Showing posts with label tod smith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tod smith. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #125 - June 1995



Lives Unlived
Credits: Terry Kavanagh (writer), Steven Butler (breakdowns), Randy Emberlin (finishes), Steve Dutro & Janice Chiang (letterers), Kevin Tinsley (colorist)

The Plot: Spider-Man investigates the Daily Bugle morgue for information on Miles Warren. He tracks him to a suburban New Jersey town, unaware that the new Green Goblin has followed him. Spider-Man enters Warren’s home and is shocked to discover he’s married to Gwen Stacy’s original clone. Warren knocks Spider-Man unconscious and escapes with Gwen. Spider-Man recovers and follows their car. When Warren sees Spider-Man in the rearview mirror, he irrationally drives off the George Washington Bridge. Spider-Man, with Green Goblin’s help, rescues Gwen, but Warren dies in the accident. His body degenerates, confirming that he’s another clone.

The Subplots: Ben Reilly, who’s taken Peter’s place in jail, reflects on recent events. Meanwhile, MJ asks Black Cat to find Peter, who hasn’t told her about his trip to New Jersey.

Web of Continuity: The new Green Goblin’s full identity isn’t revealed, but we do learn he’s Ben Urich’s nephew. The climax at the George Washington Bridge is an obvious callback to Amazing Spider-Man #122; however, the bridge in Gwen’s famous death scene is supposed to be the Brooklyn Bridge. It was misidentified in the original story, but corrected in subsequent reprints. (Original dialogue from Amazing #122 was even altered to remove any references to the G. W. Bridge.)

*See _________ For Details: Ben took Peter’s place in prison in Spectacular Spider-Man #224. Black Cat visited Ben in prison, thinking he was Peter, in Spider-Man Unlimited #9. Spectacular Spider-Man annual #8 had a “super being named Dreamweaver” convince Gwen’s clone that she was a woman named Joyce Delany who had been infected with a virus that caused her DNA to imitate Gwen’s. She now believes Dreamweaver was committing an “act of mercy” to disguise the real truth.

Forever Young: Peter wonders if he would’ve settled down in suburbia by now if he had married Gwen instead of MJ.

Creative Differences: Two added thought balloons cast doubt that Peter can trust Miles Warren’s notes, opening up yet another door for even more retcons (although I believe this Gwen’s status as the original clone remains unchanged.) Almost the entire final panel of the story is completely re-lettered. Aside from misspelling Gwen’s last name, the captions emphasize that Gwen now realizes she is a clone and must deal with the truth.

“Huh?” Moments: The Daily Bugle ran a story on Miles Warren, who’s publicly known as dead, marrying Gwen Stacy, who’s also publicly known as dead, at some point in the past and no one, not even Peter Parker, noticed. Later, Warren comments that he and Gwen have changed their identities over the years, but that contradicts the very first scene of the comic. Peter finds their home by searching for Miles Warren’s name in the Bugle’s files.

Gimmicks: This issue is forty-eight pages, printed on slick paper, with a special “holodisk” cover. The cover price is an appalling $3.95. Editor Glenn Greenberg on the holodisks, as quoted on the Life of Reilly: The holodisks were yet another in a long line of gimmick covers that were all the rage back then. We had just done a gimmick cover for AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #400 that did not turn out very well, and these holodisks were not much of an improvement. They looked GREAT in the prototype stage, but when we got the final versions, it was clear that you needed to view them under a light that was about as powerful as the sun to really get the full effect of the 3-D live action. Strike two!”
Someone must’ve realized that the cover gimmick had problems, since this issue’s hype page encourages fans to ask their retailers about the Spider-Man penlights that have been manufactured especially for these covers.

Review: I remember shopping at a local bookstore’s going out of business sale when I was fourteen. I swear to you, they had a comic book rack stuffed full of unsold copies of Web of Spider-Man #125. Now, this is a bad comic, but was it bad enough to kill a small business? Reasonable people would say no, but sometimes I wonder (not really) if this overpriced collection of dead trees and its lumpy, blurry hologram were the breaking point for the struggling storefront.

