Amazing Spider-Man #681: Prelude to "Ends of the Earth" Part 2

*** (three of five stars)

Favorite Quote:  "You look...hot.  And don't take that the wrong way."  "Need to burn off some of the heat I absorbed."  "Do you need to do that more than you need to breathe?"  "Again with the oxygen!"  "It's important!" -- Spidey and Torch, making even a discussion about oxygen fun

Summary

Facing down the octo-zombified crew of the Apogee 1 station, Johnny Storm follows Spidey's suggestion that they "Run!"  He "flames on" and bolts with Spidey and John Jameson in tow, stopping only when John confirms what Peter hypothesized last issue, that the station's oxygen supply is compromised and Torch's "flaming on" is burning up valuable air.  (In response, Pete comments, "Told you.")  The trio now makes for the Pogo Plane that Spidey and Torch used to get to the station, and narrowly escapes sure death when Spidey's Spider-Sense keeps them from boarding the plane seconds before it explodes.  At Horizon Labs, Max and his team scramble to ascertain what's happening on the space station, with the station's inventor noting that it's slowly losing orbit.  On the Apogee 1, the trio makes its way to the space shuttle that John originally used to dock with the station.  John exposits that he had avoided using it by this point because he feared it had been compromised after the zombie outbreak, a hunch that gets confirmed when it, too, explodes.  Pete's Spider-Sense warns him in time to shout a warning to Johnny, who absorbs the ensuing flames.  Spidey notices an octobot floating in the shuttle debris and wonders what Doc Ock has been doing, leading to a cut scene of the octobots seemingly taking over orbiting satellites from the Apogee 1's communications array.  Regrouping, the team decides to cut off the air, knocking out the octo-zombies and allowing the guys to take over the space station.  (They would be using the station's space-suits to breath.)  However, since they can't get to the environmental controls (because of said octo-zombies), they use Johnny's souped-up iPhone (courtesy of Reed Richards) to call the folks at Horizon Labs to get them to do it remotely.  Meanwhile, at the Sinister Six's underwater base, Doc Ock realizes something is wrong when Horizon cuts off the air supply.  Using his control over the Apogee 1's cameras, he observes Spidey in a space suit.  On Apogee 1, Spidey et al. are making their way to the communciations station to tell Horizon that it's safe to turn back on the oxygen when Doc Ock hijacks the station, setting it to self-destruct.  The ensuing explosion knocks the station from orbit, sending it to burn in the Earth's atmosphere.  Spidey uses his magnetic webbing to collect the unconscious crew (since his regular webbing doesn't work in space) and everyone loads into the "deep space sensory deprivation chamber,' which was introduced last issue as one of the Apogee 1's experiments.  (Upon Spidey returning with the crew, Torch asks why he didn't use his magnetic webs to capture them in the first place, instead of going with the elaborate plan to cut off the air; Spidey responds, "Mistkaes were made.")  After the station explodes, the chamber separates, plumetting to Earth.  Johnny absorbs the flames as Spidey webs the crew (and John) to the wall for their safety with his magnetic webbing.  As Johnny beings to overload, he uses his "super nova fist" to punch a hole in the capsule to disperse the heat.  ("You kept wanting more air, here you go!")  The chamber ejects its parachutes and crashes into the ocean, conveniently off Daytona Beach during Spring Break.  (Spidey:  "Did you steer us to Daytona Beach during Spring Break on purpose?"  Torch:  "Don't ya just love a happy ending?") 

The Review

Slott and Yost deliver another fun romp, with John Jameson playing the role of the straight man to Johnny and Pete's funny men.  The only reason I gave this arc a three instead of a four is that I felt like Slott and Yost could've taken a little more time focusing on the emotions that Pete must've felt having Johnny at his side again.  I mean, I wasn't expecting them to hug or anything, but it is the first time we've seen them together since Johnny returned from the dead.  We could've maybe had a little more reflection on the resurrection of a 50-year-old friendship and a little less banter.  But, the banter was good enough for me to forgive Slott and Yost and just enjoy the ride.

The Good

1) I enjoyed everything about the opening sequence:  the banter, the octo-zombies, the explosion.  Awesome.

2) OK, part of the fun of this issue is that you get the sense that John Jameson would've been perfectly OK without Spider-Man and the Human Torch's "help."  I mean, Spidey leads Johnny and John to the Pogo Ship, only to leave them practically DOA when it explodes.  Even John notes, as he leads them to his shuttle, that "'Plan A' didn't go so well."  I mean, sure, the shuttle explodes and the Torch has to absorb the flames, but, still, it proves that John was right not to use it in the first place.

3) I've mentioned Johnny and Pete's banter throughout this review, but I want to note how great of a job Yost does in making it sound like Johnny and Pete.  I mean, I could "hear" Johnny shout, "Oh, come on!" as he absorbed the flames. Also, the "Mistakes were made" conversation was *%&^ing hilarious.

4) Speaking of that conversation, I love how Slott has Spidey take a swing and a miss.  I mean, a guy can't be right ALL the time, right?  So often in comics, the hero is either always right or the author glides over the flaw in his plan, hoping the reader doesn't notice.  I love, love, LOVE the fact that Slott has Pete be wrong AND Johnny notice it.  It's why his run has been so amazing:  it all feels real.  You feel like you're really watching a guy with the abilities of a spider and a guy with the ability to turn into flames have a conversation about why they made some mistakes in rescuing the crew of a space station.

5) I love the guys calling Horizon from Johnny's iPhone.  Seriously, it could've been hokey, but it's not, because, of course Reed Richards designed a super cell-phone.  Of course he did.

6) Spring break!

The Unknown
It's interesting how Slott doesn't actually tell us what Dr. Octopus' plans are.  I mean, we never learn exactly what the octobots were doing, other than playing with the communications array.  It obviously didn't involve the Apogee 1, given the fact that Doc Ock was willing to destroy it.  The plot thickens!

The Bad

Um, to be honest?  The cover is kind of...odd.  Johnny looks like he's wearing pajamas, and Pete looks like he's imminently going to hurl on the reader.  Not exactly enticing...