Peter Parker: Spider-Man #97 (1998)

Peter Parker: Spider-Man #97 (November, 1998)
"The Final Chapter, Part 2: Let the Heavens Tremble at the Power of the Goblin!"
Writer - Howard Mackie
Pencils - John Romita, Jr.
Inks - Scott Hanna
Letters - Richard Starkings & Comicraft/SH
Colors - Gregory Wright
Edits - Ralph Macchio
Chief - Bob Harras
Cover Price: $1.99

Oh boy.  Sometimes I just sit and stare at the "preramble" part of my screen... and wonder what's I can possibly say to "hype" what's to come.

Uh.  I got nothin'.  Please read on~!  We got Romita!

--

We open... somewhere, and there are a group of men helping Norman Osborn get into his "greens".  They're pretty star-struck and gobsmacked to be allowed to help him... and they inform him that Alison Mongrain did manage to contact the Parkers with her top secret information.  Norman doesn't seem too bothered, and takes his leave... not before pumpkin-bombing whatever the hell building they were holed up in.

We shift scenes over to Norman's hunting lodge in upstate New York.  There are signs that have been clumsily cut+paste to inform trespassers they would be prosecuted.  I wonder what these signs originally said... because, this is one sloppy-looking edit.  I guess that makes it fit in all the better with this storyline.

Once he breaches the perimeter, Spidey realizes that there's something weird about the environment here.  There's no wind... the flora seems to react to his presence.  It's... I didn't know that sort of technology existed... but, whattayagonnado?

We take a break from this, and hop over to the fashion studio of one Gianni Vermicelli.  Mary Jane is being fitted for a very stylish (ugly) gown, while chatting up her good pal Jill Stacy.  Hmm... I wonder if Jill Stacy is going to be forced down our throats when this volume officially "ticks over" to it's new #1?  Nahhh...

Back to Spidey, who's still swingin' through the windless skies.  He happens across... uhh, beasts?  Ya know, we just went through a cloak-and-dagger ritual, and somehow, this feels less "genuine Spider-Man" than that!  At least Mackie's banter isn't as forced nor as bad as Byrne's.

After dispatching the beasts, Spider-Man is met by our old friend Norman.  Spidey suggests he get out of his way, as nothing is going to stop him from getting his baby girl back.  Norman laughs... and we'll soon know why.  He also tosses Peter a book: the Osborn Journal.

Now, this is dumb.  Spidey flips through the journal, which details all of Norman's trespasses and misdeeds throughout the years.  Here's the thing though... the words in the journal suddenly change!  Ya see, Norman was hoping Spider-Man would find this book, and hand it over to the police.  The words change, to reveal that not only is Peter Parker Spider-Man, but that Peter poisoned his own Aunt May when she discovered his dual-identity.  Does this whole bit feel... I dunno, a little contrived?

Back to Emjay.  She's in the middle of a press conference at a posh eatery... and, she's lovin' life.  She actually stops for a moment to consider the possibility that baby May is still alive... and, eeesh, doesn't seem like she's all that pleased... she'd rather be modeling!  I've asked this before, but... ya think they're trying to make us readers dislike ol' Mary Jane?

Back to the fight.  Spider-Man breaks away, hot in pursuit of his baby girl.  Norman's all "yer kid's dead"... he swears he had nothing to do with it.  He says all this in between some raucous laughter, so it's not hard to see why Spidey doesn't quite believe him.

From here, we get a few pages of really good action!  A knock-down drag-out between Spidey and the Goblin, that under Romita's pencil, looks really darn good!  They bash their way into Norman's hunting lodge... and Spider-Man finally manages to down his foe.  While the Goblin lay, Spidey absolutely empties his web-cartridges upon him!

Spider-Man looks down a long hallway (this is a very large "lodge"), and walks down to a closed door.  He opens it, to find a darkened room... where he is clobbered over the head with a vase!

