The Finisher! Chance! Slyde! Plus more Chameleons and Jack o’ Lanterns than you can shake a stick at (and I can shake a stick with the best of them)! All this and Theresa, Ned, Preggo Betty, and Jamie? Holy Moly! (Wait – wrong franchise) Walloping Websnappers! Folks get ready for part three of the Chameleon Conspiracy!
Credit Where Credit Is Due
Story Title: The Chameleon Conspiracy part 3
Writer: Nick Spencer and Ed Brisson
Pencillers: Ze Carlos, Carlos Gomez, and Marcelo Ferreira
Inkers: Ze Carlos, Carlos Gomez, and Wayne Faucher
Colorists: Andrew Crossley and Morry Hollowell
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramanga
Cover Artist: Mark Bagley, John Dell, and Brian Reber
Asst. Editor: Lindsey Cohick
Editor: Nick Lowe
Published: June 23, 2021
Remedial ASM 101
Peter Parker’s sister (maybe?) and rogue spy has broken into the high security prison The Hiding Place to knock Chameleon around a bit only to find out that he is working for the Finisher, and they have some secrets on Teresa. Jamie, Peter’s college group buddy has developed a fairly accurate future telling device that Chance and the Foreigner want to get their hands on, and they will kill Jamie’s family if he doesn’t help them steal it. Betty is pregnant and the father is dead Ned who seems to be not so dead.
The Story – Pay Attention, This Will Be on the Test
Spider-Man fights off the Foreigner, Chance, Slyde, and a leer* of Jack o’ Lanterns to save Jamie from certain death only to be shot in the back by a catalyst wielding Jaime. The impotent** Lizard comes to help Spidey too late. Spidey says, “Screw you, Connors! You’re so useless, I’m going to go get a pregnant lady and dead guy to help me instead!” Which he then does.
While Chance thinks of a question to ask the Clairvoyant, the Foreigner is betrayed by the Jack o’ Lanterns and several other casino going patrons who all happen to be working for the Finisher. They steal the Clairvoyant and catalyst and Jamie to boot.
Teresa has about had it with the Finisher and Chameleon making googly eyes at each other while reminiscing about the good old days, when all of the sudden, the Finisher pulls in several Chameleons, making our favorite one a bit uneasy, before promising to reveal something important to Teresa.
Oh, and Doc Ock brought back Electro.
What Passed and Failed
PASS – Loser Villain Action – I love the losers and this issue has plenty of them. Foreigner, Chance, Grizzly, Leap Frog (not to be confused with his hero son Frog-Man), Slyde, the Ringer, and so many Jack o’ Lanterns!
FAIL – Not Enough Loser Action – Geez, only one panel of the Grizzly, Leap-Frog, and the Ringer? I would have paid another $3.99 for a .LO issue of these guys fighting!
FAIL – The Recap Page – Yikes! The prose is clunky!
OOTI (Onomatopoeia of the Issue)
On a scale of 1 (POW) to 10 (BLRKBQRKPQRBLNB), WFFF gets an 8. Why so high? Not so much for the sound itself, though WFFF is pretty cool, but for the fact that whoever is throwing in the onomatopoeias is having so much fun, that they threw in a sound for a MISSED punch!
Analysis
This is a hard issue to judge. On the one hand, it feels like nothing happened to move the Chameleon conspiracy along. I mean, this is part three and the Chameleon is still sitting in the Hiding Place trying to look cool while simultaneously bleeding to death. On the other hand, all this stuff with the Foreigner and Ned is part of this story, so it did move those pieces in place. It’s a comic that will be easier to judge after reading the next issue, which for this story will be the Giant Size Chameleon Conspiracy #1.
One aspect I did like was this scene:
The spider-sense is clearly going off, but Spider-Man has no leverage to really get out of the way of the blast and he has make sure Jamie doesn’t get hit, so he takes the bolt. Why do I like it? He knows it is coming, but he finishes the joke anyway! That’s a true professional.
The Losers – All these nobodies working for the Finisher? Well, they work for anyone willing to pay, so that fits. Last I saw of the Grizzly was that he was in Florida working with Scott Lang. I guess when that title got cancelled he moved back to a life of crime. What a pity. And Leap-Frog threw me for a loop. I thought it was his son, Frog-Man, at first, who is a good guy, but then I remembered Eugene’s dad (Vincent or something) is a criminal. I’m going to miss all these losers when Spencer leaves. I doubt the next writer will be as fond of them as he is.
