Introduction: If someone asks you about who is the saddest person in the Marvel Universe, or who has the absolute worst luck, the answer is arguably Peter Parker. Its also interesting to see that he exists as one of the top 3 faces of Marvel, tying close with Wolverine and Captain America. Its easy to see why, of course, he's an unpopular, but smart, teenager/young adult who gets powers and has to juggle responsibilities along with his superhero lifestyle. The target audience identifies with so much about the character- outsider, underappreciated, and a balancing act with life. At its core, behind all the superpowers and various world-ending-crisis events, Peter Parker usually remains unchanged as a character (You know... except for dying in that one story at the end here).Created by Stan Lee, Spidey quickly rose in popularity for his relate-ability. An accidental spider bite timed closely with the death of his uncle quickly taught Peter that (say it with me): Knowing is half the ba..." I mean, "With great power comes great responsibility." Since that day, Peter has fought numerous villains and had numerous relationships, with varying degrees of difficulty, usually with the latter. But he ends up marrying Mary Jane, and they should leave happily ever after but can't. Why? The easy answer for this is that Peter is an idiot. But soon after the marriage Peter goes public with his identity during marvel's Civil War. This leads to many attacks by the people that hate him. I would also argue that Spidey has the best rogues gallery of any character in Marvel. Try me:
All for one guy... and I will hit on that point in a moment. So the new question becomes, why did I just pick the last two years? Well, for one, it was what was available. But two, the series went through a pretty serious reboot/retcon 3 years ago. Comic readers will probably be able to follow this a tad easier but its still a ridiculous concept. Over the course of the One More Day/ Brand New Day storyline, Aunt May gets badly injured by one of these personal attacks, by... Dr. Octopus, I believe, and is dying. Peter says he'd give anything to make her better and take his secret identity back, and about that time, the "Devil" of the Marvel Universe, Mephisto, says he'll take that deal. The price: the day Mary Jane fell in love with him. So, they never married. They however, do remain friends... and she eventually finds out, and they try and work out their issues. That brings us to the major storyline of 2009:
The Gauntlet: I will start by saying that this is what made me, a DC fanboy, begin regularly picking up a Marvel title. The concept here is that someone is breaking out and powering up Spidey's villains. They aren't really expected to to survive, so much as weaken the hero for the final battle. If this seems somewhat familar, that's because its the plot of Knightfall, the Batman/Bane storyline... but let's see how this ends. I am actually very happy that the alien symbiote bad guys are not in this. Venom/Carnage/Shriek/etc. always clog up the works... but I was sad that Dr. Octopus wasn't there, but he some horrible disease, which will come up way later. So, first up we have Electro, who loses the stupid yellow star hat he's had for 30 years in favor of just some bolt tattoos on his face. His storyline focuses on power and how having powers has corrupted officials, and that the people should be able to do what they want. "Oh cool," you're thinking, "I've also heard about the Tea party." This event culminates in the first major event of the series: The destruction of the Daily Bugle, Peter's place of employment. J. Jonah Jameson has a really great moment here as a man who has lost everything, but himself, coping with tragedy. As Electro is captured, we meet the major villain of the arc: Sasha Kravinoff.
Sandman follows up with his story, mostly based in tragedy. I'm not really sure why his stories always have a bit of sadness in them. For the last year or two, Sandman has not been around, and we discover why. He ended up bonding with an island and given what water does with sand, he's been stuck there. But more importantly, there's a little girl who runs away from home and goes to live in the magnificent castle made of sand on the beach (Three guesses who/what that is). People close to this girl's family have been murdered and after finding the girl with Sandman, Spidey feels its pretty obvious who did it. However, as the fight progresses, he quickly realizes that Sandman has some new tricks, involving splitting himself into several versions. Not suprisingly, the girl actually is the Sandman's daughter and while he is split into several parts, its clear who the real one is as he protects the girl at any cost. Turns out one of these split parts is the killer and is quickly killed by the Sandman. After knowing his daughter is safe, he gives up and goes to prison. The little girl eagerly awaits his return.
The next issue is about the Rhino, and as much as I would love to talk about it, his story comes in several parts so for now we will skip it in favor of Mysterio. His story isn't nearly as good, but sadly its really integral to the bigger picture. The story focuses on how the Maggia crime family has slowly been killed off in various mob wars, but here lately, the forces of Mr. Negative, a villain who can flip the good and evil in people just by touching them, have been a threat. The don of the Maggia brings in Mysterio to create the illusion that the former leader, Silvermane, is back from the dead, along with many other dead mobsters. Mysterio is secretly working for Negative and the whole Maggia crime family, except for Hammerhead (Man... that guy survives everything), is dead. Spiderman catches Mysterio, who then escapes, then gets caught again, and then escapes, only to be pulled in to join Sasha Kravinoff.
