The Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 4: Graveyard Shift

The Amazing Spider-Man (2014) (Collected Editions)

by Dan Slott, Christos Gage, Sean Ryan

Spider-Verse is over, but that doesn't mean Peter Parker is safe. Someone (or something) has invaded Parker Industries and is targeting its staff! But how? Parker Industries' security can keep out any living thing! Enter the Ghost! With this super-powered saboteur, no secret is safe - no PEOPLE are safe, either, for that matter.

COLLECTING: Amazing Spider -Man 16-18, Amazing Spider -Man Annual

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

104 pages, Paperback

First published August 26, 2015

About the author

Dan Slott is an American comic book writer, the current writer on Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man, and is best known for his work on books such as Arkham Asylum: Living Hell, She-Hulk, Silver Surfer, The Superior Spider-Man, and Ren & Stimpy.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

So...is Secret Wars next? Like, is this it for this run?
I can't...what?! I'm confused.
Ok, but that doesn't have anything to do with how well I like this volume.
And I did like it.



Anna Maria is such a great addition to this cast, and I love that she's managed to slide into the role of sidekick! She's just got this no-nonsense way about her, and it's such an opposite approach to Peter's normal way of doing things. While he's trying to come up with some convoluted soap opera story to cover for something, Anna just pops out with an edited version of the truth, and blows Pete's mind because it works!



Ok, so this volume is coming after Spider-verse, but it's just a plain old Spidey tale. Corporate espionage, misunderstandings with family/friends/co-workers, and beating some villain ass.



Someone has hired a ghost to destroy Parker Industries!
Ok, well, there's no real mystery to it, because you know who the bad guy is before they even try to blow anything up.
Sill, it's a fun story.
*shrugs*



The rest of the volume is about Black Cat stepping off the Crazytrain, and heading straight into Evilland. Felicia has definitely gone off the deep end, and (naturally) Peter's Aunt May is somehow endangered by Hardy's breakdown.



I don't think I'm doing Graveyard Shift justice, but I really did enjoy it. It was a really fun Spider-man story, I swear! I guess I'm just nervous about what's going to happen after this reboot Secret War.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this volume, the Parker luck goes from good - to bad - to abysmal.

Spider-Man just flew in from the Multiverse and boy are his arms tired from getting his Spider-essence partially drained by the evil Morlun. Now he has to take time away from his busy crime fighting schedule to focus on his pet project for Parker Industries – a rehab prison for super-powered criminals.



Parker Industries is not alone in bidding for the contract - Alchemx Corporation will stop at nothing to “outbid” them.



By “release the hounds”, they mean send in “The Ghost”, the go-to Marvel villain for corporate espionage, to blow the place up.



Parker Industries should have stuck to their plan to create a viable and tasty artificial watermelon flavored liquor.



And speaking of greed (Huh?), GREED is never good and in the comics it’s usually punishable in the form of a transitional gif to the part of the review that talks about the horrid Black Cat character transformation.



The Black Cat’s overcooked storyline ran its course months and months ago, yet here we have a companion plot about how the sore kitty takes revenge on those who bid on her stolen loot when it was auctioned off while she was in prison because of the Superior Spider-Man. Aunt May gets sucked into this mess because the old hag has to be in peril at least ten times a year. Marvel editors deem it so.

This volume also includes a Spider-Man annual which features three “cute” stories from three different creators – more art-centric than usual…





…and an Aunt May driven tale from Cale Atkinson:



Bottom line: Since I was a kid Spider-Man has always been the comfort food of comics for me. This one’s not Amazing, Superior or Spectacular simply Serviceable. Three and a half stars.

More Cale Atkinson:

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know if this is intentional, but Slott's post-Superior Spider-Man is making me become increasingly frustrated with Peter Parker. Sure, Spider-Man is a great hero, but Peter is a disappointing mess. It seems to me that Slott has really been focusing on how much it would suck to have Peter as a boss, or co-worker, or boyfriend, or really anyone you would need to count on for anything that doesn't require a mask. Case in point, the story from the included annual in which Peter becomes so wrapped up in returning somebody's cell phone (yes, really), that he doesn't do something that's actually pretty important for his company. Peter has definitely internalized that with great power comes great responsibility, but he's completely neglecting his ordinary responsibilities. But I honestly think this is intentional, and that maybe Slott is going somewhere with this, because Peter is so consistent, and the reactions to him are so consistent. Still, it can be frustrating sometimes to watch Peter ignore things that are actually important because it's more fun to websling.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

An average Spidey volume, featuring a three-issue storyline concerning 1.) industrial espionage and vandalism at Parker Industries (initiated by a rival firm with a former super-villain in its ranks) and 2.) the usually-welcome Black Cat having severe anger issues . . . against the entire world, apparently.

