Peter decides it’s finally time to go home. Raelith can’t wait to try ice cream in Times Square with Peter. Dr. Starblood is finally able to make Peter “stronger”. Hellgate returns. All of this, plus … Symbie does *nothing* yet again?
(“Help, I’m trapped inside a giant helmet!”)
CREDITS
Writer: Joe Kelly
Artist: Pepe Larraz
Color Artists: Marte Gracia w/ Marcio Menyz
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
PREVIOUSLY IN AMAZING SPIDER-MAN …
In Space …
Peter and Raelith the Wretched try to spend some time together when they are interrupted by Nikodimu of the Pinnacle, who explains that she had a vision that Spidey would save her doomed planet, so she sent Hellgate to go get him. We learn that Raelith the Wretched is from Nikodimu’s planet and Peter fights to protect her honor, which spurs Raelith the Wretched to stand up for herself, saving Peter, inspiring him to finally decide to go home. Oh, and Nial sabotaged their ship because he wants everyone to stay together as a family.
On Earth …
Norman Osborn reveals to Jonah that he’s been posing as Spider-Man and they have a heart-to-heart. Brian fulfills his purpose by enacting his eventual supervillain origin story by doing an experiment alone and not waiting for “Peter”, with it literally blowing up in his face. The Spider-gang joins up with Kintsugi. Phil Urich, the Queen Goblin, Ned Leeds are all being hunted because they’re “goblins”.
SUMMARY
On the planet Kailo, (1) Nikodimu is talking to the Pinnacle about how Raelith the Wretched dared to stand in her presence, which apparently is a big no-no.
(Are we sure we want to save these people from destruction?)
Near the Dolma Benari Stargate, the Spiderians have arrived and are planning a way to use the gate to return Peter to Earth. There are people fighting over it, but the Spiderians assure Peter that they can past them and use the gate to send him home.
(“Now the story of a group of aliens who lost everything, and the one hero who had no choice but to keep them all together.”)
Later, Peter and Raelith the Wretched are laying in a hammock while Peter tells her about ice cream and Times Square. She tells him that she knows that he is afraid that Hellgate will follow him home.
(Has this whole relationship just been Kelly’s way of getting me to miss Shay? Because it may be working.)
Peter meets with Dr. Starblood who presents him with a serum that will make Peter “stronger” but he urges him not to take it, saying while it will increase his physical strength, he does not know what it will do to Peter. Peter takes the serum(2).
Peter is at the jumpship preparing to leave by himself when he is interrupted by Glitch, who knows what Peter is planning to keep the rest of the crew out of danger.
Peter arrives at the gate, finding everyone there dead except for Hellgate and Nikodimu. He admits that he’s terrified of Hellgate but he’ll work with him to save his planet. Hellgate refuses, still seeing Peter as unworthy.
(“You are the only one who can save my planet from destruction, so I’m going to act like this to you.”)
Spidey and Hellgate fight, during which Hellgate uses his axe to tear open reality and transport them to the planet where Peter arrived when Dr. Starblood found him, then to Kailo, and then back to the Proving Grounds (where the stargate is).
(Hey, this reminds me of the fight at the end of Thor: The Dark World. Curse you for making me remember that film.)
Spidey is about to take Dr. Starblood’s serum when the Spiderians arrive, crashing their ship into Hellgate, rescuing Spidey aboard their smaller ship, ready to use the stargate to return to Earth.
(“On Earth?” I’ll believe it when I see it.)
TO BE CONTINUED!(3)
INITIAL RESPONSE
This was a great Guardians of the Galaxy issue, but unfortunately, this is the Amazing Spider-Man.
We’re one step closer to Peter getting back to Earth, so … yay? And Peter finally confronts Hellgate again, but it’s not much of a fight. And the idea that he was ready to use an untested, unknown serum to become “stronger” is not a good message, and goes against decades of Spidey history (and who the character is).
TANGENT TIME
(Math humor is the best.)
Remember the JMS run of ASM? It was clear that he really loved writing Spidey, but as it went on, it felt like what he really wanted to do was write a Doctor Strange book. The character showed up … a lot. We even got setups for Dr. Strange stories that had yet to be told (and maybe have never been told?).
It’s starting to feel like no matter how much Joe Kelly may say that he loves writing Spider-Man, what he really wants to do is write a Guardians of the Galaxy book. Or a book with magic. Or both.
WHAT I LIKED
As much as I don’t like Peter in space, I do kind of like the dysfunctional group with Peter as the only sane one trying to keep everyone together.
(I really want Peter to be thinking “These people are all crazy, but I just have to get back home and I never have to see them again.”)
Of all the Spiderians, Rocket is obviously my favorite, but of the new ones my favorite (and this is a very low bar) is Dr. Starblood. For someone who was introduced as a friend and then revealed to be a villain, and becomes a reluctant ally that no one trusts (except Peter), I do like his constant dismissals of the rest of the group’s desire to do good.
(Dr. Starblood for the MVP.)
Peter leaving the group to go to the stargate alone to keep the Spiderians safe is exactly the sort of thing Spidey would do.
We finally get Hellgate back. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like him, as a villain or a character, but at least he finally returns.
The Spiderians coming to Spidey’s rescue was nice.
(This made me want to go eat some ice cream.)
Once again, Larraz’s art is perfectly suited to this outer space story.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
Like I said last time, there’s no follow-up on Rocket learning in previous issues that Peter was working with Dr. Starblood. Remember when Rocket got mad at Peter about this? Rocket doesn’t, and no one else does.
(Rocket, the raccoon with a plan. Rocket: “Not a raccoon.”)
