CBR Live! Archive
Amazing Spider-Man #568 Review
- by Brian Cronin
- in Comic Reviews
The beginning of New Ways to Die, the first big storyline in the Spider-Man titles since it switched to thrice-a-month shipping, is a strong start to the story, particularly on the art-side of things, as John Romita Jr.'s return to Amazing Spider-Man is a welcome one (along with inker Klaus Janson). Dan Slott, meanwhile, delivers a good first issue plot with more than a few interesting twists mixed in.
Marvel appears to be bending over backwards to make this storyline a sales success, and they seem to clearly know that a lot of new readers might be giving this issue a look see (especially with that awesome Alex Ross cover!), so they open up with a two-page recap on both Spider-Man as a whole as well as his current status quo. Slott does a particularly good job here, condensing Spider-Man's origins and current situation into an amusing two pages.
The rest of the book is built around the main hook of the story (so far), which is that Spider-Man's old nemesis, Norman Osborn, agrees to come to New York City to take care of Spider-Man. Only now, Norman Osborn is in charge of the Thunderbolts, so he has a lot of super-powered firepower at his disposal, and when you couple that with his familiarity with Peter (although, very likely, the last page cliffhanger notwithstanding, Osborn probably does not know Peter is Spider-Man, a la Mephisto's memory erasure a go go), you have a great mix.
However, as strong of a hook as that is (and boy, does Romita draw Osborn and the Thunderbolts well), what is more impressive to me about this issue is the way that Slott intermixes the other plotlines from the Spider-Man titles leading up to now, including the mayoral race, Peter's unemployment, the whereabouts of Robbie Robertson, the unscrupulousness of Dexter Bennett and Randall Crowne, the evil mystery of Mr. Negative and, well, that's about it, but that's a ton of subplots that Slott is juggling here, and he juggles them expertly.
Dialogue has always been a strong suit for Slott, and I think he has a real ear for Peter Parker, so his thought balloons, which dictate most of the story, read quite well.
One of the coolest twists in the comic is the way in which Dexter Bennett's immoral behavior might very well have put Betty Brant on the lead of a really good story - totally accidentally by Bennett, of course. That was a very clever twist by Slott.
Romita's artwork, though - wow - I just love his characters - I especially love how he makes Vin Gonzales seem like such a normal guy.
Oh, Eddie Brock is also in the comic, which will likely tie into the other hook of this story, the introduction of a new Venom-related guy (possibly/probably Eddie himself, but we shall see). Eddie is the spotlight of a back-up story by Mark Waid and Adi Granov that I really wish had been replaced with a, like, one-page text piece - "Eddie's cancer appears to be in remission - it may have something to do with the symbiote. To be continued..."
I mean, Waid tries to do something interesting with it, by showing Eddie's "Venom" personality pop into his consciousness, but really, Waid doesn't have much room to play with in the story, as it really reads more like a set-up for Eddie's role in the main plotline. I understand why they felt the need to address Eddie's cancer, but like I said, I'd almost prefer just a text piece telling us "Yeah, he's healthy now" rather than force Mark Waid to write a short story getting us to that point. I'd rather see Waid and Granov do something on their own, rather than work as set-up for the main story.
Anyhow, as a whole, this was a good issue. So glad to see JRjr return.
Recommended.
- Posted on August 20, 2008 @ 03:41 AM
- Leave a Comment
- Share This!
12 Comments
Stephen
August 20, 2008 at 7:35 am
I'm tentatively looking forward to this, but I think that's because my enthusiasm for this whole Brand New Day idea skyrocketed after that great Daredevil / Spidey team-up in one of the specials a while back; it was much more fun than most of the regular stories.
Danx
August 20, 2008 at 7:42 am
I haven't bought a Spider-man book in a while.. but with Slott & JRJ on it, I'm grabbing it asap.
Lawrence
August 20, 2008 at 7:49 am
Ooo. I might pick this up, but would that send Marvel the wrong message? I've avoided every issue of BND (which had new characters and was self-contained) and now that they have Spider-man a.) interacting with the Marvel Universe and b.) fighting his old villians I'm going to rush out to buy it? I think I might be everything that's wrong with the industry!
I'll just pick up two indies with it to clear my conscience.
Joe H
August 20, 2008 at 8:39 am
I received my issue earlier this week in the mail and I loved it. I especially loved the wisecracks Peter was making near the end of the issue. Made me laugh out loud.
thekamisama
August 20, 2008 at 11:10 am
I wonder what editorial was thinking when I see the solicts.
Okay, you turned Spider-Man upside down. Changed history to get the taste of all the percieved missteps and wrong turns the title has taken in recent years....
Only so you can do a massive multipart story. Which partially revolves around another gimmicky symbiote character. Then you make sure that you remind people even more of the 90's by bringing back one of your art teams from that era.....
But to be honest, there isn't much of anything they could do to make me come back to Spider-Man, so I am a bit biased.
Toronto
August 20, 2008 at 11:34 am
Looking forward to this issue, considering I dropped ASM after the Menace storyline...
tk.
August 20, 2008 at 12:29 pm
ASM, I want to like you! I may have to check this out, it's been a while, and I'm a huge fan of Romita Jr., especially when he's doing Spidey or Thor.
Blackjak
August 20, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Thekamisama: I reckon I've solved it actually... Mephisto is a Skrull! Once he's revealed and killed, the spell will break and we're back to Mr & Mrs Parker again...
Alan Coil
August 20, 2008 at 7:16 pm
I looked through the first few pages today, but didn't buy it.
The first 2 pages are a history of Spider-Man review (leaving out the Deal with the Devil), drawn in a fashion that evokes Ditko crossed with Tim Sale. Shortly after that, there is the usual JRJR trope of a character kicking another character with both feet, with the kicker having legs twice the length of the rest of their body. Anatomically impossible. It'd be nice if JRJR could learn some anatomy. Perhaps Dad could give him some lessons?
jaredninej9
August 21, 2008 at 7:14 am
I just read this comic book and it was sick for sure and I have been patient ASM since one more day while many have been buying it and my patience has been rewarded
s1rude
August 21, 2008 at 11:04 am
I got it, as it fits into my BND ASM purchasing scheme of only buying issues or arcs that have the names Slott, Bachalo or Martin on the cover. (Marvel wisely seems aware of this approach, because I've never feel lost despite not having a complete run of BND) And...s'okay. I liked the Waid/Granov back-up more than the opening pages - after 40+ years of being in print and billions in movie revenue, is there anyone reading this who needs an origin recap? - if the Anti-Venom thing involves Eddie, it has a better chance of making the story meaningful than just telling us he's cancer-free.
But "meaningful" stories are the weak point of BND for me. Enjoyable ones that remind me of the Spider-man of my youth? Check. Innovatively entertaining ones that cause me to feel compelled to purchase them in the 21st century? Not so much. Peter's dialogue and the multiple sub-plots are really well done and give me that warm nostalgic glow and all, but... JRJr's art looks good and produces the same effect, but... It's all so "been there, bought that" and I really doubt that I'm going to want to re-read these stories in the future. I have my run of 150 - 275 for that.
Adding to the never-that-interesting symbiote mythology probably doesn't help either, but we'll see. Also, are the T'Bolts the new Tony Stark? It feels like they figure in the plot of every other Marvel book these days.
So yeah, decent issue.
Blackjak
August 28, 2008 at 4:13 am
Something's bugging me... I've just seen the preview pages for #569... I do like JR JRs work generally...
BUT...
Why is he drawing Venom with eyes inside his eyes??? The big white bits ARE Venom's eyes... He's never had a cornea/iris/pupil thing in the middle before... Why now??