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!

Amazing Spider-Man #618 Review

The Gauntlet: Mysterio

The Gauntlet continues along with the reappearance of Mysterio! I always thought Mysterio had one of the goofiest outfits of any super-villain, what with his green and purple outfit and fishbowl head. Anyway, isn't Mysterio dead? Well, as we all know in comics, deaths are never permanent (Except Kraven's. His death was epic and fantastic. Please don't bring him back and ruin it!!)

Most of this issue deals with the gang war between the Maggia crime family and that of Mister Negative (I always thought that was a goofy name.) In the beginning of this ish, it appears that key members of the maggia are being hunted down by Mr. Negative's forces. This leads to potential Peter Parker love interest Carlie Cooper investigating these various crime scenes, and she also gets humorously put down by the other sops, who don't conside rher a "real" cop. Apparently that's because she doesn't live up to the long shadow cast by her father, a former cop.

Meanwhile, Spidey is at a maggia hideout while Negative's forces, dubbed the "inner demons" attack, and he helps the maggia fight them off, rationalizing that he also has to help save the lives of scumbags too. Afterwards, a maggia member thanks Spidey, which a person on the street hears and surmises that Spider-man is helping criminals. Oh Peter will your luck ever change.

Later, we discover that the maggia members we thought were dead actually are alive. They faked their own deaths thanks to the help of their newest colleague, Mysterio! Also, Mysterio apparently has also created some illusion that causes Carlie's dead cop father to come back alive. This is part one of three, so we'll see more of this story.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.0. This issue reminded me story arcs from the late 70's, early to mid 80's that were organized crime related, like "Gang War". In fact, Silvermane appears to lead the Maggia, in his late 70's, early 80's robot gear. That reminded me of Black Cat-era Spidey story arcs. In fact, I think in the 190-ish issues of Spectacular Spider Man there was a long Silvermane-in-his-robot-gear vs. the Kingpin story arc. This is kinds like that. Read more!