By: Dan Slott (writer), Marcos Martin, Ty Templeton, Nuno Plati & Stefano Caselli (art), Muntsa Vicente, Javier Rodriguez, Plati & Marte Gracia (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)
The Story: Spidey and the FF give the Human Torch a proper send off by recalling a lot of the good times.
What’s good: How about that? Given how good Fantastic Four #588 was in its send off of the Human Torch, it is pretty amazing that an issue of Amazing Spider-Man would be an even better send-off, but that is exactly what happens in this issue.
The premise of the issue is pretty simple: Spidey swings by the Baxter Building to apologize for missing Torch’s funeral service. What ensues is a recollection of some of the great times that Spidey and Torch have had over the years. Of course, there is some legitimate villain-busting in the stories, but most of the fun comes from the fun moments where Spidey & Torch are camping and playing tricks on each other, or where Spidey is pulling Torch’s pants down in front of teenage admirers or where the Spidey & Torch inspire Sue Storm to embrace her juvenile side (who knew she had such a side?) and take down villains in a very creative way that ends with Sue having some trouble with the law.
There really isn’t much more to say about the story, because it isn’t complicated, but it is incredibly well executed and you’ll laugh-out-loud 5-6 times in this issue. Slott and company really captured the FUN side of Human Torch in a way that Hickman & Dragotta didn’t in their very strong FF #588.
The art is surprisingly strong too. Granted, all of the artists on this issue are no-joke artists, but I always kinda cringe when I flip two pages into a comic and see 4 artists credited. But, if you are going to have multiple artists, THIS is how to do it: by letting each artist/colorist team take one of the flashback stories. That way even though the art changes, it doesn’t really bug you and it doesn’t screw up any of the artists by forcing them to try to conform to a generic style. This issue is more like an anthology with a “tour guide” taking us from story to story.
What’s Not So Good: The only thing I don’t love about this issue is something that isn’t remotely Slott & Co.’s fault: I’m now sure I want to see Spidey joining the FF.
I mean, the guy is pretty overexposed as it is. He’s in both Avengers and New Avengers. He’s in Amazing Spider-Man. He’s in the current arc of X-Men. And, I’m sure he’ll be showing up in the new Moon Knight, Punisher and Daredevil stories this summer. That’s just too much Spider-Man and smearing him around that much can threaten one of the GREAT things about ASM: That it is a great title to suggest to someone looking to get into comics because it doesn’t require the reader to follow other titles.
I’d just urge Marvel editorial not to succumb to “If one is good, two must be better and THREE would be GREAT!” thinking. You’ve got a good thing going right now with ASM. Don’t screw it up and let’s not let fans of other Marvel series get their Spidey fix via guest-starring roles: Make them buy the outstanding Slott ASM!
Conclusion: Great issue. If you can believe it, this is a better Human Torch send off than we got in Fantastic Four. Slott has a pretty mean streak going on ASM so far too as the “worst” issue has still been B+ material.
Grade: A
-Dean Stell
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Filed under: Marvel Comics Tagged: | Amazing Spider-Man, Dan Slott, Dean Stell, Ellie Pyle, Javier Rodriguez, Joe Caramagna, Marcos Martin, Marte Gracia, Marvel, Muntsa Vicente, Nuno Plati, review, Stefano Caselli, Stephen Wacker, Ty Templeton
Marvel has a bad habit (and is nearly infamous for now)of going back to the same “creative” (and I use that term very loosely) well one too many times; so it doesn’t surprise me that they’re spreading Spider-Man so thinly across the MU (again?) (they clearly haven’t been learning anything from their own publishing history, so why should they start now?) Can you say “cash-cow?” I (kind of) liked the story too, but it’s also rather annoying because they’ll probably bring the Torch right back soon enough (if he even ever really died at all), and in the mean time Marvel has completely trashed the original Fantastic Four (again?). And why so many artists at once? Because most of Marvel’s artists suck (yep, ok, I said it). But in the particular case of ASM, I’m tired of the series looking like it was drawn by middle-school kids in a 5th period art class (way too cartoonish with way too much anime influence). That’s harsh (I know), but no more harsh that pricing $2.99 (a cover) and up for a comic series that’s a long ways from the standards of excellence that carried it through the 60′s, 70′s, and 80′s. I’m just about done with buying ASM regularly and I’m very tired of giving it chances to improve.