Y'all ready?  He shakes it off, and looks back to find... May.  Not, the May he expected... but the dottering old Aunt variety.  She is petrified of Spider-Man, which flies in the face of the revelation that she "knew" Peter's secret before her death (back in Amazing Spider-Man #400).  We'll talk more about the hows and whys of that as we move on... but this, dear reader, is where we leave off today.

--

Yesterday I expressed a bit of concern over how much "oomph" this May reveal might have lost over the past two decades... and, without a doubt, time has not been kind to this story.  In fact, it's aged like milk.  I mean, talk to the most passive Spider-fan you can find... everybody knows about Aunt May.  Comics characterwise, she's up there in the rarefied air with Lois Lane as notable "mainstream" cast members.

I feel like, if you were to hand this story over to a casual Spider-Fan (which would be incredibly mean of you... so, please don't), they would immediately assume the "May" in question was Pete's Aunt.  I'd bet most don't even realize that a) Aunt May died in the first place, and b) Peter and Mary Jane had a stillborn daughter, also named May.

So, really... all we got is trying to remember how we all felt, as regular Spider-Readers (those of us who were) when Aunt May was brought back.  I was in-and-out of the Spider-books throughout the 90's... only coming back "full-time" after the Clone Saga wrapped up.  I knew Aunt May had passed, and what's more, I knew what a powerful story her passing occurred in.  Poor J.M. DeMatteis, it seems like most of his excellent "final" stories just keep getting undone!

I feel like I was more bothered, not so much that Aunt May was back, but that it undid her "final" story.  If you've never read Amazing Spider-Man #400 (it's the one with the horrid gimmick cover that just looks like a gray slab), I'd definitely recommend you do so.  The final chat between Peter and May is an absolute masterpiece... over three-decades in the making.  You'll smile, you'll probably cry... it's a beautiful scene.  A rare-gem in the Clone Saga era.

Annnnnnd... it's undone here.

One thing we know about John Byrne as a creator, he's a huge fan of "back to basics" storytelling.  That's usually his "mission statement" upon taking over a property (not named Superman)... and that definition of "basics" is, uh, pretty nebulous and "Byrnian".  Since his fingerprints are all over this era of Spider-Man, it's hard not to consider that he's trying to bring Spidey "back to basics".  Aunt May, is part of that... perhaps the biggest part!  Also, let's make the readers resent Mary Jane... so we can massage Peter back into being a swingin' single (much more on that later)!

What else can we say about today's issue though?  Um, it was a fight scene... a very well drawn fight scene (thank goodness Romita, Jr. has arrived!), but still... a fight scene.  The Osborn Journal bit... oy... it was just a "loose thread" being tied off, but still... it was dumb.  The mutant dog-beasts, or whatever... and the strange reacting environment?  Also pretty dumb.  This whole confrontation feels like it should've been more, for lack of a better term, "gritty".  Ya know?  More personal, more down-n-dirty... rather than playing out with a strange supernatural backdrop.

The Mary Jane interludes... well, they served a purpose, I suppose.  Emjay's got her path set... she's a model again, and she's loving it.  Hindsight, being what it is, tells us where this is leading (and ultimately, how little any of this actually mattered)... however, at the time, it felt as though the creators were trying to alienate us from her.  I came away from this feeling like she was betraying Peter and their plans for a family.  Maybe I was reading too much into it... or, maybe that's exactly how they wanted me to feel?

Overall... this still wasn't a great time, but it was worlds better than yesterday's chapter.  Whodathunk... if you were to ask me if I'd rather read Byrne or Mackie Spider-Man... and I'd have to say "Mackie"!  Craziness.  Up is down, right is wrong, dogs and cats livin' together...

