Scarlet Spider #8 (2012)

Scarlet Spider #8 (2012)

Written by Chris Yost and Penciled by Kohi Pham

Page 1-4:

So the crisis at the Roxxon oil plant continues as Kaine is surrounded by the group of D-list Texas heroes (who are actually pretty neat). They all get really nice introductions by kaine's narration. It's neat to see new characters who are a bit fresh. We've got a guy who can turn into a tornado, a girl with some kind of fire powers, a man made of lightning, some kind of alien in a space suit, and a gunslinging girl.

Page 5-6: 

Kaine, being the cool guy he is, throws the pistolero girl behind him out the window...pointing out that he isn't very subtle. He still manages to dodge super-powered fire and lightning though.

I noticed that this series uses a lot of fire effects and fiery colors to set a nice artistic tone.

Page 7-12:

Kaine gets mind-attacked by the alien and this causes him to fall off the building he was climbing on. Then again, this is a spider-man we are talking about, he manages to swing away out of the Rangers (yes, the group of the heroes are called the Rangers, as in Texas Rangers) reach.

Mr. Walsh [the CEO of Roxxon) tries to pin this whole thing on Kaine, not unlike something JJJ would attempt in his early years.

Page 13-16:

Zoe, the daughter of Mr. Walsh, explains how the man pretty much bribes all the police and how he's the real villain. I never trusted Oil Tycoons anyways...

Kaine takes a bike to the nearby town while Mr Walsh tells his staff to prepare the mechs for extra security. Mechs? Wow! Maybe him and Lex Luthor can trade tips.

Page 17-19: 

Zoe and Kaine make it to an empty building where zoe says evidence of her father's evil has been removed. Why exactly would he keep around a stash of dead bodies that have his fingerprints on them? The Rangers get the jump on kaine, but they discover in the middle of their brawl that the bodies were buried under the empty looking room. Couldn't he just have burned the evidence?

An experiment that is going on in the other room (hinted at the start of the issue) explodes a man into an electric monster, and the Rangers and spider are left to deal with it.

I think this issue is pretty interesting, and I still love the art style and tone. A solid 7.5/10. These new heroes (even if they are working for the bad guy) are actually pretty neat at least from a visual perspective. The art and moment to moment writing really sells this book, while the overall plot is pretty lackluster. That's why the score is a bit lower from me.

7/21/13

Today I read all of Superior Carnage and Superior Spiderman in the airport. I actually really liked the way Carnage came out, with a good mix of humor and horror. The cover is also a play on the original superior spiderman #1 cover, which I liked. That issue basically talks about how Cletus [or however you spell his name] has lost his brain after the end of minimum carnage (In scarlet spider) [which I didn't read], and now he is in the middle of a prison going berserk without even any intelligence to speak of.

I wanted to note that I also got the trade for Superior #1-5 and I'm planning on picking up superior Team-up at some point. Also. I won't be reading Superior Foes since it doesn’t seem like a long-running kind of book and it's a bit too much of a comedy for me. The only villain I even like in that lineup is the Shocker, and he is the most downplayed in the cast.

Classic Review: Amazing Spider-Man #33 and #691

Amazing Spiderman #33 (1966) by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko

-The cover of ASM #33 shows Spidy being crushed by debris and saying this is the “Final Chapter!”

talk about false advertising...!

-The first two pages recap that aunt may is dying due to contact with peter's radioactive blood, and doc-ock has stolen the only cure. Spidy tries to break out of all this metal on top of him, but he seems to be too weak.

*Fun Fact: Spider-man can apparently lift an average of 10 tons, so I’m pretty surprised how weak he is in these older issues.

Page 4-5: In an emotional moment, he calls upon the memories of his uncle and he dares not allow his aunt to die as well.

Page 7: As I figured, Spidy breaks free and grabs the serum he needs...but he's still injured.

Page 8-9: He is smashed by flooding water and is forced to swim to an escape.

He is ambushed by doc-ocks freaky purple henchmen dudes (seriously, they are weird looking)

Do these eight guys (yes, I counted them) think they can beat up spider-man? Really?

Page 10: Well, they actually do get a bunch of blows in on him, but as spidy points out...the punches barely phase him. He eventually punches them all back with the same spirit he displayed before.

Page 13: Spiderman makes it back to Dr. Connors, who finishes the cure for aunt may's disease.

Page 16: Spiderman takes pictures of the purple goons in order to get some money from the bugle.

Page 17-18: Peter returns to the office and Betty is surprised to see that Peter is beat to hell.

