Spider-Man’s brand new Brand New Day continues as he meets Predator, Godzilla

What amped Rhino up from criminal super-bruiser to rampaging disaster machine? We aren’t spilling, but it just amped up Spider-Man! And the only people who can help are Norman Osborn and … Peter’s long-lost childhood best friend? Amazing Spider-Man #2 is written by Joe Kelly, drawn by Pepe Larraz, colored by Marte Gracia and lettered by Joe Caramagna.

A heat wave sends New York City into a blackout and Spider-Man on patrol as tempers boil across the city. But beneath its grimy sewers and subways lurks a threat unlike anything Peter Parker has faced before. Introducing “Skinner,” a Predator of no honor and no clan — only a thirst for blood. Predator vs. Spider-Man #1 is written by Benjamin Percy, drawn by Marcelo Ferreira, inked by Jay Leisten, colored by Frank D’Armata and lettered by Clayton Cowles.

Fresh from the original Secret Wars, Peter Parker returns to Earth with a spiffy new (alien) costume and not a care in the world except for a complicated love triangle with Mary Jane and Black Cat, and unbelievable pressure at the Daily Bugle, rent, bills, supervillains — oh, and GODZILLA IS IN NEW YORK CITY with his atomic breath aimed squarely at the wall-crawler! Godzilla vs. Spider-Man #1 is written by Joe Kelly, drawn by Nick Bradshaw, colored by Rachelle Rosenberg and lettered by Joe Caramagna.

Scott: New volume of Amazing Spider-Man, same old double shipping! The shininess of the new run is still there, and the Spider-Team is here to talk more webiness, with the added bonus of watching our favorite webbed hero join in on the Predator fighting to boot!

Tony: It’s been sort of exhausting to be a Spider-Man fan lately, so these books were legitimately a breath of fresh air. Has the Spider-Man line turned a corner, or is it just a good month?

What a Trip!

Scott: Remember how the last article had us discussing the amount of trouble that is heaped on Peter Parker’s life? Well, it’s not any easier for our guy this time around. Poisoned and tripping out with hallucinations while blacking out sure doesn’t help. Despite my feelings about how much Marvel wants to mess with Peter’s life, I kind of dug this. Having Peter flipping out as Spider-Man while seemingly auto-piloting through life with brief moments of awareness feels awkward. 

But in an interesting way. 

Tony: Yeah, this is exactly what I was saying about the conflict of balancing Peter and Spider-Man being the evolution Spider-Man needs. After a really great action sequence in which we know something is wrong, but Peter thinks he’s just getting mobbed by his enemies, Peter starts to feel his life coming apart. He shifts from his rampage directly into his second first day at work, and his new boss is not impressed. Then he shifts to Brian’s lab, as he starts to have a panic attack, and then suddenly he’s about to jump off the roof. It’s a very disorienting sequence that Kelly and Larraz absolutely nail.

What isn’t totally landing is the “juvenile delinquent Peter Parker” flashbacks.

Scott: I’m still not sure how I feel overall about this newly revealed moment of Peter’s young years. While it makes sense that he might have had a more emotionally rebellious stage, I’m not sure what it adds at this point. There is no reason that Brian had to be some forgotten youth friend for the story to work. There were plenty of other avenues that could have worked similarly for someone to be willing to carry Peter. 

As we noted last time, Peter knows plenty of rich company (superhero) folks that could have filled the spot. Since it got a name drop last time, he could have been a former Parker Industries person. Imagine Peter owing his new gig to someone who had to scramble after the company Peter ran crumbled. It’s not egregious in any way, just so far, it feels kind of there to be there. Hopefully it’s not leading to some big reveal about this guy’s actual motivations or something. 

Tony: Hell, Brian could have been a colleague from Horizon who’s been promoted through the ranks to land this job. People have job progression, and I’m sure there are tons of people who worked with Peter in that era of his life that we just never met.

Really there’s not tons that this “friend from childhood” retcon adds outside of showing that Peter had a rebellious streak. It’s kind of the opposite of the Paul Jenkins flashbacks from his Peter Parker/Spectacular runs. Those were sweet and sentimental without being saccharine. These have kind of a mean streak to them. It’s good to humanize Peter more and more, but these had too much of an edge.

Scott: How about that Larraz artwork, though?! 