Next: The final issue of the second-longest tenured Spider-title, Spectacular Spider-Man

--

(Don't call it a) Fold-Out:

--

Letters Page:

--

Interesting Ads:

Peter Parker: Spider-Man #96 (1998)

Peter Parker: Spider-Man #96 (October, 1998)
"The Gathering of Five, Part Three: Web of Despair"
Writer - Howard Mackie
Guest Pencils - Norman Felchle
Inks - Scott Hanna
Colors - Gregory Wright
Letters - Richard Starkings & Comicraft's Liz Agraphiotis
Edits - Ralph Macchio
Chief - Bob Harras
Cover Price: $1.99

Today we reach the halfway point of The Gathering of Five... which has been kind of a mixed bag up to this point.  This issue is written by the man who will helm both Spidey books post-reboot, so it's here where we might get a taste of what's to come.

Worth noting, and this isn't going to be a mind-blowing revelation to most of you.  Pre-Byrne/Mackie Reboot, there were four monthly Spider-Man books:

• Amazing Spider-Man
• Spectacular Spider-Man
• Peter Parker: Spider-Man
• Sensational Spider-Man

Post-Reboot, we're going to be down to just two.  The second volumes of Amazing and Peter Parker.  Both will be written by Howard Mackie... with art (and plot assists) from John Byrne on ASM, and art from John Romita, Jr. on PP:SM.  I'm going to be digging through the ol' Wizard Magazines of the day to see what "behind the scenes" stuff I can find, and include that here as well over the next few days.

Anyhoo, without further ado... let's jump in.

--

We open at the Daily Bugle, where Peter Parker is burning the midnight... err, evening oil.  He is joined by Mary Jane, who has brought him something either called a "Merry Meal" or a "Sappy Meal"... seems as though creative couldn't make up their minds on this one.  Anyhoo, she's more or less here to test the waters with Pete about her perhaps getting back into the world of modeling... and, ya know, quitting school.  Peter is quick to ask her if she's "asking his permission", which seems to really tick her off.

As MJ leaves, Norman Osborn enters.  He's the co-owner of the Daily Bugle at the moment... so, it makes sense that he's here.  He's also a beloved member of society at this point, so it's not looked at as weird that he's now a prominent businessman.  Strange how Norman and Lex Luthor shared this odd trajectory around the turn of the century, isn't it?  Anyhoo, Norman's an a-hole to Peter... and shares with him a "hypothetical" story about people receiving a poison package, and basically melting... which really gets under his skin...

... so much so, that Pete grabs Norman by the lapels and asks him what he's done.  Osborn shrugs it off, and more or less laughs in Peter's face.  Basking in his newfound "belovedness", Norman tells Peter he's powerless in pretty much any situation they're in together.

We shift scenes to... oh boy... Madame Web.  I can't be the only one who rolls their eyes when she enters a story, can I?  Anyhoo, she's "dreaming"... and is visited upon by, well Norman Osborn.  He makes her an offer she can't refuse... that of a return of her youth... or, immortality.  All she's gotta do is take part in The Gathering of Five.  He tells her to find that "shard" anyway she can... and her mind instantly goes to Spider-Man.

Back at the Bugle, Peter heads into Jonah's office to thank him for letting him use the computer (what year is this?).  Jonah reveals that some news just came over the wire... a building full of people were just killed by melting after receiving some sort poison package.  Hmm.  Norman enters the office and tells Jonah he ain't runnin' that piece... and there'll be no questions asked.  He even tells Jonah to "think of his family" before he makes his next move.  Wow, Norman's a pretty bad-ass baddie, eh?

Peter jams out of the office and changes into his work-clothes which really tickles Norman.  He's seeing just how easy it is for him to play Parker like a fiddle.

As Spidey swings, he happens across a pair of nogoodniks attempting to mug a skinny nerd.  Peter can relate... and so, he stops in to lend the wimp a hand.  Once that's wrapped up, Peter gets a psychic distress call from... Madame Web.

Back at the Bugle, Jonah is stomping around his darkened office... he knows he's gotta do something to stop Norman Osborn.  And so, he reaches into his desk, and retrieves... his gun!  Knowing this might just be a one-way trip, JJJ leaves a sealed envelope addressed to Robbie in his desk.

