Web of Spider-Man #55Issue(s): Web of Spider-Man #55 Review/plot: Spider-Man is trying to help out best he can, but Nick Katzenberg is there to make sure he looks bad while doing it. After rampaging for a while, the Lobo Brothers return to human form. But the attack on Manhattan is enough for the Kingpin to decide to make peace. In Spectacular Spider-Man #154 there was a cool setup where the Chameleon was pretending to be the Arranger so that people would inform him when the Kingpin resurfaced. Maybe that happened behind the scenes, but it turns out to not really have been a big deal. Meanwhile, J. Jonah Jameson has to pick between Peter Parker and Nick Katzenberg's photos, and thanks to Kate Cushing, Peter's photos win out. This is the first time since JJ had been replaced by the Chameleon right after Nick was hired. That's good luck for Peter, but instead of paying it forward he completely fumbles everything. Joy Mercado stops Peter and asks him to talk to Glory, who they both know has been having a relationship with Eduardo Lobo. So Peter goes to talk to Glory, and in the best of all possible openings, Glory tells Peter without prompting that she's been dating a criminal and wants his advice. And Peter just... i mean, WTF, Peter? What's going on here? He's late to meet Mary Jane at the latest dump of an apartment they are considering renting, but that's at least partially just an excuse for Peter being (in his own words) "lame" and "cliched". I guess he's at least got this insight: "When it comes to personal problems, I'm no better handling someone else's than I am at handling my own." I've seen him do better than this, but i guess if this is deliberate characterization it's a little better. One of the criticisms of Spider-Man being allowed to get older is that they still write him like the kid with all the hang-ups from the early years, and now that he's married and has a job, he just looks like a basket case instead of a mixed up kid. I guess this is a good example of that. Later, at the truce meeting between Kingpin and the Lobos, Chameleon and Hammerhead's gang show up and start shooting up the place. And Spider-Man is there as well, so it's just a big fight. Kingpin knocks out one of the Lobos, Carlos, with a silver-tipped cane. But the other one, Eduardo, has Spider-Man on the ropes. Glory Grant grabs the Arranger's gun, with the silver bullets, and fires, killing Eduardo. At this point everyone else has fled, but the other werewolf wakes up again so Spider-Man has to knock him out. I guess since he was already weakened by the silver cane it's ok that Carlos gets punched out (i wouldn't allow that if i were DM'ing, i can tell you). It doesn't look like either Lobo ever appears again, so i guess that cane really hurt him bad. But the big twist is that Glory was actually aiming for Spider-Man, not Eduardo. She was following Peter Parker's cliched lame advice. Oh Glory. Your first plotline after all these years as a supporting cast member, and it has you finding true love with an evil werewolf gangster. The gang war seems to get wrapped up very suddenly. Of course we still have Hammerhead and the Chameleon to contend with. But the Kingpin's decision to make peace seems a bit uncharacteristic. There's also a lot of blame getting heaped on the Arranger. Spider-Man has foiled many a plot of the Kingpin's; why is the Arranger taking so much heat because Spider-Man stopped the Punisher from killing the Lobos? Oh well. Despite all of that it's really still been a fun arc. This was long after i had stopped paying attention to the Spider-Man titles in realtime, but i'm glad to have been able to go back and go through all of these. Quality Rating: C+ Chronological Placement Considerations: This takes place after Spectacular Spider-Man #154. It's also said to have been "almost a month" since last issue. References:
Crossover: N/A Continuity Insert? N My Reprint: N/A Inbound References (5): show CommentsInteresting comments about Peter's immaturity- Slott has been criticized for writing Peter as too immature but apparently other writers occasionally did that too. Posted by: Michael | October 22, 2014 9:17 PM Man, I feel sorry for Glory she obviously has some mental problems if she's looking for love with a criminal werewolf. Posted by: JSfan | October 23, 2014 5:31 AM JSfan - Werewolves need to be loved just like the rest of us ;) Posted by: clyde | October 23, 2014 9:28 AM Clyde, I agree but there are better werewolves out there. Why did she have to choose him? :) Posted by: JSfan | October 23, 2014 9:41 AM I suppose she could have tried Jack Russell. But, they don't live in the same city. Posted by: clyde | October 23, 2014 10:38 AM Hammerhead needs to hire better gunmen. How can they miss the kingpin when he is 3 times the size of everybody else and makes no effort to take cover? Posted by: kveto from prague | October 23, 2014 3:13 PM kveto - obviously they missed on purpose. Even they're not foolish enough to incur the Kingpin's wrath. Posted by: clyde | October 23, 2014 3:28 PM Well, if they had killed him I doubt they'd have needed to worry about his wrath. you know, him being dead and all. Much more likely to incur his wrath by doing what they did, shooting at him and missing. Posted by: kveto from prague | October 23, 2014 3:57 PM The problem with that is that he would make a deal with Mephisto when he goes to his final resting place down below and be reincarnated. Posted by: clyde | October 23, 2014 4:03 PM That's not Glory Grant, that's Grace Jones! (Or perhaps not... Grace Jones in her prime could eat a werewolf alive.) Posted by: Oliver_C | May 10, 2016 3:28 PM Comments are now closed. |
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