Daredevil #6 – Review

By: Mark Waid (writer), Marcos Martin (art), Muntsa Vicente (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: Daredevil has to beat The Bruiser to help some innocents who know too much.

Five Things: 

1. Fun, street-level story. This is the kind of situation that I usually want to see Daredevil tackling: Innocents end up knowing too much about a criminal operation and are in danger; Daredevil saves them.  Sure, it’s fun to sometimes see Daredevil do something bigger like in that issue of Avengers during Fear Itself where it was smashing the Nazi Battle Mechs, but mostly I want him to do street level stuff.  The story is fun, well-written and lively.  Further, the overall story arc isn’t spread too thin by stretching a 2-issue story into an “epic” 8-issue story arc.  The only folks who might not love this story are those who want every comic to change the “future of the Marvel Universe”, but that’s an unrealistic expectation because that’s never what Daredevil has been about.

2. Interesting new villain. – I’m pretty sure this Bruiser guy is new, but he’s fun.  I really like his overall design with is a cross between SWAT team and luchador.  And his power set is kinda neat too as he can move his center of gravity around to his fists (to punch hard) or his feet (so you can’t knock him down).  I wouldn’t mind seeing this dude again as a B-list Daredevil/Spider-Man villain.

3. Wow, Marcos Martin! – We’ll miss him because he’s off to do some “super secret project”, but Marcos Martin was really getting it done in this issue.  I really enjoy his minimalism.  There’s nothing extra on any of these pages, just what’s needed to tell the story.  Unless the artist is really going to do a great job with the detail, less is almost always more in comic art.  Our brains and imaginations can fill in details much better than we can reconcile things in an image that are screwed up.

Amazing Spider-Man #674 – Review

By: Dan Slott (writer), Giuseppe Camuncoli (pencils), Klaus Janson (inks), Frank D’Armata (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: Spider-Island is over and a certain winged foe of Spidey is back.

Five Things: 

1. Much better approach to the Vulture!  When ASM freshened up all of Spidey’s classic rogues during the Gauntlet storyline (ASM #612 – #633), most of the updated versions were pretty hot stuff.  The only one that didn’t quite work as well was the new Vulture who was this weird mutated, non-verbal mafia hit man who vomited acid and had a BAD underbite.  Marvel, recognizing that error, had Punisher kill that guy in the new Punisher series (at least I think he killed him….I dropped that series pretty fast).  This approach to the Vulture makes a lot more sense because it’s going to be the same basic character….just a little older and with a new approach to make up for his advancing age.  In a way it reminds me of the early story arc in the original Web of Spider-Man (around issue #3) where the Vulture gave wings to a group of fellow criminals and they ganged up to pound on Spidey.

2. Revisiting the Peter-Carlie relationship.  Not wanting to start another riot in the comments thread (since we all have strong feelings about who Peter should be dating), but it was nice to see that Slott isn’t dropping Carlie Cooper as a character.  I wasn’t happy about the dumping that happened during Spider-Island, but a few readers talked me off the ledge by saying that they were sure she’d still be around.  I like this new dynamic where they still have to work together as crime fighters and it’ll be interesting to see if there is still a chance for romance.

3. Pretty nice art.  It’s hard for me to review any ASM issues after I’ve gotten a steady diet of Humberto Ramos because Ramos is just one of my absolute favorites.  Camuncoli isn’t quite at Ramos’ level and he is less stylized in his approach, but this is still really nice art.

Avenging Spider-Man #1 – Review

By: Zeb Wells (writer), Joe Madureira (art), Ferran Daniel (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: Spidey and Red Hulk team up to fight a subterranean threat.

Five Things:

1. The team-up is BACK!  How is it that Marvel can publish ~100 titles a month an none of them is the spiritual successor of Marvel Team Up?  MTU was such a treasure back in the old days.  It gave you a way to sample various heroes from the Marvel Universe and it featured some great creative teams.  So, it’s nice to see the team-up come back.  The back matter explains that this title is to explore Spidey’s adventures mostly with his Avengers teammates, but might dip into other areas of the Marvel Universe.  Wonderful!  The only negative is that they ditched the done-in-one format that made MTU special.  MTU exposed you to 12 different heroes in a year.  If they do ongoing stories in this title, we’re going to get 6 or fewer.  Fix that and you’ve got a great concept!

2. Joe Mad is back!  Beyond the fact that this was a Spidey book, the big draw was seeing Joe Maduriera’s name on the cover.  He’s been away from comics for awhile after a great run on Uncanny X-Men back in the 90’s, but there probably isn’t a better place for his stylized art than on Spider-Man.  If you like Humberto Ramos… I think Joe Mad is like Ramos on speed.  Now…..I will say that I’ll be highly surprised if this title can maintain a monthly schedule for long because this art is too complex for that, but given that these stories aren’t vital to the ongoing Spider-stories being told in Amazing, that really won’t matter.  Joe Mad is one of those rare artists who gets the “Take all the time you need.  Just let us know when it is finished.” treatment.

3. Very poor digital implementation.  Marvel made a big deal out of giving away a free digital copy of this issue with a print copy.  I’m a huge fan of digital comics on my iPad, so I was curious to see how Marvel implemented this.  Part of what makes Marvel’s iOS app so beautiful is it’s simplicity: You tap the “buy” button, input your App Store password, confirm that you want to buy and you’re reading your comic.  The whole process takes ~5 seconds.  What Marvel did here really sucked.  You had to go to a special webpage, log into Marvel.com (trying to remember my Marvel password), input a ~15 character code (“Is that a 0 or an O?”), say what comic shop you bought your comic at, agree to accept emails from your comic shop and then go to your device to read the comic.  This is not a process that will win many converts to digital comics because the beauty of digital it its simplicity!

