify a web shooter. Moot point, though, since Firebrand also told them. ANYWAY, the story's okay, the writing's not amazing, the art is okay, but frankly the whole story MIGHT JUST be hurt by the fact that the issue comes with an 8-page Black Cat story written by Jen Van Meter, drawn by the amazing Emma Rios (check her out on PRETTY DEADLY, in stores now), and colored by top-of-the-game Jordie Bellaire. It's an interesting story and it's absolutely gorgeous and you read it and kind of go "gee, I wish this had been the whole issue." Ah, well. This little series continues to be weird and out of place for me.

Superior Foes of Spider-Man 6
Spencer (w) and Lieber (a) and Rosenberg (c)

Boomerang has made it out of the Owl's hideout with the painting of Von Doom without his mask on, which has a single tear running down it, the insertion of which led to Doom killing the painter and hiding the painting until it was eventually stolen and stolen and stolen. Now Boomerang has it and it's valued, potentially, at upwards of three million dollars, all for him. He assumes that his teammates are dead and, while he has some remorse about that, he's not overly concerned. He takes his new kind-of girlfriend out on a date, he contemplates what he's going to do with the painting, and he ultimately meets with an angry Mach V who informs Boomerang that he was supposed to meet with him and who is suspicious of him, though he can't place just why yet. Meanwhile, Owl interrogates the still-alive Speed Demon, Beetle, and Overdrive. At Beetle's insistence, they don't give up Boomerang (who she still believes must have gotten away with what they wanted and must still be on their side) and Beetle manages to engineer their escape by covertly texting for a rescue to her father, who turns out to be Tombstone.

Another fun little issue here that deals with Boomerang's lies to both his team and to the audience of this book, who believed we were after the head of Silvermane only to find that we were after the painting of Doom and that the head of Silvermane doesn't really exist but it really does and boy sometimes this is confusing. The dialogue and Boomerang's narration continues to be fun and fairly natural and the story is gaining some steam now that we have a few things happening all over. The best scene, probably, comes as Mach V and Boomerang talk to one another about the terms of his probation and about the fact that Boomerang is probably hiding something. It's a pretty fun scene with Boomerang denying that he was the same Boomerang who broke his team out of their potential imprisonment a couple issues ago and Mach V not quite being stupid enough to believe it. There's another fun bit as Mach V prepares to make a menacing exit line as he jumps from the window but finds his wings won't fit and so has to sheepishly wait to say it (at Boomerang's insistence) as he leaves through the door. There's a lot to like about this series at this point (it also made the AV Club's top comics of the year list, which I think was maybe a little crazy given that we're six issues in and that I think it hasn't been as fun as it is now all the way through) and I think it's only going to get stronger as the characters become more defined and as the plot continues to pick up. Should be fun going forward on this one.

Superior Spider-Man 20, Scarlet Spider 23

Superior Spider-Man 20
Slott (w) and Camuncoli and Dell (a) and Fabela (c)

Doc Spidey has a lot on his plate at present. His time with Horizon Labs is officially ended and its put him on the job hunt once more but, being Otto Octavius and not Peter Parker, he has some big plans for that. He intends to start his own company, Parker Industries, with girlfriend Anna Maria Marconi and former Horizon scientist Sajani Jaffrey at his side. On his way to tell Anna Maria, Spider-Man runs into sometimes-villain, sometimes-hero, sometimes-lover Black Cat and, unlike what the cover would have you believe, swiftly beats her up and webs her for the authorities. Obviously, Black Cat is furious and swears to never forget this. Meanwhile, Carlie Cooper has what she believes is definitive proof of something weird with Spidey now that she's found a paper trail (albeit from suspicious sources) linking Spider-Man to Doc Ock's bank accounts. She calls MJ to warn her to stay away from Peter and that she should tell May and Jay to stay clear too. MJ is busy, though, trying to learn more about the firefighter who saved her life during her nightclub's fire. Finally, Peter goes to present his doctoral thesis, his last step in becoming Dr. Peter Parker. After a seemingly very successful presentation, Dr. Lamaze gleefully jumps up and calls Peter a fraud, saying that he's simply stolen the unpublished work of the late, great Otto Octavius. He swears to have Parker expelled for this and Doc realizes that this could ruin everything he's worked for unless he stops Lamaze somehow.

