Who else is getting tired of paying the big bucks for a #1 every time publishers decide a run is over? Thankfully, Ryan Ottley is the redeeming force, here.
Edit : This article was originally planned for release in July/August this year. As a result, my opinion has changed slightly.
Sure, Dan Slott had a pretty monumental ten year stint on The Amazing Spider-Man, and I understand why they wanted to finish with a $16.95 bang, but to have an over-sized number 1 is feeling tiresome. We are getting so many of them lately, as well – especially with all of the hoo-ha going on over at DC.
And you thought $16.95 was rich. A reprint of John Romita’s cover as a variant of the 2018 re-birth of The Amazing Spider-Man will set you back a king’s ransom.
“It’s really just cashing in, isn’t it?” says cynical me.
Enough complaining for the moment. It’s time to take a look at what Nick Spencer brings to the table.
Alien Invasion. Again.
I’m going to sound like a cranky old man for the rest of this article. I’ve never really been a huge fan of superheroes fighting epic battles (beyond my childhood) because they all seem to be solved (at least when Spidey’s involved) by gumming up something electrical with webs or incapacitating the bad guy in control of a big weapon so he can’t press the big red button. I am certainly getting to a point in my life where I’m appreciating a whole new genre of comics because of this. I didn’t think I’d lose interest in Spider-Man. At least not permanently.
So, yeah. The bad guys? Basically a horde of generic aliens that look a lot like spiders.
As it turns out, this whole sequence of attacks was a Mysterio ruse that somehow needed to be contained by everyone from Iron-Man to Old Man Logan. Holograms or robots that ooze life-like green blood? That was never explained. (Actually it was! "Practical effects and a union crew" -nm)
Read on for the details (if you could be bothered).
Spencer starts off by setting up the story with Peter’s conflict. Of course, he’s living in a rental, needs assistance to pay said rent and happens to be living with a super villain named “Boomerang”, a mercenary with a boomerang. This is starting to sound as lame as the Kangaroo was back in the nineties. What’s with the lame Australian-themed villains? While Boomerang (Fred Myers) pays rent, he’s not the model flat-mate. He’s up early playing video games preventing Pete from sleeping. Pete forgets he has an early morning ESU conference..
Here’s his reasoning:
- Fighting intergalactic, portal-jumping space bugs kept him busy while he feebly attempted to regain the friendship of Daredevil and Johnny Storm. Apparently, they have little respect for him.
Peter finally gets to the ESU conference (he’s the Bugle’s science editor in this reality, didn’t you know?).
Peter finds himself confronted with accusations of plagiarism during his college years after one of his papers is revealed to have been written by Otto Octavius (while he was the Superior Spider-Man).
Blast from the past; Exchange of consciousness.
The rest of the issue sees Peter raked over the coals.
Web-spinner or lie weaver?
The university labelled him a plagiariser, the media is calling him a fraud, Robbie Robertson has fired him and his Aunt May has virtually disowned him.
I understand why Robbie had to fire Peter. He damaged the credibility of the Bugle. Aunt May turning her back on Peter after all the times he’s literally saved her life [and the rest of the city] (literally two issues ago, from the Red Goblin)? This is a massive overreaction and hard to buy. C’mon, Mr. Spencer.
Is it time to point out the Octopus in the room?
Why would Otto Octavius, AKA Doctor Octopus complete all the work while his consciousness resided in Peter Parker and submit them under his own name (Otto Octavius)? Peter would be registered with the University. He would have had a photo ID and a unique number.
Otto would not have been a student of ESU, or at least not at the same time as Peter. Just. No.
As a reader, I’m now faced with two options. Suspend disbelief and somehow pretend that a non-registered student with a different face to his name would publish post graduate papers (and presumably attend lectures?) or further scrutinise the additional pages for glaring mistakes. You know me too well.
Peter throws himself into a portal risking his life (basically suicide) to save his city from the invasion of the bugs (that aren't even real).
For the smartest guy on campus, even Peter didn’t catch on to this plot hole and gave up on life. His guilt-tripping Aunt and the loss of his colleagues respect was all too much..
Paying full price for an issue of this quality is a bad decision.
Paying for an overpriced variant cover of this issue would make you certifiable. Having said that, if I am to maintain honesty, I was impressed by the penciling of Ryan Ottley whose work I have not been familiar with until now.
I’ll leave you with the Kingpin’s melon head and attack-mode Spidey to improve upon what was a fairly lack-lustre start to the fifth volume of Amazing Spider-Man.
In case you missed the cover of this article, it is my favourite piece of artwork in this issue. Well done, Ryan Ottley.
All the best,
Nick.
Acknowledgements
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