A Camp*** of Chameleons – So the Chameleon is sitting all smug for most of this issue and last issue, which is all the more impressive seeing how he has a bleeding gunshot wound to the shoulder! Smug, until the Finisher takes them (holographically, I assume) to his special place where we see a ton of Chameleons (of the villain variety, not the reptile kind) that freaks our Chameleon out.
So what does this mean? My assumption here is that Chameleon is not unique and that he came from a training ground of Russian spies all good at disguises. Maybe Chameleon is the best. Maybe he just went rogue and never thought he would have to deal with these others. Whatever the case, this seems to be borderline double cross to Chameleon the way he was acting. So here is a theory that I’m not willing to stake my reputation on – Teresa is not the sister or an LMD, but rather one of these ‘chameleons’ in such deep cover that she fully believes her character. For that matter, Evil Ned may also be dime-store Chameleon too.
Electro – This return makes as much sense as anything else, I supposed. The guy is basically living electricity and, you know, these things happen.
Spencer wasted a prime opportunity here, so I fixed the panel.
Extra Credit
There is no sense in avoiding the elephant in the room. Spencer is leaving and it looks like Thompson and Ahmed might be taking over. Thoughts? Who would you like to see take the helm? I know Hornacek is a big Quesada apologist and Evan was hoping for the triumphant return of Slott, what about you?
Final Grade
I’m liking this enough, but it’s not grabbing me and making me excited for the next issue (despite the bad villains).
B
What’s Next?
Chi-Town will wrap this up for us AND take on the next issue. I’ll be back for Sinister War #1 on July 14th. See you then!
Nick Lowe has asked people to let the Spider office know how they are doing by sending an email to spideyoffice@marvel.com and to make sure you mark it “OK to print”. If you get published, make sure to draw our attention to it!
* A leer is the collective noun for jack o’ lanterns, which you should remember from my ASM #40 review! And for the record, if you watched the latest review podcast, you put the s on lanterns, not jacks.
** It means ‘powerless’ – get your head out of the gutter!
*** The collective noun for chameleons is ‘camp’. Would have been cooler if it was a ‘blend’ of chameleons, but I guess Noah Webster didn’t think to ask me (I’m practically old enough for him to have).
‘Nuff Said!
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I don’t like the fact that there could be many Chameleons out there. It may make sense, seeing he is a russian spy, like there were different Black Widow or something, but I don’t like this trend of having multiple characters with the same identity (like the spider-people). What, franchising an identity is the new vogue? It’s really starting to feel ridiculous and it belittles the original one(s).
Yeah, it seems to suggest Theresa is one of the Chameleons. Oh, well, at least she is not a robot. Or an actress. 😉
As for Electro, he is a “living thunderbolt” (yes, I checked that out, thanks MU) ever since the Gauntlet, that is what Doc Ock is referring to. It probably means he can be revived indefinitely, even if that begs the question of what happened to his corpse. Maybe Ock used it as a recipient of sorts for enough electrical energy for him to revive. Electro probably behaves like a battery and Francine didn’t kill him, just drained him out.
Yeah, there’s the SCIENCE of it for you, @Stuart Green.
@Michael — Thanks for sharing that link with me. I’m not sure how I could have missed that — and a few issues ago, to boot. It’s interesting to me how much the idea of duplicates and self-identity and such played a role in Nick Spencer’s run.
@Stuart Green- Judging from Ock’s dialogue, Electro WASN’T quite dead, so Kindred couldn’t bring him back.
@Mark Alford – Actually, the plural of Mysterio is Mysterios, not Mysterion. I was referring to the actual character Mysterion, who bought a Mysterio suit from Roderick Kingsley and was one of the members of the Superior Spider-Man’s brainwashed Superior Six team. I have no idea if Mysterion is even still around though.
In regards to Electro, I assume we also don’t find out how Doctor Octopus got Electro’s corpse in this issue and how he got/made the machine to resurrect him. Nevertheless, I hope that Max Dillon STAYS alive after being brought back by Doctor Octopus, as I don’t want the character to get the Sin-Eater treatment where he’s brought back from the dead and then killed off all over again. Of course, that raises the question as to why Kindred didn’t just bring Electro back like he did the original Mysterio, since “Amazing” vol. 5 #1 of writer Nick Spencer’s story has him saying Kindred helped Quentin Beck come back from the dead. At this point, I think Marvel and Spencer are taking Lucy Lawless’ explanation from one of “The Simpsons” Treehouse of Horror episodes: “A wizard did it.”
