Throwback Tuesday: Featuring Amazing Spider-Man #14

Hey hey, X here with yet another Throwback post.  Now, this was supposed to be a JT review week, but he came down with an "injury"...  Conveniently to his hand, so here I am, the Brady to JT's Bledsoe, saving this blog's season.  Or not.  Just go with it.  Anyway, this will be the first Throwback post from the Marvel side of the fence.  So sadly, it probably won't have nearly the same amount of sexism, racism, marble tournaments or magic cigars as the DC comics from the same time period had.  Sad, I know.  Nope, today it's time to check out some old school Spidey action.  And not just any kind of old school Spidey action, but the very first appearance of the Green Goblin!  This should be good...

Amazing Spider-Man #14(July 1964)

Summary: This issue gets started with the Green Goblin finishing off his "flying broomstick" and meeting with the Enforcers.  Gobby tells the Enforcers he had a plan to defeat Spider-Man, which would allow the Enforcers to avenge their previous loss to the Webslinger.  Next up, the Goblin heads to a big Hollywood producer(?!) and gets him to agree to make a Spider-Man movie starring Spidey, the Goblin and the Enforcers...  Um, okay, I guess...  Meanwhile, Peter Parker aces another test!  Huzzah!!  While at school, Peter hears about the Goblin flying around Manhattan, and decides to head out there to investigate.  Spidey meets up with the Goblin, who tells Spidey that the producer wanted him to star in a big Hollywood film.  Spidey decides to meet up with the producer at his hotel, and signs a $50,000 contract to make a Spider-Man movie...  If he just waited until the 90's, he could have made WAY more than $50,000!  From there, Peter Parker manages to get himself a flight to Hollywood thanks to J. Jonah Jameson, who wanted Peter to take pictures of Spidey while Spidey made the movie.  After a quick flight cross-country, the Goblin and the Enforcers(who Spidey thinks are just actors) trick Spidey into meeting them in the desert to practice their lines.  While alone in the desert, the Enforcers attack, and Spidey realizes he'd been tricked.  Under the Goblin's leadership, the Enforcers actually do a decent job, forcing Spidey to retreat into a nearby cave to catch his breath.  The Goblin and his goons follow, closing the cave entrance with a massive boulder, trapping Spidey inside with them.  Spidey manages to pick the hapless Enforcers off one by one, leaving only himself and the Goblin.  Unfortunately for Spidey, all the ruckus draws out the Hulk(really?!), who was hanging out in the cave.  Gobby stays high in the air, hoping the Hulk would finish Spidey off for him.  After a few pages of brawling, Spidey eventually tricks Hulk into bashing the boulder blocking the cave entrance, freeing Spidey.  The Goblin decides now was the ideal time to escape, but Spidey manages to snag Gobby's broomstick.  After the fight with the Enforcers and the Hulk, Spidey is too wasted and can't hang on to the broomstick, falling into a small spring below.  Spidey remains in the spring long enough to make Gobby think he was dead, and for the Hulk to head back into his cave.  Spidey hops out of the spring, makes sure the Enforcers get arrested by the army, and meets back up with the movie producer, who decides to scrap the Spider-Man movie to make a Hulk movie instead...  Big mistake there, buddy...  That Spidey movie is definitely gonna out-gross the Hulk one!  With that, Peter Parker heads back to New York, his Hollywood dreams over.  As for the Goblin, he promises that the world hadn't heard the last of him!

Thoughts: Hey, this was a good comic!  It makes you wonder what DC was thinking by pumping out the campiest comics imaginable, while Marvel was doing good comic stories...  Weird.  Anyway, there were a few things that made me scratch my head and say, "Wha-huh!?" so this wasn't exactly a perfect comic.  First off, why did the Goblin decide he was going to try to kill Spidey?  Where did that come from?  Did Norman Osborn just wake up one day, build a rather phallic looking flying broomstick and decide to go after Spider-Man just for kicks?  I mean, how does that work?!  And his plan was to trick Spidey into agreeing to star in a movie?  And then kill him??  That seems rather elaborate...  I guess he wanted to catch Spidey with his guard down, but still, to go through the trouble of finding a producer, selling him on the idea of a Spider-Man movie(where the unknown Goblin would be the villain), and then selling Spidey on starring in the movie seemed like a convoluted plan...  Besides that, the Hulk...  Really?!  I mean, THAT was one hell of an unnecessary guest appearance if I ever saw one!  Of all the caves in the US, Gobby traps Spidey in the cave the Hulk was hiding in?!  Although, to be fair, if this comic was written now, you KNOW Wolverine would have been in that cave...  Wolvie does love himself some gratuitous guest appearances.  Overlooking those minor quibbles, this was a good read...  I guess if I want to slag on old comics, I should stick with DC...

Umm, whatcha doin' there Gobby??

Amazing Spider-Man #700. Part 2!

This is my final review of the week, but not my final post of the week...  No, that will be the MAMMOTH Year End post JT and I are currently putting the finishing touches on.  So the faster I get through this issue, the sooner I can finish up the Year End post.  Let's see what the back-up stories from this comic are all about...

Amazing Spider-Man #700(Final Issue):

Summary: First up, we see the official proclamation making Sunday, October 14th, 2012 Spider-Man Day in New York City.  That's pretty cool, actually.  Next up is a story set in a future written by former Spidey scribe, JM DeMatteis.  The story apparently shows us an elderly Peter Parker(under an assumed name) trying to bond with his pain in the ass great-grandson.  Old Man Pete eventually wins the brat over by regaling him with some Spidey stories from Peter's past.  The punk doesn't necessarily believe his great-grandfather until the old man takes the kid out to do some web-slinging, ending this one.  Next up is a Black Cat story by Jen Van Meter and Stephanie Buscema.  Black Cat and Spidey want to have a romantic evening  but Spidey is called away to battle a giant robot.  The mayor sends the cops after Spidey(?), so Black Cat runs interference and distracts the cops so Spidey can concentrate on the robot.  Black Cat leads the cops on a wild goose chase and gets back home before Spidey, and the two get to have their date.  Next all 700 Spidey covers, followed by an extra, super-long letters page with responses from none other than Stan "The Man" Lee himself!  That's followed by a mess of creative team members talking about the first Spidey comic they read, and that warps this one up.

Thoughts: Amazing Spider-Man #692 this comic was not!  ASM #692 had a fantastic main story(one of my favorite single issues of 2012), and also had a phenomenal back-up.  This issue?  Yeah, not so much...  The two back up stories weren't very good...  Like, at all.  The first one had some nasty fat kid in it, and the second one was a bizarre Black Cat story...  The hell?!  The letters page was cool, as I am now, and will forever be a HUGE fan of Stan Lee, and I enjoyed reading about the creative staff discussing their first Spidey moment.  It's something I'm sure all of us comic fans could do with no problem.  For me, the first Spidey book I ever got my hands on was a back issue, Amazing Spider-Man #356.  It was the middle of a six part story, I had NO idea what the hell was going on, but yeah, I was bit by the Spidey bug from that point onward.  So there's my own Spidey memory.  Besides the letters page, I also enjoyed the cover gallery.  Those are always fun to look through.  But honestly?  For a comic that cost as much as this one did, I'd have hoped for a bit more...  Or hell, at least one good to great back-up story!  For all the back-up stuff, I'd give it a 5 out of 10 for a score.  I gave the main story a 9 out of 10, so if we average those two numbers out, we get the overall score for this entire comic book.  And that score is...

Score: 7 out of 10.

Okay then...

Amazing Spider-Man #700. Part 1!

And this is the big one!  Both in story and in price...  Damn Marvel...  Anyway, this post will deal with the main story and the insanity that should bring us to Superior Spider-Man #1.  What will happen to Peter?  Who will be Superior Spder-Man?  Will Doc Ock get his ultimate revenge?  That's what we'll be finding out today.  On Saturday I'll review the back-up stories, but right now?  It's Spidey time.

