** (two of five stars)
Summary
Carlie and Spidey break into the 18th Precinct's Morgue (thanks to Pete's Spider-Powers) to examine the bodies of the teenagers who mysteriously fell to their deaths over the previous few days. Meanwhile, at the Wake nightclub, the Vulture informs his "angels" that he wants them to hit a helicopter carrying back a rare-coin collection that had been smuggled outside the city during "Spider-Island." Vulture intimidates Michael, the newest angel, by telling him a story of a bird who fishes on behalf of a fisherman and gets one fish for its troubles. He then sends the crew on its way. As they walk through the nightclub, Angela informs Michael that his reward for being an angel isn't just getting to fly, but also getting to be a king at the Wake. When he eyes Glory again, Glory's boyfriend threatens him, prompting Angela to attack him, in front of Glory and MJ. At the Morgue, Carlie uses Pete's new ultra-violet Spider-Signal as a forensics lamp, discovering that all three bodies have "M" or "W" tattoos on them. She also discovers that the bodies carry a strong magnetic charge, prompting Pete to suggest they head to the rooftop to look at the case from a different angle. Meanwhile, the angels attack the helicopter and steal the rare coins, but not before Michael pockets two of them. On the rooftop, Pete informs Carlie that magnetism smacks of the original Vulture and hypothesizes that he's using the kids as his henchmen. The two consult a map, realizing that the burglaries happen around the same places where "suicides" happened. Carlie gets a call from a colleague informing her of the mid-air heist and Pete gets a call from MJ describing the Glory's boyfriend's confrontation with the angels, particularly the strength Angela displayed. (Carlie is mad when she realizes MJ knew Peter was Spider-Man.) Putting two and two together, Pete heads to intercept the angels on their way from where the heist happened to where the club is, with Carlie in hot pursuit (after he told her not to follow him). The Vulture gets there first, though, revealing that he knows how much each angel weighs and, as such, that he knows Michael is heavy by two coins. He turns off Michael's magnetism, but Spidey saves him mid-fall. Spidey engages the angels in battle, but Carlie arrives and reminds him to use his magnetic webbing to interrupt the signal the Vulture uses to power their wings. Before Spidey can take down the Vulture, the Vulture reveals he now has gravity-manipulation powers, and throws a water tower at Carlie. Spidey saves Carlie, letting the Vulture escape. In the aftermath, the Police Chief threatens Carlie, who we later see going to MJ for advice on how to handle Pete's identity as Spider-Man.
The Review
To be honest, I tried to give this issue three stars. But, then, I started writing up the "Goods" and "Bads" and found I had more "Mehs" and "Bads" then "Goods." So, I'm being honest and giving it two stars. It wasn't the worst arc ever, and I certainly cut Slott some slack, given that he must be exhausted after "Spider-Island." But, I'm glad it's over and we're moving onto the Sinister Six. Please, please let it involve the Octahedral from issue #653!
The Good
1) Despite my overall displeasure with Carlie and Pete's interaction here (see below), they did have some funny moments. For example, I liked when Carlie had Pete put back on his mask, telling him that it was like someone Photoshopped his head onto Spider-Man's body. (That's about it. I'm trying.)
2) I am very pleased to have back the old Vulture. I understand from the Internets that the Punisher killed the new Vulture. He wasn't a terrible character, but the old Vulture is an excellent character. As I mentioned in my review of last issue, I just re-read his original story as I'm making my way through the original "Amazing Spider-Man" issues, and he's always been a great villain for Spidey. I'm glad to see him return better than ever. The Vulture is dead! Long live the Vulture!
The Meh
I found Carlie and Peter's interactions to be somewhat forced in this issue, meaning that they seemed to act the way they did more to forward the plot than to reflect how they would likely act in such a situation. I bought Slott having them "meet cute" in the coffee shop last issue in part because he made a pretty convincing case about why they could help one another, given each of them having "access" that the other didn't have. We see that in practice here, with Spidey using his powers to break them into the Morgue and Carlie using her skills to examine the bodies. I was (and still am) cool with that. I also thought some of their banter in the morgue was funny, as I mention above.
But, my main lament is how Carlie is responding to the revelation that Peter is Spider-Man.
First, I'm having problems feeling sympathetic to Carlie' rage that Peter didn't tell her in the first place. I mean, they only started dating in issue #647. It's been just short of 30 issues, so we're talking about, what, three weeks in comics time? Maybe two months at the most? I mean, it's not like I gave out my ATM PIN # to every guy I dated once we passed the two-months point. Is Spidey really supposed to just tell Carlie who he is after a few weeks? She even seemed annoyed MJ knew, despite the fact that he dated her for years (even in comics time).
Second, given what a straight shooter she is, Carlie seems oddly resentful of the time she now realizes that Peter spent as Spider-Man and not with her. When Peter tells her how much time he spent creating his new Spider-Equipment, she comments, "So that's why we missed the last Harry Potter movie." I know, Carlie. Peter's totally a dick for finding a way to improve himself as Spider-Man to save more people rather than taking you to a movie. What an asshole, he is. [Eyeroll.] One of the main results of "Spider-Island" was that Peter's family and friends understand what a burden his responsibilities as Spider-Man are, and how amazing it is that he handles them as well as he does (most of the time). Given that Carlie was all about busting crime when she had Spider-Powers, it seems odd, as I said above, that she is furious with Peter for doing so, given that he is, you know, actually Spider-Man.
Slott is unfortunately seemingly reverting her to the character she was before he took over "Amazing Spider-Man," a confusing and erratic character of whom I was really, really not all that fond. I'm not moving this complaint to the bad section, yet, but, if we see this characterization continue, it could get there. Hopefully, MJ will talk some sense into her.
The Bad
1) The Vulture really knew that the kid had two extra gold coins on him? Really? What happens if one of them had a cheeseburger on the way to the crime scene?
2) A lot of the events of this issue turn on lucky coincidences and odd characterizations. For example, Pete gets the call from MJ about the Vulture's angels just as Carlie gets a call about the helicopter heist? I was particularly annoyed by the Vulture's angels, since they seemed pretty damn indiscreet for incipient super-villains. (Even the "Daily Bugle," on the recap page, draws a connection between the "large, humanoid vultures" flying around town and the high-rise burglaries.) Why would Vulture let them take the risk of walking through his night club in full uniform? In fact, it's exactly this action that leads to their undoing, because Mary Jane sees one of them using her powers and calls Pete to let him know that they appeared "super villain-ish." Vulture's a pretty smart guy who's been in the game a while, so I'm pretty sure he'd avoid that rookie mistake. (Plus, why mark them with "W"s? Has the Vulture become the Riddler?) Moreover, MJ only saw the fight because of Glory's crazy jealous boyfriend, who, when he was first introduced last issue, seemed like a pretty mild-mannered guy, but turned into a jealous rage-monster. At the end of the day, I think it's why this whole issue rang hollow to me, because people acted in ways that either seemed against previous characterizations (like Glory's boyfriend) or against common sense (like the Vulture's angels), all to obviously advance the plot. Again, I don't blame Slott for some lazy plotting after the amazingness that was "Spider-Island," but it doesn't mean it was that fun to read.
3) I really didn't like the art here. Something about Camuncoli's faces really bothers me. I think it's the fact that everyone seems to have enormous eyes that bulge from their heads. At any rate, at some point, it became a serious distraction for me. (I mean, I barely recognized Pete in the last panel.) Part of the blame also goes to the colors. Is Peter blond now?
4) The Police Chief is officially a caricature, not a character. Seriously, how could someone so mentally unstable be Police Chief? Mayor, sure. Police Chief? Not so much.
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