Bam Smack Pow
Fansided

Stillanerd Reviews: Amazing Spider-Man #789 review

By Mike McNulty

facebooktwitterreddit

A day in the life of a newly down-and-out Peter Parker shows how returning Spider-Man back to his roots sometimes isn’t always a good thing.

Amazing Spider-Man #789

“Fall of Parker, Part 1 – Top to Bottom”

Writer: Dan Slott

Penciler: Stuart Immonen

Inker: Wade von Grawbadger

Color Artist: Marte Gracia

Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna

More from Comics

“Amazing Spider-Man”

Writer: Robbie Thompson

Penciler: Mark Bagley

Inker: John Dell

Colorist: Dan Brown

Covers: Alex Ross; Steve Ditko with Michael Kelleher

Legacy Homage Variant by Alex Ross based off art by John Romita Sr.

Comparing a comic book’s status quo to a rubber band may be a cliche, but it’s also true. You can bend, stretch, or twist a story concept as much or as far as you can. Just when it looks like you’ve stranded past the breaking point, you let snap back into place. Everything returns to normal, ready for a new batch of readers. That’s the hope, anyway. The tricky part is how you snap this metaphorical rubber band back into place, which brings us to Dan Slott’s Amazing Spider-Man #789.

Yes, through the power of Marvel Legacy’s fuzzy mathematics (i.e. totaling Superior Spider-Man, volumes three and four of Amazing Spider-Man, and the original Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows from Secret Wars) we’ve retroactively read through eighty-eight issues of Amazing Spider-Man. Also, in keeping with Marvel Legacy’s “back-to-basics” (but not really) approach, Slott returns Peter Parker to his default setting: flat broke.

Credit: Stuart Immonen, Wade von Grawbadger, and Marte Gracia (Marvel Comics); from Amazing Spider-Man #789

…Peter comes across as someone who’s not only financially inept, but also selfish, lazy, and irresponsible. If [Dan] Slott’s intent was to make us feel sorry for Peter, then he failed.

If you recall, Peter destroyed Parker Industries’ intellectual property to prevent Doctor Octopus and Hydra getting their hands on it. In this issue, we learn it’s been a continuous downward spiral for Peter ever since. He’s vilified for costing thousands of people their jobs. Cut off from his family and friends, Peter’s saddled Harry Lyman, formerly Osborn, with the task of selling off the company assets. And since Peter only gave himself a mid-level salary (and apparently never heard of investing, fiduciaries, mutual funds, or saving accounts), he’s almost penniless.

On top of all this, he’s holed himself up in the apartment of his new girlfriend, Bobbi Morse, a.k.a. Mockingbird. There, he wastes his days sleeping on her couch, watching TV, and being a slob, all while wearing Bobbi’s “How do like my feminist agenda” T-shirt. It’s only when he sees a scathing Daily Bugle article about him written by his friend, Joe “Robbie” Robertson, does he break out of his funk. Peter doesn’t get much love as Spider-Man either, until he and Mockingbird help save the day towards the end.

It’s easy seeing what Slott is up to: instead of everyone hating on Spider-Man, they’re hating on Peter Parker instead. Peter’s budding–and forced–romance with Mockingbird is reminiscent of his relationship with the Black Cat. Peter even thinks, “Who needs [Peter Parker” when he can be Spider-Man “whenever [he] wants?” Granted, Slott’s obviously setting up Peter into becoming the Bugle’s new science reporter, so it’s not as if Peter will completely abandon his civilian life.

Credit: Stuart Immonen, Wade von Grawbadger, and Marte Gracia (Marvel Comics); from Amazing Spider-Man #789

[It’s] not that this role-reversal of Spider-Man’s hard-luck status isn’t a good idea…it’s how Slott brought Peter to this point, and how he presents Peter’s current sorry state.

As of now, though, Slott is having Peter drift more into his life as a costumed crime-fighter than his everyday civilian life…and it just plain doesn’t work. Not that this role-reversal of Spider-Man’s hard-luck status isn’t a good idea. It’s also understandable how Peter, feeling like a failure, would see Spider-Man as an escape from his problems. Rather, it’s how Slott brought Peter to this point, and how he presents Peter’s current sorry state.

I’ve already talked about how the collapse of Parker Industries strained credulity in my review of Amazing Spider-Man vol. 4 #31. Slott doubles down on it with this issue. Worse, Peter comes across as someone who’s not only financially inept, but also selfish, lazy, and irresponsible. If Slott’s intent was to make us feel sorry for Peter, then he failed.

Furthermore, the public anger towards Peter only highlights why it was never a good idea turning him into an internationally successful CEO in the first place. As Marvel’s everyman, Peter Parker should be the person you’d pass everyday on the street without a second glance. Like the unmasking in Civil War, and just as misguided, Parker Industries turned Peter into a celebrity. Now, even without his company, he’s still a celebrity, albeit an infamous one. If you thought Peter Parker being a second-rate Tony Stark was going away, think again.

