***** (five of five stars)
Favorite Quote: "Anna Watson?! What have you done?" -- Aunt May to Anna Watson, who, like we here at Untimely Comics, is Team MJ
Summary
After busting up the Bar with No Name, Spidey tries to reveal his secret identity to Daredevil, who he tells him not to do so, given how special getting to put that genie back in the bottle is. Pete almost misses Aunt May and JJJ, Sr.'s rehearsal dinner due to delivering the photos of the Bar with No Name fight to "Front Line." Meanwhile, it is revealed that Dr. Octopus is dying from the damage his body has suffered over the years and has decided to take over New York for the benefit of its citizens. In scanning data, he sees Aunt May's wedding announcement and Spidey's pictures in "Front Line." Back in wedding world, all the wedding plans fall apart, and JJJ, Sr. publicly accuses JJJ, Jr. of being behind it. JJJ, Sr. is then kidnapped by Doc Ock's mini-octopi drones. In the middle of asking Carlie to Aunt May's wedding, Peter is interrupted by a call from Aunt May, expressing worry over the absence of JJJ, Sr. Carlie agrees to meet Peter at JJJ, Sr.'s place, but Peter is waylaid by New York City attacking him, apparently at the sub-conscious direction of Doc Ock. (Meanwhile, Carlie runs into Norah at JJJ, Sr.'s apartment; they go looking for him, but the mini-octopi capture them.) The New Avengers and Fantastic Four decide to battle New York City, while Spidey and the Human Torch take down Doc Ock. With all right in the world, May and JJJ, Sr. get married, and, arriving just in time, Mary Jane catches the bouquet.
The Review
I really enjoyed this issue. To be honest, it doesn't probably deserve the five I'm giving it, particularly since the more I think about the issue, the more I see its flaws. It might not be textbook perfect, but it really has heart, more so than most issues. The back-up stories were great, particularly "My Brother's Son," which, like the wedding, made me get a little misty. Also, the art in "If I was Spider-Man..." was really eye-popping; well done, Mario Alberti! The rest of the review will focus on the main story, but I wanted to give shout-outs to those two back-up stories.
The Really Good
1) OK, I'm man enough to admit it: I cried a little when Aunt May called Peter "son" and he called her "mom." I don't recall Peter ever calling her mom, and it was a really lovely and powerful moment. I feel like it was actually so well done that, in some way, I finally got why Peter was willing to sacrifice his marriage to Mary Jane to save Aunt May. In "One More Day" itself, so much of the focus was on Peter's guilt and Mephisto's bargain that we didn't really spend much time considering the May/Peter relationship. This issue actually somewhat accomplishes that, reminding us how important to Peter Aunt May is.
2) I enjoyed the Spidey/Torch banter. The last time we saw the Torch, a lot of their banter was angry, because they were fighting over the fact that Peter hadn't revealed himself as Spidey to the FF. But, here, we get to see the old Spidey/Torch magic. I liked how Johnny told Carlie about being part of "the gang" (Flash, Gwen, Harry, and MJ), because it's another example of the Web Heads integrating old-school Spidey stories into the "Brand New Day" world. It involved folding a lot of space and time, but increasingly the "Brand New Day" world feel like a more logical continuation of those old stories than what we had before "Brand New Day."
3) MJ! 'Nuff said.
The Good
1) Thank God we're done with this "Michele Gonzalez, Angry Roommate" schtick. I thought her appearance here was really well done and I actually found myself hoping we see more of her. However, it would've been nice to see how they went from her leaving notes telling him not to eat her food to sitting in the bathroom while Pete gets ready in nothing other than a Mark Sanchez jersey. (Of course she's wearing a Sanchez jersey.) I'm gay, I've had female roommates before, and even we didn't exactly lounge around the apartment together in states of undress. But, I can live with it so long as we don't have to deal with the "shrill female roommate" angle they were pushing for a while.
2) OK, so, Norah is apparently still with Randy and Harry apparently isn't with Carlie. I'm glad we kind of sorted out that situation, because, as I mentioned in the "American Son" review, it was bothering me. Plus, I love the fact that Carlie asked out Torch. HA! Good for you, Carlie. (Of course, I'd like to mention that Pete did ask out Carlie during the "Mind on Fire" arc and, for reasons still mysterious to me, she got all angry and indignant. But, I guess we're more or less pretending that didn't happen, which is fine by me.) Also, I'm glad we finally see all the supporting players in the same room: Carlie, Norah, etc. I was starting to wonder if Peter was moving back and forth between parallel universes.
3) JR JR's art is awesome. Sometimes you can tell he's rushed, but he clearly took him time here. (Spidey in the FF sweatshirt was great.)
The Bad
OK, the plot was a little convoluted. So, Doc Ock was subconsciously sabotaging May's wedding and trying to off Spidey? Really? First, the reveal was WAY too exposition-y, with Spidey telling us that, rather than us getting a chance to realize it for ourselves. (I actually had to look back to see if we had ruled out JJJ, Jr. as the culprit behind the wedding mishaps, because I initially hadn't really made the connection, which is when I found Spidey's "let me tell you what's happening" comment.) Second, it still seems kind of odd. I didn't really buy Doc Ock's deathbed conversion to good guy, and I guess Slott was also casting doubt on it by making Doc Ock act subconsciously badly. But, Slott doesn't really treat Otto all that humanely here; he kind of glides over the tragedy of Otto dying because of the years of abuse his body has taken. It's a shame, because addressing the issue more directly would've made the plot more believable, whether it was his (failed) attempts to do good or an alternative plot where he actually purposefully tries to disrupt May's wedding and kill Spider-Man. Finally, the "stronger brainwave pattern" mumbo-jumbo was kind of weird. I mean, do smarter people actually have "stronger" brainwave patterns? That seemed kind of pseudo-sciencey to me. I mean, I'm not a neurologist, so what do I know? But, given that the plot was resolved based on it, it's kind of an important piece of the puzzle, and not one you should wind up questioning as the issue comes to a close. Normally this sort of lazy plotting would probably bump down the story to a four, but, as I said above, everything else was so great that I'm letting it go.
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