Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #6, first part of a two part story, and Untold Tales of the New Universe: Justice #1, in which I revisit an old friend. Whad’ja think?
PAD
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #6, first part of a two part story, and Untold Tales of the New Universe: Justice #1, in which I revisit an old friend. Whad’ja think?
PAD
• 
Peter, you’re single-handedly keeping Spider-Man alive. FNSM#6 had everything a Spidey tale should have – fun, danger, intrigue. I especially loved the new status-quo for Flash – a development ripe with possibility. Although I am not a fan of Peter’s bone claws, I must applaud you respecting current continuity – even when the conceptual writer who created the predicament hasn’t even referenced his own ch-ch-changes.
Looking forward to Hobgoblin 2211 – in his brief appearance long ago he made a lasting impression (will the retcon bombs be back?). To this day, Captain Spider’s “When it reaches 2500, sell!” line makes me bust out laughing just thinking about it. Thank you. We all need laughter.
Friendly Neighborhood was great and showed some humor that’s been all too scarce in the Spidey books lately, which puts the book well and truly on my pull list.
It did seem like a bit of a retcontastic issue, however, with Flash’s mental state and JJJ thinking Spiderman was John both being addressed in the same issue. I have to admit I’m not a fan of tossing out many many years of development for Flash either, but the humor kept that afloat, just about.
PAD, there is no question that the Justice one-shot is the best of the Untold Tales of the New Universe to date. Thank you for coming back to him.
1Peter, I just re-read F’N Spider-Man again. I like the fact you brought up the whole John Jameson is Spidy thing again. I can’t beileve JJJ was that dumb to beileve that. Of course for a second I thought he was urging John to become Man-Wolf.
What I really wanted to say was: I didn’t know you were a wrestiling fan. I liked the whole mask vs mask sub-plot. That’s a very big thing in Mexican wrestiling.
Wait, I just remembered that story you did of Joe Fixit vs Hulk Hogan. That was a riot.
Mixed feelings about Justice. Like your very brief run on the Turtles (for Dreamwave), I really liked the story itself but was much less than impressed by the art. (I didn’t go back to my “vault” and pull my copies of the original series, but I recall Lee Weeks’ art being far superior to di Giandomenico’s.) I will admit that di Giandomenico’s interiors were a vast improvement over the Canete cover. Based solely on the cover, I strongly doubt that I would have picked up this book if I didn’t know anything about the original “New Universe” line–I mean I am grateful that Quesada and crew decided to remember those of us who’ve been reading comics for more than a couple of years, but it would have been even nicer to have had better art for these “Untold Tales” (nice to have a JRJR cover on “Star Brand” but the rest of the books have, so far, been disappointing in terms of the artwork).
Now, the Spike vs Dracula book…..that was beyond sweet. Fun story, nice clean art (made me wish the Justice story’s art had been this nice). “To the Ponce . . . You still owe me eleven pounds.” Absolutely perfect–Spike to a “T”.
Seeing the Justice special with your name on it was a great surprise this week. I really enjoyed the story.
OK, just finished Spike/Dracula. One question for the colorist. Why in the world was Spike’s hair blonde? It took me a few pages to realize it, but once found, it was, as Pooh Bear calls it a “bother”.
I enjoyed seeing Justice again also. The only one of the New Universe books I still have is your run on this title.
Both were very good! The general quality of the stack of comics I bought this week – which, as I mentioned in the “FA 1-3 sell out” thread, included several of your works, PAD – has me very excited about the state of comics being published today.
Justice was a character I’d actually read very little of, but the story was very accessible. And the splash page (page 3 – well, “4” counting the text page … or “6” if including the ads) was hillarious!
The meat of the story was a compelling mix of grays. That the villian of the piece was using his power – in an undeniably evil way – to try to put his totally innocent daughter through college; that Justice realized that his cut-and-dried brand of judgement may have actually corrupted this woman; and the quick-witted way he found to try to reverse that damage – all very well-written stuff. The times she screamed “Daddy!” irked me slightly, but that’s probably just residual annoyance from the early nineties, when every single adult woman on television seemed to call their father nothing but “Daddy” all the time, in total contrast with real life. Your character did at least use “Dad” and “my father” as well; and the stuff with the doorman alone would make up for this minor nitpick, let alone the surprising and compelling main plot.
