Amazing Spider-Man #17

[Mister Mets]

Newsarama gave Amazing Spider-Man #17 an 8/10 review.

After a lengthy wind-up, writer Dan Slott throws readers more than a few curveballs in Amazing Spider-Man #17 - but while there’s a few big change-ups to Peter Parker’s universe, none might be more satisfying than the addition of R.B. Silva to this title, whose expressive and fluid artwork lends a wonderful energy to the Jackal’s clone-centric storyline.

If there’s one drawback to Amazing Spider-Man #17, it’s that Slott might spend less time with Spider-Man himself than he did even in the last chapter, instead focusing on Peter Parker’s costumed comrade Hobie Brown as he investigates the Jackal’s clone technology company New U. But like I’ve said in previous issues - and as Marvel clearly understands, just based on the fact he’s getting his own spin-off series - Hobie is a real charmer, as he banters back and forth with Peter.

“You’re the worst boss I’ve ever had,” Hobie snarks. “Before me, you were self-employed,” Peter quips back, before Hobie spikes it: “Yep. Now there was a great boss. Generous and handsome.”

But Hobie also proves to be a great foil for Spider-Man in other ways - not only is he agile and tech-savvy, but he also is a nice moral peer for Peter Parker, raising his own ethical concerns when Peter essentially asks him to engage in corporate espionage.

While the Prowler gets some great bits in this issue, Slott also comes up with some smart twists to the Jackal and his crew here. Thus far, “Dead No More” has felt like a very villain-centric arc, with the return of the Lizard and Electro in previous issues, but here Slott gives some humanity to even the clones the Jackal has resurrected, like Max Dillon’s old girlfriend Francine. Slott’s explanation for Francine’s ill-fated relationship with Electro is particularly compelling, as she’s a villain-loving thrillseeker:

“Our world sucks. It’s all just bills and jobs and boring crap,” she tells us in a narration. “But sometimes, I get to play in their world. And that’s when I feel alive.”

While Electro gets the lion’s share of the villain storyline this issue, Slott also gives us some fun clues to the Jackal’s latest plan - while previous iterations have made him a giggling maniac, there seems to be some nuance and even purpose to this masked man’s master plan.

But the real hook for this issue has to be R.B. Silva on art. Silva’s come a long way since the days of DC's Jimmy Olsen, but teaming him with colorist Marte Gracia is real stroke of genius from editors Nick Lowe and Devin Lewis - Silva has this beautiful expressiveness to his characters, while Gracia’s gradients add a depth his work that I don’t think I’ve ever seen before. The result is R.B. Silva, super-charged, and his cartoony style winds up feeling like a perfect fit for both Spider-Man and the Prowler as they swing through the air and cling to the ceiling during a late night breaking-and-entering. If there’s any minor hiccups here, it might just be that inker Adriano Di Benedetto feels a little thin with his inks - what characters as evocative as Silva’s, a more lush style of inks like a Dexter Vines might go a long way to giving these characters the right kind of weight. But that aside, Silva has laid out action sequences magnificently here, and really imbues Slott’s characters with the kind of likability and charm that his dialogue does.

There are some spoilers circulating the internet. It's a solid prelude different in tone from last issue.

[Frontier]

So we're going into Prowler's first ongoing to read about...a clone? Really? That's the way they want to start off a Prowler book ?

[Webhead]

spoilers:

RIP Hobie, you deserved better.

end of spoilers

[DrewHLMW]

SPOILERS


wow Hobie died like a bitch ffs, he didnt even put up a fight, that was pathetic and having him turn on Peter and join the guys who just murdered him, wtf kind of reasoning is that XD

I hate this clone stuff, no idea why on earth Marvel thinks it's a good idea to do this kind of crap again.

