Review: We start off with Peter Parker and a few friends watching Peter's girlfriend Carlie playing some Roller Derby... Wow, do people STILL do that? Anyway, Mary Jane ponders how happy Peter seems to be without her, but figures that Peter deserves some happiness, even if it's not with her. From there we head to the sight of a space shuttle launch where Alistair Smythe and his many insect inspired henchmen(including the recently rebuilt Scorpion)plot the death of the space shuttle's pilot, John Jameson as a way to take a shot at Smythe and Scorpion's mutual enemy, J. Jonah Jameson. After the Roller Derby game is over, Jay Jameson(J. Jonah's father)tells Peter that his bosses at Horizon Labs wanted Peter to swing by the shuttle to give it a good look over to make sure it was safe for John Jameson to fly. The following day, Peter and a few other scientists from Horizon begin to check out the shuttle when Peter's spider-sense kicks in hard. Peter tells the other scientists that he had a headache and to NOT allow the shuttle to lift-off yet since he thought there was something wrong with it. The scientists call in to mission control and tell them not to begin the countdown, at which time the shuttle suddenly fires up. Alistair Smythe reveals that he had taken over mission control, and taunts J. Jonah Jameson, who was watching the launch from outside, telling him he was going to kill everybody he held dear before finally ending J. Jonah's life. With that, Smythe unleashes an army of insect creatures to attack J. Jonah and his father Jay, who had also arrived for the shuttle launch. Before the bug-people could harm anybody, Spidey swings over and attacks them, assisting the few members of the Air Force who were watching over the base. J. Jonah tells Spidey to let the Air Force handle the bug-people while Spidey does what he can to save John from the ship, which was just about ready to take off. Spidey manages to reach the ship before it gets off the ground, but it takes all of his might to not get thrown from the now flying shuttle. This issue ends with Scorpion(who stowed away on the shuttle)approaching the prone Spidey, telling him it was time to die.
Thoughts: Um, I really don't have any complaints here at all... The story was VERY sound(as I'd expect from anything written by the severely underrated Dan Slott), the art was good, and the dialogue read like a Spidey comic. I guess if I was forced to complain about something, I'd complain about the weird Mary Jane portions of this story, where she was longing for Peter, even though she was the one who dissolved their marriage with the help of Mephisto(or whatever the hell that story is now). I personally don't get why MJ is even in this series anymore. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE MJ as a character, but seriously, Marvel erased Peter and MJ's marriage. Why is she still here? Besides that though, this was a great first issue to this storyline, and I'll be looking forward to the second part.
Score: 9 out of 10.
Hey, those are MY patented moves!!!
Hey, those are MY patented moves!!!
Nice review. First time I've picked up ASM in over a year and it was great. No complaints.
ReplyDeleteWow, that's pretty similar to me actually! I dropped Amazing like two/three years ago and these two issues were the first issues of Amazing I've read since then! Gotta fully agree with you, this was a great comic that I was hard pressed to find anything to complain about.
ReplyDeleteHaha what a coincidence. What made you suddenly decide to pick it up? I just gave it a shot because I've been reading Jason Todd's positive reviews and figured what the hell.
ReplyDeleteJT was actually the reason I restarted Spidey too! He'd been talking the series up for months, and after his year end post I figured, "What the hell?" Although if it was still coming out three times a month I doubt I'd have given it another shot... Bi-monthly is fine, but three times a month at $4 each is a bit pricey for me!
ReplyDeleteSounds like Marvel owes me some money if I got em TWO new readers for ASM. Like you guys, I also enjoyed this issue. I really enjoyed Jonah being a jerk as always, but I love how he pretty much put all his faith in Spidey to save his son. He may be a hard-ass but deep down Jonah knows Spidey's a hero and that's what I love to see, when he's forced to admit it.
ReplyDeleteGive the Marvel offices a call and tell them they owe you some $, JT! I'll back you up! :P
ReplyDeleteThat scene with Jameson really WAS great! It shows that he KNOWS Spidey is a hero, but can't go back on his YEARS of Spidey bashing and admit that he made a mistake.
Haha I know you will X, hell they still owe YOU some money if I recall correctly.
ReplyDeleteExactly, I think that was one of the better scenes of the issue, because even Spidey was like "get it through your head, I'm a hero" and you know for Jonah to admit that and leave himself and his associates endangered means he respects Spidey and really cares for his son. And it's not too often you can get a deep portrayal of a character to shine through that quickly without dedicating a whole issue to them.
sups
ReplyDeletefirst i just found your blog and love it
your reviews and opinions are mostly exatly like my own
Question: what do you thank of Alistair Smythe
character wise and also what do you thank of his redesgined ultimate spider slayer form
in comparason to the old
http://www.comicvine.com/alistair-smythe/29-6292/all-images/108-202278/197317-alistair-smythe/105-222387/
and what did you thank of the obliteration of pete's and mj's wedding in brand new day
also one last thing if i may ask why dont you review any of the ultimate marvel universe comics
just curious have a great week :)
Thanks for the kind words!
ReplyDeleteLet's see... I think I like the new look better. It makes Smythe look more menacing, which I'd have to think is good for the character.
I HATED the destruction of Peter and MJ's marriage!!! I actually stopped reading Spidey comics for like 2/3 years after that happened because I was so angered by that!
My favorite Ultimate comic is Ultimate X, and that seems to be on like perminant hiatus of something. I do have TONS of Ultimates comics(from as far back as like Ultimates 3), but I've never gotten around to reading them... Maybe I should get to them one day!
cools cools
ReplyDeletei disagree on smythes new outfit
being better but i grew up loving him in the old form in the 90s spiderman series so im kinda biast
but i whole heartedly agree on the end to mj and petes wedding
IT WAS BULL MAN lol
hey wether or not you read the main chaos war book the 2 issue Chaos war: Thor series
was amazing i highly suggest it if you even have a semi entrest in thor
writing was just beyond great
and its a lose tie in so you dont have to be reading the main chaos war series to get whats going on
here is a review of it
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=user_review&id=2865
ok just putting that out there in case your interested thanks for replying to my previous comment
ttyl
No problem. I always try to respond to any comments that get left for me! I hear ya with Smythe's new look. The old look didn't bother me, but I'm cool with the new, updated look. Either way I'd be fine with him actually.
ReplyDeleteYeah, breaking up their marriage was just plain bad. I mean why the hell did it even need to be done? If people wanted to read about unmarried Spidey, then go read Ultimate Spider-Man! And the weirdest thing is the fact that MJ is STILL in the Amazing comics! I mean WHY break them up and then keep her around?! If you wanted to use her, then leave them married! Yeah, I HATED that they split them up, and especially HOW they did it!
Cool, thanks for the recommendation. I'm not following Chaos War at all, but I'd be willing to give the Thor tie-in a shot, especially since it's not really connected to the main story. I'll see if I can find it when I stop in the comic shop tommorrow.