The next few issues fly by, two of them literally, as the new Vulture (old one died I think) terrorizes Jameson and his staff, and is finally captured by the Kravinoff family. Also, several Spider themed characters have started disappearing like Madame Webb, Spider Girl, Arachne, etc. Its honestly a pretty boring story and most of the good stuff happens off screen. Black Cat shows up and does her sexy thing and the two hook up and she skips town. Nothing new there. The heart of this set however is an issue about Flash Thompson, Peter's former high school bully. After serving in Iraq, Flash loses his legs saving another soldier, and is a hero back home. His story focuses on the five stages of grief, or more specifically how Flash was going through them backwards. Its pretty heartfelt to see this, and if you don't pick up another issue that I talk about today, ASM 222 should be the one you get.
If you pick up two issues however, the two about Rhino are the best. Because they offer what every good story should have: hope and despair. Just not usually in that order. Alexei Systevich is spending time with his wife Oksana, and enjoying his life of freedom. Meanwhile, the Rhino is being tested by the Kravinoff family to make sure he's ready. While Peter and his new girlfriend are at a casino night, where Systevich is working as security, the Rhino crashes through and attempts to kill the man once known for the role. The new Rhino wants to fight and kill his predecessor so that he can "ascend" and become the true Rhino. Systevich refuses to fight and is beaten badly until Spider comes in and rescues him. Systevich leaves his house later to secretly go out and face the new Rhino, but is stopped by Spiderman who hands out a pep talk and encourages him to trust his heart. Systevich go es back to his wife and thanks Spiderman for the help. This is the end of the story in the issue, but at the end we get a story on how the couple met, which is beyond sweet. Jumping ahead a few issues, we meet the Rhino again. He attacks a gathering that Systevich and his wife are attending and he still refuses to fight, but agrees to meet him and fight him later that night. Saying this bit was a lie, he asks Spiderman to set up a new identity and protection for he and his wife. The couple share an intimate moment, thanking the other for all that they've done in the relationship. While on their road out of town, their car is blown up by the new Rhino, and the wife is killed instantly. Crawling from the wreckage, Systevich says goodbye to his wife and tells Spiderman that this is all his fault, and he will never forgive him. Stripping of his clothes, he heads to the back of a meat locker in town and gets his old suit. Claiming his life as Alexai is over, he puts on the costume and fights the new Rhino for minute or two before charging him so hard that HE EXPLODES. So with the new Rhino dead and Systevich "dead" in the crash, only the true Rhino remains. This is technically the end of the Gauntlet, though I feel that there is one more chapter in the suped up villains...
Shed: Dr. Curt Conners was a surgeon until an accident cost him his arm. In the meantime, he has devoted his life to finding a way to regrow lost limbs. This led to research in reptiles and in a lab accident reminiscent of Jekyll and Hyde, he becomes the Lizard. Shed's storyline finds him disgraced by all the labs in New York but one, where he is working for a pharmaceutical company... a "last chance" type situation. He is desperately trying to win back his son after nearly killing him the last time the Lizard broke free. After an executive comes to check his work, and fires him, Conners reaches for a serum. The executive, believing he's going for letting the Lizard out grabs it and throws it to the ground. This however was a medicine that KEEPS the lizard inside. This man is promptly eaten along with five other people as the Lizard goes on a rampage trying to find Billy Conners. Spiderman tries to talk some sense into him, but the reptile brain is too strong for Curt to fight back. Spidey is taken out and the Lizard gets to the boy. We cut from the action to see Kaine, another clone of Spiderman, be captured by the Kravinoff family. Cutting back we see Curt gain control just before getting to the boy, but Billy insults him and says he always knew it would end this way becuase his dad was too weak. The lizard takes over and Billy is eaten. Curt's loss compunds inside his head so that his thought windows just shrink and wither until there is nothing and the Lizard is in full control. The Lizard then sheds the skin he has and emerges able to speak and with a lot of spiky hair. The Lizard also gains the ability to activate the reptile brain in this around him... or decrease the mammallian brain in them... one of the two. Spiderman grabs some the antidote Conners used to hold back the reptile brain, and goes into the fight. He empties the vial into his mouth and when a chance arises, spits as much as he can into the Lizard's mouth. Quickly showing a picture of Billy, Spiderman is then tackled by people affected by the Lizard's effect. Connors stares at the picture and tehn brings Spiderman to safety. He acknowledges that there were things that Conners knew and experienced that he sould have paid attention to. The Lizard runs off and his affects wear off around the city. He then hides in the sewers waiting until he is ready for the bext time he and Spidey cross paths.
