The Amazing Spider-Man #800 [Part One] - Marvel Comics

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN No. 800, July 2018

Whereas this eighty-page periodical was almost certainly one of the longest single publications to depict Spider-Man battling the Green Goblin’s alter-ego, it is highly debatable that Dan Slott’s penmanship for “Go Down Singing” will ever be regarded as “the biggest Peter Parker/Norman Osborn story of all time”. For although the “no holds barred” narrative admittedly delivers more than its fair share of plot-twists, shocks and bloody bare-knuckle fisticuffs, it also arguably depicts the former Oscorp owner at his most incompetent, as the human mutate paired with the Carnage Symbiote repeatedly fails to kill the likes of Aunt May and Mary Jane Watson, despite supposedly being both super-humanly strong and skilled in martial arts…

Indeed, if anything, the opening half of Issue Eight Hundred of “The Amazing Spider-Man” appears to demonstrate just how utterly inept the former billionaire industrialist is at realising his revenge, with the Red Goblin somehow managing to be thwarted at each and every turn. Admittedly, the Berkeley-born writer does somewhat contrivingly conjure up all manner of anti-heroic cameos, such as Eddie Brock’s Venom and Otto Octavius, with which to stop the murderous villain’s machinations. But it’s hard to imagine that someone as supposedly determined as Harry’s father wouldn’t have lingered just a few more seconds longer to permanently dispatch Web-head’s one-time fiery-headed wife, or his elderly white-haired doting relation, especially when the likes of Doctor Octopus and “one of Marla’s old spider-slayers” have been neutralised.

Of course, all this lazily manufactured bungling does admittedly result in some seriously dynamic smack downs which clearly helped carry this comic’s 411,480 readers ever onwards through the Eisner-Award winner’s drawn-out, treacle-like plot. In fact, Venom’s return and subsequent battle against an increasingly enraged Osborn is probably one this book’s highlights as the symbiote-powered pair tear ragged chunks out of one another, and in many ways it’s a shame that the titular character arrives at Stark Tower as early as he does; “Y’know, Eddie, you are starting to get on my last nerve! I’m on a freakin’ schedule! You’re killing me here!”

Sadly, far less successful however has to be this celebratory edition’s decision to persistently shift artists with each chapter. Despite the clarity of his colourful breakdowns, Nick Bradshaw’s pedestrian pencilling for “Crawling Through The Wreckage” rather pales in comparison to that of Humbertos Ramos, whose dynamically-packed panels for “Too Many Targets” follow straight on from those of the “Atlantic Canadian” illustrator. Whilst for all his clean-lined competency, Giuseppe Camuncoli’s portrayal of the Red Goblin almost dispatching his entire immediate family within the Alchemax Head Office disappointingly seems to lack the energy needed to show little Normie’s emotional change of heart at the thought that his grandfather has cold-bloodedly just murdered his mother.

Writer: Dan Slott, and Artists: Nick Bradshaw, Humbertos Ramos and Giuseppe Camuncoli

The Amazing Spider-Man #799 - Marvel Comics

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN No. 799, June 2018

Undeniably packing plenty of web-swinging bang for its buck, Dan Slott’s script for “The Ties That Bind” was arguably just the sort of action-fest its 192,609-readers were anticipating, considering its plot builds upon the premise that a badly-wounded Spider-Man has previously been overwhelmed by “the Red Goblin’s terrifying power” and resultantly needs “the help of friend and foe alike if he hopes to stop” Norman Osborn. But whilst this third instalment to the Berkeley-born author’s “Go Down Swinging” storyline pays plenty of attention to the likes of Johnny Storm, Silk, Agent Anti-Venom, Miles Morales and even Clayton Cole’s criminal alter-ego Clash, the motivation behind just why Peter Parker has assembled his own ‘Bat-Family’ may well have proved somewhat disconcertingly contrived for the odd perusing bibliophile.

True, as the former “amoral industrialist Head of Oscorp”, Harry’s father is far from the most trustworthy of people, especially now he is wholly merged with the homicidal Carnage Symbiote, so it’s perfectly understandable that the wall-crawler might be a bit dubious as to whether the super-villain will stick “to our bargain” not to harm everyone he cares about, like “the Mary Janes and Aunt Mays of the world”, “as long as you don’t show your pwetty widdle webbed head.” However, the Red Goblin has already disconcertingly lived up to their agreement by allowing the badly beaten Spider-Man to survive their opening encounter, so just why Parker suddenly believes that their deal will be broken and resultantly sends Morales to guard his elderly aunt, the Human Torch to protect Mary Jane, and Cindy Moon to look after “what used to be the Daily Bugle” is perhaps a bit perplexing..?

Equally as annoying is how the Eisner Award-winner deals with the symbiote’s well-known weakness to “fire and sound” so as to enable Osborn’s latest criminal incarnation to survive a withering attack from the combined forces of Storm and Cole. Not unsurprisingly, the assault fails, but rather than provide any sort of explanation as to why it -- it did absolutely nothing” Slott lazily just writes that Norman is now “the ultimate hybrid” with “all of the strengths” and “none of the weaknesses! Ha Ha Ha!”

Fortunately, what this twenty-page periodical is good at demonstrating is Stuart Immonen’s terrific artwork and ability to imbue his figures with precisely the sort of dynamic energy fans of the Canadian penciller have come to expect. Indeed, the illustrator’s double-splash of the Red Goblin defeating Silk and an overly cocky Miles is superbly drawn, as are his later panels depicting Flash Thompson’s ill-fated decision to save the lives of his badly-wounded friends rather than ‘take-out’ this comic’s main antagonist first; “Too easy! Like taking candy from a dead baby.”

The regular cover art of "THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN" No. 799 by Alex Ross