Cormac shows off his wealth by taking his new family for a limo ride and giving May $2 million. Spidey fights Jack O’Lantern(2) and is helped out by the new Damage Control. Peter visits Dr. O-M and tries to clean up Ben’s mess. All of this plus … the Kangaroo, the Tarantula, and the Grizzly???
(Wait, this looks familiar.(3))
CREDITS
Writer: Joe Kelly
Penciller: Ed McGuinness
Inker: Mark Farmer
Color Artist: Marcio Menyz
Letterer: vc’s Joe Caramagna
PREVIOUSLY IN AMAZING SPIDER-MAN …
Peter and Cousin Cormac have a private talk about his revelation to everyone that he’s May son. He also asks Peter if she knows that he’s Spider-Man, which he figured out from Torment. Cormac swears that he’ll never tell May. Earlier, Raelith the Wretched tells Peter that she wants to engage in a “sparring match” and Glitch tells her about Killington House, so the two of them decide to go there. Back at Killington House, Spidey defeats Vulture, and Raelith the Wretched takes a hit from RX meant for Spidey. He explains to Tombstone that he wants Shocker’s gauntlets so he can destroy them so no one else can use them. Tombstone agrees and buries them in cement and dumps them in the river as Peter and Raelith the Wretched relax at home.
SUMMARY
Robbie is arriving at his office at the Daily Bugle, leaving a voicemail for Spider-Man. He was able to find out the name of Spider-Man’s cousin, but Spidey has left him a message saying that he already knows his name.
(Why didn’t Spidey just leave a normal note? What if Robbie had not gotten to his office for over an hour?)
Cormac is meeting with Peter to take him, May and Big Ric to his house in a limo. Peter assures Cormac that he doesn’t have any “swinging work” today, but a police car goes by, and Peter makes up a work-excuse and leaves.
(Does May not know that a lot of jobs require after hours emergency work? She literally works at a shelter.)
Jack O’Lantern has been hired to kill someone and fires a rocket at him. Spidey arrives and fights him while trying to stop the rocket.
(Screenagers is a 2016 documentary about the dangers of kids being on their phone/screens.)
Spidey is helped with a group of jetpack wearing guys who offer to take care of the rocket while Spidey deals with Jack O’Lantern.
(“Hey, guys wearing jetpacks I’ve never seen before, of course I will trust you.”)
Spidey defeats Jack O’Lantern, saving his target’s life, and finds out that the group on jetpacks are from Damage Control and they have taken care of the rocket.
(“You have a metal arm? That is awesome, dude!)
At Cormac’s home (actually a mansion), he is presenting a meal to May and Big Ric, explaining that his family made a fortune in textiles. He presents her with a cheque for $2 million for FEAST, which she grudgingly accepts.
(Big Ric’s entire contribution to this issue.)
Spidey speaks with Agent Griffyn of Damage Control, who explains that DC is now a pilot program of Mayor Cage to “control the damage before it happens”. Griffyn mentions a raid DC has planned tonight for the Tarantula and invites Spidey along, but he declines.
(I don’t think having a metal arm would increase your appetite.)
At Dr. Maira Osmani-Milton’s house, she is writing a letter of resignation (due to Spore kidnapping and drugging her employees) when Peter shows up. Her son, Kenji, sees Peter, recognizing him from the Spore encounter, and Peter learns that Kenji has cancer. Peter presents Dr. O-M with the fixed mycoteria code, telling her to take his name off of it and give all the credit to Brian.
(This is probably the most work we’ve seen Peter (not Ben) do for this job.)
Peter arrives back at May’s just in time to see her hugging Cormac and calling him “son”.
(“You can actually pinpoint the second when his heart rips in half.”)
Later Agent Griffyn and Damage Control are at their planned raid, ready to barge in to take on the Tarantula, when the Kangaroo’s unconscious body is thrown through the door. Griffyn sees Spidey already inside, taking on the Tarantula and the Grizzly.
(Another ending that seems like it’s supposed to be a “GASP” ending but is actually more of a “Uh, what?” ending)
TO BE CONTINUED!
INITIAL RESPONSE
Well, we’re getting more development on the Cormac saga(4), and Peter is (still) trying to fix his broken life from when Ben was impersonating him. But … nothing really happens in this issue. Most of it is about Cormac connecting with May, while the rest of it feels more like a setup of an upcoming Damage Control series.(5) He does resolve his Rand issue, but the book has done nothing to make me care about that job (it feels like most of the issues where Peter had this job, it was actually Ben working there). Spidey fights Jack O’Lantern, Tarantula and the Grizzly, but it feels so … inconsequential. For a book that is only 3 issues away from its 1,000 issue, that feels wrong.
WHAT I LIKED
McGuinness art is beautiful, as expected. Both the action scenes and the dramatic ones with Peter and Cormac, and then May and Cormac, are great.