Grim Hunt: So, before we get into this, I need to discuss some history. Kraven the Hunter was always considered a "joke" villain- a Russian, "Most Dangerous Game" enthusiast with expert tracking techniques. The Hunter vs Spider thing, while a MAJOR plot point of Grim Hunt, never seemed like anything worthwhile, and the concept is just nonsensical. So why is Kraven so important? Because of his death. "Kraven's Last Hunt" many refer to as the greatest Spiderman story of all time. Kraven is driven insane by the inability to catch and kill the hero, and in one final act, he just straight up shoots Spiderman and buries him. The next two weeks, Kraven wears the spider costume and catches criminals and fights crime, catching foes that even Spiderman had problems with, essentially doing a better job. Peter finally wakes up from the tranquilizer Kraven shot him with and crawls out of the grave. Kraven, finally victorious states that his hunting days are over and goes home and shoots himself in the face with a shotgun. Yeah... turns out, he's just Ernest Hemingway with a fur vest.
That brings us to now. Turns out that Kraven's widow and two kids... and a nephew have all gathered together in an attempt to bring the great hunter back from the dead. This is done by killing "Spyders" like all of the superpowered Spider characters. So they have been kidnapping them throughout the Gauntlet. Madame Webb and Mattie Franklin are captured and Kaine is seriously injured, while Spiderman and Arachne are being pursued. After the first issue, Mattie is executed bringing a Lion-beast from the dead, proving that only the true Spyder can raise the real Kraven. After each issue we get a short story, giving some insight into Kraven's first days in New York, which do a great job setting up that Kraven never takes the easy way towards anything and if its not worth a "hunt" its not worth him. This is a plot point that should be focused on. Next issue, Ezekial, a mentor and "spider" embodiment shows up to help Spiderman deal witht he hunters. This is kind of a big deal since he died a few years go. Spider Girl is being attacked by the Kravinoff kids and the Lion-beast, Spiderman swings in to save her, but can't get close to the Lion without his head pounding with the sound of drums. After fighting with his clone, Kaine, Peter heads off with zombie Ezekial to try and find a way to defeat the hunters, and the two head to a nearby graveyard that Ezekial feels is a "focal point of hunter energy". Sooo... remember when I said that there was this extra nephew in the family? Yeah, turns out the Chameleon is a Kravinoff as well. He has teamed up with Mysterio to create this zombie Ezekial character. And the two begin to fight the hero, all the while Spiderman is unable to shake the drums going. Man, that sucks. Unable to focus and being beaten by the two supervillains, plus the Kravinoffs who have emerged from the bushes, Spiderman is quickly defeated and falls into an open grave where the two villains begin to throw dirt on him. They would completely bury him alive, creating some symbolism and allusion to Last Hunt... but there's 10 pages left in this thing... so he escapes with a way unspecified and unseen and manages to ignore the drum sounds. He beats up all the Kravinoff kids, the lion, and the two villains, and then monologues like an idiot. A shotgun blast later, Kraven's widow stands behind the now bleeding Spiderman, armed with the last thing Kraven ever touched. Another shot goes off, sending Spiderman down a hill. The Lion pounces on him tearing at him with its claws. Kraven's daughter stabs him and his son impales him on a spear. Still alive somehow, he is placed on a grave slab as the widow stabs him through the heart, effectively killing him. As the blood flows around the grave, Kraven rises from his grave. Bum Bum BUMMMMM.