Thanks for your attention. Have a great day, Web-heads, and stay safe.
@Evan- Yes, they were locked in the same cell. See the images in this article:
https://www.cbr.com/spider-man-carlie-cooper-cage/
I think this is another situation where Marketing has failed Nick Spencer’s run.
I came into this expecting the Chameleon Conspiracy. Lots of twists, turns, and the resolution around the Chameleon’s role with Threats and Menaces and Norah. Instead we have this. I think if I was handed this and hold its issue 69 of Amazing Spider-Man, I think I’d think this was great. As the CC a story that’s been in the background of the series since Hunted, I want more.
I echo the review I think Teresa is a Chameleon.
I like Kelly Thompson from Mr and Mrs X and West Coast Avengers, I think she’s got a good sense of humour for Spider-Man. Saladin Ahmed wrote an issue of Miles Morales were Miles is tortured by this freaky robot. One of the scariest issues a superhero comic I’ve read. I’d give them both a chance.
@Michael — Was it confirmed that Harry #2 was locked in with Carlie? I remember it speculated here on the Crawlspace, but maybe I missed that. I could see him saying, upon released, “Everyone keeps saying I’ve been to hell and back. Now I know what they mean. She just would not shut up!”
@Evan- I don’t think Carlie is in any danger of being forgotten about. The solicits make it clear that issue 74 will be Kindred’s final fate. In order for us to have Kindred’s final fate, we probably need to explain what’s going on with Harry#2, who’s locked up with Carlie.
@Chi-Town, @Hornacek, @Evan
Chi-Town – Well, it may not bean *exact* quote. I was flipping between tabs since I’m reading ASM digitally now… If I got a word or two wrong, then I’m sure my quote was better.
Hornacek – I’m doing my part!
Evan – I don’t think anyone here at the Crawlspace would worry about Harry and Carlie being left and forgotten. Maybe in about twenty more years, we’ll have a writer have Teresa 4.0 show up to beat up Chameleon #567 in a hidden jail cell and find two bodies that had been left in an adjacent cell to starve to death…. As far as that last line goes, notice that Hornacek didn’t deny it. And he had the chance to do so as he has already posted here.
I need to find out who it is that is in charge of the onomatopoeias. I believe I read in a book by Peter David that it was the writer who did it. In a Kazar I just read off of MU, it made it sound like the letterer did it (and I’ve heard that elsewhere). However, it certainly seems that since these two are the constants, it probably isn’t them. I’m guessing the artist puts them in? How come no one ever asks those questions when they interview comic professionals? Next time BD gets a big interview, I’m going to insist that he ask that question!
When I was younger, I always had in my mind that there was a big map on the wall of Marvel offices and they stuck the characters where they would be. Man, was I stupid back then.
Bastille Day is probably a coincidence, but it is probably not a coincidence that it is also Mac and Cheese day. The Kraft kind, mind you, none of that other fancy stuff. What’s really good is to buy some extra generic mac and cheese boxes and when you fix the Kraft, open one of the generic ones and dump the cheese packet in and throw away the generic noodles. I guess if you are rich, you could do that with Kraft packets, but I don’t dare to dream of such luxuries. And I got the point. I’m behind on my Cobwebs. I do have a big one in the works on the Turkish Spider-Man movie coming. Eventually…
@Mark — I just had a thought: What if Nick Spencer leaves the title and forgets that Carlie is behind bars? I almost forgot she was there myself and was kind of hoping we’d get some progression there.
Good thing I finished drinking my coffee by the time I got to the end of the review, because I’m pretty sure that last sentence would have made me spit it all over my monitor. Whenever that happens, I’ll be sure to transcribe the sound it makes for you. (Incidentally, with so many options lately, I can see how difficult it must be to choose an OOTI!)
If it turns out that Ned is one of the alternate (not variant) Chameleons, I guess maybe I was right that he could be the father of Betty’s child and also simultaneously be in the Hiding Place pretending his shoulder doesn’t hurt. I like that explanation better than that the events there have already taken place.
I’m sorry to mention spreadsheets, but I wonder how Marvel keeps track of the last known locations of all its characters. It’s quite impressive. That would be the spreadsheet to end all spreadsheets (Sorry, Mark). I hope it’s called “Microsoft Excel-sior!”
By the way, my favorite collective noun is for elephants: parade.
July 14th? (Is it a coincidence that that’s Bastille Day?) Wow, I hope you have some columns to write in the meantime — That’s a long time to go without posting. Great review!
