Amazing Spider-Man 55 (Spoilers)

[Arsenal]

Completely disagree.

As a consumer you should be disappointed if a story isn’t progressing and answers are nowhere to be found issue after issue.

Maybe we just have different expectations on how the story is gonna progress and when answers are going to be given because I’ve personally haven’t had a reason to be seriously disappointed yet.

[Vortex85]

Yeah, i just hope we get fun, entertaining Spider-Man stories while we wait for the payoff over the next year. Clearly there is going to be a break from Kindred for a bit so maybe some normal Spidey business is exactly what the doctor ordered. I just hope people can get past the frustration of waiting for OMD to be addressed in order to focus on some normal Spider-Man stories in the meantime.

[evolutionaryFan]

Ah thanks for posting that Vortex85. Nice. So the OMD connection is firmly established.

[Kurolegacy]

I respectfully disagree. Times are tough right now for many, many people and having a story drag with multiple add-ons to the story for it to all lead to nothing while paying so much money for each book is a big reason to stress it.

Agreed. A pretty huge deal was made about this story arc only for it to amount to nothing but even more raised questions and teasing. Feels like a waste of time and money.

[your_name_here]

Yeah I think the solicits are at fault here. Making you think there is some big revelation in issue 55 that was never planned to happen yet. If they just talked about the issue realistically, and flat out told us this is just Spider-Man's first big encounter and Last Remains starts to unravel the mystery, it would have not have had expectations setup that it was never intended to address.

I mean at the end of the day, we know who Kindred is now, and we can all safely say this is tied to OMD. Before Last Remains, we did not know either of those two things.

I agree with this. The problem is the hype and the marketing (and the LR issues which could have either not happened or happened in the main book)
This is just another story in the series, and should’ve been treated as such.

[Rzerox21xx]

hey atleast issue 56 is next week and the week after 57 and then 58 after a skip week, so 3 amazing spider-mans in janurary

[Vortex85]

hey atleast issue 56 is next week and the week after 57 and then 58 after a skip week, so 3 amazing spider-mans in janurary

issue 56, Peter leaves the cemetary
issue 57, Peter takes MJ to the hospital
issue 58, Peter walks home and goes to bed

LOL

[Revolutionary_Jack]

I agree this issue was a letdown in terms of what we expected and overall, I have to say that Last Remains has been too much of a slow-burn and definitely a step back from "Sins Rising" and above all ASM#850.

I am not dropping Spencer (will stay around till Feb's Peter-MJ issue at least) but if people who had big expectations about Kindred and banked it on this issue in terms of payoff or exposition...if you guys want to drop off, I totally understand and get that.

One thing I was proud about. I am glad that one of my interpretations is now canon i.e. Peter not turning Norman in was truly irresponsible on his part and one of his unquestionable mistakes. I mean Chip Zdarsky ran with it in LIFE STORY#1 so that might have inspired Spencer on this, but it's quite right.

ASM#55v5.jpg

Harry is quite right here. And it's again interesting the parallel raised there...to protect Peter's identity other people pay the price in the same way OMD made Harry suffer just so Peter can have his BND. So Spencer has found an organic way to tie OMD to Night Gwen Stacy Died.

Letting Norman go after ASM#40 was understandable but not after the Drug Trilogy and major relapse.

Spencer is clearly having fun with Norman being a total bastard. Norman comes in with "Here I am about to save the day" swagger and then goes "Psych".

Mary Jane's actions in this story is quite mysterious and weird. I don't think "She remembered the marriage all along" applies as some people assume, although I get why many here think that's the case. Of course MJ knowing a secret for decades of real-time continuity isn't anything new (Parallel Lives) but unless it's done really well or explained clearly, I don't think it'll payoff well.

[Rzerox21xx]

I agree this issue was a letdown in terms of what we expected and overall, I have to say that Last Remains has been too much of a slow-burn and definitely a step back from "Sins Rising" and above all ASM#850.

I am not dropping Spencer (will stay around till Feb's Peter-MJ issue at least) but if people who had big expectations about Kindred and banked it on this issue in terms of payoff or exposition...if you guys want to drop off, I totally understand and get that.

