Golden Spidey Memories: ASM #62 reiew

After the pulse-pounding saga that just concluded, featuring the Kingpin, his brainwasher, a brainwashed George Stacy, tumult between Peter and Gwen, and other action, this issue is a bit of a breather, that's another way of saying it's mediocre.
We start off right in the action, with a web-swinging spidey coming across Medusa, of the Inhumans fame. I thought she was a long-forgotten character, but apparently Medusa has had a long career in the Marvel U, according to Wikipedia. You lean something every day.
Anyway, Medusa is here to talk to "average people" as sort of a retcon mission to sea if they fear her, in order to determine if the Inhumans can re-enter regular society without a problem. Oh, Stan, this is shaping up to be a pretty dumb issue.
And my prediction is realized by the fifth page, as an ad exec looks out his window and sees Medusa, and her long flowing hair. He determines she would be the perfect spokeswoman for a series of ads for "Heavenly Hair Spray." Oh boy. Anyway, the ad guy sends his flunky to offer this prestigious role to Medusa. she initially scoffs at it, but then realizes it could help her in her mission to interact with regular society, so she accepts.
However, things go wrong when Medusa starts smashing production equipment and making a general ruckus in the ad studio. Spidey tangles with her again, she reveals her true intention, and determines the Inhumans can't mingle in regular society. The only noteworthy aspects of this issue were a scene where Norman Osborn starts to recollect his Green Goblin memories, and a scene at the end where MJ realizes how much Peter cares for Gwen.

Rating. 3.0 out of ten. after a pretty stellar ten-plus issue run, really ever since the kingpin was introduced in ASM #50, this is clearly a throw away issue. Stan really mailed this one in. There is absolutely no reason for this issue to exist, and it does nothing to further any spider-storyline Read more!

Amazing Spider-Man 619 review

The Gauntlet: Mysterio, part 2

Sorry for the delay in posting this, but I just picked up my books from last week yesterday due to it being a very hectic week.

Anyway, the Mysterio/gang war story heats up in part 2, with even more references to classic Spidey characters. When we left off, the Maggia, aided by Mysterio, were at war with Mr. Negative's forces for criminal dominance in New York. Spidey of course is on the scene trying to break up a firefight between the two forces. He talks to an NYPD officer also on the scene, a Capt. Watanabe, who doesn't consider Spidey a dangerous vigilante, since she remembers the now-deceased Capt. Jean DeWolffe saying good things about him. Whoohoo, classic Spidey reference No. 1!

Anyway, along the way Mysterio uses his trickery to make Peter think he killed a Maggia member during the fight, just to fuck with our hero's head. Mysterio does this again during a later scene where Spider-Man comes across a group of thugs. Spidey confronts them and comes face to face with their leader, none other than the Big Man! He hasn't been heard of since since ASM #52, a loooong time ago. But wait, it gets freakier. Spider-Man unmasks the big man only to find that underneath the mask it's actually Captain George Stacy! There's classic Spidey references 2 and 3 for ya. Is it real or illusion? At this point, Spider-Man figures out who's behind all this chicanery, and tells Mysterio this time he's gone too far. Looks like we'll get a Spidey-Mysterio throwdown next ish.

Meanwhile, as this is all going on, CSI tech Carlie Cooper is coming to grips that her long-thought dead father, himself a respected cop, has suddenly reappeared. He tells Carlie that he faked his death with the help of Mysterio years ago because he was secretly working with the Maggia and needed to get away for a while. Carlie can't believe her dad would've been a crooked cop. Is this also another Mysterio illusion? Guess we'll find out soon. Also, Aunt May, who last issue was infected in some way by Mr. Negative's touch, which I guess turns you into a mean-spirited person, berates Harry Osborn and the Reilley family living at her house because her house burnt down. It wasn't their fault May, Kaine did it several issues ago!

Rating: 7.5 out of 10. I have enjoyed the Mysterio arc so far, partially because of the throwback to organized crime-related Spidey stories from the laste '70's and '80's, like "Gang War" and the Kingpin-Maggia stories. The art is another main reason for my enjoyment of these past two issues, Marcos Martin is doing a stellar job as a Spider-Man artist. Read more!