And FNS-M #6 was also very interesting. It was a nice touch to see how the “my son is Spider-
Man” idea got resolved – and an ominous note from Jonah that “I’m not done with Parker yet.” Flash is annoying – but I’m sure that’s the point; he is now nicely differentiated from Peter’s other … well, if Flash doesn’t remember being Peter’s friend, can we still call him one of them?It should be amusing when Flash is forced to confront irrefutable proof of the past few years – his friendship with Peter, Mary Jane IS Peter’s wife … How would current-state Flash feel about having worked for Norman Osborn?
El Muerto is an interesting new character; and all of his dialogue on page 6, as he burst into the Jamesons’ home, was very fun. “The weapons are to be put down by you!” 🙂 And all of the changes in Spidey’s life are seemlessly worked in (Wolverine is a supporting character for Spider-Man now! Funny …) – go, May and Jarvis! Oh, and it’s very nice to have story-specific covers back on many of the Marvel titles again, isn’t it? Altogether a very good Spider-Man story, without needing a famous archnemesis, deadly drama (well, except for El Muerto’s personal plight, of course), or an impending apocalypse to make me very eager for the next issue.
And, just one note about Spike vs. Dracula #1, explained vaguely enough that there shouldn’t be too much spoiler – I LOVED the reference subtly set up by the placard in the first panel of page 8!
Thanks for all the excellent reading material, PAD!
Oh, and thanks for the riminder, Josh Pritchett, Jr. – that Marvel Comics Presents Joe vs. Hulk Hogan bit WAS fun!
Just saw on the Big Apple website that Claypool Comics will be at the next show. Will you be there with Claypool?
Also, do they bring & sell back issues? I’m missing 1 issue of Soulsearchers.
Hmm. Maybe this topic should say “OUT THIS WEEK: FNSM #6, JUSTICE #1, AND MY FURNACE.”
::rimshot::
I loved Justice back in the day; I loved seeing the return. I only wish we could have seen Angela.
I didn’t read the Justice issue, mainly because I’ve never read any of the previous New Universe comics, so I only know John Tensen from his appearances in Spider-Man 2099, and I didn’t think I’d get much out of this. But if anyone else has read it, and thinks that it will work as a standalone story, I’ll keep an eye out for it next week.
As for FNSM, I thought it was a decent story, let down by poor editing. More specifically, it really would have benefited from a recap page.
The first issue is the new costume. I only glanced at the cover in the shop, because this was set aside for me (so I didn’t have to look for it on the shelves), and I had a vague feeling of “Is that Iron Man?” When I started reading the issue, I thought “What is he wearing? Oh, yeah, that.” Basically, I heard about the new costume on the Marvel website a while back, but this is the first Spidey comic I’ve read since the end of “The Other”, so I missed its introduction. I don’t like the idea of relying on the Marvel website for spoilers way in advance of the actual stories (that’s why I gave up on the rac.* newsgroups a few years ago), so a quick line at the start of the issue would have been helpful here.
(Digressing slightly, I had a similar reaction to the cover of “Thunderbolts #100”, which says “Whose side are YOU on? 05.03.06” in the top-left corner. Being British, I read this date as “5th March 2006”, and I’d picked up this comic on the 11th of March, so I thought “Ah yes, it’s talking about the two Thunderbolt teams, and that date is when the issue was published in America.” I only realised later that this was talking about the “Civil War” event.)
Similarly, this is the first I’ve heard about Jonah thinking that John was Spidey, so I assumed that he was referring to one of John’s (many!) other alter-egos in that “Do your stuff” scene. Again, I assume this happened in a comic I haven’t read, so a recap would have been nice.
Regarding Flash, I remember a story set round about the time that he broke up with Felicia Hardy, when Peter visited him in hospital. I don’t have the issue to hand, but the dialogue went something like this:
Peter: “Come on, we’re friends.”
Flash: “Are we? Then when was the last time we went to a ballgame together? High school was a long time ago, and we’ve grown apart since then. I don’t hate you, but we’re just acquaintances, not friends.”
I don’t know whether they reconciled before Flash’s coma, because I’d stopped reading the Spidey titles by that stage (after the whole “let’s dump on Ben Reilly from a great height” plan). More generally, I don’t like to see Flash acting the way he is, but I’m hopeful that it will lead to a good story down the line; in the same way, I didn’t like the “Aunt May was an actress when she died” retcon, but it did lead to a good story when JMS re-did the “Peter reveals his secret” plot.
