Were you sitting around thinking we have a lot of loose ends to take care of in this run? Well, never fear reader dear! Joe Kelly has got you covered! You learn all the answers to questions like: What will Peter and Felicia’s date be like? Where do Paul and MJ like to hang out when they are not with the kids? What happened to all of the Sinister Six tech that Hammerhead stole? Would Aunt May make a dirty joke? Yes, friends, all this and more in Amazing Spider-Man #19!
Credit Where Credit Is Due
Story Title: Double Date – Double Trouble! (yeah, not a real title – I really need to delete this portion of the review)
Guest Writer: Joe Kelly
Guest Pencils: Terry Dodson
Guest Inker: Rachel Dodson
Guest Colorist: Terry Dodson
Same Old Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramanga
Cover Artists: John Romita, Jr, Scott Hanna, and Marco Menyz
Asst. Editor: Kaeden McGahey
Editor: Nick Lowe
Remedial ASM 101
Previously, on Spider-Man – A whole bunch of weird stuff happened with what we are led to believe, but can’t reconcile said expectation with actual story plot, is Ben Reilly that has nothing to do with any of this. Before that- Peter asked Felecia out on a date and got a solid maybe. If you don’t know, MJ is with a guy who is perfect for her named Paul and they are just perfect for each other and have two kids, presumably named Shy and Towne (oh please Wells – make this happen and I will give you an A+ on the rest of your books and retroactively change all previous grades).
The Story – Pay Attention, This Will Be on the Test
The date! Turns out Peter took Felecia out to fight bad guys, which, would seem to play out if we are back with eighties – but we are not! Since then, Felecia has become a queenpin of crime and returned to master thief and that means she wants to be wined and dined. So she takes Peter to a spa day, but finds out that Paul and MJ are there too – and since Paul and Felecia used a Groupon-esque program, they are meant to share dinner together. Peter is saved from this awkward situation that he handles very badly by the fact that the Shocker caused a vibration earthquake. He and Felecia go to check it out only to find the Sinister Six making all sorts of juvenile comments.
After intervening to save White Rabbit, they realize that this isn’t really the Sinister Six, but a group of rich people pretending and using real tech provided by White Rabbit and our old friend Kareem. Turns out White Rabbit is renting out the equipment so that rich people can role play as super villains. Things seem to be going somewhat fine until the rich guy playing Mysterio is murdered with White Rabbit’s umbrella. The Sissy Six decide it is time to remove the safety switches and take on Spidey and Black Cat! TO BE CONTINUED.
What Passed and Failed
FAIL – Joe Kelly’s humor – OK, I know that humor is subjective, so this might not be a fail for everyone. I felt it didn’t feel like Spidey (well, at least the Spidey I became a fan of when I was a kid – maybe the Spidey of the past decade). Some examples:
Aunt May’s condom joke:
Again, I’m a prude and I know it, but the whole Aunt May three panel scene was only put in here for this joke. It makes little to no sense for Peter to be discussing Aunt May with Felecia and less sense for us to take the time to see him trying to avoid explaining going on a weekend date with Felecia like he is still living with May. That means we are supposed to focus on the joke. I also know that some of you will say that Aunt May has said inappropriate things before, but they were like this:
and
In which she is clearly innocent of what she is saying.
Another example:
My sensibilities are not offended, so don’t get me wrong, but it seems more of a Deadpool sort of panel and not ASM sort of panel to me. I did try to find these boxers online for you guys in case any die-hard fans out there wanted to look like their hero, but I could only find these that I think would work well for Chi-Town.
FAIL – Profanity in Spider-Man comics – Roast me all you want for this. I don’t mind profanity when used for effect (It feels so right to hear Henry Cavill’s Witcher character mumble the f-word all the time), but I have never liked seeing it in Spider-Man. I’m sure I am in the minority on this one.
FAIL – Comixology – This was yet another issue that did not translate nicely into their reader. Ugh. I miss the old Comixology.
PASS – This alternate cover:
That’s the best art work of the whole issue! It’s like an Amazing Spider-Man mullet – Romita in the front and Ditko in the back!
