Amazing Spider-Man#9 Discussion and Spoilers

[laagamer]

Am I the only one that thinks The Lookouts is just asking for trouble?

I mean, collecting superhero's loved ones in a single convenient location just sounds like a bad idea.

[Prof. Warren]

Am I the only one that thinks The Lookouts is just asking for trouble?

I mean, collecting superhero's loved ones in a single convenient location just sounds like a bad idea.

Well, that's why there's so many precautions.

Of course, those precautions will likely prove to not be enough down the line but that's a story for another day.

Being a loved one of a superhero is asking for trouble in the first place so it's not as though every day doesn't pose some kind of risk for all of these people.

[nightw1ng]

Hey, Carlie's not dead. Imagine that.

The Lookups are...

1: Foggy Nelson
2: Not 100% sure. Wong, maybe?
3: Peggy Rae Burdick (Scott Lang's ex-wife and mother of Cassie Lang.)
4: Ganke Lee
5: Pepper Potts
6: Willie Lumpkin

Nice job guessing who they were. I was drawing a blank for a couple of them.

[Vortex85]

Interesting issue.

Felicia is still up to her criminal activities it seems. It's a cool twist but I kind of still feel weird about her being a criminal maybe becuase I was first introduced to her when she was reformed. I just feel she is still backwards and I'm not sure if she will really ever recover after her Queenpin days. I think she deserves to serve time and pay for her crimes at this point before truly changing her ways. I don't think she can just up and decide to be good again.

Something feels a little wrong about the Lookups. Not so sure about it. Like, what if its a scam. If you have technology to obfuscate faces and make memories disappear, you have technology to make the whole thing a fake to take advantage of people too.... maybe I'm just being paranoid.

[Zeitgeist]

There's already been subtle digs at BND dating back to the first issue of Spencer's run when Peter confessed to MJ things had been very "wrong" since their split.

I'd say that's an obvious reference the Mephisto tampering, rather than a meta commentary on BND.

[Naked Bat]

I like this issue but I didn't like Ramos art at all. It didn't bother me that much in the previous issue, but I strongly dislike the way he draws Felicia among other things.

[Peepsrocks]

I predict that the return of Carlie Cooper means she might be the new creepy villain from Amazing Spider-Man #1. The villain looks a lot like when she was "Monster". Additively, she had been exposed to a derivative of a goblin formula back in Superior that was different than the version Norman had been exposed to despite both allegedly being cured. I mean, she also calls Peter as "Pete", like the new creepy villain referred to him when speaking to Mysterio. We never delved into the baggage she had with her dad and learning Peter was Spider-Man, which turned her life upside down. She's obviously bearing much of that baggage with Peter in Amazing #9. Also, throughout Slott's run, the lock-up at the NYPD contained a lot of confiscated super villain technology, which this new character had provided to Mysterio and Mendell Stromm. It makes her the prime candidate to be the new creepy villain.

[Hypestyle]

Peter should introduce Carlie to Randy, and pair them off. Give Randy a happy ending for a change.. things with his first wife and then Nora Winters didn't turn out so good...

[Inversed]

Interesting issue.

Felicia is still up to her criminal activities it seems. It's a cool twist but I kind of still feel weird about her being a criminal maybe becuase I was first introduced to her when she was reformed. I just feel she is still backwards and I'm not sure if she will really ever recover after her Queenpin days. I think she deserves to serve time and pay for her crimes at this point before truly changing her ways. I don't think she can just up and decide to be good again.

I wonder, since Peter wants to reclaim all the heroes stolen goods so he can get back in their good graces, what if Felicia is the one who ends up doing it? She ends up taking all the credit from Spider-Man, but she proves she's heading on the right path of good, so he doesn't feel too bad about it.

[Noronha]

I understand people liking the interaction between BC and SM but to me, the damage that BND did to her character has yet to be repaired.

Since her first appearance all the way to OMD, Felicia had developed as a character and so did her relationship with SM.

To me the apex of her development was the period right before OMD, where she accepted PETER for the man he was behind the mask.
She finally grew up and realised that it was the man behind the mask that was so important to her all those years, not the SM persona.

This was highlighted by her role in stories like Mark Millar´s Marvel Knights, Kevin Smith´s Evil that Men Do and Sacasa´s Sensational Spider-Man, particularly the Rhino issue.

To me those were the stories that showed how far Felicia as a character had come, as well as her relationship with both Peter and Mary Jane.

Unfortunately after OMD/BND she not only she reverted to her stereotypical iteration such as only liking Spider-man, always going back to stealing and showing little respect for their shared history.

Spencer has been doing a very good job repairing A LOT of thing that are/were broken it the last 10/11 years, but apparently the dynamic between Peter and Felicia is irrevocably damaged and lost.

[Docz]

I understand people liking the interaction between BC and SM but to me, the damage that BND did to her character has yet to be repaired.

Since her first appearance all the way to OMD, Felicia had developed as a character and so did her relationship with SM.

To me the apex of her development was the period right before OMD, where she accepted PETER for the man he was behind the mask.
She finally grew up and realised that it was the man behind the mask that was so important to her all those years, not the SM persona.

This was highlighted by her role in stories like Mark Millar´s Marvel Knights, Kevin Smith´s Evil that Men Do and Sacasa´s Sensational Spider-Man, particularly the Rhino issue.

