ASM 4 (#898) Discussion

[Mister Mets]

I liked this issue.

The Spider-Man scenes are great. Wells and Romita Jr are establishing Tombstone as an A-lister, building on Spencer's work. That's all handled really well.

But at this point, I don't get why they did the whole six months forward jump. It's just not necessary for the story.

[IamnotJudasTraveller]

Kareem was sent by Tombstone to "rescue" Peter. I even think that the other guy wouldn't have pulled the trigger anyway.

He definitely wouldn't have. The spider-sense would be tingling if the guy was serious about killing Peter.

Why are they calling Tombstone "Alonzo" though?

But at this point, I don't get why they did the whole six months forward jump. It's just not necessary for the story.

I agree. I think if you took up from Spencer with this storyline without mystery box nonsense a lot of people might be looking favorably on Wells.

Both Beyond and the tried-and-true-and-barely-garnering-apathy "Oh noes! MJ split again!" soured the whole deal.

[Huntsman Spider]

Tombstone was in great form, channeling his Spectacular animated incarnation. ..."You've done the Big Man's business for free. That my heroic friend is what grown ups call irony."

Ha, yeah.

Maxine Danger just getting away at the end pisses me off.

Same.

[Mercwmouth12]

He definitely wouldn't have. The spider-sense would be tingling if the guy was serious about killing Peter.

Why are they calling Tombstone "Alonzo" though?

I agree. I think if you took up from Spencer with this storyline without mystery box nonsense a lot of people might be looking favorably on Wells.

Both Beyond and the tried-and-true-and-barely-garnering-apathy "Oh noes! MJ split again!" soured the whole deal.

Alonzo is his nick name and I think they'll be getting them back together in no time. There was a small thing in X-Men today about Spider-Man so this could all be tied to Krakoa. They wont drag it out and not fix it like they did for Kindred

From X-Men #12
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[TinkerSpider]

He definitely wouldn't have. The spider-sense would be tingling if the guy was serious about killing Peter.

Why are they calling Tombstone "Alonzo" though?

Lonnie is a nickname for Alonzo. Not sure if they are retconning his full name to be Alonzo.

I agree. I think if you took up from Spencer with this storyline without mystery box nonsense a lot of people might be looking favorably on Wells.

Both Beyond and the tried-and-true-and-barely-garnering-apathy "Oh noes! MJ split again!" soured the whole deal.

Agreed. This run would be lots of fun - not groundbreaking but that's perfectly okay, a fun story is worth its weight in gold these days - without the time skip and the tiresome baiting of the mystery and Peter being morose and aimless.

If Wells didn't want to use MJ for this arc, fine, send her on an acting assignment out of town. Have her visit Gayle. There are a lot of ways to write her out for a story.

[rward777]

Alonzo is his nick name and I think they'll be getting them back together in no time. There was a small thing in X-Men today about Spider-Man so this could all be tied to Krakoa. They wont drag it out and not fix it like they did for Kindred

From X-Men #12
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Yet again with spidey as a mutant speculation. Perhaps another Spider-man and the X men comic?

[Mercwmouth12]

Yet again with spidey as a mutant speculation. Perhaps another Spider-man and the X men comic?

Could just be an Easter Egg or tie into what he did

[The Negative Zone]

Wow, that was pretty great actually? First good issue of the run? It was really awesome seeing Peter be AWESOME despite being saved and then it turns out to be a twist on both subplots. Hopefully, things start looking up? Pretty please...

[Huntsman Spider]

Tombstone was in great form, channeling his Spectacular animated incarnation. ..."You've done the Big Man's business for free. That my heroic friend is what grown ups call irony."

Maxine Danger just getting away at the end pisses me off.

Alonzo is his nick name and I think they'll be getting them back together in no time. There was a small thing in X-Men today about Spider-Man so this could all be tied to Krakoa. They wont drag it out and not fix it like they did for Kindred

From X-Men #12
Capture.JPG

Yet again with spidey as a mutant speculation. Perhaps another Spider-man and the X men comic?

Could just be an Easter Egg or tie into what he did

Given all the years of in-universe speculation on that, I'd say it's an open question whether there's a meaningful difference between mutagen-altered or enhanced humans and those born with their mutations.

[Frontier]

Tombstone was in great form, channeling his Spectacular animated incarnation. ..."You've done the Big Man's business for free. That my heroic friend is what grown ups call irony."

