Amazing Spider-Man #654 – Review

By: Dan Slott (plot), Fred Van Lente (script), Stefano Caselli (art), Marte Garcia (colors), Joe Caramanga (letters) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

Venom back-up: Dan Slott (writer), Paulo Siqueira & Ronan Cliquet de Oliveira (pencils), Siqueira, Roland Paris & Greg Adams (inks), Fabio D’Auria (colors), Caramanga (letters) & Wacker (editor)

The Story: Spidey deals with a threat to his secret identity while fighting the Spider Slayers.  Oh, also  someone dies.

What’s Good: “Another fast paced and romping issue of Amazing Spider-Man”….  That has been a solid descriptor for every issue since Dan Slott took the reins of this title in issue #648.  Again, this issue is action packed and uses a blend of Spidey’s superhero and scientist sides (with a clever twist on the secret identity).  Slott has really embraced this role as hero/scientists and the series is better for it.

Another thing that I love about ASM is how much it feels like New York.  As much as I love fictional places like Gotham, there has always been something neat about being able to imagine a NYC with Spider-Man in it.  Both Slott and Van Lente are New York guys, so it makes sense that they’d nail it.  Perhaps it is “east coast bias” on my part, but I enjoy the authenticity of a NYC setting way more than stories that are vaguely set in the Pacific NW where it rains all the time.

There is also a chance that we’re going to see some lasting change in J.Jonah Jameson.  Something HUGE happens to the guy in this issue and you can’t help but think that it could change how he views the world.  Let’s just hope that it is a change that sticks.  Jonah is such an important supporting character and it would be nice to see him stretch his legs a little bit.

The Incredible Hercules #120 (Secret Invasion) – Review

By Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente (Writers), Rafa Sandoval (Penciler), Roger Bonet & Greg Adams (Inkers) and Gracia with Calero & Trevino (Colors)

In the comics world, there are two kinds of writers: the Innovators, who come up with wild new ideas that don’t always make sense, and the Consolidators, equally talented people who spend most of their time filling in the gaps and coming up with ways to explain the inconsistencies in the work of the Innovators. Of course, sometimes a Consolidator will devote years to making sense of an Innovator’s work (as Mark Gruenwald did with Kirby’s Asgardians and Eternals), only to have another Innovator (Walt Simonson) come along to make things nice and messy again.

Well, wherever Mark Gruenwald is right now, he must be smiling, because Hercules #120 is his kind of book, and builds on one of his ideas. Gruenwald was the guy who decided that the Skrulls were a race where the Deviants had taken over the planet by killing all the Eternals and Normals. Well, now Pak and Van Lente are doing a little consolidating of their own by asking the question, “What was that epic battle like, and what if a single Eternal had survived?”

You may notice I haven’t said a lot about the plot of the book yet. That’s because I don’t want to spoil all the comic-y goodness that awaits you when you read it. But the premise is so good I have to share it: the “He” that the Skrulls keep invoking when they say “He loves you,” is the Skrull’s last Eternal, elevated to Godhood. The events of this issue tie into the core of the Secret Invasion, and will have long-lasting repercussions in that storyline and others.

What else can I give away without spoiling the fun? There’s a big, big battle. The unbeatable are beaten. The unkillable are killed. Goodness triumphs, and so does evil. Hercules continues to be written with the same perfect blend of arrogance and self-doubt that makes him so likable in this series. The art is still beautiful, if a bit confusing at times (What can you expect with no less than three shape-changers in the cast?). And vertebrae and mosquitos are very, very important.

One other thing: the Skrull Book of Worlds, their Bible, is as inconstant as they are. Forget Reed Richards escaping the Skrulls—if you really want to experience the true turning point of the Secret Invasion, imagine if Billy Graham or Rick Warren opened the Good Book one morning and the only words inside were, “YOU’RE WRONG.” (Grade: A+)

– Andrew C. Murphy