Amazing Spider-Man #673 – Review

By: Dan Slott (writer), Stefano Caselli (art), Frank Martin (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: The good guys have defeated the threats posed by Spider-Island.  Now they have to deal with the fallout.

Five Things: 

1. Settles things back down and sets the new status quo.  Lots happened during Spider-Island and it’s nice to get an issue that shows the clean up that needs to be done and the characters dealing with the fallout from the last few issues.  Usually this stuff gets dealt with in a rushed panel or two at the end of the final issue and that haste doesn’t really let the event breathe properly.

2. Carlie…  Well, I kinda figured that the Peter/Carlie relationship was over at the beginning of the event, and it turns out I was right.  One of the only flaws with the final few issues of Spider-Island was how the Carlie storyline just got dropped after being central to the early part of the event.  To some extent, all readers have their own opinions about who Peter’s girlfriend should be, but sending him back to MJ would be the height of boring.  I mean, Peter started dating MJ in during the Lyndon Johnson administration when man hadn’t yet set foot on the moon and when Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Elvis were still alive.  We’ve seen that relationship already and I want something new.

3. Nice art.  Following Humberto Ramos is pretty thankless.  Not only is Ramos one of the best artists in the business today (and also doing the best work of his career right now), but he has a very distinctive style.  Caselli is cartoony in a very different way than Ramos, but he really sells the humor of this issue very nicely and his storytelling is very crisp.

Amazing Spider-Man #672 – Review

By: Dan Slott (writer), Humberto Ramos (pencils), Victor Olazaba & Karl Kesel (inks), Edgar Delgado (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: The finale of Spider-Island.  How are the heroes going to stop the Queen and save all civilians who have turned into big, nasty spiders?

Five Things: 

1. What a great way to do an event!  It’s hard not to compare Spider-Island to that other Marvel event that ended last week.  For one thing, this was actually an ending.  It isn’t being followed by three .1 issues and a 12 issue weekly miniseries like that other event.  When this issue ends, the villain is beaten and things are mostly back to normal.  Another wonderful thing about Spider-Island is that it look place largely within the pages of the ongoing series.  Sure, there were some tie-ins, but it isn’t as if there was a separate Spider-Island miniseries that ran side-by-side with Amazing Spider-Man.  Finally, this series was over pretty fast (~2 months).  That’s how you do it!  This way the reader doesn’t have to remember plot points for half of a year like happens with a customary 6-part story.  Bravo Marvel!

2. Great art, starting with Humberto Ramos’ pencils.  The only downside to Ramos’ art is that you’re going to get an occasional wonky looking face or body.  That’s just going to happen with a heavily stylized brand of art like Ramos uses.  But the benefit to that style more that makes up for it because it allows Ramos to over-emphasize actions and body language in such a way that the storytelling is strong as hell.  Kudos should also go to the inkers for not ruining the energy of Ramos’ pencils and Delgado who always is strong with his colors.

3. Some interesting things in the Spider-romance department.  Oh boy!  This gets into heavy SPOILER territory but……MJ busts out the “L” word on Peter in the middle of the final battle.  From a personal standpoint, I’m not that excited to see Peter and MJ potentially back together.  We’ve been watching that romance for ~40 years and we’ve seen them break up enough that I kinda feel like they’re just “not good for each other” even if there is love there.  But…that’s just me.  The good thing is that Peter’s romantic life seems to be swirling again and that’s always a good thing.  However, the romance front also held one of the disappointments in this issue: Where’s Carlie?  Given how big the Peter/Carlie relationship was in the early issues of Spider-Island and how honestly Carlie dealt with her Spider-powers, it’s a big miss that she isn’t even mentioned in this issue.  Surely she’ll show up in the epilogue issue in a few weeks, but she should have been addressed in this issue.

Amazing Spider-Man #671 – Review

By: Dan Slott (writer), Humberto Ramos (pencils), Carlos Cuevas & Victor Olazaba (inks), Edgar Delgado (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: A cure for the spider-infections is discovered, but the bad guys are surely going to try to destroy it.

Review: This story is rounding into shape nicely.  That’s appropriate because there’s only one more issue in the main Spider-Island story and Slott has positioned things very well for an exciting finish.  And, when you look back on this series, Slott has covered a lot of ground since New Yorkers first started getting spider powers a couple of months ago.  We started with the examination of great power/great responsibility when some of the new spiders turned to crime and others were more heroic.  Then we had all the relationship stuff between Peter and Carlie.  There was the shift of Big Bad from Jackal to the Queen.  Nice integration of the Venom and Anti-Venom stories and incorporation of the FF and Horizon labs.  Last issue we picked up some callbacks to Dan Slott’s Spider-Slayer arc (~#652) and we finally saw MJ getting some powers.  When you compare to other events (Fear Itself), this is what I want an event to be.

Now, everything isn’t perfect because some stories aren’t getting their time.  Carlie isn’t even mentioned in this issue and MJ having spider-powers only gets a couple of pages and then is dropped.  But, it’s hard to fault Slott too much for that.  They are legit problems with the issue, but I’d much prefer flaws arising from trying to do a little too much than a story-arc that just spins it wheels on one topic for 3 issues.

I’m still enjoying the art, but there are some awkward looking panels in here.  It just looks a little rushed in places.  It’s not “bad”, but there are panels where it looks like Ramos could have laid it out differently if he’d had more time to look at it and there are other places where the inkers give us some odd looking stuff too.  On the other hand, there are some awesome Ramos sequences like Spidey’s encounter with Firestar and Gravity.  Those pages are glorious.  It just looks a tad rushed is all…  But, even then, it’s mostly because of what we expect from Ramos and we’re not quite getting it in every single panel.  The story telling is still crisp and superb.