OOTI (Onomatopoeia of the Issue)
On a scale of 1 (POW) to 10 (BLRKBQRKPQRBLNB), RMMMMMMMMMBLE rates a 5. This comic at least has sounds, but they are just as lackluster as the others. I do like the letters not being in a strict line to get the rumble effect. Such disappointment. I am going to offer this non-Spider-Man OOTI instead:
Now that’s a high quality onomatopoeia! Feel free to submit your grade of the Hulk OOTI in the comments.
Analysis
Peter and MJ – Well, we knew that nothing major was going to happen in this or the next issue. After all, the editor when out of his way to make sure that we knew that these were ONLY GUEST WRITERS AND ARTISTS. What we do get from the MJ and Peter scenes is that while we knew Peter was not over her (they even point out that he has become quite the stalker of late), we really haven’t gotten much on where MJ stands. At first, it appeared that she may even fear Paul as she talks to Peter in secret to tell him to leave, but since then, it appears that she has less and less feelings for him and whatever feelings she does have are too far gone with her current situation to focus on. But despite her being angry at his interruption of her spa-date, we are left with this image:
Now, if I am using the art to interpret the story, which is one of the aspects of graphic narratives that makes it so enjoyable, then I have to look at the smile on her face as one that shows she misses him and will be thinking of him for most of this spa weekend. If I am right (and I was wrong once in college), then they are trying to reinforce that Peter and MJ will be a thing (in some shape or form – most likely not marriage) in the (probably) near future.
Peter and Black Cat – Most of the writing in this issue left me cold, but I did appreciate that Black Cat didn’t get all angsty when Peter clearly was more focused on MJ at the spa.
This is the best panel in the whole comic. I clearly recognize the character by their reactions and check out how Caramanga makes the words slightly smaller to show Peter lowering his voice and sort of mumbling – no guest letterer here!
The Sissy Six – I am going to be honest – I sort of felt that the whole Sinister Six equipment story was finished when Tombstone’s place was trashed at the end of the Tombstone arc and, ergo, was not looking for any resolution to it. I have two issues with the equipment missing. One, we saw the Vulture AFTER the story thread had been resolved and he had his wings. I don’t see Adrian as one who just ignores that someone took his spare set. Two, more of a problem, Doc Ock’s arms are not missing – they appeared in #900. Plus, Ock can control his arms from great distances away. I don’t see White Rabbit being able to hang onto these things. It’s also not like Ock has spare arms for different occasions. These are maybe minor nitpicks to disregard for the good of the story, but they are problems that I expect Marvel’s flagship book writer to understand. I take that back – these are story issues that I expect Marvel’s flagship book EDITOR to be on top of. I am convinced that as long as Nick Lowe is editor, we will not see what we as fans really want in this book. While we can only speculate, it sure seems that it was Lowe’s interference that disrupted Spencer’s run (and not just the ending – the whole pacing debacle).
Extra Credit
Here’s a little bonus for you. I found this completely out of context and I have no idea why Aunt May is in a Batman comic.
Bonus points to anyone who can shed light on this for me.
Final Grade
This is not offensively bad, but majorly disappointingly bad. I actually was ready for Dark Web to be over and thought this date issue had great potential to be a fun dalliance from the bigger stories Wells is telling. This was an all around dud for me. The story has not intriguing and the jokes were flat.
D-
I am begging someone to convince me that I was wrong and should reconsider this issue. I want to like my Spidey comic, so you will find me a willing convert.
What’s Next?
Someone tries to kill Spidey and Black Cat. You thought this would be easy for Peter? Nope! The special two-parter from superstar guests Joe Kelly and Terry Dodson concludes here!
Well, I least I don’t have to finished this stupid arc. *checks schedule* Wait! I’m on deck for #20? What the heck?!?!?! Who is making this schedule?!?!?!
OK, I’m out of here, guys. I’m going to see if I can’t convince Neil to take over…
‘Nuff Said!
Apple Podcasts
Google Podcasts
Spotify
Pandora
Amazon Music
iHeartRadio
Podbean
Amazon Alexa
Player.fm
Listen Notes
Stitcher
@John Joseph, @Shy-Town, @Aqu@, and @Hornacek
John Joseph – I do appreciate the effort put in to stick with it. At least keep checking in here at the Crawlspace to see if it picks up to more of your liking. To say that it made you miss the Dan Slott era speaks a lot. If we are lucky, we’ll see a new writer after the 6 month reveal. If we are really lucky, we will see a new writer AND new editor after the 6 month reveal.