Not only is there a dynamic side to the action, the scale of what Larraz does just always boggles the mind. I mean, come on, that show of the approach to Ravencroft was beyond words. All the choices around it made the place seem as out of date, imposing, terrifying and wrong as it’s supposed to feel. Just like how Arkham Asylum always feels at the Distinguished Competition. 

Choosing Larraz for the first arc was the right call. Not to say that Romita doesn’t have the goods (as iffy as I am on his artwork), it just wouldn’t have felt the same. This shadowy figure (more on them coming up), the imposingness of Roderick Kingsley and more hit harder because of his dense, so-called “grounded” style. 

Goblin Mode

Scott: Hobgoblin as the villain is a very interesting turn for a character who gets plenty of use but also doesn’t get actual use. Generally he’s just a businessman villain thrown into whatever plot in which they might have need of a Goblin that isn’t Norman or Harry. Having him be the lead antagonist while Norman is a supporting ally builds an intriguing development. 

Tony: Yeah, if there’s any villain in the Spider-Man canon that should be a bigger deal, it’s Roderick Kingsley. After the mystery of his identity dominated so much of the ’80s, he’s just kind of faded into the background. I can genuinely think of five (or maybe six) stories that have truly featured him since I started regularly reading Spider-Man. None of them have been more than a single arc.

Scott: That said, I do wish we were getting a clearer picture of the whys of his involvement here. I appreciate a good mystery and suspenseful buildup, but we’re at a point where he’s openly asking his associate (the revealed) Itsy-Bitsy to murder Spider-Man, Rhino and others. Yet we’re still in the dark (just like the characters) as to why. I’m sure Kelly will spell it out, but it’s not clear when. There are upsides to double shipping a title, but one of the downsides is the potential for too much decompression or stringing things out. 

Tony: I do like that this weird eye-roll of a character in Itsy-Bitsy turns out to be the actually scary threat here. I mean, she was a goofy Spider-Clone from Kelly’s Spider-Man/Deadpool series (and we all love Spider-Clones). Even though the “oh this guy” part of the character still exists, in a single issue, I’m actually convinced she’s a legitimate threat.

But yeah, motivations are crucial.

I do dig seeing Spidey visit Shay at work and playing with the secret identity/dual nature. It reminds me of the early days of the Carlie Cooper relationship. She’s continuing to be one of the best supporting cast additions since Brand New Day, offering a great connection with Peter and a good support role for Spider-Man. It definitely seems like this will be another part of the balance between Spidey and Peter this run seems to be pointing toward.

Scott: Despite having completely missed anything to do with Shay in the previous run (I tapped out real early on), I’m liking the dynamic. Despite the dual identity most definitely meaning drama eventually, there are intriguing things here. Carlie is a good comparison because it feels like the first time there is some momentum with a Spider-Man romance in a while. I say that despite the fact that we had a Peter/MJ reunion and potential engagement not that long ago. Because we knew Marvel was going to drop that like a hot potato ASAP.

 Hey there, Paul! (The sound of the internet groaning echoes.)

Tony: Dylan Brock is all of us over in All-New Venom. 

Overall though, I thought this was an interesting start. I’m liking the mix of new and old supporting cast, and I’m absolutely thrilled to see Kingsley take center stage as the bad guy. Let’s go!

Buy Amazing Spider-Man #2 here.

Hunter’s Day

Scott: Marvel sure is getting their money’s worth with the Predator, aren’t they? Spider-Man joins the short but growing list of characters that Percy has thrown against the alien sport hunter. Luckily for Spider-Man, the Predator he faces is even more brutal with a specific fetish! Wait, that’s not a lucky thing. Sorry, Peter. 

Nostalgia is the antithesis of what I want in my storytelling, but damn if there wasn’t something about Peter and Jonah at the Bugle that didn’t tickle my fancy slightly here. I wouldn’t want to see that regression in the main books, but here it just works. Overall there is a welcome simplicity to the story, even if it feels a bit stretched at times. 

Tony: So, I talked about one of my all-time favorite crossovers on BatChat about two and a half years ago, Batman vs. Predator. This absolutely feels like a modernization of that crossover in the best ways. The Predator is way scarier here, though. He’s not hunting the best of the best, he’s just killing for the sake of blood and gore.