Amazing Spider-Man #700(Final Issue):

Summary: This issue gets underway with Peter Parker(actually Otto Octavius), getting frisky with a surprised Mary Jane.  MJ seems fine with this, but is surprised that "Peter" was wearing the Spidey outfit underneath his clothes.  That angers "Peter" who starts to act more Otto than Peter, which alarms MJ.  Before things progress, "Peter" gets word that Doc Ock(actually the real Peter Parker, mind-switching is SO hard to write about!) had escaped from prison and realizes that he has to do something...  That something?  Catch a plane to Belgium, which would keep "Peter" away from "Ock" long enough for "Ock" to die...  Good plan!  Meanwhile, Trapster manages to get "Ock" up and running, but not before "Ock" nearly croaks.  After a pep talk from(who else!) the spirit of Uncle Ben, "Ock" is ready to fight back and reclaim his body.  His first step is to get that golden octo-bot that originally swapped his mind with Otto's, setting this chain of events into motion.  Back at the airport, "Peter" catches a news report where Mayor Jameson tears Dr. Octopus apart, stating that he was a loser who never accomplished anything.  That makes "Peter" pause and reconsider his initial plan to simply leave until "Ock" died.  Next up we head to the police station, where "Ock" tells his goons(Scorpion, Hydro-Man and Trapster) to hold the cops off while he steals the octo-bot, but makes sure to warn the goons not to harm the cops.  That makes Trapster leery of "Ock"...  "Ock" manages to snag the gold octo-bot, but is confronted by his... um, Peter's... um, his former girlfriend, Carlie.  "Ock" tries to reason with Carlie and tells her about the whole mind-switching thing and tries to explain that he was the real Peter Parker.  Carlie disregards that and figures Doc Ock had figured out who Spidey was so she shoots at him(!), but ends up getting struck with her own bullet when "Ock" makes the bullet ricochet off of his metal arms.  After seeing that Carlie would live, "Ock" collects his men and beats a hasty retreat.  From there, "Spider-Man"(actually Doc Ock in case you were wondering...) collects all of Peter Parker's friends and relatives and stores them together...  Dun dun dun!!!  "Ock" and Trapster begin working on the golden octo-bot, with "Ock" planning on reversing it to return his mind to it's rightful body.  Unfortunately, "Spidey" calls "Ock's" secret base and tells him that a) he had all of Peter Parker's friends and family in one place to keep them safe from him and b) that he had sent the cops to "Ock's" base, since he obviously knew where it was.  Running out of time, "Ock" sends Scorpion and Hydro-Man to deal with the cops while him and Trapster put the finishing touches on the octo-bot.  Before letting Hydro-Man and Scorpion go though, "Ock" once again warns them not to harm any of the police officers  something Trapster notes.  While working on the octo-bot, Trapster manages to figure out that it was a mind-swapping device(which fits SO well, because Trapster IS quite intelligent, something people tend to overlook), and figures that "Ock" was planning on swapping his dying mind with Trapster's body...  Close, but not quite.  With the octo-bot complete, "Ock" glues Trapster to the wall with his own gun and tells Scorpion and Hydro-Man that they were leaving.  The trio head to Avengers Tower, with "Ock" figuring if Trapster could figure out what the golden octo-bot really was, the geniuses on the Avengers(Iron Man, Hank Pym, Beast, etc) would surely know what it was and realize that Doc Ock had stolen Spidey's body.  However, "Spidey" is ahead of "Ock" again, as he's made sure he'd be the only one at Avengers Tower, having sent the Avengers after several octo-robots.  "Spidey" reveals to "Ock" that all of Peter Parker's loved ones were at the Tower before setting off the Tower's defense systems.  "Spidey" makes sure to announce that Mayor Jameson was there, stating exactly where he was, which leads to Hydro-Man and Scorpion rushing off to attack him, with "Spidey" telling "Ock" he'd make sure to save Peter's family and friends...  The Horizon Lab guys manage to take care of Hydro-Man, but have no answer for the enraged Scorpion.  Realizing that Scorpion wanted to kill him, Jameson tells the rest of the people in the room to run while Scorpion took him out.  Wanting to prolong Jameson's torment, Scorpion decides to go after Jameson's father and Aunt May first, which leads to "Spidey" attacking the villain, warning him away from her, much to his own surprise.  Scorpion takes a swipe at "Spidey", which only serves to piss him off, leading to Spidey punching Scorpion so hard that he literally knocks Scorpion's jaw clean off his head(!), much to Jameson's delight...  HA!!  "Ock" is appalled to see his body used in such a brutal manner, and grabs "Spidey" with his metal arms.  "Spidey" responds by shooting impact webbing at Glory Grant, Max Modell and Mary Jane.  Realizing that there was no other way to stop Doc Ock from wreaking terrible havoc with his body, "Ock" flings himself and "Spidey" out the window of the Tower, leading to the two of them free-falling to the pavement below.  "Spidey" manages to create a web-cushion underneath the two, saving them both.  However, "Ock" sends the golden octo-bot free to put his mind back where it belonged.  "Spidey" had planned for that eventuality and had coated his mask with Carbonadium plating!  Huh.  Game, set and match. I'd say...  "Spidey" knocks "Ock" to the ground and prepares to drop a car on him, ending "Ock"s" threat to him once and for all.  Before he can strike the killing blow though, the golden octo-bot begins to beam Peter Parker's memories to both "Spidey" and "Ock's" heads, forcing "Spidey" to live through every moment of Peter Parker's life.  Every success, every failure, everything.  Otto is surprised to see that even after everything he had done, Peter would still save his life because that's who he is, a hero.  And having lived through it all(kind of), Otto doesn't feel he can bear the weight of being such a hero.  A dying Peter tells him that he can, because with great power comes great responsibility, which resonates with Otto.  Otto promises Peter that he would look after all of his friends and would strive to be a worthy Spider-Man.  Upon hearing that, Doc Ock's body gives out and Peter Parker dies...  This issue ends with Otto Octavius declaring that he would use his genius and ambition to be a greater Spider-Man than Peter ever was, a Superior Spider-Man.

Thoughts: Wow, that was a swerve I didn't see coming!  I figured somebody was going to die here, and all of my instincts were telling me that somebody was going to be Jameson.  Well, and Doc Ock, but that goes without saying.  But yeah, I figured Jameson would be the guy to kick the bucket, NOT Peter Parker!!  So what did I think?  I thought this was a fantastic swerve and a strong comic book.  I'm sure Marvel fanboys the world over are slamming their heads into walls and ranting and raving, but honestly, does ANYBODY REALLY think this is the end of Peter Parker?  Come on.  The only real question here is, how long before Peter ends up coming back?  If anything, this is kind of like when Bruce Wayne broke his back and Jean Paul Valley took over as Batman.  I can only imagine how incensed the DC fanboys were back in the day, but we eventually got Bruce Wayne back.  Much like the Batman example, I figure Superior Spider-Man will end up being too brutal and will cross a line or two(as did Jean Paul), which will eventually lead to the Amazing Spider-Man returning to throw the pretender from his throne(as Bruce did).  The only real question is this; how does Peter come back?  There are a few ways if you really think about it...  My way sees Jackal realizing that Superior Spider-Man wasn't HIS Spider-Man, leading to him cloning a new body for Peter and shoving his memories into his skull via the golden octo-bot.  But there are tons of other ways Peter could return...  His brainwaves end up overriding Otto's and he gets his body back, his mind went to a cloned Otto Octavius body as per some forgotten plan Otto had in place, hell, there are dozens of ways a talented writer like Dan Slott can write himself out of this corner.  And anyway, I've seen comic characters come back from way worse than this!  So basically what I'm saying is take a breath, calm down and enjoy the story.  It was good!  Peter actually lost here!  Dr. Octopus got the huge victory!  That's something we haven't seen in what, like 50 years of Spider-Man comic books?  There was so much good here, Jameson's reaction to Otto destroying Scorpion, Otto seemingly reforming, Peter finally getting to rest, and other things I'm not even mentioning.  Hell, I'm super curious to see where things go from here.  What kind of a Spider-Man will Otto Octavius make?  Basically, don't think of this comic as the end of Peter Parker.  It's not.  It's simply the beginning of something new.

Score: 9 out of 10.

Game over, Peter...

