Spider-Man General Discussion

ASM #38 (Finished)

• Old Fashioned Newsman Jonah working at a Clickbait news blog. This is going to be fun.
• It's called Threats and Menaces!
• Seeing Jonah as a fish out of water for once is a nice little role reversal.
• "You Won't believe this shocking proof that Captain America is still Hydra!" Cute
• Nora: But here's the thing— When people see a headline like that, they just can't help themselves. They'll click it and read it. But that's just the start of the cycle. The Cap haters and conspiracy theorists will get ahold of it, and approvingly forward it to their audience. But the real hits come from the supporters— the people who are outraged about how we could even publish such a thing. They'll quote it with a repudiation, and if we're lucky, maybe even leave a few angry comments on the article itself.

Sample News stories.

• People Earning Millions Selling Their Souls to Mephisto. Here's how.
• Going to Krakoa is easy, with these simple steps.
• Is your boyfriend a Scrull? He is if he does these six things.

• This is our Army, and they do not take prisoners. They are young and hungry, so they will barbecue those sacred cows. They will do anything, say anything, spin anything, to get those sweet, sweet traffic. And remember, they learned it from you, dad?
• Why is Spider-Man Spider-Man robbing a bank? Well, it's complicated, but he definitely assures us....

• "There has to be an explanation for this!"
• Nora tries to get JJJ to take the win, and although "It does write itself..." He's insistent.
• "There's gotta be a reason for why Spider-Man did this—-and that reason is just a few blocks away!"
• He steals a scooter from one of the employees, "to do some good old fashioned, boots on the ground reporting!"

• ....there's an explanation for it.
• He and Theresa are chasing down a bunch of SHIELD tech the Chameleon sold on the black market, which lead them to a lockbox in a major bank, that's actually been doing some rather shady business with a group of Maggia bankers by the name of Pluto.
  • One thing I've found interesting about this run, is how Spencer uses narration captions to catch readers up on events from previous issues, introduce potentially unfamiliar characters, or other stuff like that. It feels distinctly old-school, and you don't see it a lot these days.
• So now he's being chased by people in Helicopters, and they definitely don't look like bank security

• Back to the Foreigner, as he goes to a Super Villain casino, run by another obscure Spidey Villain, Chance.
• The most popular game is betting on the outcomes of Superhero battles from all over the Galaxy
  • "There's Superheroes vs Superheroes, Superheroes vs Problems They Created, Superheroes vs. Themselves, and even Superhero vs. Super Villain!" You can even bet on the minutia. How much collateral damage is caused? Will they save anyone in the process? What type of quip will be used? You can bet on it all here folks!
• The foreigner does just that, but things take a turn for the unexpected when Spidey is rescued by JJJ on his scooter!
  • Peter: "What are you doing here?"
  • Jonah: "Saving your sorry keister, by the looks of it!"
• JJJ demands an explanation, but it's not a great time, considering that Spidey is being chased by Maggia goons and all that.
• Spidey gives him a quick rundown of the situation, and tells him to leave, so he can deal with the baddies.
  • "Fine! But you haven't heard the last of me Wall-Crawler! I'll make your life better, one way or another!"
• Once JJJ leaves, Spidey is able to make quick work of the goons in an awesome two page spread, and the house wins on the Foreigner's bet.
• Afterward, Theresa calls him demanding to know what he did, only to find out that in an attempt to try to help, JJ went and exposed the whole mission!
• "J Jonah Jameson saves the day!"

That was just delightful. The commentary about Social Media feels very timely and relevant, and JJJ is just as ridiculously singleminded about Spider-Man as ever, even if it is in the other direction, and having his attempts to help blow up in Pete's face, is just such a Spider-Man thing to happen.

Edited by megaeliz on Feb 23rd 2020 at 10:52:10 AM

Ooff. Really sharp drop for the Mary Jane book in the top 100 for January. We went from the top 40 last month to 100th place.

Edited by Zarius on Feb 16th 2020 at 9:33:31 AM

I just pulled the most recent two issues today.

ASM #39

• We begin with Jonah in a recording booth.
• Telling JJJ to stay on script. Let's see how long that lasts.
• He has his own Podcast like in the game! And guess who's his first guest?
• The Amazing Spider-Man! But first, this podcast is sponsored by Circle Space. Need a website? With Circle Space's Drag and drop technology makes it easy for anyone to make a website, even for someone as old as-I'm not reading that!
• Now how did Spidey get into this situation? well...
• It all starts, with a headline.
• Flashback to the end of last issue, where JJJ accidentally outed a secret shield mission
• Spidey finds the Office of the "Threats and Menaces" website, where Jonah happily greets him, completely oblivious to all the chaos he's caused.
• Spider-Man is naturally a bit annoyed, since "This was supposed to be a secret Jonah!"
  • My boy— You were being cast as a masked criminal, a menace, before I stepped in! I don't know if you're aware of this, but you have a real problem with your public image!

• Even Nora calls him out on this, saying that while she's not sure what changed their relationship between them, JJ is genuinely trying to make things right, and he shouldn't throw that away.
• Since he already owes him an interview from the first time he had to reveal his identity to him, Peter as Spider-Man offers to be a guest on his podcast.
• Back to the present:
• At first things get off to an awkward start, with JJJ and Spidey even complimenting each other, but, as Nora predicts, it doesn't take long for them to be at each other's throats.
• As things naturally start degenerating into an argument, we actually get a lot of fun references to their shared history together, that gives Spencer a chance to show off his Spider-Cred.