Shy-Town – this is me giving you only enough attention to point out I am ignoring your rather inane sense of history.
Aqu@ – Yeah, the western side of the States is also jealous of us South-Easterners so they always have actors with an exaggerated drawl. You can trust me. I never lie.
Hornacek – 🙂
LOL at “Shy-Town”.
Aaand I was stuck at Franz’s comment, so I didn’t read the latest ones.
@Shy-Town
Now I don’t know who to believe.
But one of you has only been wrong once in college, so that has to count for something.
@Shy-Town
Okay, then.
@Mark
And here I thought the South was the worst half of the U.S.! Who knows what else Hollywood taught me wrong!
Oh, don’t worry, I still have to read the issue and I will when it comes out on MUltd… So, no better experience ruined for me.
Probably both: there are high restrictions on writers and Lowe doesn’t know a good writer when he sees one. LOL
About King, I don’t know: I just recently started on reading some of his older books which sounded interesting and, even there, some are good (loved The Eyes of the Dragon), others are bad (Cujo).
The only thing I know about the more recent ones, aside from the questionable length, is that there aren’t as many titles intriguing to me. But I’ll still give them a try later on.
@Franz29
You know, I thought about the last year or two (let’s include the senseless ending of Spencer’s run) being a “shower dream” too as a way of getting rid of it. The only problem I find with that idea is all the interactions of Spider-man and his cast with the rest of the MU in that span of time. Heck, if it weren’t for that, we could go way back to before OMD!
Here we go, the two part filler issue no one asked for, with yet another substitute Sinister Six Group, (Counting Number 3, the Sinister Six beefed up Super Adaptoid, and the Dark Web version).
Agreed with Big John, this should have perhaps been in an Annual.
Moreover, in agreement with Old Spidey Fan, which this person is one, seriously done with this book, until it gets a Jonahan Hickman, or a Geoff Johns, or someone similar, to completely take this book in a positive direction. Spider-man is due for his “Year One or Born Again”. Realize in the minority here, but really didn’t even care for Nick Spencer’s three-year Amazing Spider-Man run. The Kindred story was convoluted, and only made fundamental sense for someone who was reading Spider-Man for a long time. ( furthermore the fingerprints of editorial infighting over this were all over it’s conclusion, Likely one of the reasons why Spencer left for Substack.)
Didn’t care for Joe Kelly’s dialogue or jokes in this issue. The art by husband and wife team Terry and Rachel Dodson is stellar though.
Maybe an unpopular opinion but this made me miss Dan Slott era. That’s how bad Dark Web was.
Dark Mark, you asked that I stay in for the Mary Jane reveal, ( which is 4 friggn’ issues now!), But there isn’t anything that will save this title from it’s creative pit it’s in.
I’ll just pick up my ASM Omnibus once in a while and enjoy those.
Just can’t do it anymore. These ASM the last 4 years have not been fun or interesting.
@Aqu: So way back in April of 1865, The North (where I live) won the Civil War against the South. Places like North Carolina, (As you can tell, they call it North when it’s in the South, doesn’t make sense, kinda idiotic like this Spidey Run). Anyways, Abraham Lincoln noticed that they were doing some really bad things, like pronouncing “This and That” as “Gis and Gat” and teaching this “butchered language” to their offspring. The reason why they lost the war was because after they fired that one canon ball, then they had to run to retrieve it, just reuse it again. Most people “way down yonder” can’t seem to grasp reality. 😉
@Big John, @Franz29, and @Paul Penna
Big John – Hey! We missed you here in the comments section of late! I don’t know about this fitting into an annual story (though I get where you are coming from), but it certainly read like a fill-in issue that I felt should not have been a fill-in issue. We had this date built up and a guest writer takes it? Seems odd to me. I get a guest artist, but look at writers like Jeb McKay who are writing multiple issues a month. For Wells to not be able to write this issue seems like maybe something else was going on. But I am only speculating and have no real understanding of what life pressures are put on the writer of Marvel’s flagship character.
Here’s hoping Marvel is not listening to your Aunt May one-shot idea! If it happens, we know who to blame!