Amazing Spider-Man #699

Hey everyone, JT here, the quicker, better talking, better blogging, better LOOKING, all around just better blogger. And, now that my grand introduction is out of the way, let's get to the reviewing shall we? Today's review is the third to last issue of Amazing Spider-Man (thanks to 699.1) and after the huge revelations of #698, let's see how things worked out for... Doc Ock in this issue.

Amazing Spider-Man #699

Summary: We start things off with Peter dying in Dock Ock's body, but luckily the doctor's on the raft save him due to their Hippocratic oath, but make it known they aren't happy about doing so. From there, Peter frantically thinks of a way he can get his body back, but not before thinking of all the evil that Otto can do as him, not only as Spidey but as Peter Parker as well. He then realizes that since Otto has his memories, he may be able to get Otto's memories as well. Turns out he's right, and after living through a backhand Otto took from his dad as a child, and a horrible memory that involved Otto, Aunt May, and pre-wedding...festivities, Peter finds what he's looking for, how Doc Ock got into his mind. Turns out when Peter used he helmet that Doc Ock used to control his Ock-Bots, most recently in Ends of the Earth, he was giving Doc access to his mind, and he used the last bits of his time to make a Gold Ockbot (which we'd seen, and which Madame Web warned Peter about a few issues ago) to inject Spidey for the switch, which it did after the Hobgoblin fight, when Pete's Spider-Sense was still on the fritz. Peter uses Doc Ock's mind to get the Gold Ockbot moving again and manages to get it to a computer where he basically offers six million dollars to people who can help him break out of the Raft, a risky idea but the only way Peter can escape. While he does this, the Lizard tells Doctor Octopus, since he's supposed to die soon anyway, that he's actually found a cure, and he's Curt Conners in the Lizard's body, fulfilling his penance, but he needed to tell someone, so who better than the dying man? Peter's gambit pays off when Hydro-Man, Scorpion and The Trapster (Formerly known as Paste-Pot Pete) show up and break Doctor Octopus out, hooking him up to a portable life support machine that The Trapster made. They then ask Ock who's next, as the plan is to break out two more people, thus making a new Sinister Six. Alistair Smythe and Morbius plead to be released by Peter (as Ock) says no one else is broken out, but he offers the Lizard a chance, who of course turns him down, now that Connors is in control. The...um... Fearful Four I guess, escape from the Raft via a portal and the issue ends as Doctor Octopus says they need to catch Spider-Man, and they need him alive.

Thoughts: Slott does it again! The last issue of Spidey was genius, we got a full issue of Otto as Peter, now we got to see Peter as Otto and how he dealt with the situation. The thing I love most is that there's a time limit now, Peter doesn't have long to try to get his body back, and that's the interesting thing. The fact he had to rely on villains to break him out shows how bad things have gotten for Peter, hell, even Paste Pot Pete was there! Also, I loved that Slott mentioned their meeting, which took place in the excellent Human Torch/Amazing Spider-Man mini-series he wrote. Another interesting thing about this issue, the whole Connors/Lizard thing... I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that Superior Spider-Man has claws for scaling walls... maybe there's a relation there with The Lizard controlled Connors? Once again Slott gave us an issue where he answered questions and made us ask even more, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.It was as good as the last issue, but it was damn close.

Score: 9/10 

Doc Ock (Peter): Dear lord, my life in the hands of Paste-Pot Pete. How does this get any worse?

Amazing Spider-Man #698

Hey guys and gals,JT here with a HUGE review on tap, that Dan Slott said would set up things for ASM #700 and beyond, and he was not overreacting. No more delaying, let's get straight to it.

Amazing Spider-Man #698

Summary: We kick things off on the Raft with the SWAT team raining down on Doctor Octopus' cell because he's finally speaking and showing activity after being basically comatose for the last few weeks. As they move in, Doctor Octopus mumbles "Peter Parker" as we see a gold Ockbot crawling along the top of a building. From there we see Spidey, happily web-slinging around New York until he's called to stop a crime, which he does by knocking a robber loopy. Turns out the robber is just a guy in a costume trying to avoid a harsher jail sentence since super-criminals have more leniency than an armed robber, but that didn't stop Spidey from knocking the guy out like he was punching the Incredible Hulk. Spidey flees the scene and heads home, commenting on how he's got a nice apartment, boyish good looks and more, when he notices a scar on his face he got during the Hobgoblin fight, which he vaguely remembered getting, then notes he "probably heals faster than most". From there Spidey listens to his voicemails, reminding him to stop at MJ's club (which causes him to remember them meeting for the first time and he says they should get back together), a message from Jay Jameson reminding Peter to come see Aunt May at the hospital (to which Peter refers to May as "That dear sweet woman." and lastly a message from Max Modell confirming Pete's evaluation at work. Peter heads to meet with Max and basically tells him that all of his experiments thus far have been child's play, and Peter has even better tricks up his sleeve. Peter then heads to his lab and mixes up a new batch of web fluid, remarking how incredible it is he came up with such a formula while only a Sophomore in high school. Afterward, Peter stops at MJ's club and tells her they should be together, he's tired of taking the little steps they have taken in the past. MJ is caught off-guard by Peter's presumptuousness and remembers she said she's go see Aunt May at the hospital and Peter says he's going too, and as MJ goes to get her coat, Peter winks at some nearby women. Peter and MJ visit Aunt May to see her first steps since the accident, and Peter tries to talk to MJ about getting back together but he's signaled on his Avengers ID card and has to go to the Raft, Jay tries to tell him he needs to be with his family but MJ vouches for Peter's job being busy and needing him for a big project so he leaves, but Aunt May comments to Jay that Peter seemed flirty with MJ and she may finally get some grandchildren. Spider-Man heads to the raft and meets with the Avengers when he's told Doctor Octopus has been asking for him, as Peter Parker. Spidey goes to meet with him one on one and Doctor Octopus whispers "Peter Parker". Spidey unmasks and says "Yes, I'm Peter Parker." to which a crying Doctor Octopus says he's Peter Parker. Spidey says not anymore, and reveals that at some point, he switched bodies with Peter Parker, and now Doctor Octopus, with all of Peter's memories and his body, plans to live Peter's life while Peter dies in his old, withered body, and Ock won't even reveal to Peter how he did this incredible trick. Peter (in Ock's body) flat-line's as the Medics come in and try to save him, meanwhile the NEW Spider-Man leaves, remarking he's got better things to do with the rest of his life.
 
Thoughts: Holy....shit. Who saw THAT coming? This issue blew my mind, so thanks Dan Slott for doing something amazing that literally shocked me. I was speechless for a few minutes after reading this comic, and seeing Peter in Ock's body, helpless and crying that he was Peter Parker was one of the saddest things I've read in a comic. Now there's a ton of ways this can go, obviously the morality that if Peter had let Doctor Octopus die, he could've avoided all of this. There's also the question of how long has this been in play? Did this start when he put on Ock's helmet at the end of Ends of Earth? How did Ock do this and how long has he planned it? Was there nothing Julia Carpenter could do to help Peter? The body change had to happen between this issue and #697 because Doctor Octopus seems to not remember how he got that scar for a second, when Peter got it fighting Kingsly and Urich. I'm interested to see if Ock stays Spidey, I mean we know Superior Spider-Man has a different Spidey but WILL it still be Octopus? And what happens now that Peter Parker is supposedly dead, although the medics could save him. Regardless of all of that, this issue was perfect. The reveal made a ton of sense and warranted a re-read as SOON as I finished it, which explained so many things. This was a perfect comic, and definitely one of the best single issues I've read, not just based on the shock value of the ending but the way it was crafted to show you that while this was Peter, it also wasn't. I look forward to seeing what Slott does from here.

Score: 10/10 

Spider-Man: I've got better things to do with the rest of my life.

Amazing Spider-Man #697

Wow, we are a scant three issues away from Spidey #700!  JT and I are gonna have fun deciding which one of us gets the honor of doing THAT review!  As always, I'm expecting great things from this issue, as we begin the final countdown to #700...

