The Lamentable Peter Parker is trying to do the impossible by writing his wrongs For the Parker Industries collapse but in the process, Spider-Man has to deal with an enraged Human Torch! Clash also enters the fray. The life of a web slinger does not get any easier in this exciting issue!
Writer: Dan Slott
Artist: Stuart Immonen
Cover Artist: Alex Ross
Colorist: Marte Gracia
Publisher: Marvel Comics
What You Need to Know:
It is back to the fundamentals for Peter Parker as he is broke, hapless, and scorned by the public. Harry Lyman “Osborne” is the only one helping Peter do what he can to make thing right, business wise. Spider-Man however, is obtaining better reception from New York City. Peter is anxious than ever to be in his red/ blue tights helping citizens and saving the day. Feeling the same as the public towards Parker, Clayton Cole a.k.a Clash has chosen a life of crime and plans to make his move soon.
What You’ll Find Out:
The story starts out with a tiresome looking Peter, apologizing to all those affiliated with the fallen Parker Industries. In each apology, Peter goes over how he is taking responsibility for what happened, how everything ended, and how he has liquidated everything to give back to the people. Peter and Harry leave the building while an angry mob yells outside. Harry tells Peter making amends and selling valuable property for money is a good direction. An inattentive Peter leaves Harry and suits up as Spider-Man.
We cut to the abandoned, closed down, Beyond Forever Night Club where Clash is planning a heist that will go down at Parker Industries to take back what he created.
Cut to Parker Industries, previously known as the Baxter Building, Harry and Johnny Storm talk over the selling of the property. Johnny demands to speak with Peter, as he says Pete would never sell it.
In other parts of the city, Spidey is partaking in fun and helping where help is needed. Soon after, Spidey gets a call from Harry and hears a lot of commotion over the phone and decides to swing to the feud. Spidey arrives and explains to Johnny about the current predicament Peter is in and how he sold it to cover lawsuits and costs. Human Torch engages and tries to attack Spiderman. The two heroes battle it out inside Parker Industries. Coincidently, Clash breaks in the building undetected since there is a lot of action going on. Clash finds his sonic transducer, which converts sound into other forms of energy.
Harry stops the flaming fight between Human Torch and Spiderman and points out the robbery in progress. Both heroes decide to stop Clash. Battle commences between the three, but a self-recharging power source accidentally activates and gets stuck in an upward cycle. The mechanism gets the attention of the fighters, and realize they need to work together in order to not be blown to smithereens. Spider-Man has Clash create a harmonic frequency and Human Torch does some precise spot-welding. The plan works!
While Spidey and Torch capture stragglers, Clash gets away with his tech. An extremely frustrated Harry goes to Spider-Man and yells “I quit!” Johnny tells Pete to let Harry “cool off.” The two heroes talk atop the building about Peter’s current status quo. Johnny mentions to Pete that getting a team or family might help out. As Peter agrees, his cell phone rings and it is Robbie from the Daily Bugle, offering a job to work in science.
What Just Happened?
A more classic Spider-Man series is back, with the webhead having fun helping around and Peter possibly going back to the Bugle. This Spiderman is taking selfies with fans, holding groceries for the elderly, jump-roping with kids and more good things. I feel the fall of Peter’s company is a good way to create storylines dealing with foes who want revenge on both Spidey and Pete. The addition of Johnny Storm in this story was enjoyable, but there might be a few Marvel fans that are getting tired of heroes fighting heroes all the time. Still, I thought the action was drawn beautifully and the banter between the two had me laughing at times. There was also the classic “hangout and talk on the roof” thing at the end which was cool. Clash, I believe, will continue to cause problems for our web-slinger but I think we will get a point where there’s reasoning and Clash might turn good? I don’t know, we’ll see.
Rating: 8.4/10
Final Thought: It was great to see the montage of Spidey helping NYC, as it gives the reader a “Spidey-sense” of where things are headed. I enjoyed the use of bridging text that helped cut scenes wonderfully, along with the great action towards the end. I also think Dan Slott writes members of the Fantastic Four very well, and he probably should consider writing more of the Family’s stories once they return to comics. I am looking forward to what’s next.
The Human Torch can be a scary guy if he puts his mind into it… I guess he feels betrayed by one of his best friends. I’m glad their relationship is not in danger, though. Peter can’t take more punishment.
And I hope Clash could get over this. He is obviously a good guy… with a temper, but good.