Speaking of Robbie, let's check in with him and Alison Mongrain, eh?  They're at a run-down hotel... where the latter is being attacked by some creep... named Creep.  Robbie manages to kayo him after smacking him with a piece of furniture.  He tells Alison that she's gotta stay put... r'else she gon' die.

Back with Peter and the Madame, the old lady tells him that she needs him for something... something very difficult and dangerous.  Pete figures, ehh... she's helped me before, so why not?

One page later, Peter delivers her the Shard.  Wait... what?  Did we skip an issue?  How did he just get the shard?  Wow, that was underwhelming.  Maybe these things aren't as important as we've been led to believe?  I dunno.  Anyways, Madame Web has a "vision" of J. Jonah Jameson putting a gun to Norman Osborn's head.  She tells Spidey he'd better get over to the Bugle to intervene.

So, let's do that!  Over at the Bugle, Jonah enters Norman's office.

Ya know what would really suck right now?  If, instead of being able to get back to the Daily Bugle to diffuse this situation, Spider-Man got stuck fighting, say...  I dunno... a dragon on the streets of New York City?  Man, that would suck... good thing nothing that stupid would happen here.

So, back at the Bugle (feels like I've typed that a dozen times today)... Jonah confronts Norman.  Norman ain't sweatin' none'a this.  He tells Jonah he doesn't have the "stuff" to kill him... and even presses Jonah's gun into his own forehead... daring JJJ to squeeze one off.  This is some pretty good Norman.

Jonah drops the gun, proving Norman's point... that he just doesn't have it in him to kill.  Norman, however, does not have that same issue.  He snaps up the piece, and points it at Jonah.  He even mocks JJJ's hatred of Spider-Man, claiming that he only hates him because he's everything Jonah himself isn't.  Pretty good stuff.

Before Norman can perforate Jonah, Spidey swings in and webs up the pistol but good.  Jonah, it's worth mentioning, is cowering like a child... it's not a good look for ol' flat-top.

Norman, being a black-belt-level a-hole doesn't even let this stop him from running at the mouth.  He mocks Spider-Man... reminding him that he's now in a room with his two worst enemies.  He even dares him to take the gun and shoot them both right there.  Spidey turns to Jonah and offers him help... only to be pushed away.  Norman laughs, "Nary a friend in sight".  He tells Spider-Man that his suffering will end... soon enough.

We wrap up later that evening with... Madame Web handing over the third "shard" (and fourth piece, overall) for the Rites of the Five.  Norman is pleased... the Madame is not.

--

What a weird issue.

It's not often I'm left this conflicted when writing the "review" portion of a piece.  There was a lot about this issue I liked, a lot I didn't... some I wanted to like that I didn't... and some that I didn't want to like that I did!  Such a strange issue.

Let's start with the strongest part (in my opinion).  This was some great Norman Osborn.  I really enjoyed his scenes... and watching him put Jonah in his place was oddly satisfying.  It's not often we see JJJ in such a vulnerable state.  It's also not so often we see him try and take a situation into his own hands.  This entire scene was a lot of fun... though, the dialogue was perhaps a tad on the stilted side.

Norman taunting Peter was also very well done... though, again... his "hypothetical story" might've been a bit "much", ya know?  Taking the "does any human actually speak like this?" factor into consideration might hurt how one receives this bit.  I do like the taunting though... it actually feels like Spidey's back is up against the wall here.

I compared the Norman Osborn of this era to the Lex Luthor of this era during the synopsis... and I'm sure I'm not the first (nor last) to do so.  They were both on this same weird trajectory where the public was beginning to look at them as "good guys", "saviors", "model citizens", even.  Heck, they both took over prominent newspapers in their respective universes!  Lex at the Planet, Norman at the Bugle.  Weird stuff... but, I enjoyed both of their stories!