Amazing Spider-Man #670 – Review

By: Dan Slott (writer), Humberto Ramos (pencils), Victor Olazaba (inks), Edgar Delgado (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: Spider-Island transitions into a more serious story.

What’s Good: Dan Slott seems to really understand what makes a good Spider-Man story as he is mixing together the elements of humor, romance, family, action and danger.  So far, Spider-Island has been fun and breezy with most of the focus on snarky banter, the fun of seeing New Yorkers web-slinging around town and looting stores, minor dust-ups with the Avengers and a heavy dose of Peter-Carlie relationship stuff.  But, we haven’t had much danger yet and that begins to change in this issue.

It was hard to feel danger when the citizenry had spider-powers because that actually looks kinda fun!  “Wheee… I’m swinging around town on a web!”  But, when you see that everyone who had those powers is now turning into a hulking spider-monster with extra eyes, legs, spider-hair, etc… Well, that doesn’t look fun at all.  Suddenly this feels like a disaster that merits some superhero involvement.

Another thing that I haven’t mentioned much during this “event” is how much improved it is by the presence of other heroes.  Compared to Fear Itself, which just feels like an Avengers event (as the X-Men and FF haven’t really done anything in the series proper), in Spider-Island, you’ve got the FF, Avengers and X-Men.  AND….the X-Men even have a nod to continuity by noting that this action took place after the a group of X-Men visited NYC to battle Lizard and Dark Beast (in X-Men ~#6-10).  That sort of continuity isn’t really “important”, but it does illustrate a writer and editor that understand that some of us fans do enjoy it when the pieces kinda connect.

It’s a little hard for me to judge all of the side-stories going on in this issue because I am reading all of the tie-ins.  From that perspective, Slott is doing a wonderful job of weaving their stories into the larger narrative.  But I think that if you weren’t reading those tie-ins, these brief appearances by Venom, the X-Men, etc. would mostly enhance the story rather than leave you confused.  It also shows nice editorial control by Stephen Wacker’s group to keep all of this organized.

Amazing Spider-Man #669 – Review

By: Dan Slott (writer), Humberto Ramos (pencils), Carlos Cuevas (inks), Edgar Delgado (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: Spider-Island is in full swing,  Will they find a cure for the infected folks?  Will Peter reveal his secret identity?  And who is the Big Bad who’s been working with Jackal?

What’s Good: Humberto Ramos is great.  He is such a good fit for a Spider-Man story because his art has so much bounce to it.  His characters have TONS of energy and in just about every panel, the characters are doing something.  It’s pretty rare to see a Ramos panel with a bunch of folks sitting still….even when they show a couple of people working on a computer, they are poised over the keyboard, ready to type furiously.  And, he’s a master of layouts.  He’s all over the place: grids, full bleeds, broken panel borders, no panel borders, backgrounds, no backgrounds… You can tell he’s both considering how to draw the action and how best to present that action so that the issue is maximally interesting.

And, Dan Slott is doing all kinds of fun stuff with the story too, especially his work with the Peter/Carlie relationship.  It’s natural to anticipate what’s next in comics and the future for their relationship has been in constant flux during this event due to what choices Peter is making about sharing his secret identity.  It is turning into a very fun cat-and-mouse story that is actually a little more entertaining than the Spider-Island story.  Hopefully, Slott keeps Peter with Carlie instead of sending him back to that trampy MJ.  And….how could Carlie not know that is Peter in the mask?  I mean, they’ve been intimate with each other, how would she not recognize him?

Amazing Spider-Man #668 – Review

By: Dan Slott (writer), Humberto Ramos (pencils), Victor Olazaba (inks), Edgar Delgado (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: Spider-Island really get’s moving as the good guys start to actually try to solve the problem.

What’s Good: I was a little hard on Amazing Spider-Man #667 a few weeks ago, so I was very pleasantly surprised by this issue.  Everything in this issue is more purposeful; every couple of pages we are given a new little scene that had a real point in developing the story.  It has a little bit of everything: nice use of the Avengers in supporting roles, good use of the normally annoying Anti-Venom character, a nice guest-starring role for Reed Richards, more playing with the mystery scientist at Horizon Labs, well-done Carlie-Peter relationship stuff and the joy of watching Peter get to bounce around NYC with his spider-powers now that everyone else has powers too.

That last bit is probably the most fun bit of this issue.  Sure, we’ve seen little snippets of Peter letting his powers peek through in civilian guise (“Wow!  Who knew puny Parker was such a good baseball player?!?!”), but here he can just cut loose and go swinging around town since everyone thinks he’s caught up in the Spider-Island contagion too.  For once, he isn’t having to tell his loved ones lies and can actually go web-swinging with his girlfriend Carlie.  Last issue, I was pretty convinced that the Peter/Carlie relationship was doomed, but now I’m not so sure.  I just love that Slott is really emphasizing that aspect of Peter’s persona because (to me), it just isn’t Spider-Man without the romance/relationship angle.

The art is also trademark Humberto Ramos stuff.  His art is very much cartoony and stylized, and that’s where he get’s the incredible energy that he imparts on his characters.  To me the key with Ramos is when you look at a panel or page, your first reaction needs to be “Wow!  These characters really look dynamic!” versus “Wow!  That isn’t what mouths look like!”  I’m not objectively sure why this issue was such a home run for me whereas last issue had a few panels that fell into the latter category, but this issue rocks: All the panels have energy, great variety in layouts, a few panels with ~20 dynamic characters crammed in….  Maybe the difference is the change in inkers?  Except that the inker of #667 was Carlos Cuevas who has inked Ramos so well in the past….  Anyway, it is really pretty.

What’s Not So Good: No substantial complaints.  I still don’t love Jackal as the villain because he drags along so much clone baggage and clones are easily the worst thing ever about Spider-Man comics.  I just worry every time we see him that we’re going to end up with some Ben Reilly nonsense again.  Fortunately, there is clearly a mysterious villain (or villainess?) lurking in the shadows who seems to be the real puppetmaster, and that is infinitely more interesting than stupid Jackal.