With New York suffering through a horrific heat wave, the Predator has arrived and he’s started killing. Peter and J. Jonah Jameson are trying to get the news out about this new threat, maybe a bit recklessly. The police are just trying to figure out who the killer is. And the best possible foil to a Predator arrives on the scene — Kraven the Hunter.

I really and truly dug this issue. It was probably the best start to date of Percy’s Predator Vs. Marvel series.

Scott: Agreed. There is something more urgent but also fitting here. We know the Predator is alien and foreign to the Marvel Universe, but the approach is the best unity of the two universes we’ve had. Also, tip of the cap for the obvious but perfect inclusion of Kraven. Hunting game respects hunting game. 

Artistically, the style that Ferreira deploys is fitting — plenty rough with exaggeration baked into every image. It’s outlandish with a more street-level approach, though it does feel off and not quite as fluid in some places. Overall, though, there are plenty of in-your-face gory moments befitting the space game hunter aesthetic. I like the use of the striking yellows in the outside scenes to play with the aforementioned extreme heat wave. 

Tony: Ferreira is one of those artists who’s doing the house style so well right now that I’m wondering if he’ll take off if he finds his own voice. He has the potential to be one of the new Stormbreakers if he finds a way to differentiate himself.

But damn if the “no one is safe” vibe doesn’t make this story feel even better. It’s legitimately tense with enough of a horror vibe that I cannot wait to see what’s next.

Buy Predator vs. Spider-Man #1 here.

Kaiju Khaos

Scott:. If Amazing was our high-point and Predator was our midpoint, this last one … well, calling it a low point might still be a bit too generous. Wild that the highest and the lowest come from the same writer. Talk about range!

Tony: I mean, I thought Amazing and Predator were about equal, but your point stands!

Scott: Basically, Godzilla vs. Spider-Man is a series of nostalgia winks so hard the eye might explode wrapped in poor character writing. Marvel has made money in recent years churning out nostalgia-heavy throwback books, stories from the original creator or creators picking up as if it’s still whatever era they were at their peak. Somehow, this is even worse than those clear old-boys’-club cash grabs. 

Every time there was a Nick Lowe editorial box full of “Go read this old book” or “This is a pointless so-called joke,” I wanted to throw the book across the room. Unfortunately I was reading it as a PDF and would never throw my laptop across the room. It took me like six months to finally buy a new laptop that works. But enough about my woes. 

This was bad. Oh so bad. 

Tony: I really liked the Godzilla vs. Fantastic Four and Hulk one-shots. This one missed the mark so badly. The other two captured the feel of their eras, the ’60s and ’70s, without feeling dated or backward. This one was just trying way too hard. It felt like Kelly (and maybe Lowe) read a bunch of ’80s Amazing Spider-Man by Tom DeFalco and only took away the melodrama and bombastic narration.

The plot was fine — Peter is still reeling from Secret Wars when Godzilla attacks. His roar causes the symbiote to separate from him and attach to Godzilla. Peter and ’Zilla both have to fight off the symbiote.

The dialogue and narration were PAINFUL to read, and Bradshaw was trying a bit too hard to emulate Art Adams. I started kinda getting into it, realizing it was an homage, but right around the time MJ showed up, it kicked it into a gear that made me uncomfortable.

Scott: Readily in agreement. 

Everything to do with Black Cat and Mary Jane was cringe inducing. There was a space where this story could have worked, as you noted. This was not that space nor that execution. Normally books that are deviations of well-known moments, a What If, if you will, take the foundation and bounce from there, not try to pretend they are still beat-by-beat those same stories. 

Somehow by proxy, the bad dialogue and narrative choices here made something like Symbiote Godzilla and a Godzilla-inspired Eddie Brock Venom feel shruggable. Comic books are supposed to have the potential to just be wild fun. Yet this book couldn’t even accomplish that simple task, which is wild. 

Tony: And it’s wild that we went from the FF versus King Ghidorah to Hulk-Zilla against Hedorah to this. And this is the one that felt off and wrong. It’s all in the incredibly bizarre execution. And I think if the dialogue had been toned down 10%, the cat fight (sorry) by about 80% and it completely eliminated the truly bizarre editor’s notes, it would have been just as good as the two preceding one-shots.

But it’s saying something that a kaiju-Venom last-page shocker made me roll my eyes instead of laugh at the gag.

Buy Godzilla vs. Spider-Man #1 here.

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