Alpha, Part I by: Dan Slott (writer), Humberto Ramos (pencils), Victor Olazaba (inks), Edgar Delgado (colors), Chris Eliopoulos (letters)
Spider-Man for a Night by: Dean Haspiel (writer/artist), Giulia Brusco (colors)
Just Right by: Joshua Hale Fialkov (writer), Nuno Plati (artist)
The Story: Spider-Man gets a new sidekick, but will he be more than Spidey can handle?
A few things (with minor SPOILERS): 1). Predictable, but let’s be open-minded… – So, Peter inadvertently creates another super-powered being and is then assigned to babysit this super-powerful and possibly out-of-control kid. It seems like there are some very predictable places that such a story can go, right? I really don’t want a story that shows how Peter became a good Spider-Man, didn’t abuse his powers and stuff because PETER is a good person, whereas some other person might get superpowers and behave badly because they are not as good of a person as PETER. We’ve seen those stories before. Let’s just have faith that Dan Slott is too fastidious of a writer to give us a recycled story….but my antennas are up.
2). ASM is better with Ramos. – Humberto Ramos is just better than the other artists on ASM by a mile. This title has a ton more snap and energy when he’s around. His characters have energy and the ladies are pretty. I want to live in a world full of Ramos characters because it looks like fun. It helps, of course, that he’s working with Edgar Delgado who is a wonderful colorist. Delgado marches right along the energetic path with Ramos. Wonderful art.
3). Out of sync with rest of Marvel U. – ASM is usually happening in it’s own bubble (no mention of the dreadful AvX) and I’m fine with that, but it still seems a little weird that this Alpha kid would be described as more powerful/risky than the Sentry….yet the Avengers assign Spider-Man to watch him. Wha??? And they do it in the same way that parents would who let a child adopt a puppy, “You wanted the puppy……now you have to take care of him.” It just seems that if Alpha were such a potential threat, they’d have some more layers of supervision in place. Sure, Peter is a wonderful guy and among the most morally centered of the Avengers, but he also has no history of successfully bringing up a sidekick, nor is he powerful enough to really do anything if Alpha does go nuts. It just seems weird…
4). Good, but odd back-ups. – Since this issue is celebrating the 50th birthday of Spidey, we get two back-up stories (and a price jump to $5.99). They’re both solid, but also very predictable. Dean Haispel gives us a heart-warming story of how not all criminals are truly evil. It’s nice and it’s fun to see Haspiel drawing Spidey. The second back-up is one of those “Spidey has a crappy day until a kid reminds him how awesome he is” stories. We’ve seen that before, but this is still a good story. The only sour thing for me with this second back-up is that they show Steve Rogers in his “Captain Steve, Director of SHIELD” outfit. That makes me feel like Marvel had this story laying around for awhile and just shoveled it at us now (“Hey, we can clear out a few of these Spidey stories we paid for last year AND raise the price to $5.99”). Still, they’re good stories by talented creators. Editor Stephen Wacker brings in better talent – and better non-mainstream talent – to work around the edges than any other editor in the business.
Conclusion: Let’s give Slott the benefit of the doubt and trust that the story of Alpha won’t veer into predictable territories.
Grade: B
– Dean Stell
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Conclusion