Amazing Spider-Man 74 - Preview - LET'S GOOO!

[Arsenal]

If the plan always truly was to follow up Spencer’s run with the Ben Beyond story, it’s probably for the better things went the way they did.

Wonder how the run will stack up as a whole now that we know what, exactly, it is opposed to what some people hoped/wanted it to be.

[Morgoth]

I got the impression that Marvel wanted to leave this whole story with Mephisto and OMD until the anniversary issue, and Spencer did not want to sit on book for so long. Because everything about Mephisto here is like one big set-up of confrontation with him personally, and Spencer just wanted to finish Kindred story, and leave it for someone else. Otherwise I don't what the hell was that.

[HypnoHustler]

If the plan always truly was to follow up Spencer’s run with the Ben Beyond story, it’s probably for the better things went the way they did.

Wonder how the run will stack up as a whole now that we know what, exactly, it is opposed to what some people hoped/wanted it to be.

Nick Lowe’s letter in the issue (which again, was shocking how little Spencer is even acknowledged in it) mentioned that the Beyond storyline was conceived at a creative retreat in December, 2020. So I guess the answer is no.

If Ben Reilly coming back temporarily as Spidey was a consequence of Marvel cutting short Spencer’s run, I guess that’s one silver lining for Ben fans.

[Jman27]

Read the issue spoilers were mainly correct. Looks like I gotta hear about OMD for a long time cause it's hasn't really been addressed just alluded to. Don't know why they just can't give the fans want they wanted. Overall Spencer run I will need to do a reread throughout the week. But overall I didn't hate it I think it's fine but this is a run where you have to know your history which I admit I don't know everything so it was fun going back and reading them. I just need to know what happen to the Green Goblin side of Norman that hasn't been acknowledged by Spencer.

[DragonPiece]

Just finished reading it...I don't hate the story, but like others said as a grand finale a to a 3 year saga it doesn't work well. I'm really happy ASM 75 is out next week, so we don't have to speculate too much longer on the future. Here's to hoping it doesn't get delayed!

Nick Lowe’s letter in the issue (which again, was shocking how little Spencer is even acknowledged in it) mentioned that the Beyond storyline was conceived at a creative retreat in December, 2020. So I guess the answer is no.

If Ben Reilly coming back temporarily as Spidey was a consequence of Marvel cutting short Spencer’s run, I guess that’s one silver lining for Ben fans.

Yep, I thought the december 2020 thing was pretty indicating also. Clearly they've been planning the storyline for a while now, so it just makes this storyline being so rushed look even worse.

[Spiderfan001]

Nick Lowe’s letter in the issue (which again, was shocking how little Spencer is even acknowledged in it) mentioned that the Beyond storyline was conceived at a creative retreat in December, 2020. So I guess the answer is no.

If Ben Reilly coming back temporarily as Spidey was a consequence of Marvel cutting short Spencer’s run, I guess that’s one silver lining for Ben fans.

This, Beyond following up Spencer makes 0 sense, even by Marvel standards.It's a placeholder at best, and I'm guessing they didn't want to deal w/ Spencer's end and thus the coma and return will what Peter will be busy w/ and using Ben works to take focus away from Peter while also playing on nostalgia.

[omegafix]

It's not a bad issue. But it's a letdown when it comes to OMD. From Strange's "whats wrong whth Peter Parker's soul" to Mysterio's "I know something about you two" I doubt the plan was to undo OMD, Quesada and Brevort will never allow it. I believe the plan was to make both MJ and Peter aware of their past marriage without remarrying them.

MJ may remember though. If you go back to the end of OMD she whispers to Mephisto "You will make me remember everythin." The text is in the word bubble but its very small and backwards overlapped over itself.

I'm just glad Sins Past is gone.

[Morgoth]

It's not a bad issue. But it's a letdown when it comes to OMD. From Strange's "whats wrong whth Peter Parker's soul" to Mysterio's "I know something about you two" I doubt the plan was to undo OMD, Quesada and Brevort will never allow it.

So why Spenced was allowed to touch this story? For years OMD was a forbidden territory, no one was allowed to do anything with that story. If the editors' idiocy about this had continued, Spencer would simply not have been allowed to touch the OMD at all.

[Spiderfan001]

It's not a bad issue. But it's a letdown when it comes to OMD. From Strange's "whats wrong whth Peter Parker's soul" to Mysterio's "I know something about you two" I doubt the plan was to undo OMD, Quesada and Brevort will never allow it. I believe the plan was to make both MJ and Peter aware of their past marriage without remarrying them.

MJ may remember though. If you go back to the end of OMD she whispers to Mephisto "You will make me remember everythin." The text is in the word bubble but its very small and backwards overlapped over itself.

I'm just glad Sins Past is gone.

Also MJ says she has to tell Peter something but then they Kindreds arrive.She has to know, I think they might just string this along to 900.