So, Kraven is back, still just as disturbed as he was when he died. He is noticeably unhappy with his family, going so far as to savagely attack when his daughter asks him why he's unhappy. He kills the Lion beast which apparently had a piece of his spirit in it. He would have also killed his daughter if she had not plunged her knife deep into his chest. However, this doesn't not kill him, and upon its removal, the wound begins to slowly close up. He is immortal. This makes him even angrier, but knows what went wrong. While it was the body of Peter Parker that he killed, it was actually the clone, Kaine. Believing that he can die if the true spider is killed, Kraven leaves his family and goes to prepare. Peter crawls up out of the grave from earlier, remembering vaguely where Kaine dug him up and took his clothes. Heading over to the Kravinoff mansion, Peter finds Kaine's body and a neatly folded black spidersuit reminiscent of the suit he wore in the Last Hunt, with a note: HUNT ME. The widow bursts into the room holding Spidergirl, Arachne, and Madame Webb. Believing the old psychic to have planned all of this, she slits Madame Webb's throat, spilling blood that revives the Lion. The Chameleon decides to leave seeing how he was never really big on family in the first place, but upon walking out is snatched away with webbing, then the lights go out in the mansion. Finding the blood of Webb, Peter is attacked by the lion creature, who he quickly takes out. The son is next as he is grabbed from inside the house and strung up in a nonlethal web noose. The widow is guarding the two girls and dying old woman, when Kraven enters and begins accosting her for her weakness, she begins crying, and Kraven disapears and is replaced by Spiderman who beats her and mocks her for talking to herself. After untying the girls and explaining that he picked up a trick or two from Mysterio, he takes off after the widow. Finally catching up to her, and this is kinda graphic, but he "webs" one of her eyes out. He is ready to kill her when Spidergirl shows up to talk him down. Meanwhile, Madame Webb dies, passing on her psychic powers onto Arachne. back to the good part, Kraven states that this will be the ultimate end for one of them and the two begin to fight while Spidergirl ties up Kraven's daughter and widow. Spiderman easily overpowers and defeats Kraven and is about to drive a spear through his heart when Arachne appears and shows Peter the future that awaits him if he kills Kraven (spoiler: its not good). So, Peter walks away and the Kravinoffs disappear. We catch up with all of them, minus Chameleon, in the Savage Land. Kraven states that they will start over here and be masters of the hunt, and one day when they are both ready for the ultiamte battle, he will seek out Spiderman. His widow speaks up that she should be the leader of the family since she brought him back. He responds by snapping her neck. Neither of his children flinch, and he states that one of them would be his successor one day. Then the son runs off as the daughter chases after him, probably to kill him. Man, that is some heavy stuff there. It should end there, but we then go to Arachne discussing about how there must be balance, and if a hunter cheated death, a spider must as well. Kaine rises, disfigured and now called Tarantula.
Origin of Species: The next storyline here is actually called One Moment in Time, or OMIT. Its called that for a reason as it just rehashes the One More/ Brand New Day story, but doesn't change anything. A bit of (recent) history is involved in explaining a couple more things, that haven't been explained quite yet. First off, Harry Osborn, best friend of Peter Parker and son of Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin, had a girlfriend, Lily, who cheats on him with his father and starts using Goblin serum, making her the supervillain Menace. Harry's life sucks basically... thus the perfect fit for Peter. Anyway, even though she slums it up with his dad and got herself pregnant, Harry takes his girl back and promises to take care of everything now that Norman is in prison. She runs away not long after this.We open up to the recently vacated Kravinoff mansion, where almost all of Spiderman's foes are meeting with Doctor Octopus. If they can deliver this "item," he will give them whatever they want. We then catch back up with Peter who is now broke and in a rush to meet with his new girlfriend Carlie, Harry, and Mary Jane for lunch. Halfway through the meal, someone on a glider crashes through the window. Its Lily, in full Menace-form, and wearing a hospital gown. Lily is having serious contractions, and Peter quickly changes to Spiderman but before he can help, he is knocked back by Shocker, who, teamed with Tombstone, are there for Lily. The two fight Spiderman and he manages to get them away, but this leaves his friends and Lily defenseless when Doc Ock shows up, now just a shriveled body with 8 robotic tentacles. After finally getting back to his friends, he finds taht Doc Ock has delivered the baby boy and cut the cord. After some manuevering, he manages to get the child away from the Doc and swings out the window, now knowing what everyone is after, he knows his friends are safe. After some swinging, he manages to get to a safe rooftop... before Electro blows part of it up. If Spiderman goes near the hospital, Electro will blow it up too, so that option is taken out. While stopping to rest again, Sandman shows up asking Spiderman to give up the baby, because if he brings the baby to Ock, he can get his daughter back. This of course doesn't work for Spiderman so he keeps running allowing Sandman and Electro to take out each other eventually. About this time, Spidey runs out of webbing and hits his head on a dumpster. After going to get a refill on webbing the cops show up and attack him, thinking that he kidnapped the baby. He is going to be taken down when the Vulture shows up and attacks the cops before trying to snatch the baby away. Freak wants the baby for himself so he attacks the Vulture. (This story should have been called the Gauntlet honestly...) Peter gets away for a while before nearly being crushed by the Rhino who jumped from a plane. Cutting back to the cafe, Carlie is found safe, but everyone else there has disapeared. Harry and Mary Jane got Lily out of there and into MJ's panic room, guarded by her bodyguard. Harry takes off himself to try and save the baby. After fighting for a few minutes, the Rhino admits that he doesn't care about the baby... he just wants Spiderman to pay for what he did. However, after Peter asks him how his wife would feel about him possibly killing a baby, the Rhino backs off and wishes him good luck, before declaring the next time they meet, Spiderman will die. Finally arriving at Avengers mansion, he realizes that the baby is growing horns and begins attacking him. Realizing that this doesn't make any sense he clears his head of Mysterio's illusion and kicks him in the head, just as Vulture and Freak, now working together, head for him. He evades them long enough to find Harry, and after a brief discussion, he hands the baby over, and grabs a bag and some trash to make a decoy. He fights the two villains on a nearby rooftop, and after knocking Vulture into a water tower, a flood heads off of the roof, along with debris. After taking the two down, he heads down to Harry who was hit with the falling mess, and tells Spiderman that the baby didn't make it. Spiderman is furious and heads away swearing revenge and brutality to all those involved in this mess. Harry walks around the corner... and reveals the baby is still alive AND that he is the Chameleon.