Credit: Stuart Immonen, Wade von Grawbadger, and Marte Gracia (Marvel Comics); from Amazing Spider-Man #789

Slott also takes the opportunity in using one of his favorite tactics. That is, various characters voice the very criticisms fans had towards Slott’s run as if saying, “See? I knew exactly what I was doing all along.” The most pronounced occurs when Peter, angry over what Robbie wrote about him, demands a retraction. Robbie, however, lays down some harsh truths about how Peter had no business running a billion dollar company–the main objection Slott’s readers had–and Peter concedes.

Unfortunately, Robbie’s argument has nothing whatsoever to do with how Peter actually lost Parker Industries. Nor do they invalidate the fact Peter really had no choice in the matter the way Slott himself presented it. In the end, Robbie is in the right, and Peter in the wrong. I mean, what is this comic suggesting? That it would’ve been better for Peter to potentially hand the company over to a Neo-Nazi terrorist organization as if he were Vichy France? Sure seems like it.

The most maddening moment comes when Peter overhears his supporting cast talk behind his back at Flash Thompson’s birthday party. They recall when they helped furnish Peter’s apartment the last time he had money troubles (Amazing Spider-Man # 163), and Mary Jane Watson–the former Mrs. Peter Parker and the love of Peter’s life–says, “He’s way too old for that now. I mean, it’d be just embarrassing, right?” Never have I read such a moment in a Spider-Man comic so reeking of naked cynicism, loathing, spite, and contempt.

Credit: Stuart Immonen, Wade von Grawbadger, and Marte Gracia (Marvel Comics); from Amazing Spider-Man #789

Amazing Spider-Man #789 isn’t just disappointing, it comes off as a meta-textual diatribe against readers wanting a more traditional take on the web-slinger.

Sure, I may be overreacting, and it sounds like I’m complaining after Slott has given fans “what they wanted.” Yet, for at least a good three-quarters of this comic, it’s hard not see this story as anything but mean-spirited. When even the supportive Bobbi posts Robbie’s article on her fridge with the magnetic letters spelling out “Ha Ha Ha,” what are we supposed to think?

At least Stuart Immonen still delivers when it comes to his art. The fight between Spidey and Mockingbird against the Griffin is energetic as you’d expect, but there’s subtle, character-defining quirks, too. Peter unkempt and uncut hair, Liz Allan seductively biting Harry on his earlobe, Stanley teething–it gives his figures more life. He also excels when conveying mass and weight. Even Wade von Grawbadger’s inking has improved tremendously when compared with earlier issues.

Regardless, Amazing Spider-Man #789 isn’t just disappointing, it comes off as a meta-textual diatribe against readers wanting a more traditional take on the web-slinger. Even if Slott’s plan was giving Peter a rags to riches to rags arc, it also feels as though Slott condemns us for not embracing change.  Like Paul Sheldon shoving his burnt manuscript into Annie Wilkes’ face in Misery, it reads like Slott yelling at his readers, “You don’t want a successful Peter Parker? You want him down on his luck again? Eat it! Eat it ’till you choke!”

Stillanerd’s Score: 1.5 out of 5

Next: Stillanerd Reviews: Amazing Spider-Man vol. 4 #32 review

Stillanerd’s Nerdy Nitpicks (possible spoilers)

Credit: Stuart Immonen, Wade von Grawbadger, and Marte Gracia (Marvel Comics); from Amazing Spider-Man #789

  • “Don’t. Say. [Brand New Day.]” Why? Because you’re in similar circumstances like what happened in Amazing Spider-Man #546, also written by Slott? Least it’s not your Aunt this time.
  • “[I have no friends] who know I’m Spider-Man.” What about Mary Jane, Peter? Or Anna Maria Marconi? Have you forgotten they also know you’re Spider-Man?
  • “Ex-billionaire C.E.O.” But haven’t you said in the past you weren’t technically a billionaire because you gave yourself a lower paying salary? Harry even brings this up later on.
  • Oh, look? Peter’s watching the Steve Martin movie, The Jerk, which is all about someone becoming an overnight success and losing it all. Of course, this not-so-subtle reference only makes want to re-watch that film than read this comic.
  • Yes, Liz. I do think you getting back together with your ex-husband is part of an elaborate plan for Alchemax to take over the Baxter Building. After all, you are in cahoots with your ex-father-in-law.
  • Um, professor Parker? You said Pym’s microprocessors “don’t have more memory because they’re compressing matter.” Only you then talk about how they’re shrinking external hard drives instead of computers. Except, aren’t external hard drives still, you know, matter?
  • Actually, comic, the last time Peter was this “down and out” was when after Jonah fired Peter in Amazing Spider-Man #624, which isn’t that long ago according to this comics setting. Plus, Peter was still working for The Daily Bugle when his friends furnished his apartment, too.
  • Hmm…so Mockingbird is the only person who sticks up for Spidey when the civilians berate him. She’s the one who saves Spidey and takes down Griffin with an electrified crotch shot. And, she makes Peter feel better by giving him a big ‘ol kiss at the end. We get it, comic. She’s Carlie Cooper, version 4.

Must Read: 100 greatest superhero stories

Agree with my review for Amazing Spider-Man #789? Or do you think I’m being a bit too harsh? If you agree, or would like offer a counterpoint, feel free to let me know in the comments. Also, what do you think will happen next during “Fall of Parker”?

Home/Comics