I’m all for Peter and Felicia trying it out again while MJ is off with Paul. It could read awesomely and I think I may have enjoyed this issue without MJ and Paul being brought in. Let’s have the date and the date gets interrupted by the Sissy Six. Or, if we are going to bring MJ and Paul into this, maybe make it more than to be a comical scene to show Peter as an awkward love-spurned individual. I like your idea of letting try it and realize that they have both changed so much since their early days. There is a lot of history there and it could be mined for some good stories Remember, he loved her so much he ripped Ock’s arms off in a brutal scene when she had been injured.
“Looking forward to Peter’s wrap-up review next issue.” Well, you are stuck with me. I’m sure Peter has some good reason, but he dumped the next issue on me! I expect to see you in the comments section!
Franz 29 – Glad we can provide some quality entertainment here! An F! Wow! I can’t argue with your reasoning, though. I already mentioned this before, but in my mind I had already written them as married and I did not experience the shock that everyone else did. One of the other Crawlspacers put that image in the chat and underlined it and I was not sure why he felt that was so shocking at the time. Ignorance is bliss.
I’m hoping that we get a great reason for all of this. I’m not expecting it, but hoping that the pay off will be somehow worth it. I feel that anytime you make the reader wait, the chances of the pay off being worth it goes down with each issue it is not addressed. At least with Kindred, there was a steady supply of clues, but here? Not much. And I don’t mind the understanding that status quo is king. It keeps my favorite character from becoming too unrecognizable by a bad author, and if the writer is good, they can tell that great story and still find a way to be clever with status quo. That’s a big ‘but’, though.
As far as the AU MJ, well, keep reading –
Paul – OK, I don’t think this will be Jackpot because Peter should be able to tell the difference, but you got me thinking. Her powers certainly mimic Jackpots and I am wondering if somehow, MJ is having to merge with Jackpot. Maybe something happened to where she feels obligated to step in this role. Guilty for some reason. The kids would be Jackpot and Paul’s kids. And maybe Peter was supposed to find a way to save them and failed. This would provide both a reason for the marriage and kids and also a reason that it would not stick to MJ going forward. It may also make MJ start talking about marriage and a family and bring Peter and her back together (of course there will be something to stop the marriage, but I can see it being a story plot). Maybe? You got me thinking Paul! It’s a long shot and I don’t know if it would actually play well – just trying to make sense of all of this.
While, retrospectively MJ being married to Paul makes sense, it’s a bit odd to have the reveal in the previously section.
Also, they had MJ get married off panel? I don’t care if they do a flashback. That’s a major change to the status quo which we should’ve seen played out in the comic, rather than have it sloppily revealed here.
The issue itself was fine. Well written, although with a fairly forgettable plot, but it’s a fill in issue, so I wasn’t expecting anything better than that.
I’m also hoping that, somehow, this turn out not to be our MJ. Maybe it could be Sara Ehret aka Jackpot? Is that too much to hope for? That for some reason, she’s pretending to be MJ while MJ is in hiding? Guess it wouldn’t make sense with the kids being there, as it would be putting them at risk. Unless Paul really is a bad guy, and MJ/Sara is trying to gather evidence on him.
It’s unlikely, I know, I just really don’t like how MJ has been handled in this run.
As has become the norm in the last year, the reviews are more entertaining than the issue. I gave Dark Web a U grade (unclassified, not even worth an F). This one I give an F. It’s better but using the JR scale, I found it offensive. MJ and Paul being married coming in the recap? Nope! That’s just poor and not any way to treat the readers.
As much as I love Peter and MJ, I also like Felicia as a character and she is being destroyed here. There is no way she would EVER accept being the sloppy seconds choice. If she knows Peter is pining for MJ then that would be all bets off for her. She just has too much self respect and confidence to countenance that. The disrespect the writing and editors have for these characters is off the charts and really does offend me on a personal level.
Trouble is, I don’t see it getting any better; the Six months WDPD? thing will be a dud, especially now we know MJ was there longer and met/married Paul. Makes whatever Peter did redundant and not interesting to me because I know I hate the resolution. I’m also sure it will be retconned in the future anyway. Because of the status quo regression I no longer believe anything will stick, it’s just a case of how and when.