Let's talk Madame Web.  She's a bore.  She's also a pretty lousy pre-cog, if she actually saw Jonah murdering Norman.  That entire bit was so weird.  She needs Spider-Man to undertake the dangerous and difficult task of retrieving the shard, right?  He does it between panels!  Wha--?  Doesn't that just sorta suck the significance right out of the thing?  It's not like we were "out of pages" here... I mean, we wasted two or three on Spidey fighting a friggin' Dragon!  The hell is this all about?

Okay, now the Madame's motivations... are sound.  I guess.  She's ancient, and likely not long for the world... and so, the possibility that she might become immortal after the ritual is pretty tantalizing.  The risk is worth the reward for her.  Fair enough.  I still think she sucks.

Mary Jane gets a blip here, seemingly only to remind us that the marriage is kinda rocky... and that she and Peter might want different things outta life at this point.  It was still nice to see her story-thread picked up on here.

Alison and Robbie get a very short bit here... fighting off the creep named Creep.  Yeah, I guess that happened?

The art, as with yesterday's look at Amazing, was... uneven.  Some good stuff, some not so good.  J. Jonah Jameson looks like he's been killin' it in the gym... I mean, dude's got broader shoulders than Thor here.  Overall, the art here was far better than in ASM... though definitely not as good as Joe Bennett's work in Sensational.

So... yeah, this is a weird issue, and a weird "review".  I really don't know how to capsule-ize my feelings.  I think I walk away from it with, err, net-positive feelings?  What can I say, I really dug the way Norman was portrayed here.

--

Fold-Out:

--

Letters Page:

--

Interesting Ads:

Ravagers #1 (2012)

Ravagers #1 (July, 2012)
"Children of Destiny"
Writer - Howard Mackie
Artist - Ian Churchill
Inker - Norm Rapmund & Ian Churchill
Colorist - Alex Sollazzo
Letterer - Dezi Sienty
Assistant Editors - Sean Mackiewicz & Darren Shaw
Editors - Pat McCallum & Eddie Berganza
Special Thanks - Scott Lobdell
Cover Price: $2.99

Doing a little bit of a New-52! Retrial today.  We're going to discuss a book that, when I first read it, I absolutely hated.  Though, to be fair, I was pretty sour on DC Comics by 2012...

Gonna give Ravagers a look with some less angry eyes, and see if perhaps my first impression on it was blinded by post-Flashpoint temper-tantrumy rage.

--

We open with our crew of kids still fleeing from the baddies from N.O.W.H.E.R.E.  This spins out of the... abysmal The Culling crossover early on in The New-52! between the Teen Titans, Legion Lost, and Superboy titles.  Man, that story almost made me drop Titans for the first time in... many many years.  My damned completionist nature's the only thing that saved it... hell, it's the only reason I own this book too.  Anyhoo... Terra's Earthy hoo-doo wears off, and the kids fall to the snow below.  Fairchild depowers, and reveals that she might not be up to the task of leading them.  I mean, she's trying... but she is woefully unprepared to reign these geeks in.  This is also where we get our Pandora cameo.

And so, she loses four members immediately.  Windshear and Bright-Eyes fly off first... then moments later, Terra and Beast Boy go their own way.  The monstrous Ridge (Ridge, really?) suggests he might be better equipped to lead.  Caitlin ain't really feeling that... and so, he grabs her by the throat and hoists her up.  She then reveals that she saw their files before N.O.W.H.E.R.E. had nabbed them.  Thunder tells Ridge to drop the redhead.

The crew is suddenly surrounded by N.O.W.H.E.R.E. agents... who, surrender?  Like really, they drop their weapons... and explain that they were "just following orders" before.  Thunder and Lightning join hands... and proceed to drop the hammer on 'em.

We rejoin Windshear and Bright-Eyes as they are being pursued by a N.O.W.H.E.R.E. (boy am I typing that a lot) aircraft.  Windshear, being a complete jerk, throws Bright-Eyes at them so he can make a quick getaway.  Turns out to be a pretty bad idea, however... Bright-Eyes has a run-in in with Warblade (who somehow looks even more "90s" than he originally did) while Windshear finds himself mounted by Rose Wilson.

