Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #534 Review

Amazing Spider-Man #534

Title: The War at Home Part 3 of 6
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Penciler: Ron Garney
Inker: Bill Reinhold

Plot: At Stark Tower, Iron Man reminisces over the previous day’s “police action” (the battle from the end of Civil War #3). As expected, he reminds his merry team of cape-killers how necessary, albeit painful, it was to crush the rebellion, but Peter Parker doesn’t seem consoled. When Iron Man confronts him and starts his typical “we have no choice” speech, Peter cuts him off and says he knows but he doesn’t have to like it.
Iron Man, Spider-Man, and the other legit superheroes escort a convoy transporting apprehended unregistered combatants to the government’s top secret holding facility while protestors jeer from the side of the road. Peter considers the irony of finally being on the right side of the law only to have it feel so wrong.
Spider-Man asks Iron Man why he is sticking to the top of a truck instead of swinging ahead, and Iron Man replies that he wants Spidey close by because he can sense danger before it happens. Spider-Man goes silent, because he doesn’t remember telling Iron Man about his spider-sense. He wonders if his fancy new suit is giving Tony more data than he had realized.
As anticipated, the convoy is attacked by the anti-registration supers. Spidey uses his webs to deal with incoming missiles and is flung into a nearby alley in the process. While the others fight anti-establishment superheroes like Daredevil, Cloak, and the Thing (whose reason for being there, we are told in an editor’s note, will be explained in Fantastic Four #539), Spider-Man is confronted by none other than Captain America himself. Cap offers Spidey one last chance to change sides, but our hero says “no deal” and they fight. Captain America is the obviously superior combatant and he has the upper hand until Spidey whips out his mechanical legs to gash Cap’s cheek. First blood. Cap looks at Spider-Man like he wants to rip his head off, but before they can go at it again an explosion down the street drives Cap off to help his friends.
That night, Spider-Man crouches on top of a building somewhere in the city. We are privy to his inner soliloquy. He feels like the situation is unraveling out of control, and he hopes to God he is on the right side.

Likes:

– This is another high quality installment in what is proving to be one of the best Amazing Spider-Man arcs in recent memory. Perhaps what makes this tale so powerful is that the conflict comes entirely from the characters and not from the schemes of some megalomaniacal super villain. The only real villain is the circumstance. Fortunately for us, Straczynski displays mastery over every character he uses, and even the deeply flawed players like Iron Man, whose methods get more nefarious every issue, are doing what they do because of what they believe in and how their minds work. The Civil War event is a collaborative effort brought to us by the whole of Marvel, but nobody brings it home like JMS.

– If the seeds of doubt were planted in Peter’s mind last month, then it is in this issue they begin to sprout. Besides the whole unmasking thing, the biggest complaint people seem to have with this arc is that they perceive Peter is mindlessly and spinelessly following Tony Stark’s orders. Hopefully, this issue will underline for those people the internal struggle that is actually going on within our hero. Intellectually, Peter seems mostly sold on the case for registration, but the thing tugging him in the other direction is not his mind but his feelings. The dichotomy between reason and instinct is a theme that JMS has touched on throughout his run, and I’m finally starting to get it now that the territory is being explored in a context other than hokey spider mythology.

– Ron Garney’s art is really starting to grow on me. At first I was a little lukewarm about it, but now that we finally have an action packed issue his strengths are beginning to shine through.

Dislikes:

– So far this Civil War tie-in has done a pretty good job of staying self contained. For the most part that is still true in this issue, but the fact that this issue deals with the aftermath of a battle that isn’t even finished yet in the main miniseries makes the whole thing feel a bit out of order. I blame Marvel’s event planning more than I blame Straczynski.

– Peter wasn’t kidding when he said “I’m not feeling very court-jesterish today.” While there were a few fleeting and clumsy attempts at comedy, like Spidey calling Iron Man “ferrous fellow” and a protestor inexplicably shouting out the campaign slogan of William Henry Harrison, this issue felt pretty humorless. I like a good, serious, politically charged drama as much as the next guy, but this is Spider-Man after all, and there should at least be a little bit of wit to lighten things up. The only major attempt at a joke is in an editor’s note reminding us to read the next Fantastic Four issue. It’s good advice, because FF #539 tells the same story from a different point of view and sheds a whole new light on the events of this issue, but editor’s notes are distracting to begin with and when they try to be funny it is even worse.

Favorite Quote: Wasp: “Affirmative, Golden Boy.”
Iron Man: “Great. See what you’ve started, Spider-Man?”

Rating: 4 webs out of 5. This is a great issue, and my complaints are very minor compared to how enamored I am with Straczynski’s writing. Reading it along side Fantastic Four #539 makes it even better.

Reviewed by: CrazyChris.