Spider-Man: The Next Chapter, Vol. 1

Spider-Man: The Next Chapter #1

by Howard Mackie, John Byrne, John Romita Jr. (Illustrator)

Peter Parker thought he'd given up a life as Spider-Man, but he keeps getting pulled back in! With threats like the Kingpin, Bullseye, Dr. Octopus, Shadrac, the Scorpion, the Frightful Four, Marrow and Tokkots coming at him from every angle, it's a good thing Spider-Man has friends like the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Madame Web, Thor and Man-Thing at his side! Plus: the debuts of not one, but two new Spider-Women! And one of them is not so nice.

COLLECTING: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1999) #1-6 and ANNUAL '99, PETER PARKER: SPIDER-MAN (1999) #1-6 and THOR (1998) #8.

Genres: Comics, Spider Man, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Comic Book, Fiction, Science Fiction

392 pages, Paperback

First published September 7, 2011

About the author

Howard Mackie is an American comic book editor and writer. He has worked almost exclusively for Marvel Comics.

Reviews

[Oneirosophos · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although it had its moments, it was a CHORE to read.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved Marvel in the handful of years before and after the Turn-of-the-Century. I'd just recently returned to full-fledged weekly comic book shop Wednesdays visits. I wasn't buying much. Maybe spending $20 a week.

So I've left myself a lot to explore. Like Spider-Man. I wished I'd known that this book relies heavily on SPIDER-MAN: THE GATHERING OF THE FIVE. Which I hope to read fairly soon.

I really enjoyed this volume. It's all Byrne and JR. Jr. art but for 2 issues so it looks great. The colors and layout are bold and fun. Much moreso than we're seeing in contemporary comics. The stories are a bit on the old-fashioned side but that's part of the appeal.

I'm not sure why so many folks were so hard on Marvel in the period. Yeah, it was a rough period in Marvel history with the bankruptcy and all. But after a couple of decades in decline and tones of misfires - in the 80's and earlier 90's Marvel was finally remembering to be Marvel again. This is the era that gave us the Avengers greatest story ever, hands-down, AVENGERS FOREVER. And also Busiek's formidable and super-fun run on Avengers and Thunderbolts.

[Stephen Theaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite liked it at first but it ended up being quite run of the mill. Any tension as to whether Peter Parker would put the spider-suit back on was thrown away by some issues appearing out of order.

[Adam Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collects six months of Spidey Comics from 1999, with the first of many reboots back to Issue 1 for Amazing Spider-man and Peter Parker Spider-man. It also features a crossover with Thor. The book opens with Peter having given up being Spider-man but someone else having taken up the mantle who he doesn't know who they are.

As a book, it's solid throughout. The stories are all engaging. There are some good guest villains, some nice plot ideas, and nothing really outstays its welcome or gets too stupid in this book. This is a controversial run, but it definitely starts out on the right foot.

The run's greatest liabilities do appear. If the book has a repeated theme, its trying to undo bits of Spider-man history and returning the character and New York City as a whole to previous status quo rather than moving forward. Thus we see the Sandman's return to villainy after many years as a hero, and we begin to see an effort to re-instate the Kingpin. There's also very little understanding of how to write Mary Jane as an actual human being, so she shows up for a few cheesecake panels and jets off on modeling jobs and remains the enforcer who constantly is there to reminds Peter he's no longer to Spider-man.

Again, these issues don't hurt the quality of this book, but they will pose problems for the rest of this run.

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow. Dipping my brain folds into some of those late-90’s arch comics, on the dubious “advice” (or perhaps better alleged as “warnings”) of the War Rocket Ajax crew, I can’t help but notice how stiff not only the Mackie dialogue is, but also the Byrne body poses are. Does John hang out with the L-dopa crowd?

As another reviewer so eloquently put it, this book is a CHORE to read. Didn’t even really finish it, but it’s pretty clear Mackie couldn’t get that half-dumb Gathering Of The Five story out of his bloodstream. Like irradiated spider-venom, this plot warped Howard’s intellectual DNA.