Peter and Raelith the Wretched laying in a hammock talking about how he’s going to show her ice cream and Times Square when they get to Earth … what??? What is Peter thinking here? Does he really think that when he returns to Earth he’s just going to have an alien girlfriend. How is he going to explain this to Aunt May, Shay, Randy, anyone?
(Seriously, what is this relationship really?)
Raelith the Wretched admits this to Peter:
Ok, fine, whatever. But in the previous issue she said this:
I guess this is because Peter stood up for her in front of Nikodimu, inspiring her to stand up for herself. Still, it seems like a big change for her, especially since she said in the previous issue that “Where I am from, emotion and vulnerability are liabilities.”
Peter accepts the serum from Dr. Starblood, and during the battle he is about to drink it and would have if the Spiderians hadn’t shown up.
- This is not the Spider-Man that defeated Firelord even though he knew that Firelord was stronger than him.
- This is not the Spider-Man who lifted the concrete off of him in Doc Ock’s underwater lair, knowing that the concrete was too heavy.
- This is not the Spider-Man who fought supervillains when he was physically sick/injured, knowing that he was not physically ready for the fight.
Forget about Hellgate being so strong that he threw Spidey into outer space, and caused Peter to be terrified of him. This is Peter thinking it’s ok to take a performance enhancing drug to make him better able to defeat an enemy. This is literally Spidey taking steroids. What are we doing here?
(When Dr. Starblood is the voice of reason, you know something is terribly wrong.)
Peter calls Hellgate “Helly”.
There’s only one “Helly” I recognize:
Once again, Symbie does nothing.
(Total content of what Symbie contributes to this issue.)
And not to beat a dead horse, it’s another “Spidey in outer space” issue.
LETTERS PAGE SHENANIGANS
(I really hope this is because all of the letters were complaining about Spidey being in outer space.)
WHAT THIS ISSUE MEANT OVERALL
We’re one step closer to Peter getting back to Earth, meaning our long national nightmare will finally be over(4).
And yes, I’m once again repeating myself here, but I am looking forward to the next Spider-Norman issue more than the next Space-Peter issue. But who knows, maybe the next “Peter in space” issue will have him back on Earth?
GRADE
C-
It’s an average issue in this “Spidey in outer space” story, but the Peter/Raelith the Wretched relationship continues to make no sense. And Peter deciding to take drugs to become stronger not only makes no sense for the character, but is the wrong message for Marvel to send to young readers.
NEXT TIME, IN AN ALL-NEW ISSUE OF AMAZING SPIDER-MAN …
(I’m actually going to miss these “Spider-Norman alternate issues” once Peter gets back to Earth.)
FOOTNOTES
(1) This it he planet where Hellgate, Raelith the Wretched, and Nikodimu are from.
(2) By this I mean he picks up the serum and takes it with him as he leaves the room, he does not drink it.
(3) Will this be in the next issue? Probably not.
(4) Ask your parents, kids.
@Evan Berry:
I suspect Raelith the Wretched will die, sacrificing herself to save Peter. And Peter will mourn her … for that issue. And then never mention her again – even in Kelly’s run.
@Hornacek — I completely agree. I suspect that instead they’ll have some tearful goodbye instead, and Raelith will thank him for teaching her how empowering emotions can be or something. Or so one can hope.
@Evan Berry:
It’s just Peter is supposed to have a normal life outside of Spider-Man. The idea that he could brig Raelith the Wretched back to Earth and have her live there is crazy. Is she going to live with him? How is he going to explain this to anyone? It’s just so dumb.
@Hornacek — You know, given that New York was turned into a hell dimension by Madelyne Pryor not too long ago, people there might not bat an eye at a gold alien working at an ice cream parlor. I could see her at Ben & Jerry’s. They could even make a flavor for her: Raelith the Red Raspberry.
For what it’s worth, I think all of your Puddin’ pictures are great, and if you find there’s a lack of variety in them, it never occurred to me — I just like seeing Puddin’. My personal favorites are the ones where she makes a convenient stand for the book, but I can understand her not being super thrilled about that.
@Evan Berry:
It’s so difficult to get her in a shot that isn’t the same as all my previous pictures of her with the issue. I’m sure if I looked at all of them in a row I’d be disappointed in how they are all basically the same picture. But yeah, she’s not excited about posing with a comic placed next to/on top of her.
@Evan Berry:
Seriously, where is Raelith the Wretched going to live if she comes to Earth with Peter? Will she get a job? What will she do?
“did we ever get a clear idea how Peter ended up in space besides ‘Hellgate punched him there’?” Nothing before this issue, although this issue did show that Hellgate can open portals with his axe, which I guess is what happened – once Spidey was defeated he used his axe to open a portal, punched/threw Spidey through it, and that’s how he ended up on that planet where Dr. Starblood found him.
P.S. — I forgot to say that Puddin’s face perfectly expresses my enthusiasm for this part of the arc. I think she just wants to go back to her Garfield pillow in peace.
I guess it’s convenient that Raelith the Wretched has plans to come to New York just as Mary Jane is leaving it.
By the way, did we ever get a clear idea how Peter ended up in space besides “Hellgate punched him there”? That’s how the recaps describe it. I guess the implication from this issue is that he got punched through a stargate or something. Where’s Kurt Russell and James Spader when you need them?
If these were ASM issues from another reality that I’ve been reading, that would make more sense than Kelly and Marvel thinking that putting Spidey in outer space for this story was a good idea.
Okay. I’m going to admit first that i haven’t read any of this space stuff, or have read any Amazing Spider-Man since Paul first showed up. I’ve kept up by reading these excellent reviews, and this is by no means a reflection of the reviewer, but there are so many words and concepts I don’t understand in this review. Are we sure these aren’t Amazing Spider-Man books from another reality, and that the Amazing Spider-Man title I grew up with somehow got transferred to whatever hell dimension this bullshit came from?