In the last pages, peter returns to hospital and discovers that aunt may has recovered.

Kraven the hunter is also teased for the next issue, and that seems pretty interesting.

I would give this issue a 9 out of 10, pretty nice, and one of the best I've seen from the original run. The issue is classic, and the cover is really great. Though I felt like this only really wrapped up the last issue and nothing more.

Amazing Spiderman #691 (2012)
Written by Dan Slot and Penciled by Giuseppe Camuncoli

Note:

This is part 4 of the "No Turning Back" Arc that I read a year ago, featuring the Lizard and published around the time of the first Amazing Spiderman movie. They gave electro the spotlight around the same time in Vol.3 of ASM for the first few issues (around the time of the ASM 2 movie), but I still need to collect the rest of that arc. In fact, I wanted to write a whole rant about Vol.3 #4 and about Silk and all that...but figured it would be pointless. 

The cover is very interesting with the whole “Lizard Eye” thing, and it's really neat to look at it.

It looks very rough and dramatic with Spidy punching at the eyeball. A solid 4/5 cover.

Page 1: There is a lizardman outbreak inside Horizon Labs, and it's Peter's job to figure out how to fix it.

Page 3-4: It seems that since lizards and humans are not natural enemies, these transformed lizard-people aren't rampaging around. Peter realizes that even though Curt Connors is currently not in his lizard form, but he could still be evil enough to think up this plan. Peter then realizes that The Lizard would be able to control all the other lizard-people in the lab, so he tries to move him out of the building. I really like how one panel used motion blur to convey a serious sense of speed.

Page 7: The lizard, rather than his normal form, turns into a giant reptile mutant since he made some super-strong formula. But if he's made himself so beastly, how come he can still speak and whatnot? I guess his intelligence is still somehow the same and he is stronger. Bruce Banner and Dr. Conners should probably have a chat sometime about that.

Page 9-11: Peter and the juiced-up lizard fight outside near the waterfront, and the same sort of motion blurring is used. I really like the way these fights look, especially since the lizard is pounding the life out of spider-man.

Page 12-14: (the new) Madame Web [I say new since whenever I think of Web, it's the old woman from the 90's animated series, ie: the original] shows up and warns spider-man that if he delivers the cure [that he did receive] into Curt, that it might actually kill him. Peter says that it's probably worth the risk in order to save the dozens of people in harm's way. He slams the needle into him in a large panel.

Page 15: It seems like the cure completely fails, and the lizard is sent off to SHEILD prison. There's also a pretty funny joke that people are either turning into spiders [spider island] or lizard-people in NYC! What a crazy place.

Page 16-18: Meanwhile, The Kingpin [Wilson Fisk] is working with Mr. Stone from the lab to create some sort of “Spider Jammer” machine based on max's technology [max is the head of the labs]. Sounds very interesting.

Kingpin must feel pretty awesome in Shadowland. He's surrounded by ninjas and the newest Hobgoblin as well.

Page 19: Madame Web is very concerned about these events, but she also cuts back to a drug cartel in mexico where a hero [who looks like a orange and black palette swap of iron fist, sort of] is holding two uzi's and telling everyone this is his territory. He is called the Devil Spider! Another Spider? Great...Well actually, this man is Roderick Kingsly, the original hobgoblin who was in hiding while he waited for his brother to take up the title of Hobgoblin. Too bad for him, his brother is actually dead and this new hobgoblin is somebody else entirely. It should be cool to see the original hobgoblin face off against the new one. I thought this issue was pretty good, action packed, and had a interesting cliffhanger that left me head-scratching until I did some research. 7.5/10

-The next review in my archive was for Scarlet Spider (2012) #8, so I might publish that next, -

Classic Review: Amazing Spiderman #32 (1966)

Amazing Spider-man #32 by Stan lee and Steve Ditko

Originally Reviewed: 7/6/12

Cover: So the cover features spider-man ripping apart the city [literally] while they show a snippet of the sickly aunt may in the corner. This cover makes me think that this issue is going to be interesting, did spidy go nuts?! Overall, I like this cover...but not that much. I give it a 3.5/5 since it's pretty cool looking, but not that impressive.

Page 1-2: The first page shows the base of the “master planner” once again. He continues to complain about spider-man like a standard super villain. It feels like a wasted page. On page 2 we get to see the inside of the base, and now see that Doc Ock is the mysterious man. I actually already read this spoiler an issue early. He is trying to study the radiation that effected both him and spider-man. He wants to use the radiation to become more powerful. I'm not surprised since, in this universe, radioactive spider/snake bites [see “King Cobra”] can give you crazy powers.

