** (two of five stars)
Favorite Quote: "So, what's your story, sweet cheeks? Is there an introductory super-villain promotion going on? Because you're my third newbie this month." -- Spider-Man to Freak, in a nod to readers
Summary
Favorite Quote: "So, what's your story, sweet cheeks? Is there an introductory super-villain promotion going on? Because you're my third newbie this month." -- Spider-Man to Freak, in a nod to readers
Summary
Peter helps Aunt May on her shift at the homeless shelter and attempts to chase down "Freak," the junkie we first saw in a back-up story in issue #546, who stole the donation box. During the chase, Freak just happens to stumble upon Dr. Curt Connors' lab and injects himself with vials of animal stem-cells, thinking it's heroin. He later forms a chrysalis around himself and emerges as a, well, freak. A NYPD cop shoots him, only to have him enter another chrysalis, and emerge, now blaming Spider-Man for his (uglier) mutation. He publicly challenges Spider-Man at the campaign event of mayoral candidate Crowne (who also happens to be the preferred candidate of the newly-christened "Daily Bugle," now known as "The DB!"). During the battle, Freak stumbles upon a meth lab, tries to take some meth (smart), but instead sets the lab on fire. Instead of dying, he enters yet another chrysalis state, though Dr. Connors assures Spider-Man that the upcoming cold weather means that the amphibian stem cells Freak injected will keep him in stasis for a while.
Review
Review
This story arc is OK. It's not great and, if you spend too much time with it, you start to kind of realize some of it doesn't make much sense. But, it keeps the momentum of "Brand New Day" moving, with Peter struggling to make ends meet and Spidey trying to bolster his flagging reputation.
The Good
The Good
The Spidey Brain Trust is doing a really great job keeping certain plots consistent. In each issue, regardless of the author, Peter is struggling to get photos so he can make some cash in order to get an apartment in the city or buy more supplies. (Web-Fluid is expensive, yo!)
The Unsure
The Unsure
1) I'm not sure where they're going with Peter liking Lily. It's been a theme since the very first issue, where he expresses jealousy over the fact that Harry always gets the pretty girls. He seemed to be flirting with Carlie before they were mugged in issue #546 but now he seems to be oblivious to the fact that she has some interest in him. Instead, he's trying not to appear cheap in front of Lily, worrying that his boss' instructions to make her dad look bad in his photos will anger her, and reading into her treating him nicely as something more than friendly. It's pretty standard dude behavior, actually. I can't really hold it against him, I guess. But, I don't have to like it.
2) Peter seems more obsessed with his public image in this arc than I remember him being. He hopes that recovering the money Freak stole will earn him some trust with the public, though some of the cops think he's the one who stole it. He mentions to the mayoral candidate Crowne that he hopes saving his life will earn his support (which he also did with mayoral candidate Parfrey in the Menace story arc...you know, before she died), though Crowne just notes that he wouldn't need saving if Freak hadn't chosen his event as the venue for challenging Spider-Man. I've said before that I've enjoyed the "Batman: Year One" vibe of the book and I still do. But, they're walking a fine line between Peter struggling not to appear as a villain and Peter wanting to be heralded as the savior of New York. Spidey's never been modest, exactly, but he's also not usually an ego-maniac.
The Bad
2) Peter seems more obsessed with his public image in this arc than I remember him being. He hopes that recovering the money Freak stole will earn him some trust with the public, though some of the cops think he's the one who stole it. He mentions to the mayoral candidate Crowne that he hopes saving his life will earn his support (which he also did with mayoral candidate Parfrey in the Menace story arc...you know, before she died), though Crowne just notes that he wouldn't need saving if Freak hadn't chosen his event as the venue for challenging Spider-Man. I've said before that I've enjoyed the "Batman: Year One" vibe of the book and I still do. But, they're walking a fine line between Peter struggling not to appear as a villain and Peter wanting to be heralded as the savior of New York. Spidey's never been modest, exactly, but he's also not usually an ego-maniac.
The Bad
1) OK, I have to be honest. Nothing is worse than old people trying to sound young, amirite? Well, the frequent use of drug lingo in the arc was actually distracting. Freak always referring to heroin as "china white," the guy making meth calling cops cars "screamers:" it started feeling like Gale was trying to write an episode of "The Wire," not Spider-Man. Plus, heroin isn't the same as meth. I know pretty much nothing about drugs, but I know that without even having to resort to Wikipedia. So, Freak wants china white (I prefer my china a little more exotic; maybe a nice Iittala pattern...) but gets excited when he crashes Raymond's meth lab. I mean, OK, a drug addict is a drug addict, but it just felt discombobulated, the whole drug angle. Also, Freak really decides to pause in his battle with Spider-Man to take a hit? Really?
2) It wasn't entirely clear to me why Freak blames Spidey for his transformation. I mean, yes, Spidey was chasing him at the time, but it's not like he threw him into a vat of chemicals or something. I mean, I understand we're dealing with an addled drug addict, so logic isn't going to be one of his strong suits, but it was a little weird how his immediate reaction regarding his transformation was "I'm going to kill Spider-Man!" and not, you know, his transformation itself.
3) Dexter Bennett, the new editor of the paper, seems to have a pretty seismic personality shift in this story arc. He was all sorts of cuddly in the Menace story arc, praising Peter for the quality of his photos and talking about honor. In this arc, though, he's making up stories about Spider-Man just to sell papers. It's a pretty drastic change, and I wonder which one is the real Dexter.
2) It wasn't entirely clear to me why Freak blames Spidey for his transformation. I mean, yes, Spidey was chasing him at the time, but it's not like he threw him into a vat of chemicals or something. I mean, I understand we're dealing with an addled drug addict, so logic isn't going to be one of his strong suits, but it was a little weird how his immediate reaction regarding his transformation was "I'm going to kill Spider-Man!" and not, you know, his transformation itself.
3) Dexter Bennett, the new editor of the paper, seems to have a pretty seismic personality shift in this story arc. He was all sorts of cuddly in the Menace story arc, praising Peter for the quality of his photos and talking about honor. In this arc, though, he's making up stories about Spider-Man just to sell papers. It's a pretty drastic change, and I wonder which one is the real Dexter.
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