Conclusion: Slott and Ramos nail it.  With the excellence of this issue, I suddenly don’t feel so upset about having all 28 issue of Spider-Island on my pull list.  Fun story and great art.  This is what I expected coming into the story and after a bit of a disappointing opening, we’re back on track.

Grade: B

– Dean Stell

[Note: Art fans should really be checking out Spider-Island.  The art is just an embarrassment of riches: Humberto Ramos on ASM, Emma Rios on Cloak & Dagger, Pepe Larraz on Spider-Girl, Tom Fowler on Venom & Max Fiumara on Hands of Kung-Fu.  I see this and wonder why “my” X-books are often saddled with such pedestrian artists.  Maybe the X-office isn’t artist friendly????]

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Spider-Island: Cloak & Dagger #1 – Review

By: Nick Spencer (writer), Emma Rios (artist), Javier Rodriguez (colorist), Joe Caramagna (letterer), Alejandro Arbona (associate editor) & Stephen Wacker (senior editor)

The Story: The Spider-Island spotlight turns onto Cloak and Dagger.

What’s Good: Well, the Spider-Island “event” has 28 items on its checklist.  So, that means we’re getting some serious tie-in miniseries action.  Although we all love to bitch about event tie-ins, this one makes a lot of sense: Cloak and Dagger are characters with a definite cult following, but they’ve never been able to sustain an ongoing series and in this decrepit comic marketplace, if a new C&D ongoing were announced, we’d be lucky get to get 5 issues.  But, a few fans still care, so why not release a 3-issue miniseries in conjunction with an event wherein everyone in NYC get’s spider-powers?  Makes sense, right?
And, it seems like that is the essence of the miniseries.  I worried a little bit when I saw the solicit that this story would be about Dagger turning into some 8-legged spiderhorror, but it’s not that at all.  In this first issue, the linkage to SI is pretty minimal as the events of Amazing Spider-Man #667 are merely a backdrop for us to see what’s going one with our favorite anti-drug heroes.  Spencer does a really nice job of pacing the issue and working some humor into things as well (Cloak scolding Hawkeye for laziness when they want to be transported a mere two blocks).

Amazing Spider-Man #667 – Review

By: Dan Slott (writer), Humberto Ramos (pencils), Carlos Cuevas (inks), Edgar Delgado (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: Everyone in NYC is getting spider-powers.  Oh no!  It’s Spider-Island!!!

What’s Good: Honestly, the build-up to this Spider-Island mini-event hasn’t been that great, so expectations were a little tempered for this issue.  But, once you see the action begin, Spider-Island actually drills down to the essence of Peter Parker: With great power comes great responsibility.  We’ve always heard that as Peter Parker’s mantra, but suddenly in Spider-Island we get to see how a whole heap of other people behave once they have “great power”.  Some of them aren’t going to be nearly as benevolent as Peter.

But, some of them will do the right thing and that brings us to the Peter/Carlie Cooper relationship.  As teased last issue, Carlie gets spider-powers and it seems like her powers manifest earlier in time than the rest of borough’s.  This early manifestation is very important to the Peter/Carlie relationship because she immediately tells Peter about her new abilities.  Oh, there’s a lot of fun banter between the two about how Peter could perhaps design her a Spider-suit or Peter inwardly worrying that he may have somehow infected her with spider-powers as if it were an STD.  But the important thing for the “Peter Parker Love Life” is that she was immediately honest with Peter about her powers whereas Peter hasn’t been close to honest with her.  Basically, the Peter-Carlie relationship is dead now, it’s just that the axe hasn’t fallen yet (and may not fall for some time).  But, there can’t be any going back from her total openness and his partial truths.  It also seems to hint that Peter will be divulging his secret to Carlie at some point.

It was a real treat to get Humberto Ramos back on this issue.  He did such a stellar job on the first few issues of Dan Slott’s run (starting with #648) and the Free Comic Book Day issue.  In the intervening months, I’ve reread some of his earlier work and he really has taken his art to a new level recently.  And this issue has all the Ramos trademarks: energetic cartoony characters and very creative layouts and panel designs.  Love it!  It isn’t quite as tight as his earlier ASM issues, but that was 10/10 work and it’s really only a few panels that got away (but they seemed to be the splashier ones – esp the one with Dagger front and center).  Very nice colors by Edgar Delgado too.

Amazing Spider-Man #665 – Review

By: Dan Slott (writer), Ryan Stegman (pencils), Michael Babinski (inks), John Rauch (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor), Stephen Wacker (senior editor)

Aunt May back-up by: Slott (writer), Giuseppe Camuncoli (artist), Marte Gracia (colors), Caramagna (letters), Pyle & Wacker (editors)

The Story: Peter is again put into a position where he has to choose between fighting crime and being there for his family.

What’s Good: This issue really captures everything that is tragic about Peter Parker.  We (the readers) all know what a big hero he is, but to his friends and family he’s always the guy who wasn’t there when they needed him.  You know the type of scene: Peter is hanging with some friends when Doc Ock attacks the Coffee Bean and Peter slips away to change into costume and battle Doc Ock, Harry is left to bravely shield the girls with his body.  And then afterwards, after Ock has been captured, you see Peter’s girlfriend with a thought balloon, “Where was Peter?  Did he run away in fear?  Is he a coward? I wish he could be a brave man like Harry!!!  Come to think of it, Harry is kinda cute and sexy!”  Peter’s family and friends don’t know what a hero he is and they get very angry when he isn’t there for them.