[theoneandonly]

the jackal seems to have become more deluded as he is working with villains and letting them kill each other but yet he is stating that they are the good guys. got to say that the issue lacks good old Peter action and instead we get a substitute in form of prowler who makes a hash of it. now in the next issue the octopus is to the fore and evokes asm 8 when spidey took on the living brain. I think this series is going out of the way to evoke the past and indulging in nostalgia to this extent isn't doing any good

[Scarlet Spider-Man]

Slott sure loves his Ex Deus Machina.

[Ravin' Ray]

This is the first time Jackal was named as "Warren" in this arc wasn't he? I also wonder if not all of the resurrected characters we've seen so far are clones or not, because Jackal commenting about using spoilers:

Francine's husk/ashes seems apparent that he had to create a new body for her; but if Hobie's body was pretty much intact when he died, he could have been resurrected in a different way.

end of spoilers

[Scarlet Spider-Man]

If the Jackal is able to resurrect someone from a charred corpse, then why, again, is resurrecting Ben Reilly an issue?

[Celgress]

spoilers:

RIP Hobie, you deserved better.

end of spoilers

spoilers:

Just, I can't even,,,,,never mind.....

end of spoilers

[Huntsman Spider]

the jackal seems to have become more deluded as he is working with villains and letting them kill each other but yet he is stating that they are the good guys. got to say that the issue lacks good old Peter action and instead we get a substitute in form of prowler who makes a hash of it. now in the next issue the octopus is to the fore and evokes asm 8 when spidey took on the living brain. I think this series is going out of the way to evoke the past and indulging in nostalgia to this extent isn't doing any good

That might actually be the entire point of Dan Slott's run on Spider-Man thus far, showing how Spider-Man's past has shaped the character into who and what he is today, and how it still continues to impact him, in one form or another.

[stillanerd]

This is the first time Jackal was named as "Warren" in this arc wasn't he? I also wonder if not all of the resurrected characters we've seen so far are clones or not, because Jackal commenting about using spoilers:

Francine's husk/ashes seems apparent that he had to create a new body for her; but if Hobie's body was pretty much intact when he died, he could have been resurrected in a different way.

end of spoilers

Actually, Electro addressed Jackal/Anubishead as Miles Warren in the last issue. Also spoilers:

I think this issue proves everyone the Jackal has "brought back to life" are really clones, including Francine and Hobie. Note how he specifically tells the Lizard "We used DNA from her charred husk. From her cheek. After she kissed Dillon. Max's saliva from before Parker cured him. It got tossed into the genetic mix!" That's pretty much him flat out saying he cloned her as opposed to just creating a new body. She's also coming out of a cloning pod. Just like Hobie does at the end of this issue. It also explains the cover for Prowler #1 in which one Prowler is shoveling dirt on top of another Prowler. There's even an interview at Newsarama in which Prowler writer Sean Ryan says "[Hobie's] brought back from the dead as a clone!" It also explains the pills the "resurrected dead" have to take. Remember, the Jackal's clone degrade over time; those pills he's giving them could very well be what slows down their clone degeneration...and thus also creating a dependency to make sure they stay in line. So yes, it's the Jackal doing what he always does--making clones.

end of spoilers

[lalalei2001]

I had to. XD;

[Mister Mets]

If the Jackal is able to resurrect someone from a charred corpse, then why, again, is resurrecting Ben Reilly an issue?

Would it be Ben Reilly, or would it be a clone of Ben Reilly?

[Kurolegacy]

Gotta love how Francine goes from 'maybe I shouldn't have thrown in with the villain crowd. I shouldn't even be here' to 'Oh I'm loving being a super villain!' in the span of about 2-3 pages. Also Slott just killed off Electro to replace him with his cloned girlfriend. Bravo.

[Mooper Films]

I flipped through and I'm just sicked by this. I mean it's: "Kill them and clone them!" Plus, how the Jackal is keeping them under his thumb. Why don't we just call him the: Clone Drug Dealer. He'll bring you back from the dead, get you on pills and all you have to do is: "OBEY HIM!"