Speaking of Aunt May, I do like the developing romance between her and Jarvis. The only odd point there is that she keeps referring to him by his surname; shouldn’t she be calling him “Edwin” by now?
On a more positive note, I was impressed by the first issue of “Spike vs Dracula”, and I’m glad that I didn’t wait for the TPB. It was a good story, and I was pleased to see that this issue can stand alone, while (presumably) tieing into a larger whole. I particularly liked the characterisation, which is what made me notice PAD as an author in the first place – I could hear Spike’s voice in my head when I read his lines, in the same way that all the Trek characters are spot-on in his (PAD’s) novels.
Thinking back to the previous Spike one-shot, my only criticism there was that it was hard to tell from the story whether this was pre- or post- soul/chip. By contrast, this issue did emphasise that Spike was a vicious killer, so while he’s a fun protagonist that doesn’t make him the good guy.
Well, FNSM was pretty good. The “mascara a mascara” thing is rather interesting. I’m surprised no one’s come up with it before, considering Spidey’s history with wrestling and the lengths he sometimes goes to protect his identity. I’m a little disappointed in seeing Flash Thompson acting like a high school jerk again. I liked that Flash matured and became Peter’s friend. This is for two reasons: 1) The idea that the stupid jocks from high school can at least turn out to be okay guys fills me with hope for many classmates I’ve had and 2) Peter needs to have some civilian friends. Heck, Peter doesn’t have all that many peer friends left. There’s just MJ and he married her. I mean, look at the crew he hung with back in college. MJ’s okay, of course. Gwen is dead. Harry’s dead and was a villian for a long time. And Flash was put in a coma and now acts like a dumb bully again. Anyway, I’ll just wait and see how the story pans out.
1To, Luke Walsh: You’re very welcome for the reminder. I’m always glad to chat with a fellow PAD fan. Josh
I loved FNSM. you are hands down one of the best writers, period.
I know this has nothing to do with you, but i hate the costume, it’s the only complaint on an otherwise good story.
keep up the good work
Joe V.
JUSTICE kind of left me cold. I felt that I was reading a pilot for a new series rather than an Untold story. The art did not help.
While I loved F’N SPIDER-MAN, I got the most enjoyment from reading SPIKE VS. DRACULA. Peter’s got a great grasp of the character, Spike, and the only sad thing about Peter going exclusive with Marvel is that we won’t see any more of his Spike after this miniseries is over.
“Speaking of Aunt May, I do like the developing romance between her and Jarvis. The only odd point there is that she keeps referring to him by his surname; shouldn’t she be calling him “Edwin” by now?”
Funny you should ask. The following exchange is in the very next issue:
MAY: Why, thank you, Jarvis…I’m sorry, Edwin. Or do you prefer “Ed”, or “Eddie?”
Jarvis looks thoughtful, as if he’s rolling it around in his mouth.
JARVIS: I’m not rightly sure, May. All these years as the Avengers butler, no one’s typically called me that. It’s very American, isn’t it. Hmmm… Ed. Eddie. Good old Eddie. “Come here, Eddie.” “Let’s go, Eddie.” Sounds rather like a cocker spaniel.. But if you wish to—
MAY: How about “Jarvis?”
JARVIS: Dear God, yes.
PAD
PAD I have a quick question about Spike Vs. Dracula.
Did editorial mess up? There is a caption towards the end (over the establishing shot of the mansion Drac, Dru, and Darla are living in) that reads 1989. Should that have read 1889? Am I being too anal?
I loved the issue by the way. I really enjoyed the explanation as to why Drac owes Spike 11 pounds. Mutant Enemy should have had you write some episodes of either Buffy or Angel. You really know your way around the Buffyverse. Joss doesn’t know what he was missing.
Keep up the great work good sir.
Wait, when did Spike vs. Dracula come out and why don’t I own it?
I really liked Justice. I had never been a regular reader of any of the NU titles, having only tried the premiere issue of Psi Force, and never stuck with it. The explanation of the series’ premise on Page 1 really helped, though it was a bit redundant, given Justice’s own relation of the events of his life on Page 16. The story breezed by briskly, and I was surprised when I reached the end so soon. Carmine Di Giandomenico’s artwork was really good. Kudos!