Meanwhile at the Villains Bar:

• As payback for how Chance cheated on their last wager, The Foreigner loudly announces that Chance wants to bet him that he can steal a web-shooter from Spider-Man's hand,
• If Chance wins, the foreigner will cover all the debits from the night's wagers. Chance has no choice but to accept.
• Chance has no choice but to accept.

Back to the recording studio:

• Nora and the audio technician celebrate the insanity of the interview, since "This is going to get so many downloads!", and every moment they spend arguing just makes it better.
• "Do you have any idea how hard it is to get webbing out of a mustache!"

• JJJ actually has some good points about how Peter's insistence on keeping secrets and working alone makes things worse for him.
• He even says that maybe they could have figured out that it wasn't actually him during Superior Spider-Man if he actually communicated with people better.

• Just as JJJ is really getting on a roll, Peter gets up, and jumps towards him, just before the window shatters as Chance jumps through!

I really loved this. It's more of a character driven issue, without a ton of action or big set-pieces, but still manages to be a lot of fun. Seeing JJJ and Peter finally get a chance to dig into their differences is definitely long overdue, and it's just a great character moment for both of them. The cliffhanger is also pretty great as well.

The B story doesn't have a lot to it, other than featuring a few other obscure Spidey baddies, and teasing the Sin Eater plot, but it's still pretty good.

Edited by megaeliz on Feb 18th 2020 at 12:48:19 PM

On a completely different note, as anyone seen anything about the first issue of the Gwen Stacy Mini that came out this week?

Edited by megaeliz on Feb 16th 2020 at 8:40:02 AM

It was alright...funny enough, I read a comment on comicvine from some Gwen stan who said he was glad they were making her proactive, and I said "didn't you think she was proactive before?"

Amazing Mary Jane#5 was fun, boy was this "MJ vs Chameleon with baseball bat" dialled up to eleven, not sure how I feel about MJ mopping the floor with the Savage Six the way she does BEFORE Beck and the rest of the crew get there

Edited by Zarius on Feb 19th 2020 at 5:59:05 AM

Did anyone else read Immortal Hulk: Great Power?

×2

I liked that back up pages with the Cyborg Goblin Slayer Gwen and the new version of the A-Gwen-Gers.

Edited by Cortez on Feb 19th 2020 at 6:28:01 AM

"They truly were a Aqua Teen Hunger Force"

pretty terrifying tbh◊

...the fuck?

I thought the spider that bit Peter died?

But now it resurrected itself (because Gamma) and was split in two (like Pete and Spidey were in Spencer's ASM) by the radiation machine, with the spider that did not become the Thousand instead becoming sentient and mutating into "Goddess."

Oh, gods. Not again. Well, it was nice of the scientist of reading The Three Musketeers to her? him?.

If there's a book you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it. Toni Morrison

What a lethal protector

Forever liveblogging the Avengers

I like him/her/they.

If there's a book you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it. Toni Morrison

Man nobody really does stay dead in comics.

Stella ~Part 3 (Atelier Shallie)

Next week: Uncle Ben is resurrected as a burglar/human hybrid.

Being fair a giant spider that's a superhero is boss in terms of coolness.

Also speaking off. Is flash still dead. It's been a bit so has he been resurrected.

"That's right mortal. By channeling my divine rage into power, I have forged a new instrument in which to destroy you."

Interview with Spider-Woman writer Karla Pacheco which reveals a couple of things, Baby Gerry has been put on a bus and moved to a farm upstate so the book won't focus on Jessica raising him. Jessica's costume will be important to the series, it has secrets attached to it (what is it with new costumes and dark secrets? We just went through that with Kamala), Hawkeye and Carol will appear in the first issue.

There also preview images of issue 3 as well as the May solicitation

Edited by Zarius on Feb 20th 2020 at 1:42:19 AM

Shouldn't it be named Arachne? :P

The Protomen enhanced my life.

Will she have a song number about trying on clothes?

I'll teach you a lesson about just how cruel the world can be. That's my job, as an adult.

I do have some name suggestions. If we ignore Charlotte, Arachne and Anansi, we could have Howitt and Botham, Elwyn and Brooks, and Emery and Sable.

And this is the moment I realize none of these names actually fit. EDIT: And she’s named Goddess.

Edited by JTTWlover on Feb 20th 2020 at 3:21:20 PM

If there's a book you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it. Toni Morrison

I mean, that's clearly a joke. Especially because Karla previously states:

...you guys do know "sent to a nice farm upstate" is a euphemism for "dead," right?

Confirmation on Twitter.

Edited by alliterator on Feb 20th 2020 at 7:16:23 AM

that makes sense. Would be a pretty big step backwards in her character otherwise.

So CBR were being clickbaity?

"They truly were a Aqua Teen Hunger Force"

Speaking of clickbait....

I’m still wondering the

article from Nora’s Clickbait news blog is referring to how to make millions, or how to sell your soul to Mephisto?

Edited by megaeliz on Feb 20th 2020 at 12:49:03 PM

Clickbait is their bread and butter now. CBR now stands for "Click Bait Resources."

Marvel May Solicitations

"Sins Rising" kicks off here