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The Amazing Spider-Man (1999) (Single Issues) #515-524
The Best of Spider-Man: Volume 5
In Deep!
This deluxe hardcover collects Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 9: Skin Deep and Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 10: New Avengers. In Skin Deep, Peter Parker must confront a former classmate who - like himself - was granted amazing powers during a science experiment gone awry. But why does he blame Peter for the laboratory mishap, and just how far will he take his quest for vengeance? And in New Avengers, Trump Tower has nothing on Spider-Man! Spinning out of the pages of New Avengers, you won't believe what the fickle hand of fate has in store for Peter Parker, Mary Jane and Aunt May! But even as Peter and his family adjust to their great new pad and cool new clique, the hordes of Hydra make a final push to take over the United States! Will the web-head and the New Avengers stop the revitalized Hydra from bringing America to its knees? And if so, at what cost?
Collecting: Amazing Spider-Man #515-524.
This deluxe hardcover collects Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 9: Skin Deep and Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 10: New Avengers. In Skin Deep, Peter Parker must confront a former classmate who - like himself - was granted amazing powers during a science experiment gone awry. But why does he blame Peter for the laboratory mishap, and just how far will he take his quest for vengeance? And in New Avengers, Trump Tower has nothing on Spider-Man! Spinning out of the pages of New Avengers, you won't believe what the fickle hand of fate has in store for Peter Parker, Mary Jane and Aunt May! But even as Peter and his family adjust to their great new pad and cool new clique, the hordes of Hydra make a final push to take over the United States! Will the web-head and the New Avengers stop the revitalized Hydra from bringing America to its knees? And if so, at what cost?
Collecting: Amazing Spider-Man #515-524.
248 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2006
25 people want to read
About the author
J. Michael Straczynski
1,369 books1,288 followersJoseph Michael Straczynski is an American filmmaker and comic book writer. He is the founder of Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Studio JMS and is best known as the creator of the science fiction television series Babylon 5 (1993–1998) and its spinoff Crusade (1999), as well as the series Jeremiah (2002–2004) and Sense8 (2015–2018). He is the executor of the estate of Harlan Ellison.
Straczynski wrote the psychological drama film Changeling (2008) and was co-writer on the martial arts thriller Ninja Assassin (2009), was one of the key writers for (and had a cameo in) Marvel's Thor (2011), as well as the horror film Underworld: Awakening (2012), and the apocalyptic horror film World War Z (2013). From 2001 to 2007, Straczynski wrote Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man, followed by runs on Thor and Fantastic Four. He is the author of the Superman: Earth One trilogy of graphic novels, and he has written Superman, Wonder Woman, and Before Watchmen for DC Comics. Straczynski is the creator and writer of several original comic book series such as Rising Stars, Midnight Nation, Dream Police, and Ten Grand through Joe's Comics.
A prolific writer across a variety of media and former journalist, Straczynski is the author of the autobiography Becoming Superman (2019) for HarperVoyager, the novel Together We Will Go (2021) for Simon & Schuster, and Becoming a Writer, Staying a Writer (2021) for Benbella Books. In 2020 he was named Head of the Creative Council for the comics publishing company Artists, Writers and Artisans.
Straczynski is a long-time participant in Usenet and other early computer networks, interacting with fans through various online forums (including GEnie, CompuServe, and America Online) since 1984. He is credited as being the first TV producer to directly engage with fans on the Internet and to allow viewer viewpoints to influence the look and feel of his show. Two prominent areas where he had a presence were GEnie and the newsgroup rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated.
Straczynski wrote the psychological drama film Changeling (2008) and was co-writer on the martial arts thriller Ninja Assassin (2009), was one of the key writers for (and had a cameo in) Marvel's Thor (2011), as well as the horror film Underworld: Awakening (2012), and the apocalyptic horror film World War Z (2013). From 2001 to 2007, Straczynski wrote Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man, followed by runs on Thor and Fantastic Four. He is the author of the Superman: Earth One trilogy of graphic novels, and he has written Superman, Wonder Woman, and Before Watchmen for DC Comics. Straczynski is the creator and writer of several original comic book series such as Rising Stars, Midnight Nation, Dream Police, and Ten Grand through Joe's Comics.
A prolific writer across a variety of media and former journalist, Straczynski is the author of the autobiography Becoming Superman (2019) for HarperVoyager, the novel Together We Will Go (2021) for Simon & Schuster, and Becoming a Writer, Staying a Writer (2021) for Benbella Books. In 2020 he was named Head of the Creative Council for the comics publishing company Artists, Writers and Artisans.
Straczynski is a long-time participant in Usenet and other early computer networks, interacting with fans through various online forums (including GEnie, CompuServe, and America Online) since 1984. He is credited as being the first TV producer to directly engage with fans on the Internet and to allow viewer viewpoints to influence the look and feel of his show. Two prominent areas where he had a presence were GEnie and the newsgroup rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 9, 2014
Ugh. I don't know if the fact that I've read such stellar superhero stuff from Bendis and Warren Ellis lately influenced how much I outright hated this book, or if it's really just that terrible, but reading this made me angry. This "deluxe" hardcover contains two of the absolute worst Spider-Man stories I've ever read. Also, it has the gall to make fun of the clone saga at one point, as if this drivel is so far above it. Sorry, Straczynski, but you don't get to make fun of a shitty story from WITHIN a shitty story.
First of all, here's the biggest problem with both stories in here: EVERYTHING IS COINCIDENCE. Everything. There is no organic plot movement. No gradual build or interesting narrative choice. Just BONK whoops now Peter has something to do and then BONK whoops he solved it basically by accident. In the first story, for instance, the bad guy is some dude Peter went to high school with. OF COURSE. Every Spider-Man villain went to the same damn high school somehow (this is part of why the recent Spider-Man movies don't work). But then how does Peter figure out how to stop him? HE HAS A DREAM. A dream, ladies and gentlemen. A dream that literally, word for word, explains to him how to beat the villain. And you have to read it! It's not even an interesting dream! It's just a dream person telling our gallant hero the exact thing he needs to do to defeat this villain we don't give two shits about!