Amazing Spider-Man #697:

Summary: Peter Parker and Max Modell manage to get to into Norman Osborn's Goblin Vault, mainly due to the fact that the two Hobgoblins chasing after them couldn't seem to work together.  Hobby #1(Roderick Kingsley) warns the two scientists to come out of the Vault since he had a bunch of explosives following Hobby #2's(Phil Urich) girlfriend and Peter's friend, Norah Winters.  Hobby #2 is fine with that...  HA!  Peter decides to don one of the Spidey costumes that Osborn had been using for target practice in his Vault and tells Max that he would hold off the two Hobgoblins with a combination of Spidey equipment and Green Goblin tech, while Max gets to Norah.  With that, Spidey attacks the two bickering Hobgoblins and Max sets the self-destruct in the Vault before rushing off.  Spidey manages to keep the Goblins occupied long enough for the self-destruct to destroy all of Osborn's toys, while Max rescues Norah.  With his spider-sense acting up all issue long(due to Kingpin's spider-jammers), Spidey takes that opportunity to make good an escape from the Goblins, while Hobby #1 zaps Hobby #2 with some electricity, causing the both of them to tumble into the river.  When the two emerge, Hobby #1 says that he wouldn't kill Hobby #2, provided Hobby #2 gave him a cut of his Hobgoblin money.  Hobby #2, not having much of a choice, agrees.  From there, we learn that Norman Osborn had disappeared from his hospital bed, ending this issue.

Thoughts: Thank you, Dan Slott!  Norman Osborn belongs in a Spider-Man comic, hassling Spider-Man!  Not going toe-to-toe with the freaking Avengers(Bendis!!)!!!  If Norman IS indeed up and about(which would make sense as we roll towards #700), I'm glad it looks like he'll be back where he belongs.  As for this issue, it was good.  It wasn't great, probably because I'm so amped up for the next few issues leading into Spidey #700, that I just wanted this storyline to conclude.  But yeah, with this story out of the way, all roads now lead to issue #700, and it should be a hell of a great trip!

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Can't all of you Goblins just get along???

Amazing Spider-Man #695

We begin the march to issue #700, the final issue of this series...  You know, until the inevitable Amazing Spider-Man #1, probably due out come January.  But that's down the road, let's see what kind of awesome Dan Slott has for us this issue.

Amazing Spider-Man #695

Summary: This issue gets started with Hobgoblin and Kingpin's Hand ninjas attacking some members of the Goblin Cult, who have a suitcase Kingpin is keen on getting.  Spidey joins the battle, and Stone, the turncoat from Horizon Labs, activates his anti-Spider-Sense device, which actually enhances Spidey's Spider-Sense.  Once Hobby sees which way the wind is blowing, he gets out of town, leaving Spidey, and the suitcase, behind.  Meanwhile, Madame Web apparently sees a vision of her own death coming really soon.  Spidey drops the suitcase off at Horizon and switches to his Peter Parker identity, at which time he finds Sally Floyd interviewing Horizon head honcho, Max Modell.  It turns out some of the blabbermouths at Horizon had let it slip that Peter had been Spidey's tech guy, and that she intended on reporting it...  Unless Spidey could convince Robbie Robertson not to run the story.  Long story short, Robbie had already posted the story to the Daily Bugle's online site.  And then things get worse for Spidey, as Stone activates his Spider-Sense machine again, which causes Peter to sense trouble everywhere, in the middle of the Daily Bugle office.  Also in that office?  Phil Urich, you know, the Hobgoblin.  And then Madame Web sends her astral projection into the Daily Bugle offices to warn Spider-Man that some trouble was right behind him.  Peter decides to get the hell out of there before anything else happens, and has great difficulty walking down the sidewalk since he was sensing danger everywhere.  Once Peter leaves, Phil switches to his Hobby attire and this issue ends with him drugging Peter and kidnapping him.

Thoughts: Okay, I don't think for a second that Hobby believes that Peter is Spider-Man.  So let me just put that out there right off the bat.  Instead, I figure he kidnapped Peter due to that report that said he was Spidey's tech guy.  What better way to get into Spidey's head than to kidnap Spidey's tech guy.  Not only that, but Hobby can take Peter to Kingpin, who can then force Peter to perfect the Spider-Sense dampening device Kingpin had Stone working on.  It all makes so damn much sense!  There was also some stuff with the presumed to be dead former Hobgoblin, Roderick Kingsley, returning to Manhattan to take back his mantle from Phil.  All in all, great stuff here, as usual.  I can't wait to see what Dan Slott has in store for Spidey(and us!) as the march to #700 continues.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.

Oh that wacky Peter...

Amazing Spider-Man #694

Hola comic readers, JT here with the first review of the new comic week, and who better to start things off than the biggest name in Marvel Comics? One hell of a hero that I hope is in the next Avengers movie... that's right, I'm talking about Alpha! And I guess his sidekick Spider-Man as well. In the last issue, Spidey decided he was going to stop Alpha, will he succeed? Let's find out right now.

Amazing Spider-Man #694

Summary: We start this issue with Alpha skipping his weekly check in with Peter Parker a Horizon labs to go to a appearance in Tokyo. We find out that Peter has been in his lab for days trying to come up with a way to cure Alpha because he's too dangerous, and that Pete hasn't gone out as Spidey or helped the FF or Avengers in a few days. He's even missed seeing off Aunt May, as we see her and Jay Jameson boarding his private jet. Seems like they could've waited since it's his private jet... but whatever. Peter decides to try to rush to see Aunt May off and dresses as Spidey so he can web-sling through town, when he runs into the Avengers, who need his help taking on the giant villain Terminus. Captain America tells Spidey to call in Alpha, as they need a big gun, but Spidey says he doesn't think it's a good idea. Cap persists so Spidey calls Alpha who jumps at the chance and flies from Tokyo to Manhattan in seconds, and attacks Terminus. Spidey is shocked because Alpha's only limitation was that he could only use one power at time, yet now he's used Super-Speed and Flight, showing he now has no limitations. Terminus deflects Alpha's blast and it causes every aircraft within a ten mile radius to shut down. Spidey has Captain Marvel sling him towards Jay's Jet as the rest of the Avengers head off to save the falling planes. Spidey enters the jet and tries to help Jay and May land the plane but the landing gear is stuck, so Spidey manually pushes it out with his feet as they land. After the rough landing, J. Jonah Jameson arrives on the scene and surprisingly thanks Spider-Man for saving his father and his mother-in-law. Back with Terminus, the Avengers defeated Terminus and Alpha fled the scene. The Avengers try to figure out what to do with Terminus and his energy lance but Spidey asks for the chance to study it, and maybe he can cure Alpha. Next we see Spidey calling Alpha to Horizon labs and he has him step into the chamber that Peter uses to check Alpha's power levels. Spidey turns it on and notes that he figured out a way to de-power Alpha, because yesterday was a test and Alpha failed miserably. Alpha begins to cry as Spidey explains his days as Alpha are in the past, and he's to go back to living with his parents and going to school. He'll be teased and laughed at but eventually everyone will forget, but he'll know and Spidey will know that a little bit of power is still in him and always growing, and maybe someday they'll try it again, but with a mask, and not as Alpha, because that's over. Afterwards, Peter visits Aunt May in the hospital and learns that because her leg was injured in the landing, she'll have to use a cane to walk for the rest of her life. Peter convinces Aunt May to move back to New York, to which Jay agrees, and just like that, Jay and May are back. The issue comes to a close as we see Kingston arriving back in New York as well, and he goes to a shipping container and picks up a bag, pulling out his Hobgoblin mask and stating that "he's home."


Thoughts: Dan Slott is great, first things first, Alpha has become a hell of a character after only a Month. And the little things that make this issue even cooler, like the "1 Month of Alpha" label in the corner, like it's a milestone that should be celebrated is awesome. This issue was great because Spidey had to stop Alpha, he was getting way to powerful, and the way he was stopped means he can always come back in the future, and he's a good enough character that he should be brought back somewhere down the line. I don't care much for May returning, she seems to get in the way a lot, but other than that I really enjoyed this issue. Seeing Jameson thank Spidey was surprising but awesome, and seeing how heart-broken Alpha was to lose his powers was great in reminding you that although he comes off as an ass, he was still just a kid. Now with the Hobgoblin storyline coming up as we get closer to issue 700, to say I'm excited is an understatement.

Score: 9/10 

Alpha's Answering Machine: If this is a girl, leave your measurements.