Back on the ground, the crew is just wrecking the poor (unarmed) fools from N.O.W.H.E.R.E.  Fairchild powers up, talks some sense into Ridge... then heads over to try and control Thunder and Lightning.  She appeals to their better nature, and finally convinces them to stand down.

Just then, Fairchild's hacked N.O.W.H.E.R.E. aircraft arrives to pick them up.  The rest of the gang ain't so sure, after all, they just escaped from there... and when they met Caitlin, she was working for them!  The point is soon rendered moot... as her craft has most definitely been compromised... and it crashes into the snow.  

The culprits are revealed to be, Warblade and Rose Wilson.  They start their attack... and wind up killing several "red shirts" as they work their way toward the main cast.  I was wondering why some of these characters never got names... wouldn't want to leave an actual intellectual property bleeding out on the snow.

Fairchild has Lightning use his powers to chop away at the ground... which sends the crew into the water below.  Probably not the smartest escape plan... hell, probably wouldn't have hurt to make it clear they were up on a sort of a cliff before now too.  Either way, this is where we wrap up.

--

Nope, still didn't like this.

I will say, I wasn't as mad at it this time around as I was in 2012... but that's probably less to say about the issue, and more to say about where DC Comics is right now.  Still, a pretty lousy read.

I suppose it would be a bit cliche and perhaps a bit unfair to simply say that this felt like an early 1990's Image comic.  While I can't say that's untrue... I hate to hang my hat on that, because there is more to dislike about this issue than just that.  Not that "being an early 1990's Image book" is something immediately worth scorn or anything.

At this point in the New-52 it feels like DC is just throwing out all of these second-string properties in order to reestablish them, whether they have a reason to do so or not.  It's just too much.  I mean, right here we've got new takes on (not counting Wildstorm characters) Thunder, Lightning, Beast Boy, and Terra.  I'm willing to bet that there wasn't any sort of character bible done on any of them... it's just a matter of "get them out there", rather than having any sort of plan.  It feels so cheap... and kind of a disservice to previously established and integral characters like Terra and Gar.

I think it was seeing those two characters that really turned me off initially... and seeing them now, I feel the same way.  Such a waste.  I know Terra's not everybody's cup of tea, but despite how briefly she was around, she had such a lasting effect on the Titans.  She fundamentally changed the team... she forced them to rethink how they operated.  Gar is here... and he's red, because "different".  Though, I suppose it could be a result of his being tapped into "The Red", from that unending storyarc in New-52 Animal Man.

The characters here are for the most part, unlikable... which makes them fit in with the New-52's other teenage heroes.  They were all awful to one another... though, at least the Ravagers sort of had a reason to be that way.  They had been held by (sigh) N.O.W.H.E.R.E. for as long as they can remember, so a chip on their shoulder is understood.  I appreciate their distrust of Fairchild too, as, for all they know... this is just a field test for the bad guys, and not an actual escape.

Speaking of Fairchild, I think she was the first WildStorm character (who didn't have their own title, Grifter, Voodoo, Stormwatch) I noticed lurking in the New-52.  I remember thinking it was pretty cool that they were being integrated, it's too bad they didn't do more with them.  I guess that's just another instance of this initiative being half-hearted and not entirely thought out.  While on the subject, Warblade's redesign is pretty lame.  Like I said above, he somehow looks even more like a Chromium Age relic than he did initially... and dude had a top knot the first time around!

Overall... I'd say this is skippable.  It kinda bugs me to say so, as I have a bit of a soft spot for Howard Mackie.  I really dug his (pre-relaunch) Spider-Man work... hell, even liked some of his X-Factor, and (very early on) Mutant X.  I didn't like the story, or the characters... compound that with my overall malaise toward the New-52, I can say it's certainly not worth my time... your mileage may vary, however.  Not to end on too sour a note... I will say, Ian Churchill's art here is pretty great.

--

Interesting Ads: