Amazing Spider-Man #667 & Deadpool #41

After a quick pit stop over at DC, it's back to Marvel with the latest issues of Deadpool and Amazing Spider-Man... Unless you're reading this a few months from now, in which case these AREN'T the latest issues of these series...

Amazing Spider-Man #667:

Summary: This issue opens with Peter Parker's girlfriend, Carlie, revealing to him that she now had spider-powers. How did this happen? It appears that the Jackal, at the behest of a mystery woman, has managed to infect bedbugs throughout New York with some sort of disease(? Virus? Serum?) that transmits Spider-Man's abilities to others with their bite. While Spidey is trying to puzzle out what to make of his girlfriend's newfound powers, the Jackal has called a meeting with several mobsters who had also gained spider-powers. Jackal takes credit for their newfound abilities and tells the criminals that he wanted them to tear the city apart, but that he wanted them to do it dressed as Spider-Man himself. The following day, Jackal's army of evil fake Spideys take to the streets of Manhattan and begin to run amok. Spidey and Carlie hear about the carnage after dropping Aunt May and Jay Jameson off at the airport and Carlie decides to run off to help. Not wanting to see his girlfriend hurt, Spidey switches to his Spidey outfit and rushes towards the scene of the insanity. Before he arrives, several of New York's heroes(including a few Avengers and yes, Wolverine) have already arrived on the scene and are trying to take down dozens of villains with the powers of Spidey. By the time Spidey arrives the battle is in full effect and the heroes immediately confuse Spidey for one of the fake Spideys and attack him... HA! This issue ends with Spidey laid out in the street along with several of the fake Spideys.

Thoughts: This was the opening act of the Spider-Island storyline, and it was a good start. The dialogue was great, as anything written by Dan Slott usually is, the story was good, the art was really good(and kudos to Humberto Ramos and Carlos Cuevas for having to draw several different versions of the Spidey costume during those last couple of chaotic pages!), I really have no complaints. Sure, we could have learned more about Jackal's plans, but that's what the next few issues will detail I'd guess. Um, let's see, Jackal's dialogue was so good that he's rapidly climbing up my list of favorite Spidey villains, it was fun watching Spidey get pulped by his teammates, and one of the criminals was wearing Ben Reilly's old Scarlet Spider costume(the original one with the hood!). In other words, good stuff all around!

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Jackal = Awesome... Who knew?


Deadpool #41:

Summary: Deadpool is still in the nuthouse, and after beating the hell out of all the other loons, has become the de facto king of the crazyhouse. Well, except in the eyes of Foolkiller, who still wants to kill Deadpool and as such has been locked in solitary confinement by Dr. Whitby, who seemed to be getting more and more obsessed with Pool. Whitby decides to cure Pool of his lunacy by making him put together puzzles depicting scenes of his murders, with the idea being that by looking at the crime scenes from an impartial point of view Pool would be able to identify with his victims... Or something along those lines. However, instead of getting saner, the puzzles are making Pool tired all the time, as well as causing him to forget things. In other words, he's becoming very un-Deadpool-like. While Whitby frets over what to do about this turn of events, Deadpool receives a piece of mail from himself, containing a picture of Charlie Chaplin... The hell?! Pool is as baffled by that as I am, and this issue ends with some of the guards accidentally letting Foolkiller out of solitary during one of Pool's many naps.

Thoughts: Um, okay then. This was a LONG comic book... It wasn't like it was double-sized or anything, but it just took a long time to sift through. And the problem with comic books that are paced really slow? They tend to bore me. And sadly, that's exactly what this issue did. It just kept going, without really getting anywhere. Deadpool is still in the nuthouse and he's still crazy, he's just a different shade of insane now. Whitby still can't figure out how to cure Pool, and Foolkiller still wants to kill Deadpool. With the exception of Pool's slightly different madness, this issue held steady from the last. By the end, I was as tired as Deadpool!

Score: 6 out of 10.I see the words and then read them, like in a comic book.