Amazing Spider-Man #693

Hmm, it's been a while since I actually did a post...  Let's see if I remember how I'm supposed to do this.  Okay, intro first.  The last issue of this comic ruled in ways I'd forgotten comic books can rule.  The character Alpha, who was introduced last issue, was fantastic.  Speaking of fantastic, this issue's cover rules pretty damn hard, but then a lot of the covers from the books I picked up this week are damn good(I'm looking at YOU, Deadpool #60!).  So yeah, if I had scored last issue, it would have come away with an EASY 10.  Let's take a gander at this issue and hope it lives up to my crazy hype.

Amazing Spider-Man #693:

Summary: So Alpha managed to singlehandedly take down Giganto last issue, no thanks to his "sidekick" Spider-Man, who the media figures was there to add color and moral support...  HA!!  *sigh* I've missed that "HA!!"...  Anyway, being the greatest hero ever(in his mind at least), Alpha leaves the lesser heroes, you know, Spidey and the FF, to clean up Giganto while he heads home.  Mr. Fantastic reiterates to Spidey that Alpha is Spidey's responsibility, which leads to a depressed Spidey(as Peter Parker, naturally) heading to Mary Jane's club.  MJ tries to cheer Spidey up, since, in Spidey's mind, Alpha is what he could have been had Uncle Ben's death not shaped him into the hero he is today.  While talking to MJ though, Spidey realizes that Alpha's identity is public and rushes off...  At Alpha's house, his girlfriend catches him making out with a cheerleader and storms off, even though Alpha tries to explain that he had no choice, since she WAS a cheerleader...  Again, HA!!  At this point, Jackal and one of his Spiderzons show up at Alpha's house, thus upping the awesomeness quotient of this issue tenfold.  Well aware of Alpha's inability to use more than one power at a time, the Spiderzon defeats Alpha, and Jackal kidnaps him, the cheerleader, Alpha's parents AND his agent.  Spidey arrives on the scene too late and rushes back to Horizon Labs, where Max Modell helps Spidey(as Peter again) create a device that could hone in on Alpha.  Spidey heads to an abandoned schoolhouse and is jumped by a mess of Spiderzons and is defeated.  The Spiderzons take Spidey to Jackal, who is his regular hilarious self, telling Spidey that Spidey had "out-mad-scienced" Jackal when Spidey created Alpha, and as such Jackal wanted to clone Alpha and create an army of Alpha clones that would do his bidding.  With that, Spidey reveals that he had faked his defeat at the hands of the Spiderzons to get closer to Jackal and attacks Jackal, destroying Jackal's body with one punch...  But wait, that was a clone, and another Jackal walks into the room, releasing the Alpha clones from their tanks, telling them to destroy Spidey.  Unfortunately for Jackal, the Alpha clones don't have Alpha's powers since the Parker Particles didn't alter Alpha's DNA.  With that plan a bust, Jackal goes to Plan B, steal Alpha's powers.  Jackal heads to a computer, and to distract Spidey tells one of the Spiderzons to kill his hostages.  With Spidey distracted, Jackal goes about draining Alpha of his powers, even though that would kill Alpha.  Spidey tells Alpha to fight out of his bonds to save his family, and Alpha does end up freeing himself, but not for his family, for himself and his fear of losing his powers.  Now free, Alpha destroys his clones, so Jackal turns to Plan C, press the big red button, which destroys Jackal and all of his Spiderzons, leaving no trace of where the real Jackal was holed up.  You can't say Jackal didn't come into this with plenty of plans.  With that, Alpha realizes that he still has a lot to learn, which cheers Spidey up...  Until Spidey realizes Alpha was talking to his agent.  Alpha's agent ends up getting him emancipated from his parents and sets him up in a penthouse, where he spends his time drinking and fooling around with models.  This issue ends with Spidey hard at work at Horizon Labs, doing everything he possibly could to come up with a way to strip Alpha of his powers since he was, to Spidey, not worthy of them.

Thoughts: Come on, it was Alpha AND Jackal...  In the same comic!  How couldn't I love it?!  Alpha continued being self-absorbed and an all-around jerk, while Jackal was his regular crazy, funny self.  I will admit that I was a tiny bit let down by the end of this one when Alpha blew Spidey off and didn't take Spidey up on his offer of more training, but to be honest, that kind of fit Alpha's whole deal.  He was a regular kid who gained insane power.  After being ignored by his schoolmates, his own parents and girls, he now had everybody throwing themselves at him.  What does he do?  He goes with it.  In a way it's more realistic than your usual superhero origin(starts out as regular guy, gains powers, becomes selfless), which is probably what I'm enjoying about the whole Alpha thing.  If I was in his place and gained those powers would I become Spidey or Alpha?  If I'm being honest with myself, I'd almost definitely become Alpha.  As for this storyline going forward, there are still a couple of different ways Dan Slott can go...  Alpha DOES become the responsible hero Spidey wants him to be.  Spidey does manage to drain Alpha's powers, leaving him normal again.  Spidey tries and fails to drain Alpha's powers, turning Alpha into a super-villain in the process.  Spidey does drain Alpha's powers, leading to him siding with one of Spidey's enemies(Jackal?) to get revenge.  Alpha ends up just becoming his own kind of hero, regardless of what Spidey wants.  Or of course something else altogether.  But needless to say, there are tons of ways this story can go, and you know I'll be eager to find out what happens next...  Man, this review was way longer than I anticipated it being...  Methinks I'm gonna have to try to tone down the verbiage going forward...

Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.

I'd forgotten how awesome Jackal is...

JT's Take: Amazing Spider-Man #692

Hey Todd Squad, JT here and man oh man, I am falling apart at the seams! Haha, I didn't even have time to get a NCD post up yesterday, so I guess instead of letting you guys know what I picked up, I'll surprise you guys with a review until I run out of this week's comics. I decided to review ASM first due to it's 50th Anniversary and it's huge price tag! This book was six bucks, so it had better have some great stuff in it. So let's see shall we?

Amazing Spider-Man #692

Summary: This mega-sized issue of our favorite arachnid has three Spider-Man based stories. In the first story we see a kid named Andy Maguire, who goes to school and is content with being a nobody, he's not a jock, a geek, a stoner, he's just there. He coasts by with average grades, has a mom and dad that are too busy for him and he's basically just an average kid. When his school visits Horizon labs and to see a new experiment by Peter Parker, who plans on debuting Parker Particles, something goes awry and the kid pushes a girl out of the way of a blast, and when he's hit, it gives Andy super powers. Unlike Peter Parker's origin, everyone see's and knows Andy has powers. Peter feels horrible that he could've killed someone, and Andy's parents quickly try to sue Horizon labs. Modell reaches out to the superhero/genius community and has tests run by Hank "Beast" McCoy, Reed "Mr. Fantastic" Richards, Hank "Giant Man" Pym, and Tony "Iron Man" Stark. We find out that Andy can fly, shoot energy beams, has super strength, super speed and force fields, but he can only use one power at a time. Reed then pulls Peter aside and tells him that Andy's powers will continue to grow, and how Hulk, The Phoenix and The Sentry are Omega level threats, Andy is currently an Alpha-Level threat. Modell assigns Peter to work with Andy to help make him a costume and gear like he does for Spidey, as they decide to hire Andy as their spokesman, Alpha. Andy quickly agrees, and his parents due as well when they realize how much money they can make off of him. Alpha wastes no time using his powers to show off to his fellow students, which rubs Peter the wrong way. Pete decides to take Alpha under his wing as Spidey and enter him into the Sidekick program, and teach him what to do and what not to do. When Spidey gets a call from the Fantastic Four to help out against Giganto, Spider-Man tells Alpha to stay put as, he's not ready yet. Alpha of course doesn't listen and ends up knocking out Giganto and getting all the glory, plus he steals Ben's catchphrase. A cocky Alpha then basks for the news cameras as Mr. Fantastic and Spidey talk about what a monster Spider-Man has mistakenly created. This story comes to a close as we see none other than The Jackal (!) watching Alpha, as he plans on doing what he does best, this time to the young hero Alpha.


