***** (five of five stars)
Favorite Quote: "Is this how you commune with your gods?" "Y-yes. And they told me to tell you to stop hitting me." -- Deity and Spidey converse, after Spidey called Harry to warn him about Carlie being in trouble, using a device called a "public phone booth"
Summary
Favorite Quote: "Is this how you commune with your gods?" "Y-yes. And they told me to tell you to stop hitting me." -- Deity and Spidey converse, after Spidey called Harry to warn him about Carlie being in trouble, using a device called a "public phone booth"
Summary
Peter stops by the New Avengers HQ for breakfast because Aunt May doesn't buy the fun cereal, only to be present when Dr. Strange has a vision that trouble is going to go down that day at 4:00 pm. Spidey agrees to meet Wolverine (who was also present) at the site were the trouble was going to happen, and they wind up fighting some crazy Mayan warriors who are trying to kill a research scientist, Dr. Rabin. Rabin dispatches Spidey to save his team, who are trapped in a van in the blizzard. However, it turns out Rabin is a nutjob who left his team to die as a sacrifice to a Mayan deity he hopes will inhabit his body; the Mayan warriors that Spidey defeated (and Rabin subsequently killed) were trying to keep him from completing the necessary ceremony. Spidey realizes this twist a little too late, particularly since he left Carlie at the station with Rabin. Spidey saves the surviving team member (Rabin had already sacrificed the other one) and gets into a battle with the Mayan deity. Rabin decides Carlie is going to replace the sacrifice that Spidey saved, but Spidey successfully delays the ceremony, preventing Rabin's union with the god and saving Carlie (with the help of some friendly neighborhood homeless guys).
The Review
The Review
This story arc ROCKED! Really. It was such a return to form after the mediocre "Freak" story arc and it's my favorite of the "Brand New Day" stories. It benefited from not having to introduce the "Brand New Day" concepts like the previous story arcs had to do. Instead, it was just stone cold Spidey fun with quips, danger, and action.
The Good
The Good
1) The Rabin twist: who knew? Oh, right, Vin. But, Vin doesn't count, since he only suspected Rabin was a bad guy since he was near Spider-Man, who Vin thinks is a criminal. I actually was surprised, so, well done, guys!
2) Spidey's time with Vern, the homeless guy, was a nice touch. It could've been done in a really heavy-handed way, but it wasn't. Peter giving Vern his jacket served as a reminder that Peter's a decent guy under the mask, just trying to make the world a better place. At the end of the day, this fact is really kind of the whole point of "Brand New Day:" fighting the good fight, whether it's defeating a Mayan deity or making sure a homeless guy is warm in a blizzard.
3) The art was amazing. It has got to be really, really tough to draw characters in the snow given all that white. I'm assuming it's probably why you don't see it more often. But, Chris Bachalo (whose work I've always loved) just really hits it out of the park here. You actually believed that Spidey was fighting a Mayan deity in the real downtown New York, not just the comics-rendered one. Plus, it was genius when Spidey gets hit in the face by the deity from the panel above where he's actually hit in order to show that the Mayan deity is in all places at once. Perfect. It's that attention to detail that's really making "Brand New Day" raise the bar for comic books everywhere.
4) The "army" of homeless people was hilarious. I love how it appears on the front-page version of "The DB!" they've been using to recap the stories. I, of course, dismissed it as a conservative paper stirring up anti-homeless person hysteria or something when I first read it. But, nope, Spidey's friend Vern actually does gather an army to help Spidey.
5) I actually groaned when I saw Wolverine on the cover. I liked Wolverine for about a week in 1990 before he just became so spectacularly overexposed that I stopped caring. I already have to suffer through him as a loyal Avengers and X-Men reader, so I was displeased to see him in this issue. The thing is? It totally works. Spidey and Wolvie are buddy-buddy, but note their differences and, mercifully, Wolvie leaves after only one issue. Perfect!
The Bad
2) Spidey's time with Vern, the homeless guy, was a nice touch. It could've been done in a really heavy-handed way, but it wasn't. Peter giving Vern his jacket served as a reminder that Peter's a decent guy under the mask, just trying to make the world a better place. At the end of the day, this fact is really kind of the whole point of "Brand New Day:" fighting the good fight, whether it's defeating a Mayan deity or making sure a homeless guy is warm in a blizzard.
3) The art was amazing. It has got to be really, really tough to draw characters in the snow given all that white. I'm assuming it's probably why you don't see it more often. But, Chris Bachalo (whose work I've always loved) just really hits it out of the park here. You actually believed that Spidey was fighting a Mayan deity in the real downtown New York, not just the comics-rendered one. Plus, it was genius when Spidey gets hit in the face by the deity from the panel above where he's actually hit in order to show that the Mayan deity is in all places at once. Perfect. It's that attention to detail that's really making "Brand New Day" raise the bar for comic books everywhere.
4) The "army" of homeless people was hilarious. I love how it appears on the front-page version of "The DB!" they've been using to recap the stories. I, of course, dismissed it as a conservative paper stirring up anti-homeless person hysteria or something when I first read it. But, nope, Spidey's friend Vern actually does gather an army to help Spidey.
5) I actually groaned when I saw Wolverine on the cover. I liked Wolverine for about a week in 1990 before he just became so spectacularly overexposed that I stopped caring. I already have to suffer through him as a loyal Avengers and X-Men reader, so I was displeased to see him in this issue. The thing is? It totally works. Spidey and Wolvie are buddy-buddy, but note their differences and, mercifully, Wolvie leaves after only one issue. Perfect!
The Bad
1) Pet Peeve #2: Dr. Rabin's name is mentioned in the recap page in the second issue, but wasn't mentioned in the first issue.
2) Vin, dude: you apparently have a crush on Carlie, so you imply she should take your extra room? Really? (I mean, I think the hijinks that will come from Peter living with Vin, a Spidey hater, will be fun. But, he couldn't he have just casually mentioned that he needed a roommate, letting Carlie propose Peter? The writers could even keep that he had a crush on Carlie to build a love triangle, since she (possibly) has a crush on our man, Pete. But, instead, he asks her to move into his place. Maybe it's just me, but, I don't know, you usually don't invite someone on whom you have a crush to live with you. Again, maybe I'm just old-fashioned. I mean, seriously, kids these days...)
2) Vin, dude: you apparently have a crush on Carlie, so you imply she should take your extra room? Really? (I mean, I think the hijinks that will come from Peter living with Vin, a Spidey hater, will be fun. But, he couldn't he have just casually mentioned that he needed a roommate, letting Carlie propose Peter? The writers could even keep that he had a crush on Carlie to build a love triangle, since she (possibly) has a crush on our man, Pete. But, instead, he asks her to move into his place. Maybe it's just me, but, I don't know, you usually don't invite someone on whom you have a crush to live with you. Again, maybe I'm just old-fashioned. I mean, seriously, kids these days...)
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