The next (4th) issue opens to Peter working in some bunker somewhere while the narration discusses how there have been reports about how ruthless Spiderman has become. D-list villain Hypno Hustler burst into the police station begging for asylum, as a giant web ball containing Diablo, the Spot, and Overdrive is thrown through a window. If you have seen the end of the Godfather, then you can kinda guess what the rest of this issue is like. Just without the murder. Checking in with Ock, he and Chameleon arrange a deal for the baby, whose DNA apparently has the key for restoring Ock's physical capabilities. Meanwhile, Harry considers taking Goblin serum so that he can resue the kid. Back in the city, Carlie makes it over to MJ's apartment to check on her and Lily. However, Tombstone has followed her, and beats up the bodyguard and is about to kill Carlie when Lily activates her glider to fly in and it flies the man out the window and drops him off the building. Spiderman continues his tirade in New York. Screwball and Looter are dispatched quickly and hung off the side of a building. Freak is webbed to a ceiling. Electro is basically crucified at a construction site. Vermin is stuffed in a box and webbing glues it shut. Shocker, Sandman, and the Enforcers are all meeting at a dockside building to talk about how nuts Spiderman has gone and that they need to leave town. The building is wrecked pulling all of them down intot he ocean below. Sandman dissapates in the salt water and one by one, the Enforcers are pulled under until they stop breathing then placed on debris. Spiderman breaks Shockers hand and removes the gloves to shoot at the slowly reforming Sandman. Taking his hands and threatening to use his own floves to shoot him in the face, Piderman gets Shocker to reveal Ock's location. Crashing through Kravinoff mansion, Spiderman is chasing after the Chameleon until finally he pulls a wall on the villain. Chameleon states that the child has been taken again. By the Lizard. The Lizard takes a blood sample of the child, hoping that its blood can give him the power needed to shake his humanity. Meanwhile Doc ock and Spiderman head into the railroad tunnels, chasing after the Lizard. The two fight some, and after a while Ock begins to be affected by Lizard's animalistic effects. Now stripped of his intelligence, Ock is no match for Spiderman who ties his mechanical arms in knots. The Lizard shows up, but is not interested in fighting. Turns out the "goblin" baby has no goblin juice in its DNA. Norman is not the father. Peter escapes with the baby while Ock and Lizard fight. Sadly, we don't get to see much of this fight. Just as Harry makes it to MJ's apartment, Lily leaves on her glider, leaving the kid to Harry to take care of. Unsurprisingly, the baby is actually Harry's who promises to take care of it as best he can. So... happy ending.
The next issue has a bunch of short stories and serves as a bit of an epilogue, but the one that actually matters deals with Carlie's stepbrother, Vin, who has just gotten out of jail, and goes to a Halloween party with her. Everyone there is wearing Spiderman character outfits. Peter goes as Jameson, Carlie goes as Black Cat, Flash is Spiderman, and Harry goes as the Dr. Octopus from Spiderman 2, while the baby, now named Stan, strapped to his chest, is dressed as the classic Doctor Octopus look. It might be the single cutest thing ever. Meanwhile, Peter goes outside to find Mary Jane, dressed as Jackpot (insert joke here) and they talk about how being Spiderman will ruin his relationships, but there's massive flirting here so my bet is that he will leave Carlie for MJ pretty soon. At the party, Vin approaches Harry and discusses how a higher power helped him find his true purpose. That higher power is Norman Osborn and Vin has the Goblin symbol tattooed into his skin, and Harry leaves the party quickly to get away. When the party does end, Harry is waiting for Vin outside, and after apologizing to Harry if he offended him, Harry tases Vin. He explains that he's not crazy and that he will do whatever it takes to protect Stanley. He then beats the crap out of Vin for a few pages, with a completely stoic look on his face, with simple lines like "I never liked you, Vin. You're close minded and uncurious and you never laugh at my jokes." He then wipes his hands clean and walks away. And that effectively sums up Spiderman for the last couple years. At least, regular Spiderman. The Ultimate version has had a less than fun time lately...