How could be either a “Bobby in the shower”, where Peter is dreaming it all in the coma from Beyond. Someone suggested that on Twitter and while I hate it, it could work – tie in D’Spayre causing it and it explains the X-Men tie in. Another retcon, stupid as it seems, would be that this isn’t “our” MJ and she’s still in whatever dimension the golden guy at the end of Spencer’s run left her in. This is a clone or AU MJ (and yes that would be stealing the cliffhanger from the ’90s show, but hell, I’ll take it right now.
I wonder if this kind of story could have been combined and served up as an Annual instead?
I always appreciated it when writers would do that in their runs, i.e. introduce a subplot in the ongoing than pay it off in an Annual in a big way. For all my criticisms of Bendis, he did this quite a few times in his Avengers run and I remember appreciating it at the time. It manages not to derail the main story in the ongoing, while still allowing the writer to do something big, bombastic, and (hopefully) entertaining off on the side. That way this story could have been more of a one-and-done, and served as a bit of a ‘palate cleanser’ after downing the shot of old dishwater that was “Dark Web”.
And, yeah, I don’t much like four letter words or Sexually-Awakened May (a one-shot perhaps? DO it, Marvel, you cowards! I DARE you! …no actually please don’t) in my Spidey books. Reminds me too much of the BND doldrums.
Honestly, I didn’t mind the scenes with Peter being a dork and Felicia trying to get him to loosen up. It was a sweet dynamic. MJ may be Peter’s soulmate, but there’s always been something genuine about his friendship and shared affection with the Cat that made me like them together, while it lasted anyway. If Peter and MJ can’t be together right now, then with this story I was hoping we could see Peter and Felicia give an adult relationship a genuine shot (instead of the fling they had in the 80s and the casual bed-hopping they did in BND) and realize that, as much as they love each other, this just isn’t meant to be. And we could all have some fun along the way. The first few pages stirred some hope that such a thing might just unfold, and then MJ and Paul came into the narrative and I was out.
Thanks as always Mark! Nicely done, sir. Looking forward to Peter’s wrap-up review next issue.
Viva Crawlspace!
@Michael, @Sthenurus, @Aqu@, and @Hornacek
Michael – I have no answers for you. None of this makes sense to me. I think a fight between the gangs and the individual Sinister Six members would have been awesome. Give me that over Chasm any day.
Sthenurus – I am glad you liked it. There were moments in the Peter/Felecia dialogue that I liked, but just not enough for me to enjoy this issue. Upgrade from Dark Web? Sure, I’ll give you that. Pretty low bar though! Lol!
Aqu@ – So way back in the 1700s, Ben Franklin realized that there were too many morons living in America. He also realized that the South (where I live), would be tainted if those morons moved there. In order to preserve the most amazing place on earth (the South), Franklin moved all morons up to the North. We like to refer to those northern morons as yankees around here. Those morons loved making baby morons and eventually they moved to other states that are in the northern section of the US – places like Illinois where Chicago is. So you are right. There is no reason to pronounce it as “Shy” but most of those people who live up there just don’t know any better.
I can only imagine that not catching her joke actually made this comic a little bit better. I hate I “enlightened” you on this matter.
I have read of writers putting things into comics knowing that no one was really paying attention! Maybe that’s what happened. I would love to hear a little behind the scenes there!
How could I forget that classic Aunt May/Gotham arc! Oh, I am ashamed! 🙂
It may not be Lowe’s fault completely, but his job is to manage the Spider books, so I am placing the blame squarely with him. I need to find some good comic site that gets the behind the scenes interviews and such. I bet there is a lot of restrictions placed on the writers. Either that, or Lowe’s judgement of who is a great writer is skewed. Even the best writers need editors. Look at Stephen King – early books heavily edited and they are all classics. Later books are not so much edited and they go way too long (in my opinion).
Hornacek – See, you’re off a bit: bathroom is a place to pee pee and poo poo. BATHROOM! is clearly the sound of a car being turned into a projectile after being hit with a hammer by someone wielding the strength of a god. Hope that clears things up a bit. 🙂
Since when is “bathroom” a sound effect?
@Mark: Oooooooooooooooo…I like that idea. I’m not sure if Brad would catch on, shoot, he may even approve it!
@Aqu: It’s pronounced “shy”. That’s what us locals call it.