One of the really interesting things about this series has been Slott's systematic destruction of everything in Peter's life pre-Superior. It's typically come in little waves, with the hero community becoming a little suspicious of him and kind of wavering back and forth on their acceptance of him, followed by his friends getting sick of his new attitude, followed by this and that and so on. This is another great example as Doc absolutely ruins Black Cat. Slott and Camuncoli leave absolutely no room for discussion about it; it's a solid beat-down, remarkably swift and pretty brutal. Honestly, if they hadn't brought Black Cat into it, I probably wouldn't have thought about her as such a staple in his life; she just kind of comes and goes into it as she pleases. Now that it's been brought up and so thoroughly dispatched, though, I realize how important she is to Peter and how jarring this attack is. It's another example of a well-thought out and well-realized story for Slott. I think, as fans, we're all kind of aware that Peter Parker will SOMEHOW, at some point, come back. Of course, it's not a guarantee but it's as close to a guarantee as comics can make. The fact Doc has stuck around this long (ten months now, impressively) has been a remarkable show of restraint. Still, it leaves fans looking at these situations going "gee, that's gonna be tough for Peter to clean up" and the like, but issues like this one make it very clear that Slott knows what he's doing with these characters. Doc Ock isn't treating it like he's a placeholder for Peter; he is Peter now and he intends to stay as Peter forever, hence Parker Industries and his insistence that he become Dr. Peter Parker, even if it means sitting through school again. Really good stuff here and a very complete issue.

Scarlet Spider 23
Yost and Burnham (w) and Baldeon (a) and Sotomayor (c)

It's Kaine vs. Kraven in Kraven's newest hunt that can only be ended by one killing the other. To ensure that Kaine doesn't simply walk away, what with his newfound hero personality, Kraven has tied up all of Kaine's friends and swears to kill them if Kaine doesn't go along. Kraven is still a force to be reckoned with and it proves hard for even Kaine, stronger and faster than Spider-Man, to keep up. He continues to insist that he won't give in, that he won't kill Kraven, but the situation gets more and more dire. Kraven believes that Kaine is the only one who can kill him, as its Kaine's blood that brought him back from the grave in the first place and won't allow Kaine to leave until the deed is done. As they fight, Kraven sends Ana to kill one of Kaine's friends. She chooses Donald Meland and slashes him through the stomach. Furious, Kaine tries to go to him but Kraven holds him back, swearing that Ana will kill all of his friends before this is through. Kaine promptly kills Kraven with a force palm to the chest and rushes to his friends, slashing Ana across the face first. He tries to save Meland and eventually cuts his other friends down so they can help (particularly Meland's husband Officer Wally Layton). Kaine, meanwhile, goes back to Kraven and resuscitates him, bringing him back to life. Now, Kaine reasons, that he's killed him, just like Kraven wanted, and now any connection between them is through. Wally manages to stop the bleeding enough to transport Donald to the hospital but the surgeries are very touch and go and it's hard to say whether he'll live or not. Wally, through with Kaine, researches him for the first time in a superhuman criminal law enforcement database and learns about his past.

Tons happening in this issue and it's really a tremendous book. As much as I was bummed by Venom ending last week, I think I might be more broken up about this book when it comes to its end in the coming months. There's such a solid feel throughout this book and such a nice core to it. Kaine's a very complicated character and this is a great arc for him, as he has to directly face his past as a killer, something he decidedly doesn't want to be any more. It's been a nice transformation for him as the series has progressed, especially considering its start. Kaine was simply leaving New York so he wouldn't be apprehended or anything of that nature; he never intended to stay in Houston, let alone America, and to be dragged into his "brother's" heroic ways. But here he is, doing whatever it takes to try to save his friends and finding out that sometimes it's just not enough. It's a really well-written issue here as there has to be just enough sentimentality placed towards his friends and the way they view him without going too overboard and becoming repetitive. It works well and it creates a good picture of the new Kaine. The fighting is extremely well-paced and we see the pain in Kaine as Kraven works him over for a while before Kaine finally unleashes and immediately defeats Kraven and Ana. There's plenty happening here and it'll be interesting to see where we go from here.