One of the many reasons why the clone saga wasn’t exactly the best idea in the world goes back to Gerry Conway’s late ‘80s run on Spectacular Spider-Man. Conway was apparently never happy with his work on the original clone storyline and used his return to Spider-Man to smooth over some of the more absurd points of the story. Conway dismissed the idea of instantaneous cloning, revealing instead that the original “clones” from the ‘70s storyline were actually full-grown adults who had been injected with a genetic virus. A virus that happened to morph their DNA into a copy of someone else’s. Spider-Man’s clone was actually another ESU student named Anthony Serba, for example. Still implausible, but in terms of comic book science, it’s perfectly reasonable.

A few members of the ‘90s creative team realized that Conway’s retcons needed to be addressed if they were serious about reintroducing Miles Warren’s cloning process. Apparently, this issue was supposed to address the problem. Clearly, it does not. Kavanagh’s dismissal of Conway’s retcons is to reveal, over the course of two panels, that Dreamweaver (a minor character from the “Evolutionary Wars” crossover) just made up the lie and sold it to Gwen…to be nice, apparently. This is not how you retcon a retcon. I believe Howard Mackie was given another pass at addressing Conway’s later stories, and fared about as well. Finally, Glenn Herdling, assistant editor of the Spider-titles when Conway’s retcons were initially published, penned a Spider-Man Unlimited story that resolved the problem. Why exactly was it so hard to resolve this? Beats me. Why is this storyline still dragging on, anyway?

Now, if Marvel really wanted to revive the original clone, Conway’s Spectacular Spider-Man run wasn't that much of a hindrance in the first place. Why is it so important that the “clone” who apparently died back in the ‘70s actually be a clone? Couldn’t the story work just as well if Ben Reilly was a “genetic duplicate” instead of a clone? Wouldn’t it add another layer to his characterization if he had another life before coming into contact with Miles Warren and Spider-Man?

Anyway, there’s more to this comic than sloppy continuity. It’s the touching love story of the clone of a pervy college professor obsessed with his teenage student, and the clone of said student who decides to marry the professor’s clone when she realizes she has no life of her own. Okay, maybe Peter Milligan could do something with this…but, yeah, we don’t have Milligan. Kavanagh handles the story about as well as you would expect, right down to the cliché “Gwen falls from the bridge” scene. The debut of a new, heroic Green Goblin during the scene is an ironic twist, I suppose, but even that’s too obvious to work. Of course that’s how they introduced the hero Green Goblin.

Shining Armor
Credits: Terry Kavanagh (plot), Mike Lackey (script), Tod Smith (breakdowns), Jimmy Palmiotti (finishes), Loretta Krol (letterer), Nel Yomtov (colorist)

The Plot: In the past, Miles Warren’s clone comforts Gwen Stacy’s clone. They grow close and marry.

Review: This brief backup just spells out the details hinted at in the main story, only now with uglier art. Hooking Miles Warren and Gwen Stacy up could be a disturbing, creepy idea if executed properly, but there’s no chance of that here. Apparently, no one cared enough about this backup to notice that a narrative caption describes Gwen’s eyes as green when they’re clearly colored blue in the same panel. That’s the level of quality we’re dealing with.

Friday, May 20, 2011

WEB OF SPIDER-MAN Annual #8 - August 1992

The Dark at the End of the Tunnel (The Hero Killers, Part Three)

Credits: David Michelinie (writer), Scott McDaniel (penciler), Keith Williams (inker), Steve Dutro (letterer), Bob Sharen (colorist)

The Plot: Spider-Man teams with the New Warriors to rescue their teammate, Speedball. They battle supervillains employed by Justin Hammer at the scientific research station where Speedball is being held. During the fight, Silhouette is kidnapped, and Firestar discovers the body of Gamma Flight’s Auric. Later, the united heroes find Auric’s sister, Silver. She inadvertently leads them into a trap, where Speedball’s powers are used against the heroes.

The Subplots: None.

*See _________ For Details: Speedball was kidnapped in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #26. The final installment of this storyline appears in New Warriors Annual #2.