Thoughts: I decided I'd just review the main story for this review, but don't get me wrong, the other two stories, especially the third one about Peter trying to make it to a meeting, were great, fun reads. As for this issue, I wasn't really looking forward to this storyline, but I'm really enjoying it. Alpha is kind of a less homicidal version of Damian Wayne, and he's a fun character. When he proclaimed that Spidey was his sidekick I couldn't help but laugh. I'm wondering where the character goes from here and what Spidey can do to get through to him. Plus, seeing The Jackal reappear was definitely unexpected, I can't wait to see how this story plays out.

Score: 10/10 

Alpha: Put me in their "Sidekick Program" and everything. Even gave me Spider-Man as a sidekick! Cool, right?

JT's Take: Amazing Spider-Man #691

Hey guys and gals, today's review is the last issue of the current storyline chronicling The Lizard. Let's see how Spidey deals with a Human Lizard and a ton of Lizard humans... or whatever.

Amazing Spider-Man #691

Summary: This issue starts off with Spidey getting ready for a fight, but he doesn't need to since the giant lizards are docile, considering Lizards and humans get alone fine. Hm... that was a twist. After hearing gunshots, Peter finds Carlie, who used them as warning shots for the Lizards thatt were near her but they're also docile. Peter see's Connors, who immediately injects himself with the Lizard formula, because he refuses to rot in a prison. Now the Lizard is pissed at Spidey because he wanted to stay human and enjoy things and couldn't, so a new and improved, stronger and faster Lizard starts to attack, but Spidey gets him away before he transforms fully, or he'd have control over the other Lizards. While Spidey and The Lizard fight in the streets, the Horizon Labs crew works on an antidote for the transformed colleagues, using Morbius' cure as a base. They come up with a cure and get it to Spidey, as The Lizard stops attacking people because he see's every kid as Billy Connors, every adult as Martha Connors, and he see's Spidey as Curt Connors. Spider-Man takes advantage of the Lizard's confusion and stabs him through the skull with the cure in a hypodermic harpoon needle. Spidey immediately regrets his decision, thinking he killed the Lizard, but the Lizard weakly tells Spidey that he failed and he isn't human. Spidey webs up the Lizard long enough for him to be transported to a super-villain prison. Back at Horizon, the employees have been cured and Max mentions to Hector that someone has stolen something from his lab, and he wants a private investigation. We then jump over to see Tiberius Stone presenting a completed Spider-Jammer to the Kingpin, and telling him he can have dozens in the coming weeks. Kingpin is pleased, but The Hobgoblin isn't and plans on doing something about it soon. Back with Spidey, he eventually goes to see The Lizard in jail, and he passes Morbius, who asks if Sajani is okay, he says he needs to know, but Spider-Man ignores him. He goes to see The Lizard and sees that he's fine, and with a clear conscious, Spider-Man leaves. As he leaves, the Lizard whispers that it works. Curt Connors is back, but his mind is stuck in the Lizards body, but he says to himself that he'll never tell, because this is his penance for what he's done to Martha and Billy, and he deserves it. The issue comes to a close as we see Madame Web noticing something in the Web of Life has changed and there's a new face involved, we then see a man known as The Devil-Spider, as he's told his brother never became The Hobgoblin, his brother, Daniel Kingsly is dead. The Devil-Spider unmasks to reveal that he's actually Ben Kingsly, and he's ready to get revenge on this new Hobgoblin!


Thoughts: Another excellent issue by Dan Slott. I love seeing the Lizard get humanity, and after having the Lizard stuck in Curt's body, having Curt stuck in The Lizard's was a genius move. Does this mean Spidey may have an unexpected ally some day? I'd think so. All in all, I really enjoyed this issue, especially the twist with Kingsly, I didn't see that coming at all. Once again, another issue I had no problems at all with, perfect issue in my opinion. 

Score: 10/10 

The Lizard: My name is Curt Connors. And this is my prison. My penance. My hell. And I deserve it.

JT's Take: Amazing Spider-Man #690

Hey Todd Squad, today we're gonna check out this week's issue of Amazing Spider-Man. With The Lizard now stuck as Curt Connors and trying desperately to get his scaly backside back, let's see how Spidey deals with the upcoming confrontation.

Amazing Spider-Man #690

Summary: We start things off with a Lizard-minded Curt Connors cutting off his right arm with some kind of lightsaber like device. He has to remain undercover while he tries to revert back to Lizard form, so he can't walk around with an extra limb. He throws the disarmed...arm to a Lizard version of Max Modell to chomp on and then goes to try more experiments, each time testing them on other members of Horizon Labs in their personal labs, including Grady and Bella. Meanwhile, Spider-Man is fighting Morbius in the middle of the city when Madame Web pops up telling Spidey how urgent it is he heads to Horizon Labs, Spidey argues about stopping Morbius but eventually see's she's right, so he tries to make quick work of him and leaves him webbed for the police. Back at Horizon, after a few more failed experiments and cut-off arms, Connors runs into Uatu, who looks like Billy to him. Uatu says Connors looks stressed and needs to relax, and invites him to play video games. Surprisingly throughout this issue, the Lizard-minded Connors has enjoyed music, Dorito's and video games more than he ever would have as a Lizard. Being with Uatu helps Connors figure out what he needs for his "cure" to change him back to Lizard form. When Connors leave's Uatu's room, leaving him unharmed, he runs into Officer Cooper, who notices that Connors is missing his left arm... not his right. Connors runs as Carlie pursues him. At just that moment, a mechanism is set off by a Horizon Scientist Tiberius Stone, who is apparently working with Kingpin. The doors unlocking unleashes the Lizard versions of Max, Grady, Bella, and other people that Connors injected. Spidey swings into Horizon just in time to save the few remaining civilians. Back with Connors, he's still running from Officer Cooper when she's attacked by Modell, which causes Connors a distraction so he can slip into a closet. He gets ready to inject himself with the final cure when The Lizard starts to wonder if he even wants to go back to the way he was, as this issue ends.


Thoughts: This issue was kind of weird for me. It was about Lizard-Connors, which is cool, but him loving life and living as a Lizard-brained Connors so he can play videogames and listen to pop music is just... odd. I'm sure he'll use the injection it but it seemed like an odd cliffhanger. Plus, the stuff with Morbius seemed to end too quickly, so hopefully he's in the next issue.

Score: 7/10

Carlie: Aren't you supposed to be missing your right arm?

JT's Take: The Amazing Spider-Man #688

Hey Todd Squad, JT here again and I decided to continue our Spider-Man theme from yesterday, and jump right into things with the next arc of Amazing Spider-Man! After the Ends of the Earth storyline, I'd expect some fallout from that, plus the Lizard takes center stage for the first time since "Shed" if I'm not mistaken. So let's get to it!

The Amazing Spider-Man #688

Summary: Things start off in a big way, as we immediately jump into a sewer fight with Spidey and The Lizard. The Lizard claims he and Spidey had an agreement, which Spidey recalls, the last time he fought the Lizard, he was so spent that he couldn't pursue him, as The Lizard and his drones of followers escaped to the sewers, Ninja Turtle style! Spidey eventually pursued but could never find The Lizard and his followers, and it turns out The Lizard eventually ate every one of his followers, something that enrages Spider-Man even more.  We then jump to eight hours earlier, and see Max Modell and his employee's celebrating for helping Spidey save the world, when Peter is given an invite to Mary Jane's new club. Peter, clearly shocked that MJ now owns a club, heads over and has a talk with MJ. She tells him this party is for him, and he tells her he failed by letting Silver Sable die. He also tells her about his vow, and she says it's the stupidest thing he's ever said, he can't save everyone, he may be super but he's still human. The conversation is cut short when Carlie Cooper calls and says she has something Spidey needs to see, so Peter heads off to meet with her. Upon arriving at the cemetery, Peter see's that Billy Connor's grave has been dug up, and from what a groundskeeper witness said, the description matches Michael Morbius. An enraged Spider-Man heads to Horizon Labs and demands Modell to take him to see Morbius, and he does so. They enter and see Morbius cutting open Billy Connors and Spider-Man attacks Morbius. Morbius explains that he needs Connors DNA to perfect a cure for the Lizard, for good. Modell says that Michael's actions will not stand, and he's no longer welcome at Horizon Labs, but his serum can still be used for good to save Curt Connors. Spidey agrees and he, Morbius and Modell and two other people for some reason head into the sewers. Back in current time, Spidey and Morbius have injected The Lizard with the serum, and Modell and his scientists blast Connors with sonic blasts to start the cure, which actually works and turns him back into Curt Connors. The issue comes to a close as everyone tries to help Connors, but we see that Curt's mind is gone, and while Human, he still has the psyche of The Lizard, but seems to be playing along for now.