I hope all of you reading this are doing well and have a great day today.
“and, you know, *these things happen*.”
I’m loving how this is (potentially) becoming the unofficial motto of the Crawl Space. Make it happen, people!
@Michael, @Stuart Green, @Sthenurus, and @David Blyth
Michael – Ah! Thanks for the Grizzly catch up here. That’s what is so cool about the front page here – there are so many comics and things happening outside of the issue that it is impossible to catch everything and I know that if I post it here, somebody has read the issues that answers it. I am glad that in this day and age of the Internet, Spencer isn’t wasting time telling us these back stories that happened in other comics, even if it does leave me scratching my head for a little while. And Norah. Yeah. There hasn’t been a single mention of Threats and Menaces and what Chameleon may have gained from that silly suit they gave Spidey. Hmmm….
Stuart – You’ve gotten all the science you are going to get for this. He’s back because like Sandman and presumably Hydroman, you can never kill these guys. As long as one grain of sand survives, Sandman can recover. As long as there is electricity, Electro can recover. I imagine that if Max Dillon were a smarter guy, he could become super powerful, but his mind is of a simple nature (much like if Chi-Town became a villain). A sleuth of Grizzlies would be pretty cool (look at me trowing out the collective nouns like candy at Halloween). Love the plural of Mysterio being Mysterion! 🙂
Sthenurus – Now I have the image of the baby being born faceless and I’m sure to have nightmares about that tonight! Yikes!
David – *me – reads David’s post about Aqua Teen, but doesn’t know what that is – looks up Aqua Teen on Google* – Holy Crazy Town Banana Pants!
Agreed on the Grade! I know…it rare..
“Screw you, Connors! You’re so useless, I’m going to go get a pregnant lady and dead guy to help me instead!” Which he then does. <-- I laughed out loud to that.
Doc reviving Electro reminds me a bit of Doctor Weird from Aqua Teen
“GENTLEMEN…BEHOLD!”
@stuart the mysterious inmate was the spot. It was revealed in giant size king ransom I believe.
@mark. As usual, great review. Im siding with you on this one about both Theresa and Ned. But if chamelened is the baby’s father (and not cloNED) does it mean it’ll be born with shape shifting power? Or that weird face? Poor Betty. She can’t catch a break.
So how does Electro get brought back from the dead? I’m curious to hear the “SCIENCE!” excuse for this one since Francine’s clone burned him to a crisp when she took his powers. I’m also surprised that Marvel is hyping up the grand return of Doctor Octopus for “The Clone Conspiracy” and yet the resurrection of an A-list classic villain like Electro is not only not mentioned, but spoiled in the solicits on one of their covers that redacted Electro from the image. I assume this means that Electro isn’t the inmate that Norman Osborn went to visit a few issues back, either. I’m curious how writer Nick Spencer will have Spider-Man react to Electro’s return from the dead in “Sinister War”, as I really hope it isn’t some minor blip in the story’s radar and that it gets overlooked altogether.
Again, I’m curious how the Chameleon storyline wraps up and I’m surprised that he’s not really more of a main focus in a story literally called “The Chameleon Conspiracy”. I could see Teresa being a Chameleon copy, as well as Ned, but time (and Marvel) will tell.
Also, I agree. We need more panels and issues with foes like Grizzly and Leap-Frog. Lots more. It’s at least cool seeing the Jack O’Lanterns, as he’s one of my favorite lesser-known Spider-Man villains. I’ve always loved the look of the character. As for the Grizzly, maybe this is a new Grizzly that the Finisher hired and put in a Grizzly suit, like how we got replacements for foes like Jack O’Lantern and Mysterio (or Mysterion) at different points? I doubt it, but it’s just a thought.
Thanks for reading my nonsense. I hope you all have a great night and stay safe, True Believers.
‘Nuff said!
Note that Ned said “I have to FINISH this” when he went after the Foreigner. That isn’t at all suspicious.
Re: Grizzly- he joined Evil Cap’s side during Secret Empire, wound up in Ravencroft after and recently helped the Thunderbolts during King in Black.
I do think it’s weird that this is Spencer’s penultimate arc, called the CHAMELEON Conspiracy, and the main villain is the Finisher, a nobody. So far, the Chameleon is barely in it. Maybe there’s going to be some sort of twist and the Chameleon is the true mastermind. But still, it’s odd that such a big deal was made out of Norah’s connection to the Chameleon. and we’re three quarters of the way through and so far we haven’t seen Norah.