Page 3-4: Meanwhile at the daily bugle, Peter and Betty continue their drama. As a reminder, he loves Betty, Betty loves Ned, and she hates spider-man. Peter wants to break away from Betty so that there is no more trouble. J.J. comments that Peter's new photos are worthless, and peter remembers that he has been having trouble because of worrying about aunt may. Speaking of Aunt May, the doctor actually tells peter that she is suffering because of radioactive particles in her blood. I'm surprised she's not turning into superwoman at this point. Peter realizes that this occurred because of the blood transfusion in issue 10.

Page 5: After filling the page with his extreme guilt, peter decides to call Dr. Connors [AKA the Lizard]. He says that Connors is an expert in this field. After some digging, I found that he studied Biology and Biochemistry. Strangely the marvel site only says that he studied reptiles. Since I just saw a movie with the lizard, it seems really weird that he shows up here. I feel like I should revisit issue #6 sometime. He finds out that Curt has moved to New York and rushes off to find him.

Page 6: After Spider-man STEALS a blood sample from the doctors office, he swings along to doctor coiners office. I honestly forgot that he only had one arm until I saw the movie, and even then I thought it was something made just for the film. Anyway, peter says “hey, remember that time you used radioactive whatever to turn yourself into the lizard, could you use that somehow to help my sick friend?” The logic of this makes even less sense when you realize that according to most sources [including the new film] that the lizard formula is based on DNA/biology and not radiation. On the other hand, Connors is not directly creating the antidote...he just heard about it and decided to order a batch to help spider-man.

Page 7: Later, peter sells off all his household lab equipment in order to pay for the antidote, he even takes money from his bank account. You'll probably regret that the next time you need to invent some new webs or spider-gadgets! Spidy then swings into the lab and starts mixing chemicals like a mad scientist. I've taken high school Chemistry, and I dunno if I could have ever done any of this junk!

Page 8-10: Meanwhile Doc “Master Planner” Ock has decided to steal the anti-radiation antidote before it gets shipped in. How exactly it could contribute to his research, I don't know...but whatever. The purple minions, as seen in previous issues, steal the serum and run off. Spider-man hears about the news and frantically speeds off! Spidy asks Foswell for help in finding the master planner and he agrees. Spider-man then continues by smashing into gang hideouts demanding information.

Page 11-14: Meanwhile, at the hospital, aunt may is growing weaker and is slipping into a coma. The next few panels show spider-man ripping apart a hideout, mimicking the cover. Using his spider sense, he finds an entrance to a hidden room where the planner's gang is hiding. Spidy's super strength and agility make quick work of them. Reminds me of the awesome way they portrayed his “spider-like” combat style in the new film. After Doc Ock realizes that spidy is after the serum, he decides to use it as bait.

Page 15-16: Spider-man finds a vial that even HE thinks is a trap. When he moves for it, he gets shocked by electrodes. By the way, his spider-sense didn't bother warning him about that. As spider man falls, Doc ock catches him with his arms. Spidy figures out that he is the master planner, what a shock! This arc just started in issue 30 and we already know who the bad guy is! Anyway, spidey flips backwards and Ock just flays around. He then starts bending the tentacles as doc ock punches at him. I'm surprised he's that strong!

Page 17-19: Spider-man starts madly throwing stuff at his foe, and doc ock points out that he's “fighting like a tiger”. The doctor tries to retreat while the ceiling starts to collapse. The next few shots are very well done and well shot, leading up to spiderman being crushed under the rubble as water starts to fill the underwater base. This sets up for the next issue, a milestone in spider-man history.

This issue was pretty good, I thought that spider-man gathering information about the planner was totally unnecessary and doc Connors comes out of nowhere! Overall it gets a 8.5/10, great, but not perfect. The drama is being kicked up to 11!

Classic Review: Amazing Spiderman #31 (1965)

Cover: I really like the cover here. It's segmented by a spider symbol and has a cool phrase, “If this be my destiny”. By itself it earns a 4/5.

Page 1-2: This is an even better inner cover than before. Spider-man is being attacked by those weird purple gangsters from last issue. They're using some kind of gas weapon. We then flash back to the purple dudes repealing down into a “radioactive atomic” facility. I'm not surprised, since they already stole some uranium last issue. They steal some stuff and get out of there, using sleep gas to knock out a guard. These guys are pretty high-tech...they've got sleep gas, a helicopter, and magnetic shoes!