[Ahmed Ramzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ridiculous waffling

[Max · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read on Marvel Unlimited
It doesn't feel the need to be grand journey, which I know is a backhand complement. I can't explain why, but it became something I could read on my break.
It was annoying to move between two titles, especially since a lot of these issues start with a flash forward. I don't mind the art switching between John Byrne and John Romita Jr, they're both good artists.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first few issues are really interesting as they have Peter grappling with his identity as Spider-Man, which he is trying to leave behind, and openness and trust in his marriage with MJ. Peter keeps lying to MJ, even though it is with good intentions, but he's starting to realise MJ might also be lying to him. A handful of Spider-(Wo)Men appear briefly in a side plot which will no doubt come back to haunt Peter, we see some of the consequences of Norman Osborne's Gathering of the Five, and the Bugle investigates Senator Ward, who seems to be embroiled in all of this. Also, the Kingpin comes back, although in theory he's just Wilson Fisk, honest member of society. Basically, lots of plot threads which hold promise, but they are still a bit too disjointed to be a proper Spidey arc. Art is okay in general - I prefer John Byrne's classic take to JR Jr's. John Buscema's art for the Annual blends seamlessly with both Byrne's and Romita's, and even though it's not my favourite, it fits the medieval setting really well.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

The big 1999 reboot of Spider-Man, the first time the original numbering had been reset, brought in Howard Mackie to write a new Amazing Spider-Man comic and a new Peter Parker: Spider-Man comic. After a bit of rockiness over the first few issues (with #PP:SM #2 apparently happening after #3 due to the requirements of a crossover!), the two titles settled into a semimonthly storytelling style, with the TBCs constantly running from one comic to another.

Surprisingly, Marvel (and Mackie) did almost nothing interesting with this reboot. This could easily have been Spider-Man from the 80s or 70s. Perhaps the goal was just to get rid of the stench of the Clone Saga, which had filled the Spider-Man books for a few years (prior to a post-Onslaught run that's never been collected), and this was a back to basics approach ... but as a result, it's very basic.

The storytelling is fair. The Peter not being Spider-Man at the start is pretty great, and introduces us to a great new super-character even if the main plot ends. There's also a some impenetrable plot about the Green Goblin and Party of Five or something, which is somewhat impenetrable. It unfortunately impinges on the first few issues too, and I can't entirely tell what's going on, and I'm not even sure if it's picking up a past plotline or not. The Senator Ward plotline is much more intriguing, and if it reminds me of classic storylines like the Big Man, that might well have been purposeful. A new Spider-Woman, a Spider-Killer, Doc Ock, and the rest are fine, but they come and go so quickly that there's not a lot of room for introspection (which again feels like classic comics).

My biggest annoyance with this storyline is the constant Peter-lying-to-MJ about being Spider-Man. It's a sign of pretty severe immaturity in their relationship that's not helped by a flirtatious best friends and constant travel, all of which seems to be Mackie trying his best to suggest a future break-up. I guess that's something that hasn't changed in decades (except in JMS' terrific run that followed this).

If there's a single stand-out in this run, it's the art, Byrne on ASM and Romita Jr. on PP:SM. It's spectacular old-school work that's classic 4-color comic art at its best. (There are a couple of issues where they're AWOL, and they stand out like a sore thumb.)

Anyway, a little corner of Spider-dom that I'm happy to have read, but it's very 90s and there's not much of note beyond that.

[Tesutamento · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marvel 90'ların sonunda tüm evrene reset atmıştı. Bu kitap Spider-Man'in o resetten sonraki ilk hikayelerini içeriyor. Çok şükür günümüzde ölmüş bir adet olsa da Marvel eskiden Spider-Man'i birkaç farklı kitapta eş zamanlı ve bağlantılı şekilde öykülüyordu. Yani The Amazing Spider-Man, Spectacular Spider-Man, Peter Parker: Spider-Man gibi birkaç farklı serinin hepsini okuma şartı vardı hikayeyi anlayabilmek için. Kazançlı bir yöntem olsa da hikayeler fazla uzun ve tatsız bir hale geliyordu. Bu kitapta da aynı sorun mevcut. 6 sayı TASM, 6 sayı PPSM var fakat çok sıkıcılar. Sevdiğim bir dönemde çıkmış olduğundan başta büyük heyecanla elime alsam da ilk birkaç sayıdan sonra bütün okuma isteğim yok oldu.

[Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice looking collection featuring stories from over 20 years ago by some great creators. Howard Mackie wrote most of it, and there’s some very nice art by John Byrne and John Romita Jr. As is the way with these collections the individual stories vary, but there are some ongoing subplots threading through the whole book. Some, like Peter taking up the suit again, are resolved, while others, like the Senator Ward storyline, are left open.
Some elements, like the new Spider-Woman work well, while others, like the Scorpion and Trapster redesigns, not so much.
It’s dated a little, but still very entertaining overall.

[Phillip Richardson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A new start but not a fresh one.

I wanted to get into more modern Spiderman and so thought the first issue of the ‘second season’ would be a good place to start - note that there is a large connection to what has before: I wasn’t expecting a complete new take on Spidey, I didn’t expect his origins again, but I didn’t expect to have this be a continuation of the last issue. That aside it was pretty decent; there is nothing great in this issue but also nothing awful, it’s just solid spider action. There are no truly memorable villains in this one (although the spider woman is quite good) and no really stand out arcs but it is ok - hence the three stars.

[Anthony Rizzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read all (and I mean ALL) of the 90s Spider-Man titles this year, and I enjoyed this far more than I genuinely expected I would from what I have been told and heard. The mostly Byrne and Romita Jr artwork is fun, and I am enjoying how the story carried threads from Gathering of Five and Final Chapter storylines for sure. I've read everything by JMS and Paul Jenkins that follows, but this is my first time reading every single ASM and PPSM issue before those!

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent stories. Good artwork. Features Spider-Man teaming up with Thor, Iceman, Fantastic Four, Black Cat, Spider-Woman (Mattie Franklin). Spidey battles new and old enemies, including Scorpion, Sandman, Doc Ock, Kingpin, and Bullseye.

[Derek Moreland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loses a lot of steam in the last few issues (the new, villainous Spider-Woman is a dud, and the annual is nonsense), but theres still far more good than bad here. Color me shocked: I had a really good time.

[Edward Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been a long time since I originally read these, and back then it may not have been in the correct order. This order made much more sense and helped the story flow.

[Tom Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this first volume. The development of Peter and MJ's relationship, the introduction to the new Spider-Woman and Spiderman's return to superheroing was very fun to read.

[Trike · Rating 2 out of 5]

Confusing; Pete's not Spider-Man but then he is? Other guy vanishes? John Romita Jr's artwork suddenly comes into focus, must be the inker.

[B3RG1S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ран Макки был неплох, местами даже интересно читать, но чего-то не хватило. Чего-то, что, как раз, хватило Стражински

[Kris Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes! This is how I like my Spider-Man: Fighting! Laughing! Living life! And most importantly: Peter Parker! I was starting to feel worn down after reading all of those Clone Saga/ Ben Reilly trades. The often garish artwork and substandard writing coupled with Clone Spider-Man (a.k.a. Ben Reilly) tested my loyalty to the limit. I now understand why people abandoned Spider-Man in the mid-90s. These issues were a breath of fresh air, with vibrant artwork by John Byrne and John Romita Jr. that leaped right off of the pages.

I had the floppies of these, and you can read what I thought of them here. They were garage sale finds for like $1.00 a piece, and they hold up just as well on the re-read. The writing is so good, the artwork is so good...these feel like comic books to me, not “chapters in a graphic novel” (term used facetiously to describe modern, made-for-the-trade floppies). Only the Spider-Women arc towards the end is iffy, but even that had its moments.

I love these thick-ass trade paperbacks. The only problem with them is that they make me feel like I'm not maintaining my “productivity” because they can take almost a week to plow through. It's a nice problem to have when the stories are as wonderful as these are. This was an absolute joy to read. Nice thick coated stock paper. All variant covers (and I mean all, even Dynamic Forces variants) are included.

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

This whole thing is missing a lot of lead-in. It's really trying to follow-up on Gathering of the Five stuff.

And it's also a little lost generally. There are a lot of things going on but none are really connected.

And the central focus of the story, "Will Peter Parker be Spider-Man again?" doesn't make any sense. First of all, the books include issues from a comic series entitled "Peter Parker, Spider-Man." Second, there are some weird sequencing issues that cause Spider-Man to show up before Peter Parker decides to be Spider-Man again. Third, I'm not sure how believable it is that Mary Jane wants Peter Parker to stop being Spider-Man. In most versions of the continuity, isn't she in love with him in part because he is Spider-Man?