*** (three of five stars)
Summary
Anti-Venom is at the docks, on the trail of an opium shipment being brought into New York by Mr. Negative, whose criminal empire Anti-Venom is trying to dismantle after discovering that he's the alter-ego of Martin Li, Anti-Venom's savior (of sorts). However, he encounters Mr. Negative's men fleeing from the Wraith in fear. Elsewhere on the docks, the Wraith attacks one of the henchmen who couldn't escape, reciting to him a list of sins only he knows that he committed and telling him that the only way he can "save" himself is by telling her where Mr. Negative is getting his shipments. Anti-Venom arrives on the scene in time to see the Wraith unmask herself, learning that she's Jean DeWolff. Meanwhile, Carlie leaves Peter's place to go investigate the Wraith scene while Peter goes to Horizon Labs to show Max Modell his new super-strong helmet (adapted from his bullet-proof uniform from issue #656). He leaves Horizon Labs (not before testing out his new voice-activated Web-Shooters) and (as Spidey) picks up an issue of "American Science Journal," in which Peter Parker has an article! Aunt May is handing out copies at the F.E.A.S.T. center, where she runs into a bearded Eddie Brock, who asks her why she's been away so long. Aunt May can't remember that she was possessed by Mr. Negative and tells Eddie she doesn't know. Meanwhile, Mr. Negative is told about losing his shipment at the hands of the Wraith AND Anti-Venom and takes control of the Martin Li persona to put in place a plan. While leaving the center, he runs into Aunt May, provoking her to have a seizure and remember the possession. Elsewhere, Carlie is with Captain Watanabe investigating the Wraith scene, where they're told by the hood the Wraith interrogated that she's Jean DeWolff. Carlie notes to Watanabe that Mysterio had planned to "resurrect" Jean DeWolff when he was resurrecting mafiosi but Watanabe tells her she had the costume destroyed. As Aunt May is loaded into an ambulance, Brock, enraged that a good woman like Aunt May was hurt by Mr. Negative, turns into Anti-Venom and attacks. Spidey is on the way to the hospital when he stumbles into the fight and tries to save Li (with the blessing of Aunt May, to whom he speaks on the phone after telling JJJ, Sr. that he has to help someone in a car accident). Anti-Venom decides that Spider-Man is a villain since he's trying to help Li and attacks. Anti-Venom's powers play havoc on Spidey's and the story ends with a weakened Spidey about to be "cured" by Anti-Venom.
In the first back-up feature, Cloak and Dagger are in the process of stopping a drug dealer when he exhibits Spider powers and escapes. The Jackal observes the scene and announces it may be time for him to "graduate to the next stage."
In the second back-up feature, Spidey tries to do some regular ol' crime fighting, but has a bad go of it. He tries to stop a guy from mugging an old woman, only to have it be revealed that she's his grandmother. He yanks back an old man from getting hit by a taxi, and the man accuses him of giving him whiplash. He stops a guy running from the cops, only to learn the cops were letting him escape to follow him to his supplier. Discouraged, Spidey wonders why he does it. Meanwhile, the old man goes home and complains to his wife, who scolds him for leaving the house without his hearing aids and thanks Spider-Man for being the guardian angel that she prayed would watch over her husband.
The Review
This issue is solid. First, it's a happy return to Spidey stories, after the Future Foundation and Avengers Academy detours. Second, we actually get some Peter time, which I always appreciate, particularly when it's "things going well" Peter time and not "old Parker luck" Peter time. Moreover, Slott gives us the full cast of characters here: Carlie, Captain Watanabe, Aunt May, JJJ, Sr., Anti-Venom, Mr. Negative. It's a good reminder of how well Slott has integrated some of the really isolated characters and sub-plots that existed in "Brand New Day." I'm excited about the next issue.
The Good
1) OK, so I was wrong in my review of "Amazing Spider-Man" #658 when I guessed we'd never see the Wraith sub-plot develop into anything. Color me happy to be wrong!
2) I always like when Slott mentions Spidey's other activities. It would be pretty unbelievable if we saw Peter lying around his apartment in his boxers with nothing to do, given that he's on two Avengers teams and the FF.
3) I'm glad we're letting Peter be good at this job. Seeing him with a published article AND with a new invention in this issue makes me worry less that Marvel is going to take it all away from him...which probably means it'll happen next issue.
4) Giuseppe Camuncoli's pencils are great. I hope they keep using him. He's got a really relaxed yet fully detailed approach that works well for Spidey. The sequence of Spidey jumping around the place with the "American Science Journal" issue was just awesome.
The Unknown
1) I'm not really sure why DeWolff (or whoever it is pretending to be her) would unmask for some punk in an alley. My guess it that whoever it is pretending to be her wants people to think the Wraith is DeWolff, so I'm not going to give a demerit to Slott just yet. But, if it turns out not to be the case, it's sloppy.
2) What exactly was Carlie taking from Captain Watanabe's pocket? Is it the suspect identification software thingy?
The Bad
I actually think it's clever and interesting to have the Wraith be Jean DeWolff (or at least someone pretending to be). But, the problem was that Slott built up a reveal (Anti-Venom stumbling upon her unmasked in the alley) that had been totally spoiled by Wacker mentioning her return last issue in the letters page (not to mention the title of the issue: "The Ghost of Jean DeWolff"). I'm assuming the editors made the decision to publicize it to sell more copies, but it sucks when marketing gets in the way of the story (paging the Clone Saga, paging the Clone Saga).
The Ugly
1) All right, at this point, I officially don't understand Mr. Negative and his relationship with Martin Li. Here, I believe for the first time, we learn that Mr. Negative has "control" over the Martin Li persona for a set period of time. Now, if Martin Li doesn't know he's Mr. Negative (as "New Ways to Die!" and "Dark Reign: Mr. Negative" implied), then it makes sense that Mr. Negative would have to exert energy to control him. But, if Martin Li DOES know he's Mr. Negative (as, confusingly, "New Ways to Die!" also implied, in addition to "Amazing Spider-Man Extra" #2 and "Amazing Spider-Man" #618), then why would Mr. Negative have to exert control over his public identity? Couldn't he just revert to Martin Li and do what he wants to do? Are we supposed to assume that the incidences mentioned above where Martin Li seems to know he's Mr. Negative are actually moments when Mr. Negative is controlling him? If so, we shouldn't really be made to connect those dots on our own.
2) Moreover, let's talk about Martin Li. Martin Li isn't Martin Li. As we learned in "Dark Reign: Mr. Negative," the man who is Martin Li (let's call him "Faux Li") stole that identity from the real Martin Li, who died while being smuggled in a ship from China to America. In fact, Faux Li was one of the smugglers who fled when the ship ran aground. So, if Mr. Negative isn't in total control of the Martin Li persona, purposefully creating a saint-like persona to throw people off his trail, then why would a human smuggler get all righteous? As I've mention in the "Dark Reign: Mr. Negative" review, I think it's also a stretch that a human smuggler could turn a garment shop into a financial empire. The writers seem to be implying that Faux Li thinks he's the real Martin Li. But, why? It's not like becoming Mr. Negative infused him with the memories of a person he had never really met. Moreover, he clearly knew he was Faux Li in "Dark Reign: Mr. Negative."
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