Spiderman, who is nearby, jumps at the helicopter and busts his way in.

Page 3:

Spider-man holds his breath (due to his spider strength he can hold his breath for a long time). Meanwhile the gang gets a call from their boss, the “master planner”. They coat the stolen stuff in a waterproof bag and throw it overboard with an electronic tracking device. Turns out these guys don't work for the Cat. There is then a shot of an underwater base, where another squad of purple dudes picks up the abandoned cargo. So it seems that there are multiple groups of these guys.

Page 4-5:

Spider-man is swarmed with gas, but before he gets knocked out he manages to crash the helicopter into the water. Don't worry, the helicopter crew is saved by those underwater diver guys. Spider-man tries to find those same guys, but he just leaves confused. The page ends with another shot of the underwater building and the boss rambling about his plan. It seriously looks like the speech bubbles are just coming from the building though.

Page 6-9:

Peter goes off to register at Empire State university, while aunt may continues to feel sick. The rest of the page is a montage of peter filling out forms and getting books. Flash is even there to push peter around some more! Once he gets home, aunt may faints into his arms. She is rushed to the hospital where she recovers slightly. The next day as peter worries, Flash meets up with two of his new classmates Harry Osborn and Gwen Stacy. Do those names sound familiar? They should!

Page 10-12:

Harry seems to act like a bit of a jerk, while Gwen already seems to like peter. Right after class, peter tries to call the hospital but has no change. Also on this page peter's hair becomes totally black and his thought bubbles cover his face, dang art flubs! Peter is so distracted by his aunt that he doesn't notice Gwen trying to talk to him. After she runs off, Harry pulls a prank on peter by igniting some of his chemicals. I'm pretty sure if his face burned off that it wouldn't be funny. Fun fact, Peters chemistry professor becomes the Jackel! At the moment he just tries to stop peter from doing any more dangerous experiments, but soon he's going to clone him! According to the wiki, he was even around at peter's high school...creepy.

Page 13-15:

Peter visits the hospital as soon as he can. After talking to his aunt, the doctor says she's not doing very well. At home, after looking at some bills, peter realizes he needs money to pay for college and the medical bills. So he goes out as spider-man to get some pictures. Peter can't find anything and fails to accomplish anything. His 'sleepless night' counter also goes up to 2. Meanwhile, at the daily bugle, Jonah orders foswell to investigate the stolen uranium. Also in the office, Ned talks to Betty about getting married. She still wants to talk it out with peter, since they are technically dating.

Page 16-17:

At the pier, Foswell (undercover as his alter-ego “patch”) learns of another shipment of chemicals.

Then at the school, peter rushes past Gwen again on his way to the hospital and she's pretty angry about it. After another hospital visit, Spider-man goes swinging around. Patch manages to signal spider-man and tells him the information.

Page 18-21:

The diver guys surface again! They use suction cups to climb unto the chemical ship, Spider-man swings into action and shrugs off the stupid gas guns. Spidy dodges the ships crane that is swung at him and webs down the boxes so that the gang can't escape with them. Eventually he gets caught in a fishing net, but spidy has spider-strength so it's easy to break out. The bad guys dive into the water and quickly escape, peter doesn't even have time to take a photo. After the police arrive, spider-man takes off a small gas mask that he put together to stop from being gassed.

Inside the “master planner's” base we figure out that he is doing research on radiation effects.

Speaking of research, the doctors looking over aunt may report that she don't have long to live!

This issue was alright, and it clears up some stuff from last issue. Peter worrying about his aunt is also interesting. I give it a 8/10.

Classic Review: Amazing Spiderman #30 (1965)

6/13/12 [ASM #30]

A boring Wednesday night, and I’m starting off my notes with spider man. I've wanted to make notes on comics for a long time. I'm starting with number #30, and not sure if I'll go back.

Anyway, unto the issue at hand [literally, well it's not in my hand...but whatever].

Cover/Page 1:

The cover is really nice here, a really awesome wide shot and tons of cool details.

Title: Claws of the Cat [no, this isn't black cat's premiere, just a cat burglar...really?]. Page 1 is actually a pretty decent example of an inner cover. The space is wasted a bit, but it's the 60's so it's cool for the time.

Page 2:

We see that Ned (Betty Brant’s BF) carried the startled woman home.

-Reads wiki- Turns out Ned is later brainwashed into becoming a hobgoblin decoy and dies later in the aftermath...good for him...

Aunt May is still feeling sick, but she continues to hide this from Peter. According to the wiki, aunt may has been sick since issue #10 when she got a blood transfusion from peter.