Thoughts: Hot Damn! This was a great comic! The twist at the end with The Lizard totally caught me off guard, and I'm a sucker for Michael Morbius, probably because he reminds me of my good buddy Vampire X! This storyline kicked things off with a bang, and I'm wondering what will happen with Curt "The Lizard" Connors does decide to strike and how Spidey will take it. I also really enjoyed the chat with Peter and MJ, it helped him realize he can't do everything and he will make mistakes, and I like the role MJ has taken as supportive best friend over love interest. All in all there's nothing about the comic I didn't enjoy. Also, the art was phenomenal. Props definitely go to Giuseppe Camuncoli for his work on this issue, the way he drew the look on Spidey's face, with one eye showing, when he found out The Lizard ate his drones was chilling. Perfect issue all around. Here's hoping the rest of this storyline is at least half as good as this issue was.

Score:  10/10

Spider-Man : Too many dead because I didn't make you a priority, Lizard! That ends here!

JT's Take: The Amazing Spider-Man #687

Hey, X-Maniacs, Vampire X here... wait no, my mistake, JT here again with another review. Since I'm sure you guys are getting tired of these intro's, let's just get right to it, shall we?

The Amazing Spider-Man #687

Summary: Picking up where the last issue left off, Spidey, Mysterio, Black Widow and Silver Sable take on a mind-controlled team of Avengers. It turns out Doc Ock can assume the body of each Avenger, but doing so makes them a bit more sluggish which leads to Spidey and pals taking out Earth's Mightest Heroes, but not before losing the aid of Black Widow, who takes a blast from an Doc Ock controlled Ironman. After losing control of the Avengers, Ock launches his missiles into orbit to continue his plan, so Hulk, Thor and Ironman try to cut them off by destroying the missiles. With Cap, Widow and Hawkeye out of commission from the fight, and Mysterio leaving like a spineless villain would, Spider-Man and Silver Sable head into Doctor Octopus' base. Sable says they should bring Sandman to help, since he won't let the world get destroyed since it would kill his daughter, but Spider-Man says they can't trust him. They finally get near Doc's control room and find the Rhino waiting. He says he has nothing to live for without his wife and they won't pass him, Sable says he can't stop them both but Rhino says he doesn't have to, as he grabs Silver Sable by the neck and holds her barely above the rapidly rising water flooding Doc Ock's base. He says he's not moving, he will hold Sable there until she drowns, and he will stay there until he drowns as well. Spider-Man tries to free Silver Sable but Rhino is too strong, she tells Spider-Man to go on, stop Doctor Octopus before everyone dies. Spider-Man has no choice but to leave her and goes after Octopus, who almost continues his plan and allows himself to drown as well, before he's thwarted once again by Spider-Man, who not only stops the missiles from entering orbit, but also saves Doctor Octopus. When asked by a livid Doc Ock why he saved him, Spider-Man prepares to say how he promised no one would die as long as he's around but cuts himself short. The issue comes to a close as Spider-Man dumps Doctor Octopus at the boat of Max Modell and his students. When Modell says Spider-Man has saved them all, Spider-Man replies that he failed, and somberly says "Someone died."


Thoughts: Small thing, Marvel screwed up the speech bubbles and has Ironman and Peter saying each others lines on the page where Ock launches the missiles. I gotta say, the apparent death of Silver Sable surprised me, not that they did it but how much Dan Slott made me care. I've never been a fan of Silver Sable, I didn't dislike her, she just existed. Over the last few issues I'd come to like her and appreciate her as an ally of Spider-Man, and the way her death scene (if she is dead) was written here was great, especially since Spider-Man vowed not to let anyone die since what happened with Marla Jameson. The only problem I had with this comic was why Doctor Octopus would keep controlling the bodies of the Avengers when it was painfully obvious that controlling them was more of a hindrance, I guess you could chalk it up to him being cocky but that seemed kinda weird to me for a genius to do. Besides that small thing, this issue was damn near perfect and a great conclusion to this great storyline, definitely looking forward to what Slott has coming next.

Score:  9.5/10

Spider-Man: Ah, Mysterio. Now ya see 'im, now ya don't ever wanna see him again.

JT's Take: Spider-Men #1

Hey Former X-Maniacs, and current unwilling members of the Todd Squad, JT here with another requested review. Today we're gonna see how The Amazing Spider-Man, Peter Parker, meets up with our newest Ultimate Spider-Man, Miles Morales. So let's check in with our friendly neighborhood Spider-Men.

Spider-Men #1

Summary: Things get started with The Amazing Spider-Man (Parker) swinging around New York, talking about how much he loves his city, he's prideful just like most New Yawkers. (Right X?) While proclaiming his love for the city, Spidey stops a crime in progress and is confronted by the police, but he leaves before they can do anything and continues to sing his praises about New York. Spidey continutes until he see's a strange beam shooting into the sky, so naturally, he goes to investigate. He's led to an old abandoned building where he finds some kind of portal but he's suddenly attacked by Mysterio. Spidey takes down Mysterio who is behaving more like a nutjob talking about the first time Spider-Man died, and he's able to shoot off a laser that hits the portal, causing everything to pretty much blow up and transports Spidey to another world. Spider-Man is clearly confused since it was night-time and now it's clearly daytime. Spidey returns to the formerly abandoned building to see it's populated with people that have clearly lived there for a while. While looking around the city for clues, Spidey drops in and saves a guy from muggers, the guy is thankful but says the costume is in terrible taste since it's the same as Peter Parker's. Naturally, Spidey is taken aback by this comment and leaves to find more clues, now even more confused. The issue comes to a close with Spider-Man shocked that he's now face to face with Ultimate Spider-Man.


Thoughts: This issue was a bit slow, it made sense as they had to set up the whole "How do we make them meet?" storyline, but I could've done without Peter's I love New York mentality, just because it's so often re-hashed. Also, I could have done with a little more Miles in this issue but that's just my personal opinion. Aside from that stuff, I'm very curious to see how this goes, as well as what will happen if Pete learns about the Ultimate Universe Reed Richards, as well as the former Ultimate Spider-Man, and maybe even Aunt May, MJ and Gwen Stacy?

Score:  7.5/10

Civilian: I appreciate you saving me, man, but can't you come up with your own costume?

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #39

Hey X-Maniacs, JT here again with another annual and another review. This time we're going over to the Marvel side of things with The Amazing Spider-Man Annual. So, without any further stalling, let's do it to it!

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #39

Summary: This issue actually starts off really quickly. We kicked things off with Peter helping Grady with another time based project because apparently he didn't learn his lesson when he almost destroyed New York. Peter ends up in a world where no one remembers Peter Parker and he pretty much doesn't exist. It isn't until he stumbles around to certain places that he relives old memories, which cause more people to remember him. Also, being weird out of place character in this world, it causes time related Earthquakes all over New York until Peter gets there, which triggers a memory he relives. Also, he hangs out with Uncle Ben. Anyway, he keeps reliving this memories and doing things until Time eventually fixes itself and he exists again or something. The issue ends with him telling Grady to take the experiment apart to which Grady obliges, and Pete then says goodbye to Uncle Ben, who's still around somehow before he fades away... or something.


Thoughts: I'm sorry but I couldn't get into this issue, I'm sure it showed above but I just didn't enjoy it. One, how many times does Grady have to screw up time before he moves on to a new experiment?! Secondly, I'm not a big fan of time jumps unless they pay off, and this didn't. Nothing really happened but Pete reliving things that happened... so... yeah. Also, he admitted the world was better off without him, so basically he was fine with Norman Osborn not curing cancer as long as he got to exist. What an ass.  Another thing I'm tired of is Annuals being an excuse to bring Uncle Ben back. Last year's annual had Uncle Ben too, and at least then he was evil and the story was good, this was just basically him patting Peter on the back every two pages and saying "Great Job, Pete!" Add that with the fact they basically not only recycled the Grady storyline thing but the "People needed help from Peter, not Spider-Man!" thing... which is exactly what happened the LAST time Pete helped Grady. I could have really done without reading this comic.