One thing I was proud about. I am glad that one of my interpretations is now canon i.e. Peter not turning Norman in was truly irresponsible on his part and one of his unquestionable mistakes. I mean Chip Zdarsky ran with it in LIFE STORY#1 so that might have inspired Spencer on this, but it's quite right.

ASM#55v5.jpg

Harry is quite right here. And it's again interesting the parallel raised there...to protect Peter's identity other people pay the price in the same way OMD made Harry suffer just so Peter can have his BND. So Spencer has found an organic way to tie OMD to Night Gwen Stacy Died.

Letting Norman go after ASM#40 was understandable but not after the Drug Trilogy and major relapse.

Spencer is clearly having fun with Norman being a total bastard. Norman comes in with "Here I am about to save the day" swagger and then goes "Psych".

Mary Jane's actions in this story is quite mysterious and weird. I don't think "She remembered the marriage all along" applies as some people assume, although I get why many here think that's the case. Of course MJ knowing a secret for decades of real-time continuity isn't anything new (Parallel Lives) but unless it's done really well or explained clearly, I don't think it'll payoff well.

wasn't the original whispering dialogue to Mephisto ear....MJ said she wants to remember everything but then Quesada changed it to something else in One Moment in Time a couple years later.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

wasn't the original whispering dialogue to Mephisto ear....MJ said she wants to remember everything but then Quesada changed it to something else in One Moment in Time a couple years later.

Quesada didn't really have a story there. I wouldn't put weight on it. Spencer is trying to salvage it some way so we'll see where he takes it or how far he can go with it.

[Hypestyle]

I agree this issue was a letdown in terms of what we expected and overall, I have to say that Last Remains has been too much of a slow-burn and definitely a step back from "Sins Rising" and above all ASM#850.

I am not dropping Spencer (will stay around till Feb's Peter-MJ issue at least) but if people who had big expectations about Kindred and banked it on this issue in terms of payoff or exposition...if you guys want to drop off, I totally understand and get that.

One thing I was proud about. I am glad that one of my interpretations is now canon i.e. Peter not turning Norman in was truly irresponsible on his part and one of his unquestionable mistakes. I mean Chip Zdarsky ran with it in LIFE STORY#1 so that might have inspired Spencer on this, but it's quite right.

ASM#55v5.jpg

Harry is quite right here. And it's again interesting the parallel raised there...to protect Peter's identity other people pay the price in the same way OMD made Harry suffer just so Peter can have his BND. So Spencer has found an organic way to tie OMD to Night Gwen Stacy Died.

Letting Norman go after ASM#40 was understandable but not after the Drug Trilogy and major relapse.

Spencer is clearly having fun with Norman being a total bastard. Norman comes in with "Here I am about to save the day" swagger and then goes "Psych".

Mary Jane's actions in this story is quite mysterious and weird. I don't think "She remembered the marriage all along" applies as some people assume, although I get why many here think that's the case. Of course MJ knowing a secret for decades of real-time continuity isn't anything new (Parallel Lives) but unless it's done really well or explained clearly, I don't think it'll payoff well.

and I predict at the end of all of this, if Harry is "defeated/subdued", then Peter will do the same exact thing and not turn him in to police, to protect all the secret identities. The cycle repeats..

[Hcmarvel]

I really did not like this issue.

And I can't help but feel like this arc was really a mess for Spencer's run.

Perhaps some of the previous posters are correct and the solicitations are to blame for some of my heightened expectations for what would be revealed/dealt with in this arc, but I'd also say Spencer set us up a bit by dropping hint after hint after hint about One More Day. And yes, I know, he's staying on the book for the foreseeable future and he's got plans within plans and the best is yet to come and yada yada yada....

But even as the big mid-season finale, or Empire Strikes Back, or whatever you want to label this phase of Spencer's run, this just didn't work. The .LR tie-ins were not just pointless but not very good (compare them to the interstitial issues during Hunted which were at least pretty damn good). I mean I enjoyed the callback/visual of the sniper on the astral plane and stuff like that but there was really no need to the Order of the Web characters to be in this story. They played no part in the finale.