Follow that up with the second story, in which a vast Hydra conspiracy is brewing in the New York underworld (Because where else could they build a vast underground lair? Surely there is nowhere in the entire United States.). In this one, Peter latches on to the bad guys by just happening to be at the same party as them and letting his Spider Sense do all the investigating. This follows a lengthy, seemingly intentionally boring segment where Peter is all of a sudden some kind of great detective, who puts pieces of a puzzle together that give absolutely no indication they'd fit together. It'd be like if a police detective picked up a feather at a crime scene and went "A feather! That must mean THE PRESIDENT DID IT!" and then we saw no explanation for how he reached that bonkers conclusion. But don't worry about all that so-called investigating, because Peter's just gonna randomly show up at the same party as the bad guy (a man who has no reason to even be at that party) and "sense" the whole thing anyway.
I also have to mention how terrible JMS is at writing in different people's voices. Bendis nails it so hard in New Avengers, that to then see this complete hack of a writer try to do the same thing is straight-up laughable. The second story features quite a bit of the New Avengers, who all talk exactly the same: as if they are from a comic book from 1976. Not like human beings. They talk and talk and talk and their monologues never end and if you swapped any one of them for another one they could say the exact same dumb things.
The thing about JMS, which I've been growing an ever-increasing awareness of ever since I started Best of Spider-Man a few months ago, is he is SO CORNY. There is not a funny sliver of bone in his body. I mean, if you have to explain a joke, don't make it? Write a better one? And yet, half his jokes are immediately explained out loud by the characters that make them. It's like reading a comic book written by your most annoying uncle. He's one step a way from "Got your nose!"
There are about 10 other problems I had with this book that are floating around in my brain, but I feel like I've pounded it enough. There is no reason to read this. It seems to be kind of setting something up for Spider-Man: The Other, but I'm sure you can just read that story (if it's any good) without bothering with this black hole of creativity. I own a lot more JMS Spider-Man, and I am now dreading reading it. But I guess I will, because I don't do this for me. I do this for the money I wasted on complete runs of bad comic books.
First of all, here's the biggest problem with both stories in here: EVERYTHING IS COINCIDENCE. Everything. There is no organic plot movement. No gradual build or interesting narrative choice. Just BONK whoops now Peter has something to do and then BONK whoops he solved it basically by accident. In the first story, for instance, the bad guy is some dude Peter went to high school with. OF COURSE. Every Spider-Man villain went to the same damn high school somehow (this is part of why the recent Spider-Man movies don't work). But then how does Peter figure out how to stop him? HE HAS A DREAM. A dream, ladies and gentlemen. A dream that literally, word for word, explains to him how to beat the villain. And you have to read it! It's not even an interesting dream! It's just a dream person telling our gallant hero the exact thing he needs to do to defeat this villain we don't give two shits about!
Follow that up with the second story, in which a vast Hydra conspiracy is brewing in the New York underworld (Because where else could they build a vast underground lair? Surely there is nowhere in the entire United States.). In this one, Peter latches on to the bad guys by just happening to be at the same party as them and letting his Spider Sense do all the investigating. This follows a lengthy, seemingly intentionally boring segment where Peter is all of a sudden some kind of great detective, who puts pieces of a puzzle together that give absolutely no indication they'd fit together. It'd be like if a police detective picked up a feather at a crime scene and went "A feather! That must mean THE PRESIDENT DID IT!" and then we saw no explanation for how he reached that bonkers conclusion. But don't worry about all that so-called investigating, because Peter's just gonna randomly show up at the same party as the bad guy (a man who has no reason to even be at that party) and "sense" the whole thing anyway.
I also have to mention how terrible JMS is at writing in different people's voices. Bendis nails it so hard in New Avengers, that to then see this complete hack of a writer try to do the same thing is straight-up laughable. The second story features quite a bit of the New Avengers, who all talk exactly the same: as if they are from a comic book from 1976. Not like human beings. They talk and talk and talk and their monologues never end and if you swapped any one of them for another one they could say the exact same dumb things.
The thing about JMS, which I've been growing an ever-increasing awareness of ever since I started Best of Spider-Man a few months ago, is he is SO CORNY. There is not a funny sliver of bone in his body. I mean, if you have to explain a joke, don't make it? Write a better one? And yet, half his jokes are immediately explained out loud by the characters that make them. It's like reading a comic book written by your most annoying uncle. He's one step a way from "Got your nose!"
There are about 10 other problems I had with this book that are floating around in my brain, but I feel like I've pounded it enough. There is no reason to read this. It seems to be kind of setting something up for Spider-Man: The Other, but I'm sure you can just read that story (if it's any good) without bothering with this black hole of creativity. I own a lot more JMS Spider-Man, and I am now dreading reading it. But I guess I will, because I don't do this for me. I do this for the money I wasted on complete runs of bad comic books.
March 18, 2018
Yikes, was this volume lame. First, yet another story about someone else in Peter's school who was picked on but didn't turn out "good". The old "here's how the hero could have turned out" story. I can think of probably two more times that this story element has been utilized.
The rest of this volume is very by the numbers with an attempt to revive Hydra. The only interesting thing being Peter and family move into Avengers tower. Otherwise, this all feels like it is treading water until the upcoming "The Other" event.
The rest of this volume is very by the numbers with an attempt to revive Hydra. The only interesting thing being Peter and family move into Avengers tower. Otherwise, this all feels like it is treading water until the upcoming "The Other" event.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews