(Writer) Nick Spencer
(C0-Writer) Mathew Rosenberg
(Artist) Federico Vicentini
(Editor) Nick Lowe
(EIC) C.B. Cebulski
Date Released 11/25/2020
Issue Number #52.LR
Price Tag: $3.99
Story Time: Sin-Eater goes fishing and catches himself a large mouth Morlun, they exchange evil villain monologue and then try to kill each other. Meanwhile Dr Strange and the Order of the Web are walking around in a torn down JMS inspired spooky looking astral plane, when * Dr. Strange suggests they split up to cover more ground. A four armed deamon with guns attacks Madem Web and Ghost Spider. A bigger than life Kingpin Demon attacks Miles, Silk, Anya and just for fun Zombie Aunt May shows up. Dr. Strange saves the day and fights off a demon Mary Jane while the rest of the Order heads towards the portal to find Peter. Apparently he won the battle with Morlun, Sin-Eater is playing hide and seek behind a gravestone as the Order approaches and ** Dark Mark loses to JR in Spider-Jeopardy.
The Breakdown
- Sin-Eater vs Morlun
- Strange Called it.
- Who you gonna call?
- Final Thoughts
- Nitpicks
- Grade
Sin-Eater vs Morlun: Sin-Eater vs Morlun! The showdown that honestly…no one wanted to see. What I have been noticing in Spencer’s ASM run is his way to clean up a lot of the issues that have been wrong with ASM over the years. They did happen, he acknowledges them, and adds continuity to it to provide better storytelling. This issue is no different. When Spidey fought Morlun the first time, Peter did actually defeat him (despite Marvel saying otherwise when “The Other” arc rolled around) by injecting radiation inside of himself to beat Morlun’s arse, took only 2 issues. Stan follows that approach, by laying a trap that Morlun never saw coming. Morlun became this “unstoppable force” when Spider-Verse and Spider-Geddon showed up. Here, Morlun seems to show characterization when JMS wrote him. Give credit to Vicentini’s artwork here, Sin-Eater’s eyes show a lot of emotion that maybe he might have bit off more than he could chew. I think Spencer is outlining this issue and then Rosenberg pens his thoughts into it. If Morlun is now dead, good. Let’s just keep Morbius, the one true vampire in Spidey’s rouge gallery. Still kinda unclear to Stan on whether he has his powers or not, it’s still a bit unsure and even Morlun senses his delusions. Maybe his shotgun is just magical.
Strange Called it: Another tease to OMD. My question is what exactly did Strange know? He knows about “the deal” or that this MJ is a demon? My theory is that he knows “OF” OMD, but not “ABOUT” OMD. It’s like driving down the road and you feel that there’s something wrong with your car, then the “check engine” light comes on. You knew something was wrong, but you won’t know what until you take it in. You can bet your bottom dollar that Strange is going to take this particular problem he sees and investigate this.
Once Strange saw demon MJ uttering her phrase “The Answer is Yes” and then revealing it’s true self, Strange had all the evidence he needed to prove his theory and like any good doctor, he’s going to find out what kind of deal Peter made. It’s my hunch that Strange will finally know all about OMD and confront Peter with it. I’m willing to bet that he’s not going to be too happy with either Peter or Mephisto/Kindred/Harry once it’s been revealed to him since he was apart of OMD and especially OMIT. Spencer teased in his FIRST issue of ASM when Peter looked at MJ’s left hand and noticed that something was missing. Like a certain wedding ring. Your theories on whether the Spider-Marriage is going to come back or not came be expressed in the comment section below and I have already stated that I believe and hope that the marriage will come back. I also theorize that if it does come back, Aunt May will die. Talk among yourselves about it, but we have more than enough evidence that OMD is being addressed and that is happening…
Who you gonna call?: HA! I’m going to give Rosenberg credit for this one. Obviously a Ghostbuster fan. I laughed out loud to this one more than I should have. Anya even called giant demon Kingpin the Staypuff Marshmallow man. I think that’s a Ghostbuster and a fat joke rolled into one glorious quip. It’s a Spidey comic and Spidey makes fun of Kingpin’s weight to irritate him, that’s what Spidey does, so to see Anya quip it out, shows that the spirit of the comic is still there. Fun Fact: Kingpin isn’t fat, all his weight is muscle. Not really a hat trick for Rosenberg with these references, but still comical and welcomed.
No Mary Jane or Norman exchange in this issue which I think the real substance will be at. As Strange and Order of the Web investigate astral plane madness, the heart will be what MJ and Norman do or their planing. MJ will be the key to get through to Kindred/Harry. Harry is already upset and Peter and wants nothing more that revenge and he won’t even listen to Norman. Mary Jane on the other hand…Harry did say, as he stalked her while as Kindred, that he would care for her and keep her safe, so I’m not opposed to Kindred wanting to hear (and maybe agree) to what MJ has to say. Is Norman cleansed…it SEEMS that way. Juggernaut came back to being evil after he was cleansed, so I highly think we haven’t seen the last of The Green Goblin.
Final Thoughts: Coming to the end, a much as an enjoyable read this issue is and don’t get me wrong it was. Let’s stop with the teasing. I’m all good with the story driving the characters but I want more substance and content then hearing Strange’s veiled responses issue after issue. Let’s drive it home already. Spencer’s writing on this character and these stories are worth the swipe of my credit card, but I’m getting tired of swiping week after week after week for the same “Another time” or “We’ll talk later.” That’s spreading the jam a little thin on that toast you want to eat for breakfast.
Nitpicks:
YES! WHY?! Now Madam Web is doing it. Not really a nitpic, more of an “urke” to me. Why are we waiting to hear what needs to be heard. You can share what you know while walking into the portal or fighting a demon. Why WAIT?! To sell more comics? That info is reserved to the main book? To frustrate me? All of the above, maybe. - I understand it’s an LR issue, but an Amazing SPIDER-MAN title needs to have SPIDER-MAN in it. Yes, Miles is there, but it’s not HIS book.
- How did Sin-Eater fire that shotgun with just a tug of webline considering how it was wrapped up and positioned?
Grade: C+
* In a spooky place with uncertain danger lurking around and you suggest to “Split Up”? He’s The Sorcerer Supreme who has seen more frightening stuff than one can count, he’s HAD to seen at least ONE horror movie! Don’t do that.
** Nothing at all to do with the story, I just like to point it out that when Mark messes with the bull, he’ll get the horns. He actually blamed the questions, like that scene when Eric lost to Billy in Billy Madison, I swear..
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Reading this issue I did get the sense Dr. Strange had picked up on something related to the deal with Mephisto, but I don’t recall what it was that made him come to that realizing. Unless this is one of the questions that still needs to be answered. The conclusion just seemed to come out of nowhere.
@sthenurus – Very true. Although Eddie is pretty much a good guy know and I think Kasady died again and I’m not 100% sure what happened to the actual Carnage suit
Chi, I’ve always believed this has been more about retconning OMIT than retconning OMD. Strange I feel is finally catching on that maybe he had nothing to do with hiding Peter’s identity and that it was also a part of the devil deal, and his memories were altered two-fold to make it appear he had something to do with the identity wipe.
This was a good review. I’ve tried to defend the padding largely because of the frustrations I see readers having with the book, but I feel I must now agree with conensus, for a highly anticipated event that dares to answer decade-long questions, it is far too concerned with teasing answers than delivering them….and the thing is, we still have two full months ahead of “epilogue” issues dealing with the full fallout (probably reflective of Marvel waiting on the March relaunch of the “distinguished competition” since they have two months of filler coming up from them), and from there, the build begins to issue 100 of the current volume, and then issue 900 of ASM overall.
@Mark- I don’t think we’re supposed to assume that he recognized the MJ-demon- I think the idea is that the presence of the MJ-demon confirmed Strange’s guess about One More Day.
Great review, and a fair rating too. C+ seems about right to me. And I agree about all the wheel-spinning getting tiresome. There’s now 3 issues left of this arc, which I think says a LOT about how much padding it has received. We’ve barely learned anything so far, and now something like 70% of the narrative will be wrapped up in three books (two if you discount the the LR issue). But I think if it goes some way as to making up for OMD, then it will be worth it. Spencer will be remembered fondly as the ASM writer who did the most clean-up work.
Still not sure why Morlun had to appear, but at least it was brief. Frankly, Sin Eater had better have Morlun’s powers now, because if he doesn’t then what was the point of Morlun making an appearance at all? Just so Sin Eater could shoot him?
re shotgun theory: I’m assuming the shotgun the Morlun destoryed was a decoy, and that the magical shotgun had been boogey-trapped the whole time. Not a bad strategy!
Great review. You summed it up perfectly. The slow burn is good but at one point it becomes just slow!
I hope the marriage will finally be reinstated. So we can just cross off the last decade or so and pretend nothing happened. After all we r almost there!
Dock ock is back as his old “inferior” self;
Norman is back as the green goblin;
Carnage is back as kasady;
Kraven is dead again and his “son” took over;
Brock is venom again;
So on and so forth
Now if aunt may and harry bite the dust (again) and flash comes back… That’d be great.
Good review! Worth the wait. I liked this issue better than you did. I give it a B. It bothers me none at all that Spider-Man is not in this book since the actions of all involved are directly centered on Spider-Man and since the .LR books are specifically set aside for the action not involving Spidey. This way my main ASM books don’t get diluted with Order of the Web nonsense.
I couldn’t figure out who the six -armed demon was, so thanks for the clarification there. I’m guessing that Sin-Eater has lost all the powers he stole, since the powerset of the Lethal Legion should be enough for him to have taken down Morlun. A few questions I have that maybe someone can answer:
1. What does Sin-Eater gain from shooting Morlun? The power to suck life force? The power to sense spider-totems? Neither seem like a power set he needs to continue his mission.
2. Sin-Eater has two guns? And they’re both magical? Did he always have two guns and I just missed it?
3. I thought Demon Mary Jane was going to turn out to be Spider-Wasp or something. But Dr. Strange seemed to recognize the demon. Are we supposed to recognize the demon as well or just assume that Dr. Strange has dealt with a lot of demons, so he recognizes them from time to time?
I’m forgetting something since I had to wait so long between reading the issue and waiting for this review. And by the way, Spoiler alert! I hadn’t listened to the Spider-Jeopardy podcast yet, so thanks for spoiling that ending for me.
I didn’t even pay for this issue and I feel ripped off. As you said, nobody has ever wanted a Morlun/Sin Eater fight and the rest of the issue is just reaffirming stuff we already know.
Thanks Evan! I also wanted to bring this up from Crawlspacer Symbiobro over on our discord page.
“All the demons are references to the events leading up to the one more day deal. The four armed guy is the assassin who shot May, there’s the kingpin who hired the hit, and obviously zombie Aunt May (ann’s MJ saying that phrase again)”
I believe Dr. Strange forgets as well. The point in the OMIT story though is that Mephisto already changed times, so it was an “explanation” of them never getting married in the first place and to hide Peter’s secret after civil war. It was the hardest pill to swallow after OMD and NEVER explained anything.
@Chi-Town — Great review! I like the idea of Dr. Strange figuring out that Peter made a deal with Mephisto and then investigating to discover the nature of it. I’m just wondering — Well, I haven’t read One Moment in Time since it was initially published, so my own memory is questionable here, but didn’t Dr. Strange play a part in wiping everyone’s mind of his identity, etc.? That is, isn’t he aware of that deal already, or was part of his plan in OMIT to wipe his own mind in the process? Please don’t make me re-read that story. (By the way, I love how the abbreviation for part of a story that most fans wish they could just pretend never happened is OMIT.) I seem to remember OMIT as an attempt at damage control to explain-after-the-fact when OMD didn’t go over so well.