As for FNSM, I’m still trying to get used to the radically altered premise of Avengers Tower, and Flash now back to disliking Peter, etc., but that’s not your fault. The story seems interesting, and I want to know what’s going to happen next month. 🙂
Having read all the NU titles when they first came out, Justice was one I did not stick with. (Nor Nightmask) DP7 and StarBrand were the two titles I enjoyed the most. so when I heard about some special NU books coming out, I had my retailer hold them for me.
So far, they have all pretty much sucked. So I was really not looking forward to the Justice issue. Imagine my surprise when, after reading it, I found I actually quite enjoyed it. It didn’t suck! (Free promo for the issue right there for the second printing. “It doesn’t suck!”)
Good issue. I could really see you doing something with this character. I know it won’t ever happen, but please consider that a compliment.
Tim
RE: FNSM#6
Rating: 8 (out of 10)
Thought provoking level: 10 (out of 10)
NOTE: If you have not read it yet, skip my comments. I will avoid big spoilers, but you are warned.
When I read this, my immediate thought was wondering if this was a deliberate twist on: “With great power comes great responsibility.” You have the newly reborn Peter with his new suit engaging in a “charity” fight. I can see why, but the warnings were appropriate.
You have a kid who is in a no win situation. That said, he is choosing to do wrong with his power. In fact, it is a fascinating concept concerning the price one pays for power. And with the Civil War issues coming, Peter also will face this question. Don’t know if you had that planned, but it fits either way.
By the end of the story I was left with little sympathy for the man in the mask. Peter’s “reflex” reaction at the end of the fight seemed actually appropriate.
The one negative I had was for all of the guys strength, etc., it really seemed too even of a fight, particualarly with Peter’s spider sense. I realize it is the “kryptonite” scenario where to keep the story interesting, Peter can’t run total circles around the guy. But it really stretched credibility for me that the masked man was truly a threat.
Bottom line, this is currently the best Spider-Man comic right now (no offense to JMS). I am interested to see where it goes next. That said, X-Factor is the best PAD comic out right now.
Iowa Jim
OMGWTFBBQ 73# 237v2 0F t3h NET PROPHETZORZ!!!!!1!!!11
“The explanation of the series’ premise on Page 1 really helped, though it was a bit redundant, given Justice’s own relation of the events of his life on Page 16.”
Yeah, I begged them not to do that. I put that story page in specifically because I figured the issue was supposed to be a stand alone. Then they told me they were going to put in a recap in the front. I told them it was completely unnecessary and redundant, and for crying out loud, don’t do it. Soooo they did it anyway…
“Good issue. I could really see you doing something with this character.”
Well, I did a lot with the character, actually. To the best of my knowledge, I’m the only writer in the NU Redux who actually worked on the original series. I think I wrote issues 15 through to 32, the end of the series. You can probably pick up the whole run on ebay for a nominal amount.
PAD
Personally, I thought the first ten-twelve issues of Justice sucked rocks – the Land of Spring, forsooth?? Then Peter took over, and retconned the stupid šhìŧ away, and after that the title rocked (although I was hoping that after coming back to his senses, Tensen would lose the mullet 🙂 ). Sadly, around issue 24, my ex-wife caused me to stop reading/collecting the NewU comics, so I don’t know what happened after that (also missed out on what happened with Psi-Force after that other group kind of drafted them…).
I’m hoping that this payday, I’ll have enough left over to pick up the new Justice. It sounds really good!
New Universe Justice?? Cool! Revisting an old friend–are you bringing back the super cool Mark Hazzard: Merc?
Please!!!!!!!!!
They did ask Fabian Nicieza if he wanted to do the Psi Force one-shot. But as he said, when somebody mentioned that the new stories still take place in the 1986 timeframe…
Yes, which is why I preferred not to participate when asked. After so much time having lapsed, as a writer, I was interested in telling stories that showed the changes to the characters I had worked on.
http://www.comicboards.com/tbolts/view.php?rpl=051213153302
PAD,
Any chance that Marvel will use your suggested tagline for the relaunch of the New Universe? 🙂
Also, concerning F’N’ SPIDER-MAN, I rather wish that Peter’s initial reaction would have been closer to what mine would have been if a good friend I’d thought was in a coma suddenly popped up . . .
. . . I’d run over and hug him.