Now if only Pete was on the level of Spectacular.

[Aura Blaize]

And once again, in a book called "Amazing Spider-Man", Tombstone is the most interesting character. I will admit that playing Peter like a fiddle was genius. I am relieved that Wells didn't regress Robbie and Lonnie back to hating each other.

This was a fun issue with the art and action, but in terms of the Spidey/MJ mystery, I too am growing tired. I enjoyed the MJ/Pete romance in Beyond, because it seemed like we'd finally moved past OMD so to speak. But at this point either pair MJ and Pete back up or get him back together with Felicia. It's been nearly 15 years since BND, I feel like we can grow Pete up a bit - that doesn't mean he has to be married but put him in a relationship that lasts longer than a few issues, please.

Edit: Also, I miss Pete's supporting cast. Great that we have the Randy/Robbie side-story, but I feel like we never see Jonah or the Bugle gang anymore. Plus what about the characters from Beyond, are we just done with them now?

This. The reason I'm annoyed they're not back together is because Spencer had them go through literal hell together only for Wells to pull this. At this point either put them together for real or put him with Felicia and flesh out THEIR relationship more.

I'm almost afraid to see Jonah again because I'm scared they're going to regress him back to "I HATE SPIDER-MAN!" somehow. He's absolutely been amazing in Silk though.

[TinkerSpider]

Why does Peter have to be with someone? Just so he has some arm candy? The way the Spider-office treats relationships - and Peter - perhaps it's best if he is just a sad sack single, swiping on Tinder and never receiving a match, until the writer or editorial changes again.

At this point, I don't want MJ or Felicia near Wells's book. Jed MacKay is doing a terrific job with Felicia in her own book/miniseries and I'd rather see that continue than have her tied to the bumbling manchild patsy the Spider-office/Wells has apparently decided Peter should be regressed to yet again.

[Mercwmouth12]

Why does Peter have to be with someone? Just so he has some arm candy? The way the Spider-office treats relationships - and Peter - perhaps it's best if he is just a sad sack single, swiping on Tinder and never receiving a match, until the writer or editorial changes again.

At this point, I don't want MJ or Felicia near Wells's book. Jed MacKay is doing a terrific job with Felicia in her own book/miniseries and I'd rather see that continue than have her tied to the bumbling manchild patsy the Spider-office/Wells has apparently decided Peter should be regressed to yet again.

They did that during bnd And never worked out. Just have him get back with MJ after the drama works itself and move on with adding story elements but run could a quick and short one

[Lunala]

I don't know how I felt about this one. I didn't hate it, but I was disappointed. I'd have preferred if Fisk's men had actively been carrying out something heinous when they were stomped or Spidey was attempting to pick the lock and Kareem's assistence gave him the time he needed to accomplish the task rather than released outright. I'm glad Tombstone was less violent than he could have been and "Alonzo"(?) Is still focused on Robbie Robertson over Spider-Man. As I said last issue, Robbie is his archenemy not Spidey. I want to see the established characters of color developed and I don't know how long will it be before this happens again. I... can't seem to shake that feeling of discontent.

I'm not sure if Kareem was a triple agent or not. I know he helped Spider-Man fall for the trap, so it seems obvious. The description for #5 mentions "the worst damage to Peter isn't going to be physical" which leads me to question if there may been something else in the works. The bloodshed from the mooks means either Tombstone's men are casual towards injures or this was a test for Kareem's loyalty and he failed it. If Spider-Man dies, Tombstone has thrown the herobcorpse down in front of Fisk saying "Are you happy, now." If Peter doesn't then Kareem can't be trusted and he's gotta go. I think I've overanalyzed the plot but I wouldn't have any complaints if Kareem dies because he helped Spider-Man and Peter kicks Tombstone's rear.

I can see a rift forming between Peter and Randy, so the job search will be more urgent if he wants to avoid homelessness. The later is a logical outcome for a man who profited off a faked doctorate. The former is painful. Temporary as that might be, it hurts that Peter could lose another friend. I... I'm feeling disaffected and I'll need to think more on the reasoning for that later.

[Celgress]

Echoing what others have already posted -

While I enjoyed Tombstone (he has not been this credible a villain in years if not decades), I hated the characterization of Peter he's weak as water. I don't give a flying fig about the "mystery" because I've lost interest.