Score:  2/10

Flash Thompson: What kinda name is Mister Fantastic? Guy's a beanpole! He ought to get a look at me before he goes calling himself "Fantastic."

Well, thankfully that review is done with. If you agreed or if you actually enjoyed this issue feel free to let me know what you thought, and until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood blogger-man, Jason Todd, signing off!

A Quick Look At... May 30th's New Releases.

Hey there X-Maniacs, Vampire X here with an unexpected post... Which is better than no post at all... Well, I guess that depends on the person, but I say it's better than no post at all. Although some people would vehemently disagree... Anyway, pointless rambling aside, I read almost all of the comics I picked up at the comic shop yesterday during my lunch break, and figured I'd just throw a quick post out with the score and what I thought of each book in two sentences or less... Yes, in two sentences or less... What?! I have to get to sleep soon! So yeah, I'll do this post today, and then I'll later on in the week I'll try to get a few proper reviews up and posted around here. So that's the plan, let's see how it works out!

American Vampire #27: There's really nothing to say except this comic was good as usual. The ending sets up some great stuff going forward, which is always a good sign!
Score: 8 out of 10.

Wolverine and the X-Men #11: This issue was way better than I expected it to be. Wolverine surprised me a bit here, but in a good way for a change.
Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

New Mutants #43: Boy am I glad this x-over with Journey Into Mystery is over... Who'd have expected two books that I really enjoy reading to put out such a crappy x-over...
Score: 5 out of 10.

X-Men Legacy #267: If you are a fan of Rogue then THIS was the comic book for you! I'm not much of a Rogue fan(she's alright, I guess...), so naturally this WASN'T the comic for me!
Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #39: This comic was actually a pleasant surprise... The story was strong(if a bit predictable), and it was basically a good read.
Score: 8 out of 10.

Wolverine #307: Yep, this definitely should have been this week's Runt of the Litter... I can't think of a single good thing to say about this comic, so I think I'll just end things here...
Score: 3 out of 10.

I figured I'd do a post like this in case anybody really wants to talk about one(or more) of these books. Now there's a place to post comments about them, plus you basically know what I thought about each comic. In two sentences or less... And hey, look at that, this post only took me a whopping 10 minutes to do, which is great because now I can close my casket and sleep until the sun sets! Until later, Vampire X out.

Amazing Spider-Man #686

Alright, we're back to Marvel tonight with the penultimate part of the Ends of the Earth storyline. What more need I say?

Amazing Spider-Man #686:

Story Points:
-Spidey and Black Widow are running around Symkaria trying to find survivors, while Silver Sable mourns her people.
-Widow eventually tells Spidey it made no sense to help the people in Symkaria since Doc Ock's ray would do the same to the rest of the Earth in time...
-But wait! It turns out the whole burning of Symkaria was an illusion put together by Mysterio to keep Spidey and his allies occupied.
-With Widow about to leave, Chameleon changes into his Doc Ock armor and attacks the heroes.
-Silver Sable spots “Ock” and attacks with murderous intent, causing Chameleon to break character.
-It's at that point Spidey realizes that the entire set-up was wrong scientifically and that Mysterio was probably behind it. Spidey manages to turn Mysterio to his side since if Spidey was right and Ock DOES try to destroy the world, Mysterio's money would be meaningless.
-Mysterio leads Spidey and the women to Ock's secret base(a Mayan pyramid), and Ock responds by sending his newest Secret Six members after Spidey's quartet... The brainwashed Avengers!

Thoughts: What can I really say here? As usual, this issue was really good. This storyline is really good. I can't wait to see how it ends, and the fallout from it going forward.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.

Amazing Spider-Man #685

Yep, this review is up WAY later than usual for me, but this is probably going to be the way things go from now on. Once I get more stable with my new work schedule, I'll probably put up a post detailing when I'll be posting and how often, but for now, my posting/commenting schedule may be a bit on the chaotic side... But hey, a late post is better than no post at all, I say!

Amazing Spider-Man #685:

Summary: Spidey, Black Widow and Silver Sable are still hitting Dr. Octopus's missile bases around the world, but are being forced to deal with the added difficulty of having SHIELD after them since Doc Ock has convinced the world HE'S the good guy and Spidey is the rogue villain. Even though all evidence suggests that Ock's satellite contraption would indeed end global warming forever, Spidey is steadfast in his belief that Ock is up to something more sinister... As for Ock, he's pleasantly surprised by how readily everybody seems to be accepting his plans for saving the Earth. Regardless, Ock sends out a call to other super-villains, telling them that if they could take Spidey out of the picture, he'd reward them with the same deal he managed to get for his Sinister Six members. Upon getting word of this, Spidey turns to the (very) few allies he still had that hadn't turned on him or been captured, asking them to try to take down Ock's additional forces. Eventually Spidey tracks down Ock's largest base(in Romania, near Symkaria) and figures he'd find Ock inside. Instead, he finds some video screens with Ock gloating that Spidey's best efforts had failed and Ock's satellites had been launched. Ock then reveals that Spidey was right all along, and that his satellites WERE going to be used for something sinister, as Ock couldn't bear the thought that regular people would continue living when he was dying. With that, Ock activates his satellites, which magnify the intensity of the suns rays, scorching the entire side of the planet facing the sun, ending this one.

Thoughts: Okay, that HAD to be a bad dream on Spidey's part, right? If it wasn't, that was one hell of a sweet swerve by Dan Slott! It's not often you see Spidey fail in the magnitude he failed here... Because Ock absolutely schooled not just Spidey, but the entire world. And the best part? Ock's reasoning was actually sound! Well, sound for a megalomaniac anyway... Ock wanting to destroy not just Spidey, but the world makes sense, since he has always seen himself as better than everybody else(which we got a glimpse of back in those Invincible Iron Man issues he popped up in), and was disgusted at the prospect of the world continuing without him... Now this? This is what you call a fantastic cliffhanger! I can't wait to see how Slott writes his way out of this mess!

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.

Doc Ock moved up several places on my favorite villain list after THIS issue!

Amazing Spider-Man #684

First up tonight? Spidey. Yep, that's all the intro I have, so imagine how lackluster the review is going to be!

Amazing Spider-Man #684:

Summary: Silver Sable, who was running around in an invisibility granting outfit and flying an invisible plane(...), rescues Spidey and Black Widow from the Sinister Six(or Sinister Five, since Electro was knocked into space or something last issue.). Doc Ock is a bit perturbed by Spidey's escape, but moves forward with his plans, and tells the world's governments what he needs(several missiles outfitted with a special payload that would protect the Earth's atmosphere from global warming). In return, Ock asks for the other Sinister Six members criminal records to be wiped clean, and 2 billion dollars for each member of the Six... Except for Ock, since he was dying and all. Ock simply asks for a school that would teach the brightest minds in the world, as well as serve as a testament to the man(Ock) who saved the world. Still smelling a rat, Spidey and the ladies decide to head to the missile location in the Sahara Desert to see what was going on at the base, as well as to hopefully take Sandman out of the picture, since it would make sense Ock would send Sandman to guard a missile base in the Sahara. Spidey and the women search the missile base, and realize that there was nothing in the satellites Ock was planning on sending into space... Interesting... From there, they bump into Sandman, and after a bit of a battle, defeat and capture the villain. Upon finding out what Spidey has done, Ock once again turns to the world's governments and tells them that before he could save the world Spider-Man had to be hunted down and brought to justice.

Thoughts: For whatever reason, this issue just didn't do anything for me... I mean normally I love Dan Slott's work and all, but this issue was strangely flat for me. I really can't explain it... I enjoyed the first two issues of this storyline, but this issue didn't do it for me. Oh well, hopefully I get back into the story come the next issue.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

I loved the tip of the hat to Sandman and Sable's past relationship here.