[Krec99]

Everything I gather the supernatural powers kindred had was from meptisto

The A.I. morphed into meptisto the clone of Harry was just a husk with no soul
Overall happy how it turned out so meptisto took all the sins from Norman guess for him to suffer

[Spiderfan001]

Also this entire run and specially the end is a great showing for Peter's durability and stamina.Might even be his best feat

[your_name_here]

Oh, I just can’t wait to hear from Nick Spencer once substack gets going. The fact he writes NOTHING and it’s al Lowe suggests it’s not all ended amicably.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Wonder how the run will stack up as a whole now that we know what, exactly, it is opposed to what some people hoped/wanted it to be.

It'll be like any comic-book run. Remembered for its good points and strong issues (of which there were quite a few) while the stuff that was incidental will be forgotten.

Grant Morrison's NEW X-MEN is now seen as a classic despite the fact that the story it was building towards - Planet X - was a disappointment rejected by fans.

[NC_Yankee]

The issue is now available on Comixology.

I only have time to skim it right now (at work in my time zone).

From what I’ve read I don’t think it’s as bad as some have made out to be, but the spoilers were accurate. I’ll give further thoughts later. I will say it’s very telling that Spencer does not have any goodbye letter for the conclusion of his run (instead we randomly get one from Nick Lowe).

To be honest, I was more interested in the Ben Reilly back-up. That is a big gift for Ben fans who have been clamoring for some acknowledgement of his 90s continuity and supporting cast from that era, especially a felonious redhead.

EDIT:

Okay, the issue wasn't terrible. It wasn't as good as it should've been, but I had braced myself for disappointment in advance. Some OMD stuff is still hinted at. But yeah, a pretty big disappointment. And nothing much changes at all. Peter and MJ are in a quasi-relationship and it's status quo. Honestly, in some ways those fake 4Chan spoilers from a few weeks back might've been better (and while it got plenty wrong, a couple plot points were accurate). The Harry clone dies (no degeneration though). Tbh that's probably the ballsiest thing to come out of this issue. I've never liked Harry being back (I know there are some who do), and always thought he should have stayed dead. Glad Spec #200's importance is kind of reinstated. It's comics though, so I'm sure some writer will bring him back... again... in a decade. As for Gabriel and Sarah... I don't know. A lot of convoluted baloney. Good to have Sins Past retconned, now hopefully they never refer to Kindred or the Stacy twins again. Doctor Strange and Mephisto had some good exchanges, and I did like the images of Mephisto's future (of course that was the first thing spoiled from this issue). As for Norman, I've said before I'm not a fan of him being good. He's totally uninteresting as some meek, guilt-ridden saint. Norman should always be an evil POS, so I hope he reverts to form next time he appears.

The two back-ups... the first one I'm sure has been done before. Multiple times, probably. It's the cliched Peter-runs-into-an-old-friend-of-Uncle-Ben-who-talks-about-how-great-Ben-was boilerplate nonsense with perhaps a small twist that still doesn't justify it. I expected more of Gage, who I know is a good writer.

The Ben Reilly story, I did enjoy. But that may just be a product of me being a Reilly fan. Your mileage may vary. But it was great to see Janine back, and it was competently scripted with solid art (better than some art in the main story tbh).

Overall, I'd give the book a B- as I did find it an okay read at face-value. But if you're looking it as the conclusion of Spencer's masterplan, then it obviously disappoints. Overall, I'd give Spencer's uneven run about a C average. (Still better than Slott)

Some non-story stuff bothered me as well. For example:

The art was really inconsistent. Some of the art was nice, and then you'd have an abrupt shift to another artist who was sub-par for a few pages.

Second, wow, they did Spencer kind of dirty. Nick Lowe wrote a letter thanking fans for reading the entire Kindred saga. As he lists the people who contributed (starting with the letterers and colorists for some inane reason), Spencer gets literally two sentences (literally... and one of those sentences is "thanks, Nick"). I don't know how true the rumors are of editorial interference, but this leads me to believe things ended on a pretty sour note.

I am actually going to take the side of Editorial on this one. Why? Nick Spencer is not only going to a competitor, but is recruiting Marvel personnel to go with him. What does anyone expect Nick Lowe to say: I love you man, thank you for everything? Let’s be real. One more point: It should shock no one that the Ben Reilly story came about awhile ago. No one should expect stuff to happen out of desperation. They plan for almost all contingencies ( COVID would be an exception). That is common sense business.

[xpyred]

Grant Morrison's NEW X-MEN is now seen as a classic despite the fact that the story it was building towards - Planet X - was a disappointment rejected by fans.

Refresh my memory. Why did people hate the ending. I remember seeing the boards having a huge problem with everything after Riot at Xavier’s but never understood why. Then I read that Morrison blamed it on people around him dying or something of that sort and fans still hated On the second half of his run.