With that aside, you can probably tell what basic kind of issue this is going to be.  The good thing is that Slott and Stegman really nail it.  Even though the basic plot is pretty classic Spidey, this issue could have really fallen on its face.  It all comes down to execution.  Does the writer come up with an interesting twist on this conflict between Spidey’s sense of responsibility and his desire for justice?  Does the artist visually show us the story in a way that is interesting and does the artist really sell the emotional beats?  The answer to both is “yes” and that’s a testament to the creative talent on this issue because if either Slott or Stegman did slightly sub-par work, you could read this issue and think, “Ugh….  Do we have to read this story again?”

Amazing Spider-Man #664 – Review

By: Dan Slott & Christos Gage (writers), Giuseppe Camuncoli (pencils), Klaus Janson (inks), Matt Hollingsworth (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (senior editor)

Back-up: Slott, Max Fiumara (art) & Caramagna

The Story: Anti-Venom (Eddie Brock) continues trying to prove to Spider-Man that Mr. Negative is really Martin Li (NYC philanthropist).

Review: This issue has some high points and low points that average out to an “average” comic.

The good parts all stem from the plot development side of the story.  Mr. Negative having his secret identity revealed is kind of a big deal.  Even though he isn’t a “classic” Spidey-villain…..he’s been a semi-regular since first turning up 3-4 years ago.  Now that his secret identity as NYC’s biggest philanthropist is ruined, he’ll just have to be plain old evil Mr. Negative.  That should make for better stories because the attempts to play up his wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing have been kinda clumsy over the years because I don’t think creators have really used the “secret identity” as anything more than a mask (vs. it being a true second identity that Negative sometimes finds attractive).  Maybe he’ll be a more interesting villain now?

It was also pretty cool to see Carlie figure out who this person masquerading as The Wraith really was and see Carlie agree to keep this secret identity confidential.  This has obvious implications for Peter Parker’s relationship with Carlie and Peter knows it.  As time goes on, I’m really enjoying Carlie more and more as a character, and I would really like to see Peter open up to her (she’s gonna be pissed when she finds out).

Unfortunately this issue also had some low points.  Some it just comes from choice of characters: Mr. Negative and Anti-Venom.  Call it personal preference, but I’ve yet to read a Mr. Negative story that I thought was remotely interesting.  Same goes for Anti-Venom…  I’d rather read a story with brand new characters and enjoy some sense of novelty because these two don’t excite me.

Fear Itself: Spider-Man #2 – Review

By: Chris Yost (writer), Mike McKone (art), Jeromy Cox (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: Spider-Man tries to help in a NYC gripped by fear.

What’s Good: After reviewing the first issue of this event tie-in, I think I said that I was out.  Silly rabbit!  I’m way to compulsive for that!

For what it’s worth, I’m glad I stuck around.  If you’re “all in” on Fear Itself, this is going to be a worthwhile read because it captures the street-level terror raging through NYC as the civilians go nuts and chaos ensues.  In doing this, it is giving us extra flavoring that we aren’t getting in Fear Itself-proper which has focused much more on folks getting hammers, smashing stuff and ripping off of bionic arms.

There are lots of good little moments in this issue as we see Spidey trying to help people in spite of the fear that is creeping into him, but the best moment is when he confronts Jonah Jameson in the Mayor’s office.  Their whole interaction and relationship could be summed up when Spidey asks, “Jonah… Aren’t you scared?” and Jonah proceeds to tell Spidey about his inner source of strength (his brave son) and inspires Spidey to get back out there and help.  I do love these little moments when Spidey and Jonah can find common ground in their love of NYC.

McKone’s art is mostly solid.  He does a great job with the story telling and while his Spidey gets a little wonky in places (skinny and with a big head), I’d say the art is an overall positive.

Amazing Spider-Man #663 – Review

By: Dan Slott (writer), Giuseppe Camuncoli (pencils), Klaus Jansen (inks), Matt Hollingsworth (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (senior editor)

Cloak & Dagger back-up by: Slott (writer), Emma Rios (pencils), Javier Rodriguez (inks), Edgar Delgado (colors) & Caramagna (letters)
Additional back-up by: Todd Dezago (writer), Todd Nauck (art) & Chris Sotomayor (colors)

The Story: NYC criminals suddenly have to deal with the Wraith and Anti-Venom.  Spider-Man doesn’t approve of their methods.  Fights ensue.

What’s Good: It sure was nice to see Peter Parker remember that he had to go back to work at Horizon Labs.  Even though we know that Peter’s good times where he has a nice job and money won’t last forever, it is so much fun to see Peter get to be a science nerd, hang out with the other science geeks, compete with the other geeks and do geeky things like getting his manuscript published in a major journal (although if, as the story states, he was getting this journal since he was a kid, it probably isn’t a major journal).  It was also really nice to see him spending more time on his love life.

It is very easy when Spider-Man is on two Avengers teams and the FF for those important elements to get squeezed from his narrative, so it is nice to see Slott return to these little elements.  Unlike Batman, Peter really is Peter, and Spider-Man is just one of the things that he has to fit into his very hectic days.  Spider-Man works best when it has elements of an Archie comic infused through it.

Also love that the editorial staff (at least I presume it is editorial) keeps including the asterisk references to prior issues.  Makes me feel like a kid again and I wish all comics would do this.

Amazing Spider-Man #662 – Review

Main story by: Christos Gage (writer), Reilly Brown (pencils), Victor Olazaba (inks), John Rauch (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

Infested Part 3 by: Dan Slott (writer), Emma Rios (art), Rodriguez (inks), Edgar Delgado (colors) & Caramagna (letters)

Magnetic Man back up by: Frank Tieri (writer), Javier Rodriguez (art), Caramagna (letters)

The Story: Spider-Man and the Avengers Academy kids team up to against the Psycho Man.  Will Spidey be asked to substitute teach ever again?