I realized from your joke that you pronounce Chi as shy, but I’m confused. I thought Chicago was pronounced as chee or shee.
With me being a foreigner, I didn’t even register May’s comment as an innuendo, when I read it in the preview. Ignorance is a bless.
I like that alternate cover! If only the inside were on par…
The Hulk’s OOTI makes me think the letterer knew nobody in the office would pay attention to their work and so had a little fun on them.
Oh, yeah! That brief time Aunt May went living with Batman and Robin as their governess! I remember!
It was right after she did the same with Dr. Octopus. You know, after the explosion at the nuclear plant? While Peter was occupied with the Molten Man, she was living in Gotham with Batman.
You know, I started to not stand Nick Lowe as an editor too (it may be your fault :p ), but I doubt it’s his fault only. The stale situation the character is in, and the marriage issue in particular, get their root in some kind of mandate from higher-up, maybe even higher than Marvel Comics itself.
I kinda liked this issue. I mostly like the Peter/black cat interactions. They felt natural for the characters. They know each other very well after all.
I also like may to be more than a frail old woman. I like this may.
All in all it was an upgrade for me compared to dark web.
As Stuart said, it’s odd that Paul and MJ are described as married on the recap page but nowhere in the actual story.
Does May know that Felicia is the Black Cat? Her identity is public knowledge this week, right?
Showing the Sinister Six’s equipment in the Tombstone arc was odd. It wasn’t clear at all what Tombstone and White Rabbit were doing with it, especially since it turned out they had nothing to do with the Six’s disappearance and there was no explanation of how they got it. Did Wells have this story in mind when he showed that they had the equipment? If he did, then why did Joe Kelly wind up writing this story?
@OldSpideyFan, @Chi-Towne, and @Stuart Green
Old Spidey Fan – I hate it for us and hate that you felt you needed to give up reading. I’m with you. If I were not reviewing, I would not be reading. And if I didn’t have you guys leaving comments each time, I doubt I would be reviewing. It’s these interactions that keep me into it. There have been some good issues here and there, but not enough to really keep me going.
Chi-Town – I don’t believe for one minute you hate me. We’re BFFs! I’ve got an idea – what if you and me stopped reading and reviewing these issues and instead picked a storyline we liked – like the original Hobgoblin arc – and just started reviewing those as if they were new. How long before Brad would find out?
Stuart Green – You know, being from the Bible Belt, I had assumed that they were married all along. When I saw that in this issue, it didn’t even register with me that this was shocking news. I think I have a great idea on how to take care of the marriage – what if Mephisto offered Paul and MJ a deal… wait a minute. No, scratch that idea. I felt at first that she was in that relationship against her will, but the interaction between her and Paul this issue made it seem as if she was a completely willing accomplice here. Maybe the implication that MJ and Paul are quite intimate is more of Kelly’s not understanding Wells’s plot. He is, after all, only a GUEST writer, as Lowe pointed out a couple of times this issue.
Did I miss the part in your review where the “Previously” of this issue states that Mary Jane and Paul are married? Seriously, it’s in the Previously section. After 10 months of no answers on why Peter and Mary Jane split up and no hints as to what Peter actually did, Marvel mentions Mary Jane being married with kids in the Previously section as if it was something we already knew. I wish I was kidding. Someone on Twitter has posted a scan of it (and made a lame HA HA HA HA HA comment about Paul and M.J. being married with kids). Here’s the link for proof: https://twitter.com/TokuReset/status/1623373641105739802
This move of having Paul and M.J.’s marriage confirmed and explained is not going to go well for anyone at the Spider-Man office, or for Marvel overall. I have no idea how Marvel is going to explain all of this in their big upcoming stoyline and I couldn’t care less, to be perfectly honest.
I just want this entire run to end. We need a new editor and new non-Brand New Day braintrust writers working on this title. This is the worst Spider-Man run I’ve ever read. Marvel should be ashamed of themselves.
I’m afraid to click that link on the boxers….I clicked it. I hate you.
Yeah, this issue sucked on so many levels. My grade is an F! The art couldn’t even save the story and the Looney Toon jokes.
I gave up reading ASM after nearly 40 years with the start of this new series. I see (sadly) that I was not wrong.