I've done a bunch of add/dropping over the last few weeks in hopes of getting caught up and eventually hitting weekly reviews again. But for now I'm trying out some new review methods with almost 20 issues of The Amazing Spider-Man.
And holy cow, has it been a while since I've reviewed Spidey comics.
Let's get to it!
Amazing Spider-Man
#679.1
Meh. This is part of something called the “Point One”
project, which apparently features random stories designed to help newer
readers hop aboard and be current with storylines. You know, rather than have
them just buy a comic and read past issues. Anyway, we’re back to Spider Island
for this one, and everyone is trying to find a cure. We get the debut of
Peter’s annoying 12 year old coworker Uatu, who basically wants to be a
superhero and is very annoying. The two decide to investigate some weird noises
in a secret lab at Horizon and discover that Michael Morbius works there. And
here I thought they were just going to ignore that random cameo from Spider
Island. Anyway, Morbius is trying to do something involving artificial blood
but it ends up turning him into a crazy vampire (and as helpfully pointed out
by Spidey, he doesn’t sparkle). So after a weird fight that ends when Uatu
dresses up like a cyborg, Morbius is “calm” and his former colleague, who works
at Horizon, tells everyone that Morbius is safe and bans Spidey from the
building. Morbius decides that his artificial blood needs a test subject, and
he goes to see The Lizard in the sewers. Umm, okay then. This wasn’t a bad
comic, but what was the point? Spider Island is over, they’re setting up
something huge involving Dr. Octopus, and I don’t think they ever concluded
that Vulture storyline from a few issues ago. With no real storyline
advancement and no real reason to read it, I’d say pass on this one.
The Amazing Spider-Man #680-681: "The Galaxy's Greatest Superhero"
This was a pretty entertaining storyline where a space station is hijacked by Doctor Octopus' mind reading Octobots, and Spider-Man is forced to rescue the space station's lone occupant, John Jameson. And the only other hero available is the Human Torch, who is upset that he can't finish season 2 of The Walking Dead. So off to space they go using the Future Foundation rocket where they get into whacky hijinx and have to get back to Earth safely before the three are killed. This was okay, but mainly filler used to set up the following story arc...
The Amazing Spider-Man #682-687: "Ends of the Earth"
This was supposed to be the MEGA SPIDEY EVENT OF THE YEAR, just like Spider Island from last year. And just like Spider Island, it was anything but that. Anyway, Doctor Octopus is dying and concocts a plan with the Sinister Six to take over the world, or rather to destroy it using hundreds of tiny satellites that reflect sunlight and intensify it, thus literally cooking the world to death. So Spidey and the Avengers have to stop them. Octobots get involved and it suddenly comes down to Spider-Man, Silver Sable and Black Widow vs. the Sinister Six and most of the Avengers... with some sinister SWERVES along the way. Things go completely to hell, mostly thanks to Spider-Man's policy that nobody dies. The story was actually more coherent that Spider Island, and it didn't suck, but it was by no means the big, bad storyline of the year.
The Amazing Spider-Man #688-691: "No Turning Back"
The Lizard RETURNS! Michael Morbius, the secret employee of Horizon Labs (I could have sworn I reviewed ASM 679.1 before my "hiatus" but apparently not) (Editor's Note: I did, I just never posted it! Added at the very top, obviously) heads to the sewers in search of the Lizard, as Morbius has developed a serum that can supposedly cure the Lizard once and for all. And it works! Or so we thing. The Lizard is Curt Conners again, but in body and not mind. So now Conners is under arrest inside Horizon and uses Morbius' lust for blood to create a distraction so he can develop another serum to revert him back into the Lizard. And he has other plans as well! I actually liked this storyline, and Lizard does a bunch of bad things and winds up getting his comeuppance in the end, for a satisfying conclusion to the arc. There's also some funny parts involving some of Peter's coworkers at Horizon, specifically two who are dating. Fun and recommended issues!
The Amazing Spider-Man #692-694: "Alpha"
Now this was an AWESOME story arc. A local high school group is touring Horizon Labs, and Peter Parker is giving a demonstration of one of his new devices. The demonstration goes horribly wrong, of course, and a student named Andy McGuire (a portmanteau of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield) is hit by an Alpha Ray which gives him superpowers. Just like Spidey's origin! In order to avoid legal trouble, Andy becomes a superhero spokesman for Horizon named Alpha, while Spider-Man is responsible for training Alpha to use his new powers. He's the first Alpha Powered hero, and his powers overmatch any other hero - and villain. All the while, Peter becomes overwhelmingly jealous of the things Andy is able to do since the whole world knows he is Alpha, and decides to find a way to take Andy's powers away from him. This was great, as the writers were able to balance Andy's story with Peter's, with lots of callbacks to Spidey's origin (part of this being because #692 is the super special 50th Anniversary Edition of the comic). And you just can't help but feel a little sad once you hit the ending. HIGHLY recommended.
The Amazing Spider-Man #695-697: "Danger Zone"
This one was weird. A Horizon mole that was mentioned earlier has been developing technology for the Kingpin to prevent Spider-Man from infiltrating his headquarters, the Danger Zone. This is basically a large amount of sensors that put his Spider Sense into overdrive, thus rendering everything as a threat, from leaps off of building to the wind blowing. this makes it difficult for Spider-Man to fight, much less function in a normal life. Meanwhile, there's a fake Hobgoblin working with Kingpin, but the real Hobgoblin has made his way back to the city and is out to get revenge for someone stealing his gimmick. They're also trying to break into Norman Osborn's safehouse where all of his weapons and cash are held. When Spider-Man gets captured, it's up to an unlikely hero, Peter's boss at Horizon, Mr. Modell, to save him. This one was weird and while the Hobgoblin fights were pretty entertaining, the rest was resolved basically at the snap of a finger and didn't really lead anywhere. One of the plot resolutions (Spidey learning to turn off his Spider Sense) does set up our next story arc, however...
The Amazing Spider-Man #698-699: "Dying Wish"
This is the build up to Issue #700, which is the "final issue" (UGH, I HATE that) of ASM, which will be replaced by Superior Spider-Man. The basic gist of these two issues is that Otto Octavious has hours to live (700 minutes, to be precise), and suddenly weakly demands to speak with Peter Parker. So the Avengers accompany Spider-Man to the prison where Ock is being held, and SECRETS ARE REVEALED which I won't mention here. So after the meeting, Ock summons some bad guys to break him out, but in an odd turn of events, doesn't allow any other villains such as The Lizard to escape from prison. The main selling point for these two issues is the big SWERVE in 698 that sets up the 700th issue which drops on December 26. Other than that, there's not really much reason to pick these up.
Overall Thoughts: Ah, 20 plus issues of The Amazing Spider-Man and I'm finally caught up! Only took 10 months. LOVED the Alpha arc but everything else was just, well, okay I guess. There was nothing inoffensive, but nothing that stood out that much, Alpha not included. I'll be back with a review of ASM #700 when it drops on December 26, but I've pretty much already guessed where that's going after 698 and 699, so we might see a VERY PISSED OFF REVIEW.
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