I was a big fan of Damage Control back in the 1980s and 1990s, so I’m happy whenever they show up. I was hoping to see the original group – Anne Marie Hoag was name-checked here, so maybe they’ll show up later (or in a potential Damage Control series).
(“Damage Control: The Movie” – coming soon to a theater near you.)
The fight with Jack O’Lantern is entertaining and funny, and Spidey uses his brains.
Peter is still trying to fix the problems in his life, even if it’s only one at a time.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
Cormac. Oh, Cormac. We all know this guy is going to be a villain, or something’s going to happen to him, that he’s too good to be true, etc. He’s trying so hard to get May to like and accept him, plus he’s rich and can fund FEAST indefinitely?
(Cormac Crane turning out to be an actual Transformer would be awesome.)
Also, Cormac is way too loose with Peter’s secret identity. He talks about it openly on a public street, with May and Big Ric right there.
(“What’s that? Why are you telling Peter that ‘duty calls’ and calling him a hero? Is there some secret about Peter I should know?”)
I was enjoying the Jack O’Lantern fight and then I wondered “Wait, who is this under the mask now?” I don’t think even Marvel knows. The Wiki has multiple names of people that have played this character. And then he’s captured and unmasked and the issue doesn’t even care. It’s just some generic looking guy.
(I do like the DC guy just staring at the pumpkin helmet like he’s thinking “What am I supposed to do with this?”)
While I like Damage Control, this issue really feels like a setup of a new DC series shoehorned into the book. It’s like the momentum of the overall plot of this book came to a halt because we had to establish a new Damage Control status quo, setting them up for their new book – just like how Death Spiral came to a screeching halt when we had to stop for 2-3 pages of Norman and Miles hanging out to setup Spider-Versity.
Agent Griffyn’s description of the “new” Damage Control taking out threats before they happen is giving me “Project Oversight” vibes. #NotMyDamageControl
Also, Agent Griffyn, don’t turn out to be evil. But something about your face makes me think you will be.
(Separated at birth?)
I just don’t care about Dr. O-M and her son. Congratulations Marvel, you made me root against a teenager dying of cancer and his mother trying to care for him.
As mentioned, the ending just falls flat. Damage Control finds out that Spidey took them up on their invitation of the raid on Tarantula. I read this last page and thought “Yeah … so???” I mean, is that last page really getting anyone to say “Well, now I *have* to read the next issue”?
(My reaction when seeing the final page.)
This isn’t a flaw with this specific issue, but we still haven’t had anyone ask “Hey, how could the hospital make such a *huge* mistake to tell parents that their baby died when it didn’t? And how did the baby end up being given to another family?” After Cormac’s reveal, that would be one of the first things anyone should be asking.
We didn’t get any of Raelith the Wretched in this issue, but that just shows how out of place she is in this book and doesn’t really matter.
Thanks Hellgate for continuing to wait and do nothing while your planet is on the brink of being destroyed.
LETTER PAGE SHENANIGANS
(LOL at this reader tearing apart Brian’s character, and Nick Lowe’s response basically ignores all of this.)
WHAT THIS ISSUE MEANT OVERALL
Cormac’s story continues. He seems like a great guy, to Peter and to May. I’m sure nothing will change that, right? Right?
Issue #1000 is just 3 issues away, and it doesn’t feel like we’re building to *anything*. I guess maybe we could be building to something with Cormac, but the “The Talk” issue feels like that is what should have been building to in #1000 (is anything really going to top that?). I know that not all centennial issues have to build to something over multiple previous issues (for #300, Venom didn’t appear until the final panel of the previous issue). But this is issue #1000. We should be building to something BIG. Instead we’re stopping to setup a new Damage Control status quo. Is this really what we should be doing this close to issue ONE THOUSAND?
GRADE
C
It’s not great, but it’s not bad. This is a textbook example of an “average” issue.
NEXT TIME, IN AN ALL-NEW ISSUE OF AMAZING SPIDER-MAN …
(Electro? Well, if the Grizzly can appear out of nowhere, why not Max?)
FOOTNOTES
(1) Flawless MS Paint job.
(2) Wait, which Jack O’Lantern is this? The book doesn’t seem to care. According to the art, it could be Ben or one of Peter’s clones.
(3) Thank you, Reddit, for pointing this out to me (yes, I’m thanking Reddit – I’ve become everything I once hated).
(4) That “V” almost looks like an “M”. Please let this turn out to be Cormac.
(5) I have no idea if there is a new Damage Control series coming up, but this feels very much like recent issues where Norman and Miles had scenes in the middle of the main story just to set up Spider-Versity. It felt like watching an established TV show when suddenly an episode introduced all of these new characters and you could just tell they were trying to drum up interest in them so they could get their own pilot.