Death of Spiderman: Ultimate Spider-Man is a completely different story... and universe... where Peter is still 16 and its gonna take a minute or two to explain. After a horrible incident with Norman Osborn, who can become the Green Goblin (more demon than costumed madman), where he found out who Peter was, that ended up killing the madman along with his son Harry, Bobby Drake, Iceman, and Johnny Storm, the Human Torch move in with Peter to better protect him. SHIELD wants Peter to become a serious hero so they have asked him to keep his heroics to a minimum until he can be properly trained. After the first of these grueling sessions, with Iron Man, Peter ends up seeking comfort in Mary Jane, his ex girlfriend. He's also holding a torch for Kitty Pryde, Shadowcat, who disappeared after a bad anti-mutant riot. Also, after saving JJ Jameson recently, the mogul found out that his ex employee, Peter was Spiderman.
We open up to Peter being fired from his current fast food job after not showing up on time. As he's walking out, he gets a call from Jameson, asking him to come to the office so that they can talk. jameson always hated Spiderman and it scares him that Jameson hasn't done a thing since finding out who he was a week ago. jameson comes clean that he is baffled by Peter balancing all these different lives and being a hero, and a good-hearted one at that. Jameson on offers him anything he wants, to which Peter just wants his job back so he can save up to pay for college. Jameson offers to pay for the college, but still thinks he owes him more. Peter refuses and wants to pay his own way, and Jameson decides to hire him, with a bump in pay, and when Peter asks, allows him to be late or miss work in case he has to go be Spiderman- IF Peter comes and tells him all about the adventures. Pretty awesome setup, I know.. now take a look at the title of this section. Bummer, right? Moving on... On his way home he bumps into Kitty who he smooths things over with and they discuss what their relationship status is. Heading into the Parker house, the two are bombarded with a surprise party for Peter's 16th birthday. (Check the title of this again) All the supporting cast is there, including Aunt May, MJ, Iceman, Human Torch, Gwen Stacy (yeah, she's alive here), Eddie Brock (troubled, but a good guy), and Sue Storm... not sure why. At the party, Peter gets new web shooters from Iron Man, as well as a chance to hook up with Mary Jane, which he passes on, hoping to wait until the right time. Checking that title again? Good... because its all downhill from here...
We open to the resurrection of Norman Osborn, who has been brought back to life so that he can be studied (SERIOUSLY, SCIENCE...HAVE YOU SEEN A SYFY MOVIE? YOU KNOW WHAT'S COMING NEXT?... IDIOTS). After being brought back, he quickly assumes his demon form and kills all the scientists. Serves them right. He then releases Kraven, Electro, Sandman, Vulture, and Doctor Octopus and they escape together. Meanwhile, while he and Mary Jane are on a date, Steve ragers, Captain America shows up for Peter to report to his training. The couple trade I love you's and he leaves. The heroes head to a graveyard where they discuss what it means to be a hero and soldier, and how if he doesn't start acting smarter, he will die young. Cap is then called to the prison escape, telling Peter to stay behind. Surprise... he doesn't stay. The villains make their way into a nearby apartment, each powering down so that they would not arise suspicion. Seeing that there was a riot downtown, and the prison escape, and then other super foes around New York, Osborn feels that this is God's way of saying that they must kill Peter Parker. The others are not keen on this idea... Kraven and Vulture want to leave the country, while Ock wants to go back to being a scientist and never wanted the supervillain life in the first place. Norman respons by turning into the Goblin and knocking him out of the window of the 10th story apartment. Catching himself on his mech arms, Ock begins to prepare himself as the Goblin jumps down to the street so that they can fight. Peter heads home to warn everyone of the criminals that will be coming after him, and gets May and Gwen out quickly, leaving a note for the others, and sends the women on their way out of town. Meanwhile, the supervillains are fighting when Ock just gives up and says its just not worth fighting anymore, and that if the villains created Spiderman, its only fair that they be the ones to kill him. Goblin is not a fan of sharing credit apparently, as he pulls the mech arms off of Ock, and then flame-punches his head into oblivion. Spiderman arrives at the scene too late and the villains have escaped. On his way back, he sees Cap at the riot downtown, as well as a sniper aiming to kill the hero. Peter pushes him out of the way and the bullet goes right through Peter's side.
Have no fear.. another three issues to go until this magnum opus comes to a close. Waking up a bit later, and knowing there's no way he can go to a hospital for the issue, he webs a bandage around the spot and attempts to carry on. The villains head off to their bases to get their tech and weapons so that they are ready to kill Spiderman. They arrive around at the Parker house about the time that Bobby and Johnny get home. The two manage to take out the Goblin, but fall to the other four members. About that time, Peter arrives, maskless, and after webbing Vulture's face and swinging him around and into a wall, effectively knocking him out. As he moves forward to take on the others, he begins bleeding through his web bandage. Electro and Kraven begin to attack when Peter pulls the tab off a hydrant, soaking all three villains in water and knocking them out (water plus electricity... and sand dissapates in water... learn science, folks). Vulture has regained composure and flies over, dropping bombs on Peter which knock him backwards, nearly killing him. Aunt May can't bear to leave Peter to this possible fate, and heads back towards her home. Back in action, the Vulture swoops down to kill him when Sandman accidentally gets in his way, throwing him off. Sandman lines up to kill him when Electro strikes him with a bolt, turning part of him to glass. We get some great dialogue here with Electro and Spiderman on both sides:
"Grow a pair Flint, you're fine. There's only so much crap I'm going to take from a 13 year old who doesn't know he died 10 minutes ago... if Osborns out, then I'm getting the kill. I want to see his face as a real enemy kills him."
