I think I may have poison ivy. Stupid woods.
Len and I were discussing today how Marvel never seems to emphasize that Peter Parker is actually very smart anymore. It came up because I showed him how the Skrulls were able to disguise themselves as trees and ground, which seems to run counter to what had been established previously regarding their shape-shifting. I commented that Marvel doesn't seem to be good at keeping facts straight, and as proof Len brought up the fact that Peter hasn't really used his intellect to beat an opponent since the first Morlun fight.
Technically, there have been a few, just nothing big. He fought a guy in some kind of seismic suit, and beat him by tossing him into a pool, where the suit's vibrations caused waves that smashed the guy into sleepy-land. And there was that weird gamma-irradiated mobster thing, where Peter kept pressing to make it expend it's gamma radiation. But mostly, it's been punchy, punchy. Or nowadays, stabby, stabby.
Sure they allude to it. Tony Stark sees enough in Peter to look at him as an apprentice/understudy/unwitting stooge/lab rat/verbal punching bag/what was I talking about?
Hank Pym was stunned that Peter could create a tracking device attuned to his spider-sense when he was a teenager, while it took Pym years to make a helmet to talk to insects. Of course, this realization probably sent Hank into another bout of domestic abuse, so maybe he would have been better off not knowing this. And it does seem like making a helmet to commune with insects would be harder than just creating something attuned to a special sense only you have, so maybe Pym was too hard on himself.
Norman Osborn reminded us that Peter built web-shooters even earlier than that, yet wastes his time punching crooks. Of course, Peter countered that Norman is even smarter, and he spends all his time flying around, throwing pumpkin-shaped bombs at innocent people, so pot meet kettle.
So Peter is smart. But how often do we actually see that anymore? It seems as if Marvel has been so bogged down in "Spider-Man, Mystic Defender!" they forgot he's still a smart guy. Until this issue.
Peter needs to get through his opponent's mystical gold armor, which defends against all attacks. Rather than just keep punching it, or mope about how everyone keeps telling him he's part of a mystical lineage, Pete puts that brain to use, and makes some aqua regia, an acid that can eat through noble metals such as gold.
Lo and behold, the armor partially dissolves, giving our webslinger a clean shot at the guy's torso, and he quickly ends the fight with two punches. Simple, efficient, smart.
Peter David may just validate my decision to make him the writer of my Spider-Man book.
If only they hadn't had that last page. I swear, there is just no way that is going to be good.
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2 comments:
What happens on the last page?
If you really want to know. . .
SPOILER!
Aunt May, while at a nice restaurant with Jarvis, looks out the window and sees Uncle Ben.
This could be dismissed as hallucination, except when she left with jarvis earlier in the book, a similar-looking shadowy figure emerged from the alley behind him. So in that case we saw him, but Aunt May didn't.
Which is why, in my original review, I said it was giving me a feel of Green Arrow's return in Quiver; only in this case Wanda's magic brought Ben back, and he's been wandering confused through New York since then. His home wouldn't be where he remembered it, so he wouldn't be able to find May or Peter.
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