Review: This is the only chapter of this crossover that I own, but the basic concept sounds promising. As the Sphinx explains on the final page, a group of villains are inverting the government’s Project Pegasus program and analyzing the powers of heroes for their own ends. Spider-Man’s research reveals that the conspiracy involves the Life Foundation, the Brand Corporation, and Justin Hammer, which is a nice cross-section of Marvel villains, and at least two Michelinie creations. I’ve always enjoyed stories that have villains forming alliances, and this plot sounds like a perfectly logical scheme, within the context of the Marvel Universe, for the villains to be pursuing. The rest of the story is an extended fight scene, competently rendered by a pre-stylized Scott McDaniel, which has Spider-Man and the New Warriors fighting a cross-section of Marvel villains that range from Rhino and Boomerang to obscure losers like Bombshell and Stiletto. It’s not deep, but it’s fun.

First Kill - Part Three

Credits: David Michelinie (writer), Aaron Lopresti (penciler), Bruce Jones (inker), Rick Parker (letterer), Kevin Tinsley (colorist)

The Plot: Venom kills Bruno Markham in retaliation for the murder of an inventor whose work was stolen by Markham. When the victim’s nephew expresses remorse for helping Markham take his work, Venom gives him a second chance. Later, Eddie Brock decides to bond with the alien symbiote permanently.

*See _________ For Details: This story is continued from Amazing Spider-Man Annual #26 and Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #12 (incorrectly listed as #11 in the footnotes).

Creative Differences: The narrative captions leading up to Markham’s death are clearly not lettered by Rick Parker.

Review: The ongoing Venom series of miniseries is about to begin, which is why this year’s Spider-annuals are running a prequel story that shows Venom as an anti-hero fighting for justice in his own warped way. This is only eight pages, and without the context of the previous chapters, it’s hard to make much of a judgment. I was never a fan of using Venom as a vigilante, though, and retroactively inserting quasi-heroic adventures into his past just sounds like a bad idea.

The Security Gauntlet

Credits: G. Alan Barnum (writer), Tod Smith (penciler), Don Hudson (inker), Dave Sharpe (letterer), Sara Mossoff (colorist)

The Plot: While testing a family friend’s security system, Black Cat encounters Hydro-Man. She tricks him into an airtight display case and locks him inside.

Review: It’s eight pages of Black Cat skulking around a house and then fighting Hydro-Man. Nothing else going on, except a joke in the final panel that suggests she doesn’t trust herself as a security consultant because she’s still tempted to steal. Filler, obviously.

Down Memory Lane (Spider-Man’s Top Ten Team-Ups)

Credits: Tom Brevoort & Mike Kanterovich (writers), Aaron Lopresti (penciler & inker), Steve Dutro (letterer)

The Plot: Spider-Man reflects on various heroes he’s teamed up with while waiting for MJ to return home. He finally declares his marriage to MJ to be his most successful team-up yet.

Review: It’s a story co-written by Tom “Youth” Brevoort reaffirming Peter Parker’s marriage. Make of that what you will. Some of the in-jokes are humorous, such as Spider-Man’s funny feeling that he has something in common with Dr. Strange.

Evil’s Light - Part Three: Charge of the Light Brigade

Credits: Eric Fein (writer), Vince Evans (penciler), Don Hudson (inker), Dave Sharpe (letterer), John Kalisz (colorist)

The Plot: Cloak pulls Lightmaster into his Dark Dimension, angering the businessman, Chadwick, who’s using his powers for research. Cloak follows Dagger’s command to stop fighting and releases the comatose Lightmaster. Chadwick threatens to press charges, but can’t because he isn’t operating within the law either.

*See _________ For Details: A footnote says Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #12 has all of the details of the story so far.

Review: Another shred of a story that’s hard to properly judge. Pairing Cloak and Dagger against Lightmaster isn’t a bad idea, although I have a feeling this is another story about a generically evil businessman exploiting a villain for profit and then biting off more than he can chew. Unless Eric Fein had a great twist on the concept, it doesn’t sound very interesting.

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