Of course, in Peter’s case, it would then have become amusingly awkward. (“I always knew you were a pansy, Parker, but geez . . . “)
[quote]MAY: How about “Jarvis?”
JARVIS: Dear God, yes.[/quote]
That certainly explains why Tony Stark (who’s known Jarvis since childhood) still refers to him by his last name. He should know better than anyone how his family butler wants to be called…
Sasha, what tagline are you referring to?
I bought and read almost all of the NU titles when they came out back in the day, but these recent issues have been utterly horrid! Therefore, I skipped the Justice issue. I’ll check it out though.
As far as F’N’S-M goes, the best I can say is you’re doing a great job with the junk you are given. The disgusting spider-spikes continue to gross me out and I am teetering on the brink of not buying any Spidey books again.
(I stopped once, back when they were going to have Ben Reilly be the “real” Peter Parker. I then regretted having gaping holes in my title runs, which ultimately cost me more to fill than if I had kept buying them. With prices what they are now, I’ll probably take my chances again and try to score them on the secondary market. But I digress.)
I’ve read some opinions that state fans just hate change, no matter what it is, but the change from Spidey being a nerd with whom many readers can associate to some sort of spider totem with nasty extra bits and organic webbing is just thoroughly off-putting. This whole thing can go nowhere but down.
Sorry to come across negative. I did just read the Flashback issue of Hulk (“-1”) from 1997 and that has inspired me to go back and re-read some of those top-notch stories I enjoyed so much from your epic Hulk run. Now THOSE were the days!!
Sasha, what tagline are you referring to?
Some time ago at DragonCon, PAD was asked about his opinion on the New Universe. In short, he felt that initially it sucked, but got good later. (But of course by that time, the damage was done and no one was particularly interested in reading the NU, because, well, it sucked.)
So PAD’s said that in the event of a relaunch of the NU, they should have the following tagline to accompany it:
The New Universe — It Doesn’t Suck Anymore
I don’t mind that Spider-Man is hanging out with the Avengers now a days and that they know he is Peter Parker and all, but Aunt May and Jarvis is a bit too much.
PAD how do you feel about the way Genis was killed off in Thunderbolts?
“but Aunt May and Jarvis is a bit too much.”
Really? Seemed like a really good match-up to me. They certainly have plenty in common, and that’s a decent starting point for a relationship.
I enjoyed FNSM and Spike vs. Dracula (that “1989” caption threw me a little as well, though). I continue to be puzzled about Spidey’s organic webbing, which I first saw mentioned when Bendis sent the New Avengers to the Savage Land (“My creepy new organic webshooters aren’t working…”). I read FNSM, whatever they changed Marvel Knights Spidey to, and Amazing. When did the web become organic?
If Flash is going to be an áššhølë again, and be someone Peter sees every day at work, I don’t think it would be the worst thing in the world if Peter used a small amount of his spider-strength to put Flash on the floor and say, pointedly, “Yes, Flash, high school WAS a long time ago…”
Am I the only one who doesn’t mind Flash becoming an áršëhølë again? It is one more step in the right direction – it was nice that Flash grew as a character over the years, but his growth became redundant once Peter stopped having any friends in his life at all, either they have died or just been forgotten and the book needs the interaction between Peter and friends, his collegues, it highligths peter’s character.
This is my main problem having Peter only interact with his wife practically for the last several yrs – in real life we interact with people all the time and it brings out our character. Having Flash revert to “type” is one more small step to having a well rounded character defined by his interactions with family and friends – we have had a “thorn in his side” missing from the books for far too long.
And people – please look at the nuance of the writing, he’s not exactly how he used to be he showed more resepct to Peter, whilst still calling him names, because he is an adult this time round.
Great to see JJJ again as well – keep up the good work PAD, this is the most excited I’ve been for years!
One last thing: I hate the “stingers” as well, but I don’t se it lasting so I’ll put up with it until Marvel comes to it’s senses.
So far the triumphant return of Flash Thompson is the highlight of your run, but I also enjoy the nods to continuity. The attempts to keep current (new costume, New Avenger) as well as acknowledging recent events that others have ignored (Marvel Knights Spider-man, Ezekiel) help make this the most fun and most accessible of all the Spidey books. I love how this book has a memory that reaches more than a year into Spidey’s past without skipping to the death of Gwen Stacy. The excellent writing doesn’t hurt either.