And I know this is perhaps nitpicking but this was marketed as the end of the arc. When the trade comes out, this is going to be the last issue in the trade, And yet it ends on a cliffhanger? I know in the old days we weren't so obsessed with writing for the trade, or tidy six issue arcs being how every story is told, but the point remains...this was a six issue arc that didn't have any resolution, a somewhat unclear ending, and other than "WHO IS KINDRED" nothing was really answered.

In short, this was just NOT a story that required six issues, much less 10, and even ignoring the padding out - - it still kinda failed as a story.

Its disappointing because I loved the last arc. I thought Sins Rising was fantastic, the best arc of Spencer's run, and I really thought he was hitting his stride. But I just feel like ALL the momentum of this run is gone. And now...seeing that really really ugly suit they're gonna put Spidey in soon...I may drop the title. This arc was that much of a let down.

Honestly, outside of some really good art, this might be the worst Spider-Man arc in a while. I, unlike some here, like Slott's run and even think the end of it works pretty well. So I don't know when the last time I was this let down by a Spider-Man story was.

[Vortex85]

I really did not like this issue.

And I can't help but feel like this arc was really a mess for Spencer's run.

Perhaps some of the previous posters are correct and the solicitations are to blame for some of my heightened expectations for what would be revealed/dealt with in this arc, but I'd also say Spencer set us up a bit by dropping hint after hint after hint about One More Day. And yes, I know, he's staying on the book for the foreseeable future and he's got plans within plans and the best is yet to come and yada yada yada....

But even as the big mid-season finale, or Empire Strikes Back, or whatever you want to label this phase of Spencer's run, this just didn't work. The .LR tie-ins were not just pointless but not very good (compare them to the interstitial issues during Hunted which were at least pretty damn good). I mean I enjoyed the callback/visual of the sniper on the astral plane and stuff like that but there was really no need to the Order of the Web characters to be in this story. They played no part in the finale.

And I know this is perhaps nitpicking but this was marketed as the end of the arc. When the trade comes out, this is going to be the last issue in the trade, And yet it ends on a cliffhanger? I know in the old days we weren't so obsessed with writing for the trade, or tidy six issue arcs being how every story is told, but the point remains...this was a six issue arc that didn't have any resolution, a somewhat unclear ending, and other than "WHO IS KINDRED" nothing was really answered.

In short, this was just NOT a story that required six issues, much less 10, and even ignoring the padding out - - it still kinda failed as a story.

Its disappointing because I loved the last arc. I thought Sins Rising was fantastic, the best arc of Spencer's run, and I really thought he was hitting his stride. But I just feel like ALL the momentum of this run is gone. And now...seeing that really really ugly suit they're gonna put Spidey in soon...I may drop the title. This arc was that much of a let down.

Honestly, outside of some really good art, this might be the worst Spider-Man arc in a while. I, unlike some here, like Slott's run and even think the end of it works pretty well. So I don't know when the last time I was this let down by a Spider-Man story was.

I feel like something is happening in issue 56 its a large sized issue and should continue this so I'm going to reserve my judgement unti that one comes out. I think there is a chance Peter will "see himself differently" in that issue and it may click. The solicits were off 1 issue between 53 and 54. But if that's the case issue 56 should be the last issue of LR, not 55.

I agree though, given what we know, the arc was way too padded out.

[Arsenal]

I do admit that it was a mistake to end the arc here when it probably should have ended with issue 56 or 57 instead. I don’t mind the issue but it doesn’t really work as a conclusion when it’s clear the story isn’t over.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

I do admit that it was a mistake to end the arc here when it probably should have ended with issue 56 or 57 instead. I don’t mind the issue but it doesn’t really work as a conclusion when it’s clear the story isn’t over.

I actually wonder if this kind of thing is down to marketing/editorial more than Spencer. Spencer's run has always had arcs with a clear stopping point. I wonder if this padding was a result of pandemic delays, reshuffling and so on.

I feel like something is happening in issue 56 its a large sized issue and should continue this so I'm going to reserve my judgement unti that one comes out.

How large is that issue?