The Amazing Spider-Man #656...

[fajrdrako]

I've always loved Spider-Man as a character; one of the best fictional heroes ever created, in my opinion. I don't always read Spider=Man because one can't read all the comics there are...¹ and I opted to focus on the many X-Men titles instead. Until, recently, the quality of the Avengers titles captivated me.

Spider-Man #656 caught my attention because of the cover - Spidey in a new costume? As far as I can remember, the last costume-changes he has had were the Venom suit (leading to a fruitful series of stories, and now a Venom title) and the hihg-tech outfit Tony Stark made for him - and I liked that storyline, too, leading up to the Civil War.



This one? The art by Marcos Martin was sometimes rough to the point of being amateurish, and oddly flat, but not as flat as the story by Dan Slott. Who is this character? Spider-Man without his spider-sense? That might make for an interesting story, but this wasn't it. This didn't sound like Spider-Man. Where is the wit, the banter, the guy facing danger with humour? This guy attacking Paladin because Paladin dissed him? Has Peter Parker had a personality transplant? Who is this Skrull and what has he done with my beloved Spider-Man?

I actually liked the scenes of J. Jonah Jameson more than the scenes with Spider-Man, that's how bad it was.

There were a few things I liked:

• The red lines around the square narrative boxes for Spidey's internal commentary;
  
• some of the layouts, like the page where Spider-Man gets shot, and the one where the first panel showed a stature (I wish comic books would show page numbers again!)
  
• I liked Spider-Man's speeches, but they didn't ring true. As bravado, yes. "There is always a way to win. And I'm a pretty smart guy. From here on out -- I'll find it. Every time." Oh, right: like the time Gwen Stacey died, and the others mentioned in this very issue; or the million other times something's gone wrong. This has the aura of hubris.
  

Spider-Man says to Massacre, "This's where I'd usually throw out some snappy patter. But y'know what? You don't deserve it, you poor, one-note psycho." Since when is his snappy patter delivered for the benefit and pleasure of the villains? Spider-Man doesn't say one funny thing in this whole comic. Did he lose his sense of humour with his spider-sense? Or is this some clone/imposter, and the real Spidey is over there in the Avengers, where he still has the clever one-liners and the modest ego?






¹ Why not? Just because I can't afford to, that's all.