Amazing Spider-Man Vol 5 #14/815 Review: The Bogenrieder Perspective

Guess who’s coming to dinner?… It’s not me, I don’t eat anymore; it’s the fun part of being a college student.

Amazing Spider-Man (2018) #14

“Family Matters, Pt 1”

Writer: Nick Spencer

Pencils: Chris Bachalo

Inkers: Al Vey, Wayne Faucher, John Livesay and Tim Townsend

Colors: Chris Bachalo

Cover Art: Ryan Ottley and Nathan Fairbairn

Editor: Nick Lowe and Kathleen Wisneski

EiC: C.B. Cebulski

Plot:

In the country of Bagalia (See Punisher to see how Baron Zemo’s gonna make it a hellhole!) Arcade is approached by Kraven, who wants him to build something.

Meanwhile, Peter and MJ have dinner with Doctor Connors and his family, only for Billy to storm off because Curt won’t let his son attend school. Peter mentions that he’s glad that Curt is taking care of his son, and notes that Aunt May must have had a hard time with him. Speaking of the devil, Aunt May (with a very Mephisto-themed wine glass, I might add) is having dinner with Jay Jameson’s attorney, who reveals that Jay has no money left in his will and his estate. (How.) After trying to flirt with her, May tells him to screw off and comes across a man getting harassed in an alley; scaring the attackers off with a hologram of… something, she offers to get the man a meal.

Their conversation is rudely interrupted by Rhino charging through, followed closely by Taskmaster and Black Ant. Through the Jumbo-Convenience-Tron, Peter is alerted and arrives on scene. Rhino returns and the two decide to team up. Taskmaster dispatches of Peter and Black Ant tries (and fails) to dispatch of Rhino, instead firing his gun into the restaurant.

Thoughts:

When Chris Bachalo was announced as one of the fill-in artists, I wasn’t exactly sure of this issue; after issues with Shed and the Hammerhead arc from Brand New Day, I was expecting Spencer to have to carry the issue by himself. Not to mention my worry that the letters page wouldn’t come back for yet another issue.

I’m glad to say it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. It’s still Chi-Town’s fault, though.

Writing-wise, Nick Spencer, again, knocks it out of the park. His two most consistent strengths have been tied to his characters; his intricate understanding of how they function as individuals and how they interact with each other. (As well as group interactions.) His take on Doctor Connors (A man who wants to protect his family and make them happy but cannot let them into the outside world because of how they look) is empathetic and does a solid job of transitioning from the Clone Conspiracy into the Lizard family we have now.

Likewise, there is also a strong sense of growth from Peter here. There is a strong meta commentary from both himself and the Connors (Billy in particular) that it’s very much time for him to grow up; going back to school and regaining his academic credentials is very much a place for him to start, and to earn his place in the world instead of just taking credit for Ock’s work. It’s a nice callback to the first issue that I think speaks volumes of Peter’s growth as a character over the course of the last thirteen issues.

Taskmaster and Black Ant, of course, try to steal the show as comedic highlights, but come at a close second to Peter himself, who Spencer is clearly having the time of his life writing. His chemistry with Rhino is spot-on, and despite some weird chemistry going on that requires you to read the third issue of Miles’ new ongoing to understand (An issue that hasn’t come out yet) they do mesh together well. There’s also an effective use of Mary Jane as a soundboard for Peter to reflect upon, though not a ton of character progression comes her way; said focus goes to Aunt May, who is being solidly written moving on from Jay.

I’m glad she didn’t end up falling in love with Jay’s attorney, it’s a Slott-tier move, and I’m glad Spencer didn’t try to slap a new love interest onto May just after having her last husband die. I’m going to argue with Mark here (What a shock) and make the claim that having Aunt May throw the wine glass in the attorney’s face was a very effective character moment for her. (Especially given the color palette of the wine.) Speaking of which…

Now let’s talk about Chris Bachalo.

To start off, I actually like Bachalo’s art style, for the most part. His linework is actually pretty solid aside from some weird emphasis on lips and eyes, but aside from that I think he did some solid work here on characters with masks that have expression. (Again, Taskmaster, Black Ant and Spider-Man all have great expressions and dynamic posing.)

The problem here is the inkers and coloring.

The inkers are supposed to iron out wrinkles in the penciling, but instead for some reason when it came to Rhino and the fight scenes, there was this weird, deliberate attempt to make everything look all jagged and ultra-spiky, and I think the inker for this part of the book failed to make it work. (Oh, yeah, there’s four inkers! And none of them do a great job, particularly because they do this weird thing where they make Bachalo’s lines extra thick and faded on the edges. It just doesn’t pay off.)

The thing that I think is the biggest point-knocker for me is the coloring. Bachalo does his own colors, and sometimes I think it pays off. There’s a really good use of deep reds in the restaurant with Aunt May, which I mentioned earlier has some Mephisto-esque color patterns that work well thematically with a character like Aunt May. But other times, particularly during fight scenes, he overuses a very brown-centered color palette that makes everything blend together, which is especially unhelpful when trying to distinguish people or actions. (This hurt him especially during his two issues on Spec when two Sandmen were fighting each other.) I think if Bachalo had a thinner inker and a full-time colorist to accompany him, his art would be a lot more appealing to look at.

Once again, Spencer totally nails the writing on this, and we’re finally seeing more progression towards the buildup to Hunted. (Particularly with Kraven and Arcade.) I just think the art leaves a little more to be desired, which is a trend I expect will follow into the next issue.

I’ll also send a letter to Marvel telling them to always blame Chi-Town. Never forget.

Final Grade: B+