More entertaining were the two short stories afterwards -- 'I Can't Help Myself,' with our friendly neighborhood wall-crawler trying to live up to the old Boy Scout slogan of "do a good turn daily" and, once again (a Spidey specialty), showing how difficult it is to be an effective and well-meaning New York City-based superhero AND balance it with a personal life. The closer 'The Quiet Room' is just humorous filler featuring an oddly-silent Spider-Man against a sextet of second-string villains.

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slott's Peter and Parker Industries/Black Cat turning evil storylines are so lame that I miss so much Otto's Superior Spider-Man!
But I really liked Anna Maria character and the Spidey returning a lost cell phone to dutch tourists in the annual included at the end of this average not-so-good final volume before Secret Wars reboot.





And the Spider-Man drawn by Brandon Peterson is just a real amazing one.

[Subham · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a meh volume.

It had one good story with Pete vs the Ghost whose out to sabotage the Parker Industries meeting with some people as they are presenting their criminal prison and well everything goes wrong and maybe more will. It's an okayish story but felt so bit too stretched out.

And the story with Black Cat was bad like what was even the point with that?

And the backup with Spidey returning a cell phone.. Wtf was tht? Some of the worst story I have ever read. ugh terrible. Might as well skip this volume.

[RG · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good solid fun. Like the direction its heading

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, here we are; Dan Slott's final volume of Amazing Spider-Man before the final incursion twats us upside the head with a big Secret Wars shaped baseball bat.

I really, really, really wanted to like this volume. I wasn't a fan of 'Superior Spider-Man' (which is code for ‘I absolutely feckin' HATED it but certain folks 'round here might lynch me if I say that too loudly) and was delighted to have Pete back. Unfortunately, since he's been back, Pete's adventures have been a bit 'meh'.

If I were a cynical person, I'd be tempted to think Slott was deliberately writing below-par stuff for Pete to make 'Superior' look better by comparison...

Also, the Black Cat turns evil FOR NO GOOD REASON sub-plot is INCREDIBLY STUPID AND INCREDIBLY ANNOYING!

Anyway, none of it means anything because Secret Wars. I need a drink...

[Jordan Lahn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too bad this is the end of this run. It kind of feels like a middle chapter, especially after the phenomenal Spider-Verse event that precedes it. It is fun to return to the supporting characters from the Superior/Amazing stories that have driven the last few years, but because it doesn't really resolve anything it feels like didn't go anywhere. Hopefully Slott plans to revisit some of these threads in the post-Secret Wars Spider-Stories.

[Blindzider · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. You've primarily got the resolution of the Parker Industries plot thread, which I felt was getting a little ridiculous then you also have the transformation of the Black Cat into something new. Both of these were setup for Secret Wars, I believe.

The annual included has a very strange story (with some nice art by Brandon Peterson) about Spider-Man trying to return someone's lost cell phone. I think it was meant to be funny and had a couple parts that were, but the main motivation just seemed ridiculous and after continuously reading how Peter is a genius, his actions didn't make any sense.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

​Short stories from the Annual first:
- "I Can't Help Myself" has good dialog by Sean Ryan that sounds like Spidey, though it could be tighter. But hold the phone on this super-dynamic art by Brandon Peterson and great smooth colours by Antonio Fabela - holy moly that's worth the price of the whole book.



- The Cale Atkinson wordless tales were wryly amusing (as in, I'm embarrassed that they got my funny bone)


- The third tale by Jai Nitz is _The_Tick_ level of ridiculous - like, DC Silver Age "Lightning Lad" and "Wonder Lass" retarded. Dr. Bong indeed. And Salas & Renzi give it a nice retro feel - a little Darwyn Cooke, a little 60's Spider-Man cartoon, a little mid-century modern.

The larger Ghost story was fine - a new way for Slott to screw with Peter, and a nice bit of corporate warfare.

The best part of the tale is easily Anna Marconi, making light work of keeping Peter & Spidey from metaphorically taking a big splat on the floor of Parker Industries. And co-opting an ex-super-villain to use Spidey tech against the Ghost? Awesome:


I just saw a discussion on Reddit today asking if we're ever going get the Peter-MJ romance again. Personally, every time I see how well Peter and Anna work together I think how this could be the new-era replacement for MJ, and I'm totally cool with that. I mean, MJ (and Black Cat) bring the threat of sexy to the party, and that makes us weenie comics nerds all aflutter, but I tend to think the whole "smarter/more capable/totally independent" partner is far more worth reading than "I've got a life but it still falls when Spidey threats come a-calling".

