DOUGLAS: At some point, somebody involved with The Amazing Spider-Man #654.1 decided that it would be a great idea for the “jumping-on point” issue to not have Spider-Man in it. Everyone else involved with it evidently thought that would be a good idea too. (Maybe at some point someone relented a little: Peter Parker appears, out of costume, in two panels, and there’s a two-page “coming up this year” preview at the end, Geoff Johns-style.) It is not, in fact, a good idea.
EVAN: This is the third of Marvel’s Point One books that I’ve picked up. They’re supposed to be great jumping-on point for new storylines, and presumably new readers, too. Wolverine #5.1 and Iron Man #500.1 were pretty much standalone stories heavy on character development. (The Wolvie issue did have a ton of action and a set up for future stories, though.) But they delivered on the general premise of shedding continuity to feel more inviting and communicating the basic architecture of a title character.
Amazing Spider-Man #654.1 doesn’t.
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First off, the title character’s barely in the book. When Peter Parker does appear, he’s moping and confiding to Mary Jane about some stuff that happened in a storyline that doesn’t get recapped. Strike one. (Or strike .1) Who does star in the issue, then? Flash Thompson, Peter’s best friend since high school, who’s lost his legs while on duty as a soldier in Iraq. But, don’t worry! Flash gets to wear the Venom symbiote as part of a new (?) black-ops program. How’d the symbiote get separated from Eddie Brock? When did this Project Rebirth 2.0 start? Not explained, so strike two.
Still, leaving aside the first two problems, you’re left with the simple reality that the story told here isn’t very good. It’s wish fulfillment and power fantasies that don’t really offer up any depth of insight into the characters involved. Oh, there’s “darkness,” in that Flash isn’t dealing with his recent traumas terribly well and bites a C-list villain’s hand off. But it’s all happening in line with a fairly blatant formula, which apparently calls for one part Captain Marvel, Jr. + one part Hulk x warmed-over spy fiction cliches.
The issue’s basically a zero issue for Rick Remender’s Venom series, but, oddly, isn’t written by Remender himself. I mean, it builds on plot points without giving context, failed to sell me on the new Venom premise, and there’s no Spidey in it. Just a weak mishmash overall.
GRAEME: I’m agreeing completely with Evan on Amazing Spider-Man. Not only does it fail at the stated aims of Marvel’s Point 1 program – some narration about how Peter has gotten his life together really doesn’t count as catching new readers up to the status quo – but even as an introduction to the new Venom, it’s not particularly good. It does, however, underline something I’ve been feeling about Dan Slott’s writing for awhile: That he’s good at ideas, and not so good at execution. Venom rethought as government weapon that has to be controlled so that it doesn’t bond with/corrupt the agent using it? Fine. That agent being Flash Thompson, who signed on to regain mobility after losing the use of his legs at war? Also fine. So why does this story feel so generic? (And, for that matter, why does Flash seem like an entirely different character when he’s on mission? That whole opening doesn’t ring even vaguely true for the character as he’s previously been portrayed. Since when has he been able to pull off being “charming spy who can dance”?)
Slott’s Mighty Avengers was filled with this kind of thing. He’d throw out ideas that were completely worthy of exploration (The Infinite Mansion! Hank Pym as “Scientist Supreme”! Jocasta falling in love with Hank because she had Jan’s mind!), and then do absolutely nothing with them. I’ve noticed that Slott has been getting writing assists on ASM lately, with Fred Van Lente writing some backups and Christos Gage coming in to co-write some in future – I wonder if that’d be the best arrangement for the book, with Slott acting as ideas man and other people coming in to flesh them out?
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DOUGLAS: I’ve realized that what I like least about this story is the way it grafts an extension onto Flash Thompson’s story arc. His role over the last half-century has made a lot of dramatic sense: a bully who’s inspired by the hero, eventually mends his ways, and ultimately makes a heroic sacrifice and is reconciled with everyone he used to torment. That’s it: as of the end of “Brand New Day,” his story is resolved, in a way that very few superhero-comics characters’ stories are resolved. Turning him into “charming spy who can dance because he has magic symbiote legs” doesn’t build on his established character, it just violates storytelling logic.