**** (four of five stars)
Favorite Quote: "Okay, he can marry my aunt. Hell, he can marry me." -- Peter, referring to JJJ, Sr. after he tells Norman Osborn to shove it
Summary
After his epiphany last arc that his anxiety comes from his unresolved issues with Norman Osborn, Peter tries to get Ben Urich to go after Norman. Urich agrees, but only if Peter actually gets something on Osborn. Spidey consults with Wolverine, confessing that he's had opportunities to kill Osborn before and, by not taking them, feels he's to blame for Osborn gaining the power he has. Wolverine advises Spidey to end Osborn, permanently. At a dinner in honor of Aunt May and JJJ, Sr., JJJ, Jr. reveals he's invited Norman Osborn, who's there to speak with Harry, who accompanied Peter. (Follow that?) Norman offers Harry a job with the Avengers; Harry declines. Peter attacks Norman later, only to be present when Norman gets a call from Harry accepting his offer. (Harry does so after it's revealed Lily Hollister is pregnant, allegedly with his child.) Norah infiltrates Avengers Tower by posing as a page to try to get something on Osborn. Spidey also infiltrates Avengers Tower, by posing as Venom (who's posing as Spidey) thanks to a costume rigged by Mr. Fantastic. Norman reveals to the Dark Avengers (and Spidey) that his plan is to have Harry assume the identity of "American Son," the Dark Avengers' version of Captain America. Meanwhile, Harry is revealed to have only joined his father so that he can find a way to de-Goblin Lily. Spidey gets his ass handed to him by Daken, who had sniffed out Spidey's deception instantly. Norman tries to carve Spidey from his Venom costume. Lily refuses Harry's attempt to help her when he reveals he actually discovered a way to de-Goblinize her, revealing that the baby is actually Norman's, not Harry's. Spidey escapes, but he's so weakened from the torture that Norman captures him and is on the verge of killing him when an irate Harry, now in the American Son armor, attacks. Norman (somehow) dons the Iron Patriot armor and fights back. Harry wins, though Spidey keeps him from killing Norman; Harry instead disowns him. In the epilogue, it appears Harry may be on the road back to addiction when the doctor he sees prescribes him oxycontin and Norah, who got access to all she needed about Norman, is scared into backing off the story after receiving a threatening e-mail from Norman.
The Review
This arc was awesome. I would've given it five stars, except for the sill identity shenanigans and loose plot points discussed below. We really see the logical progression of Spidey's new "Brand New Day" relationship with Harry and Norman, and it doesn't disappoint. I enjoyed Kelly giving us a full consideration of Peter's need to resolve his relationship with Norman -- and the lengths to which he considers going to do it. One of the aspects of "New Ways to Die!" that I didn't like is that it just presented Spidey's animosity toward Norman (and vice versa) as a fait accompli. It was just the same old "he's my arch-nemesis so I have to destroy him" schtick. But, here, we see Kelly taking the relationship to the next level, with Peter spending the whole arc really analyzing his options and considering how they affect Harry.
The Really Good
1) OMG, Peter flirting with Sue! OMG, Peter flirting with Sue! Honestly, it's the first time I recall anyone (including Peter) treating Sue Richards as anything other than a mother or a saint. Her appearance was a great, unexpected guest spot, as was Wolverine's. I normally don't like Wolverine, but his appearance here really made sense, giving Pete advice (permanently resolve Norman Osborn) that he wasn't going to get from, say, Aunt May. Back in the late '90s and early 2000s, I feel like the writers wouldn't have gone for this simple sort of grace note, a unadvertised guest that adds some energy to the book and moves along the plot. Instead, we would've gotten some super-hyped "CROSS-OVER" event and wound up being annoyed when it was only a page or two long.
2) I enjoyed watching Peter struggle with the decision on what to do with Norman. From his conversations with Wolverine, Gwen Stacy, Aunt May, and JJJ, Sr. (talk about a diverse group), we see Peter really trying to find a way to help his friend. We usually don't see that sort of deliberation in superhero comics; normally, they just seem to know what they're going to do and go do it. Peter has always been the best part of Spidey, and we really see his humanity (for lack of a less clichéd term). We also see his dark side here, with him considering killing Norman, something we don't see frequently from the Wall Crawler. Watching Peter wrestle with these emotions and decisions makes the resolution of the story -- and the revelation of how he integrates all that advice he received -- all the more satisfying.
3) Peter's conversation with JJJ, Sr. here was really well done, and it's the first moment where I thought, "Huh, maybe they're not going to kill him off immediately." The writers seem to be -- slowly -- putting JJJ, Sr. into an Uncle Ben sort of role, and I think we all agree Peter could use that in his life. I could actually foresee a future where JJJ, Sr. discovers that Peter is Spider-Man and keeps the secret without letting Aunt May know. I now hope that they don't kill off JJJ, Sr. as soon as I figured they would, because, not only do I like him for the fact that JJJ, Jr. and Norman Osborn dislike him, but he's good for Peter.
4) I'm going to swear here, so, if you're a youngster, close your eyes: fuck, Norman Osborn is a sick, evil son of a bitch. "You're no longer my son." Wow. Kelly really gives us a Norman for the ages here. From the big scheme, getting Harry to become American Son and using him to lure in Spider-Man, to the smaller moments, like sending the creepy-as-hell e-mail to Norah, this arc is really Norman's tour de force of evil.
5) Along those lines, I clapped when Harry turned his back on Norman. I don't think we're going to see a sudden happy ending for Harry, but I was glad, after everything that's happened to him over the last few issues, to see him get at least a moment to shine.