"Electro, I always meant to tell you... you were my greatest adversary and it was an honor to battle you... Oh wait, that wasn't you. I never gave you a second thought."
Electro would have killed him at that moment if he didn't get shot in the chest.. and the head... by Aunt May. The resultign shock froze the rest of Sandman and knocked out Vulture. Peter and his aunt share a moment before Peter is knocked away again by the Goblin. Swinging his aunt and Gwen to safety, he heads back to fight the Goblin. During some rough fighting, including a semi truck being driven into the Goblin and Peter taking the cab and dropping it on the Goblin's body, we get some more great dialogue between Spiderman and Norman:
"What's the plan, Osborn? What's next? You kill me and... what? It wont make... your son you murdered magically come back... to life. And you'll never be... the rich captain of industry you once were. And... your hair won't ever become... fashinable."
"But you'll be dead."
"Well, yeah... there is that."
"Don't you understand... God wants me to do this... To kill you... and your family... and everyone you know."
"Well... could you at least do it quietly?"
After the gas tank from the truck blows, it knocks Peter back, ripping his web bandage, and he begins bleeding out. The Goblin is dead finally, reverting back to Norman Osborn, with a smile on his face, but Peter doesn't stand a chance. Aunt May rushes to his side, and after the following scene, he dies, soliciting screams and tears from all those around him. Its a pretty epic death on both characters, and its a really poignant moment.
Verdict: A. Well, if my blog hasn't convinced you, both Amazing and Ultimate Spiderman live up to their names and the stories are really top notch. It took almost two years to tell all of this, which should amaze you for one of two reasons. Either is correct. The graphic novels for the Amazing stories are out I know and the Ultimate story should be out in a the next couple months. You will not regret it. Now that I've spent the last three days rereading the stories and writing this entry, I need some rest... plus to read and review the batch of comics that arrived today. Oh, and if the formatting is off here... I don't care. I'm tired of fighting with the site for its shoddy editing work.
James Robinson and Javi Fernandez
Sterling Gates, Oliver Nome, and Trevor Scott
Summary: Right off the bat we are introduced to the three "freak" acts in the travelling circus in Ragdoll (a personal favorite character of mine), King Shark, and Kent Nelson and his Helmet of Fate. Deadman, our narrator cannot understand what the appeal of these guys is... you see them once and that's it, where as acrobats are always a different show everytime. The Graysons are very different as they do things smiling and get a crowd riled and smiling. Boston is more focused on hearing them scream or gasp in terror when he performs. Cut to the next day as the circus packs up to move and we see a very different side of the "freaks." Normally, appearing insane and violent at the drop of a hat, both Ragdoll and King Shark, supervillains, are some of the nices folks in the circus. Boston is shown to be the jerk here as he insults workers and refuses to help for fear of hurting his hands. Kent just rocks back and forth, listening to the words from the helmet. We are given an image of what Fate has to show, showing Deadman's dead body, Mera's execution by Wonder Woman, the Justice League never formed, and what appears to be a Robin with a Bat character that doesn't look familar. Arriving in Poland soon, they begin to set up again. Reaching out to Kent to wake him up Boston is struck with a vision of his ghostly form over the body of Dick. Meanwhile, back in Austria, Amazons are destroying everything looking for Fate's helmet. While preparing for that night's show, Boston approaches Dick to tell him that he needs to cut loose from his parents and be his own man, because that's where the money is. Dick talks about how jumping with his family is a signal of trust and that they will always be there to catch him (foreshadowing, much?). As the show begins, we see that Amazons are on their way to destroy the circus.
