Amazing Spider-Man #612 Review – The Gauntlet Begins
Amazing Spider-Man #612 review, Part 1 of The Gauntlet Begins, written by comic book ICON Mark Waid and drawn by Paul Azaceta. If you have been following my Amazing Spider-Man reviews, you are probably thinking: why the heck does Damian Hospital continue to read this crap? Well, I got good news for you: it paid off! We can thank Mark Waid for this. Mark Waid (The Flash, Kingdom Come, Fantastic Four, JLA, Empire, Captain America, etc) presented a serious tone to kickstart this Spider-Man event.
Basically, the splash pages indicate that a master plan has been in motion for a while, and all of the old classic Spidey villains are in on it (although they may not be 100% aware of their roles). It seems like Kraven the Hunter’s wife and daughter are behind everything to avenge his death.
Anyway, ASM #612 spotlights Electro. Like many classic Spider-Man villains Electro has been jobbed out in recent years (pro wrestling term for losing a lot, and losing status). Seems like Marvel has been making new villains lately..it’s one of the drawbacks of having an ongoing serial comic book: the villains always lose, and the older the villain is (Electro is from the 1960’s), the more losses he has.
But I digress: Electro is down in the dumps; his powers are haywire and he can’t be touched or get excited. He has no money. The Mad Thinker screwed him. Everybody screwed him. There is a Kurt Busiek Astro City feel to Electro’s sorrows.
The converging plot is that The DB (the NEW Daily Bugle, owned by an evil version of Perry White, Dexter Bennett) qualified for Obama bailout money from the stimulus package. This sends New Yorkers in an uproar, and when Electro gets wind, he shouts to the world about POWER TO THE PEOPLE. This goes viral on the net and is picked on the TV news channel. Electro has become a hero! Even the police dig him now, and allow him to form a protest in front of City Hall. But Spider-Man doesn’t (after all, Electro is a SUPER-VILLAIN). Electro defeats Spidey, and the protesters cheer him on.
Pros
- Felt like a REAL Spider-Man comic book, not the crap I’ve been reading recently.
- Artwork fits the mood, and doesn’t remind me of Gossip Girl or whatever hip TV show teens watch.
- Electro gets a great treatment by Mark Waid; his origin was shown and continuity was respected.
Cons
- The extra backup story by writer Joe Kelly and artist JM Ken Nimura (bad art) was nothing special and simplly was used to justify the $3.99 cover price. The story had to do with Spidey’s romantic life and his relationship with the Black Cat. I liked it in the 1980’s, but nothing has evolved for the better in 2010 (sorry if I fast forwarded a month-and-a-half).
Note
Well, I think this is a controversial move by Marvel and Mark Waid to bring on the bailout in Spider-Man. Then again, when I read every Amazing Spider-Man comic book from scratch, I saw that this has always happened; in the 1960’s race and protests was tackled, and in later years, the oil crisis is mentioned. Yet I still want to suspend my disbelief when I read super-hero comics; I don’t want to hear about MY earth, that’s why I don’t listen to Glenn Beck. I can go either way on this, because the story itself was good, and it fit fine. It was a good symbol of left wing vs right wing opinions.
Amazing Spider-Man Letter Page Controversy
An old time fan complained about Peter Parker getting drunk, having sex, and other stuff. I was glad it was print. Ironically enough in the very same issue, it was revealed that Michelle (Parker’s roommate) got Petey “drunk” on ginger ale. Nice No-Prize save by Marvel.
I recommend this comic, and am glad Spidey is back on track, thanks to Mark Waid.
Click here to BUY: Amazing Spider Man #612
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Wow, did we read the same issue?
1) Marvel is WEAK for saying Parker never got drunk and had sex irresponsibly. WEAK, WEAK, WEAK. It also opens up a can of worms: if he wasn't drunk, then Michele date raped him with a placebo.
2) I like how a few youtube hits can give a well known criminal like Electro a populist following.
I'm sick of writers writing normal people like a bunch of fools in order to advance the plot.
It's like the writers aren't creative enough to think of a more convincing reason than a bunch of words spoken through internets by a known felon, so they say "it went viral".
I mean, the citizens on Earth 616 just keep getting dumber. It's a distracting level of stupidity. Maybe I'm just applying metagame thinking here, but I can't see myself buying into anything Electro's selling. Dude is a killer, isn't he?
3) Artwork sucked. Am I reading Vertigo from 1994 or Amazing Spider-Man 2009?
4) Why the new costume for Electro (AGAIN?) Why are his powers messed up like Ultimate Electro? Lame.
5) At least the COVER was good.
6) There's only one thing we agree on: agreed… the backup story was not worth the extra $1
Okay first of all, I'm the one who gives Damian his comics every week.
Barry, I think this just proves that nobody is going to be happy with ASM anymore no matter. I was just on the Marvel boards and CBR…
Everyone is saying that the Peter wasn't drunk retcon is Marvels' way of backpedaling to explain the drunken one night stand with Michelle and it was not needed at all.
YET…YET…YET…for *****months**** since issue 601 (when the incident happened) they constantly complained that it was out of character for Peter and it should never have happened to the flagship hero of the Marvel Universe.
EVERYBODY SAID IT. WHO'S BACKPEDALING NOW?
So Editor Wacker and Marvel actually listened to the complaints **for once** and they try to make Peter look more in character to appease all the naysayers and crying for "justice".
So Marvel actually does that and now everyone calls it a cop-out
And it just makes Marvel look WEAK??
HUHH??????
This is what you wanted!
This is what you wanted!
This is what you wanted!
This is what you wanted!
This is what you wanted!
This is what you wanted!
This is what you wanted!
This is what you wanted!
"They" actually listened to YOU saying that it was out of character and they explained it away as being more in character so Peter doesn't look so bad in everyone's eyes.
You are the rest of the complainers are looking ridiculous.
No one postrf that they feel better that Peter wasn't as out of character as previously thought.
Man, Damian, instead of Chrome vs Firefox vs IE, maybe you should do Linux Geeks vs Mac Geeks vs Comic Book Geeks vs Star Wars Geeks vs Star Trek Geeks vs Dungeons & Dragons Geeks vs Video Game Geeks vs New York Mets Geeks, and see who would win.
Electro is right.
Those things arent fair.
is he running for office?
maybe glenn beck or limbaugh can show up in these issues as well and do battle with spider man.
why not?
pro wrestling/comic book superheroes and villains/talk radio/politics:
all the same thing.
Glenn Beck vs Spider-Man! Whooooooo!
Actually, RAW, you are correct; Electro is right.
Vahl:
"pro wrestling/comic book superheroes and villains/talk radio/politics:
all the same thing."
Ding ding ding! Correct!
Somebody give R.A.W. a no-prize!