Since it hasn’t been mentioned here, the next panel shows that May is still hanging out with Ms. Watson, who mentions her daughter Mary Jane.

Spider Man goes on patrol, swinging right past our villain...the “cat burglar.” Why is he called that? Did he get scratched by a radioactive cat? Is he seriously just a normal guy? He has a utility belt, so I guess he's kinda like Batman...according to the wiki, he later donned an actual costume [see The Prowler], and is currently in jail after Civil War. The Cat Burglar [Also called simply The Cat] even points out that Spider-man would never pay attention to a burglar like him.

Page 3:

In a interesting twist, it turns out the villain actually robbed Jonah [who is my favorite character by the way]. He calls the police and offers a $1000 reward for the Cat's capture. Fun fact, one thousand dollars then would be valued about seven or eight times more today.

Meanwhile, the Cat's gang...wait! He has a GANG of people with him now? In purple outfits? Ok...

Anyway, this gang robs a truck full of uranium that is coming from Stark Industries.

Page 4-5:

Spider-man Swings unto the scene [literally]. The gang members stick to the truck using “magnetic shoes”...where can I get some of those?! -spends five minutes looking for magnetic shoes-

Spider-man proves he doesn't need magnetic shoes, since he has his wall stick power thing.

Spidy visits Jonah to tell him that he's going to capture the Cat for the reward, Jonah just yells at him. As spidy leaves, JJJ has a strange imagination sequence where he realizes that he'll have to be the one to pay spider man and basically prove that all the editorials about him are false. Strangely, the check is made out to “Spiderman”...can he even cash that?

Page 6-10:

Jonah calls Foswell [the former crime boss turned reporter] and tells him to catch the Cat before spiderman can. Foswell pulls out his Patch disguise [from #27]. The next day, Peter leaves for work at the Bugle and bumps into Liz Allen [on and off girlfriend of Flash Thompson]. Speaking of Flash, it seems that the big bully is stalking Liz, and she asked peter for help. Pete sees a criminal on a nearby roof and knocks flash out quickly. He then jumps unto the roof, looking a bit like a Dragon Ball-Z reject. After he jumps unto the room he quickly changes to spiderman [off panel], beats up an armed guy, then jumps back down as peter parker. Is he turning into the Flash? Speaking of Flash again, he manages to send the lughead on a wild goose chase for liz. Afterward, peter calls Betty and they have a little chat. Just for reference, Betty fainted after the scorpion attacked jonah's office in ASM #29.

Another twist, Ned has proposed to Betty and peter isn't sure what to do [since he likes her too]. Betty talks about how she hates spider man [who couldn't save her brother from doc-ock] and how she would never want to be with him, peter is super shocked.

Page 11-17:

Peter storms out in anger and emotions pour out, it's a pretty shocking scene. 0-0. Peter gives up on his relationship with Betty. To cool off some steam, peter busts some more armed robbers. A member of the Cat gang drives by and says that they hired that gang to rob a bank. Hold on! So...the Cat started as ONE GUY WITH A BELT AND SOME ROPE....then he's in control of a gang of about

4 -5 guys with purple suits and magnetic shoes...and then that gang hires another gang to rob a bank? Talk about organized crime! On page 14. we see the cat burglar out of costume and he actually looks pretty cool, minus the cigarette. The cat then moves out to steal something else and try to take out spider-man. My only question is...what the hell did he do with the uranium?! Anyway, the Cat is noticed by someone in an apartment and the police, media, and spider-man arrive on the scene.

The Cat attacks with such frightening weapons as a “blinding” flashlight and a grappling hook. This is coming from the same superhero who gets bombs and guns lobbed at him on a daily basis.

Page 18-21:

oh...well it seems the Cat does actually carry some explosives and a gun, go figure! Luckily, sticking to walls makes it easy to dodge explosives. Peter's spider reflexes also help him glide away from bullets.

The police arrive for backup, but a smoke bomb helps the Cat to hide. However, since it's kinda hard to hide from a whole police squad, the cops manage to capture the cat! Peter takes some pictures of the action to sell later. Apparently, JJ doesn't need to pay the reward to the police and Foswell was completely useless. Peter turns in his pictures to the Bugle and keeps his distance from Betty.

A pretty good Issue overall, but there are tons of plot holes. I'd rate this issue a 7.5/10. High marks for the good drama and pretty cool action scenes. However, the villain and his gang really drags it down for me. Oh and also...where was this gang when the Cat was being broadcast on the news and tracked by the police!