I think we’re on the same wavelength in a few places and just having differences of opinion in others. I completely agree that the overall thinking is a bit tired on all of the Marvel heroes just because they’re old stories. As a reader, once you know that they won’t really kill a character and keep them dead forever and that the story will never, ever end, they just become monthly soap operas like the Young and the Restless. Y&R is a great comparison because I (admittedly) enjoyed that when I was a kid in the 80s and was home from school sick. Just for grins, I looked at Y&Rs wiki page the other day and amazingly, they’re talking about the EXACT same stories that they were 25 years ago.
So, I have a very different expectation for what Marvel comics are: I’m just buying them from a “Hey. Let’s see what kinda nonsense Spidey is getting into this month!” But, you could also drop it and NOT get lost in the stories if you came back years later.
Compare that to how I feel reading a good creator-owned comic that is likely to have an ending AND where the characters are not safe AND the creator has something to SAY…..well, that’s just a completely different animal.
I love both comic forms equally, but have very different expectations for them.
On the art side, we’ll just have to agree to disagree. I came up on 80s comics when pretty much everyone drew the same kinda way, but I’ve come to really enjoy most of today’s artists more. The only guys I really don’t care for nowadays are the guys who are trying to be ultra-realistic such that the art is trying to be photographs. Don’t care for that. But otherwise, I just want to see an artist through themselves in with some passion and I’m good.
I completely agree with you on the topic of creator-owned and driven comics. Jim Starlin’s ‘Dreadstar’ comes to mind on that topic and I rememeber that it changed publishers a few times before finally coming to an end sometime in the 80′s (what a GREAT comic series that was!). I admit to being somewhat of a dinosaur when it comes to seeking out comic book entertainment and I’m probably looking for a type of progression that’s just not really there anymore. I bought my first Marvel Comic in 1971. It was Daredevil #77, the June issue, and featured both Spidey and the Sub-Mariner. It cost 15 cents, was written by Gery Conway, drawn by Gene Colan, and had a great cover drawn by Sal Buscema. And let me tell you, it didn’t get much better than that! Gil Kane, John Buscema, Herb Trimpe, Jim Mooney (just to name a very few of all the great artists from those early days) all had very distinctive styles that were anything but boring. The lack of quality in art is also more noticeable within Marvel Comics than in DC; so I’m wondering if the same “creative” policies that alienated Jack Kirby away from Marvel so much “back in the day” aren’t still in place. Get with it Marvel…. and get some REAL talent back again!
Well, color me jealous that you got to enjoy a lot of those 70s stories. My first was Uncanny 162, so you’ve got me beat by about a decade.
I do agree that Marvel has a number of artist who just aren’t all that great. Not terrible, per se, but probably not good enough to be allowed to have creative free rein.
I do think that there is hope in some ways. Now that Marvel is owned by Disney, I think you’ll see increased quality. Everything that Disney does is TOP quality. The other side of that is that they charge a premium price for their stuff, but I would expect that you’ll see them continually outbid DC for the stellar creative talent. Think about Disney’s theme parks: They are incredible. Expensive, but INCREDIBLE! ESPN is kinda the same way. Disney will be trying to find a way to make their comics so good that people will be willing to pay $4.99 for them.
I can hear the groans already, but there are two sides to the value equation and Disney will also understand the QUALITY side of matters and I think that’ll be that their product will gradually become exclusive and that could mean reducing the number of titles (which would be a good thing).
Anyhow, nice to talk to someone more experienced in comics than me.
Dang it. I dropped ASM a while ago, but your reviews have got me curious. I’m not sure my wallet can afford to get them in issues, but I think I’ll be picking up the trade for sure.
Personally? I’m hoping because he is joining FF, he will be leaving Avengers after fear itself. I rather have him on NA, not both.
Hey Lando,
I guess my basic point is that he’s getting overexposed right now and something has gotta give. Late last night, I’m reading Black Panther and Spidey is in that too.