What’s Good: Well, it is fun and fast paced.  I’ll say that for this issue.  It was a lot of enjoyable watching Spidey team up with the Avengers Academy kids because Spidey is kinda the king of team-ups and the kids are fun (and everyone should be reading their series)!

It’s going to sound like I’m banging on this issue when we get to the next section and I really don’t mean for it to sound that way because there is nothing that is “bad” about this issue.  There are fun little Spider-Man snappy banter moments and all the kids get to do their thing.  Reilly Brown’s art is perfectly fine too.  Not “great” art, but it is perfectly fine.

Amazing Spider-Man #661 – Review

By: Christos Gage (writer), Reilly Brown (art), Victor Olazaba (inks), John Rauch (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: Spider-Man guest lectures at the Avengers Academy.

What’s Good: You know how sometimes Spider-Man, despite being well established as a very powerful superhero, member of the Avengers, etc. turns into a bumbling dumb ass?  Well, I like to think that is his Peter Parker showing through the uniform and this is what’s on full display in this issue.  So, if you like a Spidey that only has things marginally in control, you’ll enjoy this issue.
Christos Gage guest writes this issue and takes the chance to smear Spidey together with Gage’s outstanding Avenger’s Academy series by having Spidey agree to be a guest lecturer (remembering that Peter Parker used to be a bona fide teacher) at the Academy.  Spidey has always kinda been about team-ups and anything that helps expose people to Avenger’s Academy is good because that series is tragically overlooked.  The makings of the scene where Spidey gets invited to teach are pretty funny as Spidey is originally insulted that Hank asks The Thing to guest lecture, so Spidey has to whip out the fact that he has a bona fide teacher’s license and used to teach for a living.  That’s pretty classic Spidey: The man has an Avenger’s card in his wallet, but still has the whole inferiority complex going to the extent that he has to pseudo-tout his teacher’s license.  LOL!
Of course, once he is in class, things don’t go well and hilarity and danger ensue as Spidey takes the kids out on patrol.  Gage does a great job of introducing us to all the Academy kids; as expected since they’re his creations.
Reilly Brown does a nice job with the linework.  The storytelling is always spot-on and the characters are well drawn.

Amazing Spider-Man #660 – Review

By: Fred Van Lente & Dan Slott (writers), Mike McKone & Stefano Caselli (art), Marte Gracia (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

Infestation back-up by: Slott (writer), Lee Garbett (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Edgar Delgado (colors) & Caramagna (letters)

Ghost Rider back-up by: Rob Williams (writer), Garbett (pencils), Alejandro Sicat (inks), Fabio D’Auria (colors), Caramagna (letters) & Pyle & Wacker (editors)

The Story: Spider-Man and the FF are forced to square off against the Sinister Six on a Caribbean island.

What’s Good: One of the minor problems I had with ASM #659 was that the Sinister Six just didn’t seem to be a big enough challenge for the Spidey + FF combo (especially once you toss in the FF kids).  I kinda looked at that cliffhanger last issue and thought, “Those bad guys are going to get a BAD beat down!”  Granted, the bad guys always get a beat-down, but the writers have to come up with ways to make the same old villains seem freshly threatening to the same old heroes who have kicked their asses hundreds of times over the decades and we’ve certainly seen Spidey clobber these guys before.  So, it was with some glee that I saw that the danger wasn’t quite as straightforward as it seemed last issue.  That shouldn’t be surprising since both Slott and Van Lente are really smart writers who simply don’t do pedestrian superhero comics, especially when one of the villains is Mysterio.

Basically any time Mysterio is in a comic, you know that whatever is being shown to you is NOT the true story and I should have known better.  But still, I didn’t anticipate the neat wrinkle that [SPOILER] Mysterio and Chameleon are the only SS members actually in the Caribbean while the rest of the villains are breaking into the Baxter Building and thereby setting up another cool cliffhanger.

It was also really nice to see that Carlie Cooper’s little tattoo adventure didn’t turn out the way it was broadcast in the last issue.  I didn’t see any way getting a Goblin tattoo would turn out well for her, so I’m glad she made a different (though still ironic) choice.  Knowing the dynamics of Peter’s love-life, you know that his time with Carlie is probably coming to an end and that’s a shame because I’m just starting to really like her.

Mike McKone guest stars on art and does a GREAT job.  His style shades much more toward the realism, but he has enough of a cartooning background to pull off some of these crazy scenes where the FF’s powers get all mixed up.

What’s Not So Good: I’m not a huge fan of misdirection in my comics.  I know it is a standard writing tool and I don’t mind when things are left unclear, but it does kinda bug me when you have a scene in #659 where Carlie is pretty clearly picking out the Goblin tattoo only to see that she finally got something else in this issue.  It just seems that talented writers like Slott and Van Lente shouldn’t have to resort to that blunt instrument of deliberately misleading the reader.  They’re too good for that and those two writers plus a nice artist like Caselli could have made a really neat scene that left Carlie’s tattoo choice ambiguous.

Amazing Spider-Man 2011 Free Comic Book Day – Review

By: Dan Slott (writer), Humberto Ramos (pencils), Carlos Cuevas & Victor Olazaba (inks), Edgar Delgado (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: Does Spider-Man need a little something extra now that he’s lost his spider sense?

What’s Good: The Slott/Ramos team kicked off the “Big Time” arc for Amazing Spider-Man with issues #648, #649, #650 and #651 which were all outstanding issues.  So, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that putting those two back together leads to a pretty sweet product for Free Comic Book Day.  What they have generated is a comic that will be friendly both to the person who just came to FCBD and hasn’t been in a comic shop in years AND a comic that is pretty important to what Spidey is up to week-to-week.

It all starts with the recap page.  It is great that Marvel does these recap pages because it can be pretty easy to forget plot points OR just to need a general intro to the story if you’re new.  But, the one thing that ASM always does (presumably because editor Stephen Wacker wants it this way) is present the recap in a quicker format than in 3-4 long and boring paragraphs of text.  Here, we have Spidey telling us the story in 5 word balloons.  Brilliant!  This is great because it gives the reader the story and pulls them into a comic reading tempo in a way that blocks of text cannot do.

The story itself is pretty fun.  We start by joining a Spidey / Spider-Woman fight in mid-battle.  What’s this?  Why are two Avengers fighting?  Well, it’s because she is under the control of the Mandrill and his pheromones.  This whole scene has typically jaunty Slott writing and he comes up with a neat way to beat the Mandrill that is (a) effective, (b) typically embarrassing for Spidey and (c) establishes a running joke throughout the issue.  While this fight is going on, the pair are observed by Madame Web and Shang-Chi (a.k.a. Master of Kung-Fu).  They observe that while Spider-Woman clearly has been trained in multiple fighting styles, that Spidey is just fast and strong; and now — without his spider-sense — he is at a huge disadvantage.

So, the second act of the issue shows Shang-Chi instructing Spider-Man in the ways of Kung Fu and also begins to tease the upcoming Spider-Island mega-story.  By doing this, Marvel is giving everyone a lot of things to look forward to.  Wanna see Spidey doing some tight martial art action scenes?  I’m sure that’s coming up.

Ramos is one of the better artists working in comics today.  He does a great job with the basics of “how to tell a comic story” and it is always clear who is in the panel, where the action takes place and what is going on.  His cartooning style really helps with this because by not limiting himself to completely realistic anatomy, he can accentuate things to tell the story that he is after.   Another Ramos trademark is that he never wastes objects such as Spider-Woman’s hair or Shang-Chi’s sash that can billow to indicate motion, but he doesn’t overdue it and have sashes flapping around when characters are at rest.  I’ll also give Slott a little kudo for the art as I think he is very good as serving up meatballs to his artists because his comics are always well drawn.

Fear Itself: Spider-Man #1 – Review

By: Chris Yost (writer), Mike McKone (artist), Jeromy Cox (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (senior editor)

The Story: As fear grips NYC, Spider-Man tries to maintain order.

What’s Good: In Fear Itself #2, we saw how “fear” is sweeping the globe and causing mass pandemonium.  Even though I can tell I’m not going to be spending a lot of time extolling the virtues of this issue, it is generally a good one just because it drives home the plot point of street-level panic in NYC: The people are afraid and threatening to beat the snot out of some poor Iranian cab driver and Spidey has to save the guy.  Then he has to save a guy ready to throw himself out of a 30th floor window who is afraid to live anymore, etc., etc.  Hey people: FEAR ITSELF!!!!!

It all plays on the age-old sense of responsibility that Spidey has where he wants to keep everyone safe and can’t.  It also plays with the notion that while he’s worrying about all of these strangers, he’s not tending to his own loved ones and spends much of the issue trying to get a hold of Aunt May on the cell phone.

Mike McKone’s art tells the story very effectively.  He’s really a very solid artist who usually isn’t trying to show off too much.  He has a really clean line and doesn’t embellish just for the sake of embellishment.

Amazing Spider-Man #659 – Review

By: Dan Slott (story), Fred Van Lente (script), Stefano Caselli (art), Marte Gracia (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

Bug Time Infestation intro by: Dan Slott (writer), Barry Kitson (art), Edgar Delgado (colors) & Caramagna (letters)

Ghost Rider team-up by: Rob Williams (writer), Lee Garbett (art), Alejandro Sicat (inks), Fabio D’Auria (colors), Caramagna (letters) & Pyle & Wacker (editors)

The Story: Spider-Man goes on a swashbuckling Caribbean adventure with the FF (the Future Foundation)…

What’s Good: I think we’ve found a couple of writers who would do a great job with the FF whenever Jonathan Hickman leaves the title.  Both Dan Slott’s story and Fred Van Lente’s script capture the fun, family dynamic that we’ve come to expect when Spidey interacts with the FF.  These are characters who are comfortable around each other because they’ve known each other for decades.  Heck, the FF all know Spidey’s true identity!  But, Spidey still interjects a slightly different and awkward feel into the group because he is new.  It’s kinda like the difference between knowing someone socially and staying at their home for a week and having them learn about your bathroom habits.

The story itself is fun as hell as the team finds themselves sucked into a Caribbean pirate adventure with the Thing playing dress up!  Basically they go down to the Caribbean to investigate some dimensional anomaly and end up running into zombie pirates guarding Blackbeard’s treasure.  And that is all fun, but this is very much a Van Lente script with his mix of pop culture references and high-level humor.  For example, we have Spider-Man and the Thing enjoying an ongoing Beastie Boys joke with the word “booty” (much to Sue Storm’s chagrin) and Reed Richards being called “Mr. Elongated Man” to which he tells the villager, “I hope you have good lawyers.”  It’s just a great little story that ends up with a bunch of Spidey villains and the FF kids getting into the fun.  Every page has something that makes you smile.

It looks like Van Lente learned how to toss softballs to Stefano Caselli during that Spider Slayer story arc a few months ago, because this art is a LOT tighter than that work was.  I really didn’t see a shaky panel anywhere and the highlight was when Caselli busted out some zombies that reminded me a lot of Rafael Albuquerque’s vampires in American Vampire.  In case you haven’t read my reviews of AV….that is high praise.  Nice coloring too!

Amazing Spider-Man #658 – Review

By: Dan Slott (writer), Javier Pulido (art), Muntsa Vicente & Javier Rodriguez (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

Ghost Rider back-up by: Rob Williams (writer), Lee Garbett (pencils), Alejandro Sicat (inks), Fabio D’Auria (colors), Caramagna (letters), Pyle & Wacker (editors)

The Story: Now that Spidey has joined the FF, what will the first adventure hold? And will it cause any stress in his relationship with Carlie?

What’s Good: It really isn’t correct to say that a writer captures “the voice” of a fictional character.  After all, these are fictional characters and they have no voice other than what is given to them by the writer.  Sure, they can be more or less in sync with what other writers have done with a character in the past, but there really isn’t a correct interpretation of a character.  That being said, Dan Slott writes a great Peter Parker.  His Peter is smart, earnest, socially-awkward, optimistic and funny.  This is the way this reviewer likes to see the character portrayed because it’ll make for such a great contrast when Peter has to get all grim and gritty on a villain during a more serious story arc.

The basic plotline for this issue is: Spidey’s first FF mission.  Fun abounds as Spidey first tries out a costume that doesn’t go over too well with the Thing, but that is quickly forgotten as the gang starts taking on a trio of zany missions that involves them going to France (and having fun with a mime), the microverse and the FAR future.

This issue, we also welcome back Carlie Cooper after Peter’s love life had taken a several issue time-out.  I don’t know about you, but I just don’t feel like it’s a complete Spidey story without the love life angle.  Of course, Peter’s involvement with the FF is going to make it pretty difficult for him to maintain his secret identity and keep Carlie around.  It’ll be interesting to see whether Carlie uses her CSI-skills to figure out Peter’s secret life, and if she does, whether she’ll be understanding or not.

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #38 – Review

By: John Layman (writer), Lee Garbett (pencils), Mark Pennington (inks), Fabio D’Auria (colors), Clayton Cowles (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor), Alejandro Arbona (associate editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: It’s alternate universe time as Spidey (and Deadpool and Hulk) are sucked into an alternate universe.

What’s Good: This is just a fun alternate universe story with the basic premise being that our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man gets pulled into an alternate reality via an accident at his new job at Horizon Labs.  As with any alternate universe story, the fun lies in seeing what’s the same and what’s different as compared to our world.

We learn much of this through the eyes our Peter Parker as he is forced to fill in for his counterpart as The Spider.  The big difference we find is that The Spider is THE superhero of NYC and is beloved by everyone.  As good as Peter’s life is in our reality, he has in WAY better in this other world (including having the companionship of a people who are dead in our reality).  Hmm… Maybe he should just stay there???   Of course, there will end up being a few tiny little problems with this world and you’ll have to discover those yourself, but the plot twist at the end is pretty neat.

Not a whole lot of Deadpool and Hulk action in this issue.  Surely their stories will be front-and-center in their respective annuals.

Amazing Spider-Man #657 – Review

By: Dan Slott (writer), Marcos Martin, Ty Templeton, Nuno Plati & Stefano Caselli (art), Muntsa Vicente, Javier Rodriguez, Plati & Marte Gracia (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: Spidey and the FF give the Human Torch a proper send off by recalling a lot of the good times.

What’s good: How about that?  Given how good Fantastic Four #588 was in its send off of the Human Torch, it is pretty amazing that an issue of Amazing Spider-Man would be an even better send-off, but that is exactly what happens in this issue.

The premise of the issue is pretty simple: Spidey swings by the Baxter Building to apologize for missing Torch’s funeral service.  What ensues is a recollection of some of the great times that Spidey and Torch have had over the years.  Of course, there is some legitimate villain-busting in the stories, but most of the fun comes from the fun moments where Spidey & Torch are camping and playing tricks on each other, or where Spidey is pulling Torch’s pants down in front of teenage admirers or where the Spidey & Torch inspire Sue Storm to embrace her juvenile side (who knew she had such a side?) and take down villains in a very creative way that ends with Sue having some trouble with the law.

There really isn’t much more to say about the story, because it isn’t complicated, but it is incredibly well executed and you’ll laugh-out-loud 5-6 times in this issue.  Slott and company really captured the FUN side of Human Torch in a way that Hickman & Dragotta didn’t in their very strong FF #588.

Amazing Spider-Man #656 – Review

By: Dan Slott & Marcos Martin (storytellers), Muntsa Vicente (colors), Joe Caramanga (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (senior editor)

The Story: Spidey struggles with the loss of his Spider-Sense as he tries to hold true to his new “nobody dies” creed.

What’s Good: Here’s a newsflash: Marcos Martin is a really gifted graphic storyteller.  I greatly appreciate the freshness of his page layouts and panel designs because he almost never has a page that is just a boring grid, yet he mixes is up without doing weirdly shaped panels.  Pretty much everything is a rectangle/square, but they are all sorts of different shapes and sizes… some have panel borders, some don’t, some have backgrounds, some don’t.  And even with all this interesting design going on, every page looks visually balanced.  It really makes the comic look different and if you read a lot of comics, you really appreciate some variety!  Of course, Martin’s Ditko inspired linework is pretty darn impeccable too.

One of the fun themes of Slott’s run on ASM so far has been Peter’s new job at Horizon Labs.  Basically, this has given him the resources to craft some new Spidey-gadgets.  A few issues ago we saw the Stealth Suit that allowed him to be invisible and resist the new Hobgoblin’s laugh, and in this issue we get yet another Spidey-suit.  It is very compelling that the creators are actively using Peter’s science background for something greater than simply mixing up web fluid.

The other item that really catches your eye in this issue is the continued evolution of J. Jonah Jameson’s grief over his wife’s death.  In the stellar issue #655, we saw normal grief, but here Jonah molds that grief into an action item, namely that he want to kill any murderers in NYC.  That goes for Alistair Smythe (death penalty) and it also goes for the new bad guy in this issue: The Walking Massacre.  Certainly you can imagine how Jonah’s new “shoot to kill” orders are going to run afoul of Spidey’s “nobody dies”.