The Good
1) OK, it's probably a "Brand New Day" thing, but I kind of enjoy the fact that Gwen is back. I mean, she's not back in a "OMG, they've returned Gwen Stacy from the dead and I'm going to have to give up comics again" "back," but "back" in the sense that we talk about her again. Peter talking to Gwen's tombstone was really poignant. It's probably something he does now that he's not married to MJ (since, pre-"Brand New Day," he would've just gone to MJ for advice), but it's another sign that the Web Heads are really attempting to integrate Peter's history (and, most importantly, his good history, not his "Clone Saga"/Spider-Totem history) into the book whenever possible.
2) I really like Norah. I feel like she's criminally under-used. I was more or less "meh" on Carlie, but Norah seems like a good foil for Peter. She's got that Lois Lane aspect to her: she might get in trouble and Spidey will have to "rescue" her, but she gets in trouble saving the world so she's not some helpless damsel in constant distress. Plus, Kelly really develops her here. So far, we've only seen her portrayed as brazenly confident; in fact, she's generally been a little unbelievable as a character, since she's almost been a caricature. But, we get to see fear here when she opens Norman's e-mail (an understandable response to Norman Osborn threatening you), and it makes her more real.
3) I kind of figured the baby was Norman's. I even kind of figured Lily was part of the ruse. But, I've got to say, after being ambivalent about Menace for so long, I'm really starting to like her as a villain. She's really cruel here in a way that surprises me, since we, of course, knew her first as Lily. Even when she revealed herself as Menace, she wasn't this evil. But, it's clear that Norman has done to her what he does best: corrupt her. It's painful to watch Harry get hurt by her, but it does amp up her status as a villain. But, Kelly gives her some humanity, too, when we see the fear on her face as Norman's talking to the baby he plans to raise to kill Spider-Man. Well done, Kelly, for really developing Menace into a rightful villain and an interesting character.
The Bad
1) The issue starts with Harry "helping" Peter pick up two girls in the park. Now, the last we left Harry, he seemed to be romancing Carlie after she helped him get on the wagon again. "Helping" Peter pick up two girls in the park doesn't necessarily mean nothing is happening between Harry and Carlie. But, I get the sense that that storyline has been forgotten. I thought Norah and Randy Robertson were going to meet the same "never mention what happened during Spidey's time in the Macroverse again" fate after she passed Pete a note asking him to take her to dinner, but she did actually mention Randy outside Avengers Tower. At any rate, I'm surprised to see the Harry/Carlie storyline dropped so quickly, because it seemed to be the only thing keeping Carlie in play after Lily left the scene. (I'm not a huge fan of Carlie, so I wouldn't actually mind if we replaced her with Norah.)
2) As other writers have done, Kelly has to go through some gymnastics here to ensure that neither Harry nor Norman learns Spidey's identity. I mean, first, I don't know if I buy that Harry turned off his visor so he wouldn't see Spidey's identity. You hate the guy THAT much, but you decide to let him keep his secret identity? Moreover, in previous arcs, we've gotten hints that Harry might know Peter's identity (for example, their conversation on the sidewalk at the end of "Mind on Fire"). From the intimate tone of the Spidey's comments to Harry when he thought Harry had seen him, I'm pretty sure that, if Harry didn't know then, he would now, recognizing Peter's voice. Regarding Norman, as he himself notes, Spidey gets all emotional with Norman for at least the second time (the first being in "New Ways to Die!") over Harry. I don't really believe that Norman, once he's realized Spidey has some connection to his son, can't connect the dots. Norman's a pretty smart guy. I understand why the writers can't have either learn Spidey's identity, but they're really going to unbelievable lengths to keep it secret here.
3) I was kind of surprised by Harry's claim that Norman wasn't just getting Harry into the Avengers to have him become American Son, but also to use him as a lure for Spider-Man. As I mention above, Norman's smart enough to realize that Spidey's obsessed with Harry and getting him into the Avengers would drive Spidey crazy. But, how does Harry realize it? He just kind of blurts out his epiphany, and we don't really see what causes him to connect the dots.
4) I don't really recall JJJ, Jr. and JJJ, Sr. reconciling, but it appears they have. Last I remember, they were arguing over JJJ, Sr. leaving the family and over Spider-Man in "Spider-Man 24/7." Also, why exactly was Norman (and Harry, for that matter) invited to family dinner?
5) I know I'm getting nit-picky here, but it annoyed me, so I'll share it. For the most part, I liked the fact that Spidey crossed into the ongoing storyline in the Marvel Universe, "Dark Reign," given that its principal antagonist, Norman Osborn, is also his principal antagonist. But, Spidey "replacing" Venom (who "replaced" Spidey) only reminds us that it's kind of weird that Spidey hasn't been arrested by H.A.M.M.E.R. or SHIELD yet. When "Brand New Day" first began, Peter was hiding because he didn't reveal his identity, and so it was illegal for him to be Spider-Man. He was eventually convinced to don the suit, and we never really heard much about that angle again. He's been pursued by the City of New York, because the cops were framing him for being the "Tracer Killer" and JJJ, Jr. is, you know, crazy. But, other than Blue Shield and Jackpot trying to arrest him, SHIELD largely gave him a pass. Moreover, now that H.A.M.M.E.R. is in charge, no one seems to care that, theoretically, the world has two "real" Spider-Men. It's one of those annoying "Brand New Day" moments that you generally try to put in a box and not open. Unfortunately, the box was opened here.
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