To me those were the stories that showed how far Felicia as a character had come, as well as her relationship with both Peter and Mary Jane.

Unfortunately after OMD/BND she not only she reverted to her stereotypical iteration such as only liking Spider-man, always going back to stealing and showing little respect for their shared history.

Spencer has been doing a very good job repairing A LOT of thing that are/were broken it the last 10/11 years, but apparently the dynamic between Peter and Felicia is irrevocably damaged and lost.

I agree with a lot of what you are saying here. I think a lot of people who like Black Cat as a character are finding joy in this arc because it's the first real post Queenpin arc that she has been featured in.

I would love to see her character back to where it was pre OMD, the stories you mentioned are some of my favorite Black Cat stories and probably rank up there as some of my favorite comic stories period.

I'm hoping Spencer explores the possibility of Peter revealing his identity to her again so we can get some of that pre OMD Felicia back, but I don't expect it in their first team up after her villain run.

[Celgress]

Peter should introduce Carlie to Randy, and pair them off. Give Randy a happy ending for a change.. things with his first wife and then Nora Winters didn't turn out so good...

A wonderful idea. Randy, poor sucker, does deserve some happiness.

I also enjoyed this issue.

[Huntsman Spider]

Just finished this issue. I have to say, the most interesting part for me was the Lookups group. I like how it's meant to serve the needs of a very special group within the Marvel universe and in a way answers back all of those complaints that people had against the Spider marriage. Mary Jane couldn't handle that stress, she goes through a lot. We have all seen this before. How could anyone deal with that? Well, the Lookups is one way of dealing with it. Indeed, I loved how this issue was solved in the most Marvel way possible. Anomity is afforded through a combination of Stark Tech and Dr. Strange spells. How cool is that? Plus it was cool to see the participants. I agree with other posters' sentiments, though I'm still wondering who was the sparkly one. Really, are we sure it's Wong?

Still, I share MJ's trepidation. I was skeptical at first hearing about this support group. Felt like the perfect villain set up, no? Seeing that Jarvis runs this, however, gave me a great sense of relief and confidence. Still, the skepticism is there. Even with all of these safeguards in place, there's always that possibility. A villain is bound to find out.

In any case, yeah, I like that MJ is finding out that she isn't the only one dealing with a superhero secret. She isn't alone and for those dealing with stressful, anxious, depressing situations, knowing you aren't alone makes a world of difference. Believe me.

Oh yeah, the Spider-Man/Black Cat Thieves Guide story is cool too, .

Cosigned, and really hoping that the Lookups don't end up being infiltrated by a supervillain who then starts picking their brains for the secrets of the heroes they're connected to, or just turns the whole thing into a bloodbath like Heroes in Crisis over at DC.

I understand people liking the interaction between BC and SM but to me, the damage that BND did to her character has yet to be repaired.

Since her first appearance all the way to OMD, Felicia had developed as a character and so did her relationship with SM.

To me the apex of her development was the period right before OMD, where she accepted PETER for the man he was behind the mask.
She finally grew up and realised that it was the man behind the mask that was so important to her all those years, not the SM persona.

This was highlighted by her role in stories like Mark Millar´s Marvel Knights, Kevin Smith´s Evil that Men Do and Sacasa´s Sensational Spider-Man, particularly the Rhino issue.

To me those were the stories that showed how far Felicia as a character had come, as well as her relationship with both Peter and Mary Jane.

Unfortunately after OMD/BND she not only she reverted to her stereotypical iteration such as only liking Spider-man, always going back to stealing and showing little respect for their shared history.

Spencer has been doing a very good job repairing A LOT of thing that are/were broken it the last 10/11 years, but apparently the dynamic between Peter and Felicia is irrevocably damaged and lost.

Cosigning this as well, but I'd wait for issue 10 to come out before saying that Peter/Felicia are completely doomed to regression. Trust has to be rebuilt first, and while Felicia isn't doing such a good job of that on her end, I would say that Peter withholding his real face and name from her when he had the chance to restore her knowledge/memory of his identity in the first place wasn't so good, either. To me, that was a disservice to both their characters and that is something that has to be fixed, though I have some confidence that Spencer will work his way toward them reconciling and rebuilding their relationship.

[Tuck]

I've particularly enjoyed the last four issues.


At the same time, I guess I'm the odd man out on not being too keen on the Lookouts. For me, it's one of those pulling-at-the-thread things. If you're going to get that realistic with what the real-world realities of superheroes would be, a lot of other minutiae housekeeping starts to come into play with how impossible it would be to keep a secret identity in a CCTV-riddled Manhattan or how NY would be a ghost town with the super activity.

I think he missed a chance with the MJ scene. I would have liked her to define herself and her support apart from Peter. I feel she lacks agency of her own mostly and this would was a chance to create some, or at least explore parts of her that exist outside of Peter's direct influence. If he totally defines so much of her character, she stops feeling like a character to me and starts feeling like a device for Peter to influence and react to.

This is a good point. Although I'm not sure how much you could flesh out a sort of separate MJ-sphere and keep it relevant to the ongoing story in perpetuity.

[stillanerd]

Yep, I did review this week's Amazing Spider-Man by Nick Spencer, and I must say I'm intrigued by this concept of a superhero confidant support group.
Stillanerd Reviews: Amazing Spider-Man (2018) No. 9 review