Friends and readers, we have a brand-new week of comics, and with that comes Marvel Minutiae—the column where our Marvel Files writers bring you some bite-sized thoughts on some of this week’s Marvel Releases. This week Tony Thornley talks Spider-Man and clickbait while Zack Jenkins is here with some discussion of symbiote boys!
Amazing Spider-Man #38
Nick Spencer’s Spider-Man is at its best when it’s a superhero sitcom. That doesn’t mean that he can’t do the darker stuff well (there were some really dark portions of Hunted that were AMAZING). However this run has really shone when it leans into the comedy. Amazing Spidey #38 is a great example of that, as Spencer teams up with Iban Coello, Brian Reber and Joe Caramagna!
This story has three distinct plotlines that come crashing together- Jonah goes to work for a Buzzfeed-like clickbait factory, Peter robs a bank (yes, really!) and the Foreigner [Ed. Note: Not the “Double Vision” guys] discovers a uniquely Marvel evolution of sports gambling. The Jonah storyline takes the bulk of the story, and I really enjoy how much he’s grown since Chip Zdarsky has Peter unmask to Jonah. The partnership between the two has become one of the most interesting inter-character dynamics at Marvel. His attempts to keep his promise to be nice to Spidey are funny, but also feel genuine with how the character has grown.
Jonah going to work for a clickbait factory feels so authentic to his character, and I dig it. His sensational style of journalism was more or less a predecessor to modern clickbait journalism (yes, it was a satire of yellow journalism back in the day, but it’s 2020, get with the times). The headlines that the Threats and Menaces staff throw out over the course of their introductions are hilarious, and feels all too real.
Meanwhile, I am SO EXCITED to see Theresa Parker back in Peter’s supporting cast. This previously unknown sibling could have jumped the shark, but her evolution from the Amazing Spider-Man: Family Business OGN, through Spectacular Spider-Man to now has made her an exciting addition to the Spidey supporting cast. Peter and Theresa working together is a great dynamic (yes, the bank robbery was real but Peter was helping his special agent sister gather evidence against some bad people), especially when Jonah complicates things.
Coello’s art has a great cartoony energy that’s very similar to Ryan Ottley and Patrick Gleason, so he’s a welcome addition to the team. He’s able to shift between the different tones of the different plots without it feeling wildly different.
Notice I didn’t talk much about the gambling plot? Well, that’s because it’s mostly set-up for the storyline to come. It’s interesting, fun, and could cause problems for Peter, but here it’s not much more than a minor annoyance and set-up for the future. In the end though, this is a fun popcorn comics sort of issue- not groundbreak or a modern classic but worth picking up for any Spidey fan.
Web of Venom: Good Son #1
As a parent, one of my biggest fears is that no matter what it do, no matter how attentive I am, someone, or something will corrupt my child. That something will turn my son bad [Ed. Note: Big mood in 2020]. Web of Venom: Good Son plays on those fears to tell the tale of two boys, Normie Osborn and Dylan Brock. Normie, for his part, is traumatized by his stint possessing the Carnage symbiote. He fears becoming a monster in the way his father and grandfather were as Green Goblins. Normie knows his parents look at him differently now and is desperate to go back to a “normal life”.
His new roommate, Dylan, has other ideas. The son of Eddie Brock was left with the Osborn family in the wake of Absolute Carnage but the repercussions of that story echoes throughout this one. Dylan has a piece, the last piece of the Carnage symbiote. Through it, Knull, the corrupt symbiote god, calls to Dylan. The tension builds as we see just how far gone Dylan truly is.
Zac Thompson’s script does a lot of heavy lifting in this issue, ratcheting up the tension as Dylan moves from creepy to unthinkably evil. There are some struggles capturing the voices of pre-teens, but all-in-all the story works. It pales, however, to Thompson’s graphic novela Replacer from last year, which covered much the same ground in a more engaging fashion, Dio Neves’ linework does provide some terrifying moments, but unfortunately feels too grounded in a generic “superhero” style. Similarly Rain Beredo’s pallet is just too damn bright and saturated for the horror story Thompson is telling. These quarterly one-shots should be showcases for talent, a chance for artists to stretch their skills, but we don’t get that here.
I’ve not been as smitten by Donny Cates’ Venom or his larger connected works as others have. When this story leans too much into that larger world it stumbles. This is especially apparent in the Juan Gedeon drawn back-up involving the secret history of the symbiote living as Dylan’s cat [Ed. Note: A vast improvement over living around a skeleton]. It’s unfortunate that Thompson’s compelling story is shacked by the bonds of continuity. It’s a worthwhile, but compromised comic that Venomanics will want to grab.
Zachary Jenkins runs the Xavier Files Media Empire and is a co-host on the podcast “Battle of the Atom.” Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside of X-Men.
Tony Thornley is a geek dad, blogger, Spider-Man and Superman aficionado, X-Men guru, autism daddy, amateur novelist, and all around awesome guy. He’s also very humble.
Tony Thornley is a geek dad, blogger, Spider-Man and Superman aficionado, X-Men guru, autism daddy, amateur novelist, and all around awesome guy. He’s also very humble.
Zachary Jenkins co-hosts the podcast Battle of the Atom and is the former editor-in-chief of ComicsXF. Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside all this.
