Amazing Spider-Man #1.6: In 30 years of reading "Amazing Spider-Man," this arc is the greatest assassination of Peter Parker's character that I've ever read. Amazingly, Molina even admits in the letters page that the editors probably should've been more involved in the series than they were, since he's never written a comic book before. It's not even just that Peter acted uncharacteristically. It's that he often just acted insane. For example, he berates the Santerians for "killing" Julio to sever the link to the demon trying to enter our world through him. Although he insists that they could've found another way, he has no suggestion what it could've been. Is he such a genius that he can now suddenly cure death? It seems the only other way would've been for God himself to resurrect him, but Molina goes to great lengths to show us Peter doesn't believe in God. Except maybe he does now? Also, is Peter Catholic? Have we established that? Even if he is, he doesn't have a parish priest? He just heads to a miraculously empty St. Pat's? I could continue, but I don't think that it's necessary. Given how weak the main series also is, I just wonder if the editors are coming to work anymore.
Spider-Gwen #10: This issue is a confusing jumble, in part because Latour is struggling to tell the Punisher story and explain the events of "Spider-Women," particularly as they relate to Gwen's powers. In this issue, Castle recruits Kraven the Hunter to capture Gwen so he can photograph her without her mask. While Gwen fights Kraven and his animal minions, George manages to stop Castle (and destroy the film). After Castle and Kraven flee, George tells Gwen that he called the police, to reveal how over the edge Castle is. However, Gwen panics, knocks George unconscious, and then flees. I more or less get this part, particularly since it's hard to see how George is going to explain why Castle was after Gwen without revealing her identity. It's the part about her powers that left me lost. First, Gwen tells George at breakfast that "she" is the only one that can make the isotope that runs her doodad. I think she's referring to the Earth-65 version of Cindy Moon, but I'm not sure. Given her connection with Captain America, can't Gwen get S.H.I.E.L.D. or somebody to reverse engineer the isotope? At any rate, Kraven managed to swipe the isotope and break the doodad, leaving Gwen powerless. He seems to have swiped it for Castle, since he refers to the isotope as paying his old debt to Castle. But, how did Kraven know to swipe the isotope? Did he realize that Gwen was using the device just in the short time that he spied on Gwen? Did Frank notice it when she used it at the hot-dog shop? What good does the isotope do Frank, particularly if even Gwen can't get it reverse-engineered? It's not like knowing how Gwen gets her powers is going to help him prove that she's Spider-Woman. As I said, it's messy (and not just because the copy on the bio page for Kraven needed serious editing).
No comments:
Post a Comment