FCBD: Amazing Spider-Man

[cyberghostface]

I know Free Comic Book Day has come and gone but I wasn't aware of the Amazing Spider-Man backup story until I got it from Comixology and it apparently wasn't posted here so without further ado...

Comments

[zylly]

It's an interesting premise. And Spider-Man's the best person to do it with, given how many bodies he's got in his backstory.

[captainbellman]

Oh, another Clone Saga, huh?

[cyberghostface]

I'd be willing to bet $20 that this guy has nothing to do with the Jackal.

[beyondthefringe]

He's dressed in red, wearing a Jackal head, obsessed with Spider-Man, and can either bring people back from the dead or clone them.

It's Norman Mephistosborn.

See, this is when we find out that the Norman Osborn that originally "returned from the dead" after a "lengthy stay in Europe" was a clone created by Miles Warren, who's secretly been Mephisto ever since the very beginning of Spider-Man's career, and that the REAL Norman was dead all this time.

Yes, the Norman who rose to power as Director of HAMMER, etc, and who's running around with a bandaged face, is just a clone.

The real Norman returned from the dead by secretly defeating Mephisto in Hell, and is now determined to get revenge on everyone. The Jackal head and Gwen Stacy are his way of mocking Miles Warren.

[rainspirit]

Why...

[lizard_of_aus]

BECAUSE COMICS

Honestly, you'd have better luck with a toy maze ball than with trying to navigate the byzantine labyrinths of comic book retcons.

[thanekos]

" .. we can cut him one hell of a deal.

" That said, what do you wanna do for a movie this weekend? I'm thinking we can either Netflix Day of the Jackal or Ninth Gate. "

" .. both? "

" Sounds good- we gotta keep feeding all the possibilities for who I am. "

[starwolf_oakley]

"Look, a green jacket and barette on a blonde might make me do a double take, but that's about it. That thing in her hair is a Barrette, right?"

Maybe this will give us the much needed "Sins Past was a plot by Mysterio" retcon I keep asking for.

[nyadnar17]

I just assumed this was actually Anubis.....which is dumb of me? Man I don't even know Marvel is a strange place.

[mrstatham]

Why does the Kingpin look like an oversized toddler here? Seriously, his proportions are way off.

[icon_uk]

Oh good, not just me wondered why he appeared to be so odd looking.

[zechs80]

It can't be Mephisto given who's behind Deadpool/Spider-Man in their ongoing now. So I'm gonna bet on Jackal.

[cyberghostface]

I doubt it's Jackal. For starters Jackal has been a green furry guy (not a guy in a costume) for the last couple of decades so I don't think he'd be looking normal all of a sudden.

[long_silence]

A clone of the Jackal then

[icon_uk]

I thought the Jackal WAS a clone.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Even if it's taking a page from Tony Stark's book, I'm digging this progression of Peter Parker. Something about it just feels right to me, like there's some growth to his character going on here.

I like it. I like it a lot. It doesn't quite make up for dissolving the Spider-Marriage, especially the way they did that, but I feel like it covers a lot of ground. There's always going to be that ceiling until that matter is resolved, but I'm into this in a way I haven't been since before OMD.

[yvonmukluk]

The thing is that if anything, Peter has devolved. He ditches his responsibilities to the company that employs hundred, if not thousands, of people, (and which he didn't found or make successful - it was all Otto) at the drop of a hat, not necessarily because he's needed as Spider-Man. It's one thing when he's missing out on his own studies, he's only screwing himself over there. As opposed to here, where people's livelihoods can depend on him.

Not to mention, he squabbles with Iron Man like a petulant baby.

He reads to me like a manchild who got handed a fortune 500 company on a platter. That's not 'progress', in my eyes. He's got the company, yes - but hes sure as hell not accepting the responsibility that comes with it.

[cyberghostface]

(and which he didn't found or make successful - it was all Otto)

Wrong. Everything since SW at least -- where Peter has outreached Parker Industries internationally, has become a major mogul and is developing new technologies to help people -- has been all him.

[yvonmukluk]

Except the springboard for that was the investment from the Zodiac, which came about to what was most likely stock market manipulation by Otto.

And going from what we've seen of Peter's management style, I get the feeling most of the work making PI a success was done by other people while he stuck his head in the sand. Hell, he's admitted in the books that he's overcharged people for his Spider-Tracers and that his shiny new Spider-Mobile is a glorified elevator.

So, yes, I made a generalisation. But from what I've seen of Parker Industries, he's reaping the fruit of other people's work. Happy now?

[cyberghostface]

When did Otto manipulate the stock market?

[yvonmukluk]

Scorpio stated that the reason he invested in Parker Industries (which, after the total failure of the company under Peter's watch in the previous volume, almost certainly more-or-less saved the company) is because, one day all the other companies on the market went down, but that PI went up. Otto is in the body of a supercomputer, and I'm sure has a personal stake in keeping 'his' company afloat. It seems fairly clear what happened there.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Okay, maybe I'm missing some stuff from beyond some of what I see here on SD.

[cyberghostface]

It's not really an accurate summary. Peter hasn't been the manchild he was at the start of BND in years.

[bradygirl_12]

Cut him a deal? Yeah, I guess Peter's used to cutting deals with denizens of the underworld. :)

Peter, honey, does Max know? Doesn't everyone? Just play back that calm commentary of your mentor while you run off with a silly excuse. :)

[steverequin]

FINALLY! Want to know why, every time Gwen Stacy comes back, she still dresses like she did in 1973? Read the answer in... The Clothes Saga.

[jetpack_monkey]

*snerk*

[icon_uk]

Gwen was never the person, Gwen was the outfit, an early traveller from the same species as the venom Symbiote, who basically bonds with the first blonde it can find and when that body dies (as it inevitably does) the outfit separates and moves on to the next blonde...

[fredneil.livejournal.com]

I'd really like to see a panel of Peter looking at old pictures of Gwen and thinking "One thing I never understood. Why did she always wear a miniskirt and go-go boots? She was born in 1993."

[remial]

If Jack Kirby can show up in Fantastic Four to make Ben Grimm the Thing again and bring him back to life, I'm betting this is Joe Quesada finally getting his way and bringing Gwen back. (even if the artists are making him wear a mask to do it)

[cyberghostface]

I don't think Joe Q had much of an endgame in mind beyond breaking up the marriage and making Pete a bachelor.

The 'Man In Red' is Joe Quesada....

[7dialsmystery]

....the worst villain Spider-Man has ever faced.

[silverzeo]

Oh no... not THIS again?!?