Summary: Before I get started... the cover. John's cigarette smoke trail is the symbol of life. Cigarettes= life? Kinda odd... Also, if you're looking for Superman here, nevermind... he's not in it. That means there's two comics out this week claiming to have Superman and don't. Jumping right in, while investigating a murder, plant life comes to attack John, one of which scratches his hand. The plants then overun the building and the whole place crashes to the ground. Also, John doesn't know what No Smoking means. "Don't smoke here" is the first thing everyone says to him. Cut to Gotham, where Gordon and Batman are looking at the dead body where a tree grew threw the body of a man guilty of dumping waste in the nearby water. As Batman is driving and talking on the vid screen to Alfred, he drops, leading Bruce to shout for his friend. John then appears in the Batmobile to talk to Bruce. However, because he's smoking, batman kicks him out of the car. John explains that he knows who/what's behind this and that Batman should trust him. He doesn't but John teleports the two of them to the swamp, and they are quickly attacked by Swamp Thing, who knocks John out with one punch. He wakes up in Zatanna's apartment and we find out that she and John dated a long time ago. There is an "eskimo brother" moment with John and Bruce, but it ends quickly as we cut to the swamp where Alec Holland, the original host of Swamp Thing is crawling out alive.
Did you know that all sports stars hang out in Subway? Yeah, I didn't either, but apparently its true. Also, Subway wants you to know that they are now serving avocado. This is a big deal to Blake Griffin.
You could have made anything... and that's what you went with, Hal? Maybe that's why they don't offer you any of their mysterious reappearing sandwiches.
Insane... I'm really hoping for something magic in the next issue.
Summary: This is actually a pretty simple story for the most part and goes about where its expected. We have a brash young Zack who refuses to listen to his cousin. Blinded by the high life of beautiful women, gifts, etc. he just kinda glides on his fame not really caring about what could happen. So, when the two head out to a bar together, its no wonder when trouble occurs. But first, we get a nice moment where two clubbers, reminiscent of the Butabi brothers from Night at the Roxbury, just dance all over Zatanna. They are quickly teleported to a male strip club, complete with Chippendale outfits. Cutting back to the story, Zack is grabbed by a succubus, and before she can help him, his body is taken over and Zatanna fights the creature with magic. Cut to Subway comic. With Zack's body, the succubus beats Zatanna, and in a quick moment, she manages to trick the creature into leaving Zack's body, and then sends it back where it belongs. Zack learns nothing and then gets up and goes home with some random chick. Zatanna tries to leave, but is once again "dance attacked" by the two clubbers. Her face sums up my feelings pretty succintly:
High Points: The art in the issue is pretty good.
Summary: We open to the team performing a quest dealing with picking up poop. I'm going to have to check with my MMORPG guy to see if this is a legit quest... seems like it. Bladezz doesn't help much and just attacks Vork. Cutting to the real world, Simon and his sister, Dena, are fighting in the den over computer use. We also discover that their divorced mother is on a date with a new guy, Collin (Yes, with two L's), which of course is a huge issue. Collin is a photographer and in need of a model for a new meat ad campaign, and thinks it would be a good chance for he and Simon to bond. I'll jump the gun here and say that Dena is the best character in this whole thing: "When you say 'photographer' do you mean in the style of Leibovitz, Maplethorpe, or Value-mart Photo Center?" The next day at the studio, Simon could not be more miserable, but we do get some brilliant dialogue:
Vork is about to tell Bladezz about this experience when Bladezz cuts him off and they fight skeletons until dawn. Waking the next day to find his sister messing with him, he begins to fight her and the fight is broken up by Collin who then attempts to ground the two of them. Taking Vork's advice at the next photoshoot, Simon becomes Finn Smulders completely, and fires Collin, which makes the executives walk out, but upon showing some pictures his sister took of him, they change their minds and hire him personally. Dena drops a Game of Thrones line, and then Collin goes off on Simon, telling him that he couldn't wait to get rid of the kids and send them to live with their father. Cue mom's entrance and harsh breakup with Collin. The three of them head off into the sunset to get some Cheesybeard's. That's a lot better than dinner time at Lil' Batman's house:
Summary: This comic is wall to wall gore. There are mutilated animals everywhere and its actually rough to get through at times. Grodd hates his life, and wants to kill himself. Its actually depressing to see how not having someone to contend with can actually make you hate everything, especially yourself. Grodd challenges gorillas to death matches everyday, hoping one of them will give him the fight he needs. This day, he challenges Congorilla (who was a human who swapped bodies with a golden gorilla), who he defeats without any trouble, in a rare unjawing/decapitation combo. Its messy. Bored in his kingdom, Grodd decides to travel to Cape Town to kill the human leader there. His car runs into enemy fire as four African kids step out and murder Grodd's entourage. Grodd uses his telepathic powers to make one of them kill the others. He is about to kill the child, when he plants the idea that, one day, years of training from now, the child will return and will finally kill Grodd in a way he deserves. Grodd makes his way to Cape Town and the imprisoned human leader there who is none other than Catman. Grodd quickly dispatches him by ripping out his spine and skull. Like I said.. this stuff is graphic. Grodd returns to his castle and decides that they will attack Europe and kill Aquaman. A suicide mission, which could not make Grodd happier.