Speaking of Black Cat, is this her transformation into Mafia Catwoman (or gods help us, Fish Mooney)?

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the madness of Spider-Verse, we get a more familiar Spider-Man story here. It sees Parker Industries attacked by the Ghost and Spidey has to try and stop him from destroying his company completely. The trouble is, Ghost is pretty hard to fight and he can't very well save the company over the lives of some of it's employees. Thank goodness a few of his "amazing friends" are on hand to help.

It's an OK story but it feels a bit rubbish compared to Spider-Verse. It's seems odd that a group of Spider-Men can defeat the great power of the Inheritors but our Peter Parker struggles against the Ghost, who is a bit rubbish in comparison. Still, it is great to see some of the supporting characters again and they play a big role here.

Also in this volume is a back-up volume called Repossession, which focuses on the Black Cat. A story focusing on a villain in such a way is unusual but Slott proved with Superior Spider-Man that he can voice villainous characters superbly well. Here Black Cat has gone full on evil and attempts to re-steal all the items she once owned. Oh and she kidnaps Aunt May in the process, which causes Spider-Man some problems. Usually Spider-Man is the one person who can calm the Black Cat but now we see just how much she has changed.

An OK volume but a pretty forgettable one really, a short adventure sandwiched between Spider-Verse and Secret Wars.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Graveyard Shift (16-18). The focus on Parker Industries is great, but the long fight against the Ghost is overly decompressed [6+/10]. Sadly, the backup story about the Black Cat is just dull; she's lost all nuance in her character [4/10].

Annual (1). This annual is a fine example of what Annuals shouldn't be: throwaway stories by other authors. This includes a bad, one-note story about returning a cell phone, a mediocre story about Dr. Bong, and a couple of very clever pages about Spider-Aunt [3/10].

Overall, a very disappointing end to Slott's v4 Spider-Man run. He's got great characters and he's created a great situation, but this volume is just lack-luster.

[Jonathan Roberts · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty average not a lot happens in this trade.

[C.A. MacLean · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a fitting title: the Graveyard Shift trade paperback collects what would be the final issues of Amazing Spider-Man before Marvel decided to revamp their entire canon with Secret Wars, the event that collapsed the Marvel Multiverse into a single continuity (which is why the previous Spidey arc, Spider-Verse, was a now-or-never kind of deal) that takes from various side-continuities (long story). So how does Spidey’s last gasp in the ‘traditional’ Marvel canon go? Does he go out with a bang? Does it foreshadow the upcoming multiversal collapse, as with Miles Morales’ final issue in the Ultimate universe?

Mmm…nope, it’s not touched on at all. So what’s here?

What we get instead is a fairly slight (four issues) trade paperback that deals with two concurrent arcs: a transient entity called The Ghost, with a hate-on for corporations and a series of anti-tech tools at his disposal, has invaded Parker Industries (the venture that Otto Octavius made when he had planted his mind in Peter Parker’s body during Superior Spider-Man, and when Peter got his body back he found he owned his own company and…just go with it) and threatens to bring it all to the ground – both ideologically, and the old-fashioned way.

Meanwhile, you’ve got the Black Cat continuing her no-holds-barred crime spree, this time re-stealing the parts of her priceless collection that were recently sold at public auction after her incarceration.

Let’s talk about the Black Cat thing.

Great stories invoke an unbroken chain of cause-and-effect. Actions have logical reactions which spiral into consequences. To me, the master of cause-and-effect is the TV series Breaking Bad: it’s all about a slow burn of decisions and deceptions causing unforeseen (but logical) consequences (one whole season even revolved around the complex constellation of interconnected events that leads to a disaster that I won’t spoil for those of you who haven’t yet marathonned the show). So when Walter White transforms from Ned Flanders into Fat Tony, it feels organic, not forced.

Black Cat’s transformation from goodish-hearted cat burglar who acts on occasion as an uninhibited temptress for Spider-Man, to a ruthless sociopath who always picks the renegade option regardless, isn’t justified by what little cause-and-effect it’s given. To wit – when Doc Ock was in Spidey’s body, he clocked the Black Cat and left her for the police. Now, in fairness, while she languished in prison, she did think it was actually Peter who did that. But she breaks out, and then we get this ‘thing’ about how she has to be ruthless and cruel, and gain her street cred back by being uncompromising, because ‘The Spider’ disrespected her.

Now, in the trade paperback The Parker Luck, when the Black Cat confronts Spidey as he’s responding to a fire, he does the correct and logical thing and tells her straight-up that it wasn’t him, it was Doc Ock in his body. Her response isn’t that she doesn’t believe him. It’s – and I quote – “I don’t care!”

And with that, the cause-and-effect chain just shatters, because the character’s motivations become completely invalid, an “evil for evil’s sake” caricature. All of a sudden, she is evil because the plot wants her to be evil, not because her character development calls for it.

Some have called this character assassination. I call it a great teachable moment in how not to write. And the reason I’m talking about all this in a review for Graveyard Shift is, the Cat’s arc would be otherwise enjoyable if not for the specter of this badly-written plot point hanging over it. (Then again, there are people – a not-insignificant number of people – who can’t stand anything beyond the infamous One More Day arc because everything that follows is necessarily a by-product of One More Day’s enforced status quo – so that’s a larger-scale example of stories having a pall cast over them by what came before.) There’s a mention that maybe her bad-luck powers are affecting her mind; please let it be something like that, because it’s an easy escape-clause that explains away her out-of-character nature here (and to be honest, when a character acts in a way that is utterly unjustified by cause-and-effect, calling them OOC is fair game) and lets me, and other readers to be sure, invest emotionally in what would otherwise be a nice “character turning darkside” arc.

That said, don’t get me wrong – I do like Graveyard Shift. The art is helmed by Humberto Ramos, and while some people don’t much like his style (his grasp on human anatomy can sometimes generously be called ‘interpretive’), I like him: his style works well for the kinetic, highly animate nature of the genre. And with the number of action scenes per capita in Graveyard Shift, Ramos pulls it off like a dream.

And speaking of action scenes, that first scene – where Spidey is fighting an army of reptiles led by obscure villain Iguana, and trying to Bluetooth his way through several conversations at the same time, causing the villain to be downright baffled at his surreal multitasking – is terrific. I laughed out loud as Pete tried to give a rousing speech to his co-worker Sajani about the importance of prison as a source of rehabilitation while beating the snot out of Iguana. This is exactly the scene that we needed to get grounded back in classic Spidey-land after the oftentimes crowded nature of Spider-Verse.

Once The Ghost attacks Parker Industries, it’s quite a fun arc: not only does the antagonist character just have a cool aesthetic to my eyes, but the action-heavy segments make full use of Ramos’s vivid art and feature Pete, Anna Maroni and Sajani working to their own ends to try and avert the catastrophe.

I do have to talk about Sajani, though: back before Horizon Labs became (Spoiler spoiler) Alchemax, she was a stubborn, blunt, but ultimately human character, whereas ever since Pete got his body back, it seems like it’s been decided that Sajani should attempt to negate everything Peter says or does, like a reverse echo chamber. (At the very least, she does have an excuse in that she wanted to focus Parker Industries on cybernetics, which was Ock’s field of expertise, while Peter wants to fund and design a rehabilitory prison for super-criminals.) I was tentatively okay with that until Graveyard Shift, when Sajani attempts to actively partner with the super-terrorist to wreck Pete’s plans. The Ghost’s reaction (It doesn’t go as she hoped) could very well be considered a logical redress to Sajani’s hubris and the fact that she just crossed a moral Rubicon by trying to side with a super-villain, but nothing is made of it. Come on, anything to surprise us: maybe while trying to negotiate with The Ghost, she could see a more human side of him for a moment and realizes that maybe Peter’s idea of reforming villains has merit. Something, anything that counts as character development beyond “alpha bitch”.

While Dan Slott’s era of Spider-Man has its highs and lows, I will happily state that I enjoy his fast-paced stories (I Killed Tomorrow, in the Trouble On The Horizon hardback/TPB, being a personal favourite that plays to the man’s strengths as a creator) and the way he invests so much energy into his stories – you can tell he’s excited to be writing these and some of that excitement inevitably transfers to the reader, even when that same reader is scratching their head over plot contrivances or other literary booboos. But I’ll always remain guardedly optimistic that he can, at the very least, turn in an entertaining story.

This arc, though, is a mixed bag: in Spidey terms, we’ve got pumpkin bombs and jackpots. In terms of fun action and ‘that good ol’ Spidey feel’, it hits the jackpot, but dig deeper into the character motivations and cause-and-effect chains, and there are some low-ordinance pumpkin bombs waiting to go boom.

The metaphor got away from me a bit, yeah, but I think three stars is fair for this one. It’s an entertaining read.

[Sevki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok this is starting to become really boring. Everything is exactly the same after all the events and incidents. I am not sure if I will read into the ANAD run of 9 volumes.

So Otto somehow used his intelligence and built the Parker Industries, and Peter blew it off in around a few weeks... God damn it writers! Just decide if he can use another resource or person in place of him for street level business so that he can focus on his "real business".

Everything is pointless. We are keeping reading it and almost always nothing changes. And the story quality is also declining.

[Sud666 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have always been a big fan of Spiderman. Recently, other than an isolated issue here or there though I have not had a chance to read a lot of his comics. I was lucky enough to have read the Superior Spiderman series where Dr. Octopus was Spiderman and really enjoyed it. So when I saw this graphic novel I picked it up. I was not impressed. It just did not do it for me. Maybe it's Mr. Slott's writing. He is not someone I am familiar with. His Parker is annoyingly neurotic and his Spiderman is not very funny. It seems that Ms. Marconi the midget from the Superior Spiderman is still hanging around (I thought she was a character for that particular series, but apparently she is now part of the Spiderman storyline-as is the irritating Sajayni woman. Both of them combined are beyond irritating. But again this might be Slott's writing of them. So it seems that Parker has become an industrialist and Parker Industries is here to stay. Well, it seemed that way until this graphic novel where the Ghost is sent in to destroy it. Spiderman has always been driven by guilt but it has devolved into a sense of neuroses that Slott seems to push. I just don't care for it. To be fair I don't think ANY of his characters come off well- not even his Aunt May is likable. The artwork is not terrible but neither is it good. It varies from decent to very cartoonish. Included with this underwhelming main plotline of the Ghost sabotaging Parer Industries is a subplot with the Black Cat story of her attempting to reacquire all of her goods which were auctioned off. No, really. It seems that the more ruthless she acts, the more her bad luck powers kick in. Not sure where that was going but that's where Slott took it. Plus, included in the novel is a story of Spiderman trying to return a German tourist's lost cell phone. Yes, you read that correctly. Oh and there was some awful 4-5 page dreck of story that had art reminiscent of a Bazooka Joe comic. I didn't bother to read it. So if this review isn't making you want to run out and grab this GN then I have served my purpose. If this was the state of ASM currently I'll pass. Superior Spiderman was , well, superior in every sense. Only a huge Spiderman fan would like this one. Though it seems to have gotten relatively high ratings on Goodreads for some reason.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Volume of Amazing Spider-Man gets us from the end of Spider-Verse to the beginning of Secret Wars. Not much to this Volume, but (SPOILER) the destruction of the Parker Industries building by a villain terrorist named Ghost. Throw in an encounter with Black Cat as well.
The art and action are what we've seen in the title since the end of Superior Spider-Man, but nothing over the top here. Just a plain and simple good Spider-Man read.

Recommend, but not essential.

[Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly enjoyable, especially for a "thin" collection (only 100 or so pages) --- The main storyline (3 issues worth) is a good read with a great art by Humberto Ramos; it's definitely 3.5 stars at this point. What earned an extra half star is the annual issue with a constantly distracted Peter Parker and A-MAY-zing Spider-Aunt.

[Willie Krischke · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know... casting Peter Parker as the brilliant CEO of a tech company just basically makes him Tony Stark, Jr. And Black Cat as a mob boss is borrowing heavily from Catwoman (a much better book right now.) On top of that, everyone dressed in their white lab gowns(?) with big black gloves just makes me think of Dr. Strangelove.

It really looks like Spider-man needs some fresh ideas.

[James Lawner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was an alright installment and I think this is the last from the series, but I think there are still some issues that tie into this. The writing was good and the artwork was the same like in Vol. 1, which works well sometimes and sometimes it doesn't. Overall, it was decent.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've really enjoyed Dan Slott's run on Spider-man. I hope this isn't the end of Parker Industries. It makes so much more sense that Peter Parker would use his science background instead of being a photographer. I'm afraid Secret Wars is really going to screw up this title.

[B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this.

It's a very different spin on the "Peter Parker has to give a terrible excuse why he can't be there for a date and Aunt May's surgery."

Now he has real responsibilities and a partner in "crime." This is a reasonable story of growth within limits.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine collection.

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

This really feels like a fill-in...Spiderverse is over, Secret Wars is coming...how do we feel the pages between.

[Dahiem Dukes · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I was told to choose what kind of book I could read for the rest of my life I would choose comic books.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining but just ok.

[Geonessary · Rating 5 out of 5]

They really get back into the life of Peter Parker, working on that balance between the people who depend on him at Parker Industries, his civilian life, and New York City. It's refreshing.

[Lionel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Doesn't feel like an end, a bit short too. Average finish to a great run of Slott

[James Rodrigues · Rating 2 out of 5]

A middling tale that feels more like filler that's interested in setting things up for future events.