"Mephisto Looks On With Interest", in Amazing Spider-Man #491 (or #50 of vol. 2), by J. Michael Straczynski (writer), John Romita Jr. (penciler), Scott Hanna (inker), Dan Kemp (colorist), Richard Starkings (letterer)
It's notable how much more common splash pages are by this point in time versus all those earlier runs. I had a lot more options for this. I considered the double-page splash of Spidey vs. all his foes from issue #500, but I liked this happy reunion.
I only own six issues of Amazing between Aunt May's death in #400, and JMS taking over as writer at issue #471 (or issue #30 as it was numbered at the time). One Onslaught tie-in, one from Howard Mackie's last few months on the book, and the Identity Crisis storyline. So I'm skipping that stretch.
I only own six issues of Amazing between Aunt May's death in #400, and JMS taking over as writer at issue #471 (or issue #30 as it was numbered at the time). One Onslaught tie-in, one from Howard Mackie's last few months on the book, and the Identity Crisis storyline. So I'm skipping that stretch.
JMS' run as writer was, especially in the stretch where he teamed with John Romita Jr., notable for adding more of a mystical element to Spider-Man's origin and powers. Drawing on spiders as a creature with a lot of mythology around them, and bringing in enemies that would prey on that, either the mystic aspect or the spider aspect. Some of it worked better than others. Each successive Ezekiel appearance was less effective than the one before.
JMS did reunite Peter and Mary Jane, after MJ had been "dead" for about 18 months our time, found, and then they separated. Although I've read Mackie was told to split them up after MJ was brought back, so JMS could write them back together again? Don't know if that's true or not. He made Peter a high school science teacher, although you could question how much he did with the idea. Aunt May learned Peter was Spider-Man, and there was a bit of time spent on her adjusting to that knowledge. (or re-learned, since she'd revealed she knew in Amazing Spider-Man #400). Other than Morlun, none of the villains JMS created semm to have any staying power. I thought a couple would have made interesting foils for other heroes, but oh well.
This is probably my favorite stretch of John Romita Jr's. art. He avoided that tendency he has to bulk everybody up. He got plenty of opportunities, as well as space on the page, to draw big fight scenes, with lots of rubble and smashed cars. He draws a pretty good bloody and tattered Spider-Man. The color work is also excellent, some lovely hues and shades of green and red at times. Especially during the chaos of some of the fights. There are images I can recall from those issues, I don't remember specifically what's going on, but I remember the colors of the scenes vividly.
After the two-part team-up with Loki, I only have two issues from the remainder of JMS's stint: One drawn by Mike Deodato Jr., the other by Ron Garney. The last year and a half of the book in particular, it was one long mess, going from The Other, to the seemingly endless and - thanks to Steve McNiven - frequently delayed Civil War tie-ins, to Back in Black, to One More Day. I am still extraordinarily glad I trusted my instincts and pulled the rip cord before OMD.
This is probably my favorite stretch of John Romita Jr's. art. He avoided that tendency he has to bulk everybody up. He got plenty of opportunities, as well as space on the page, to draw big fight scenes, with lots of rubble and smashed cars. He draws a pretty good bloody and tattered Spider-Man. The color work is also excellent, some lovely hues and shades of green and red at times. Especially during the chaos of some of the fights. There are images I can recall from those issues, I don't remember specifically what's going on, but I remember the colors of the scenes vividly.
After the two-part team-up with Loki, I only have two issues from the remainder of JMS's stint: One drawn by Mike Deodato Jr., the other by Ron Garney. The last year and a half of the book in particular, it was one long mess, going from The Other, to the seemingly endless and - thanks to Steve McNiven - frequently delayed Civil War tie-ins, to Back in Black, to One More Day. I am still extraordinarily glad I trusted my instincts and pulled the rip cord before OMD.
3 comments:
There was a lot of crap in JMS' run -- most of which seemed to be driven by editorial concerns -- but there were also some of my favourite Spider-Man comics. #491 is one of them; JMS does a good job with MJ and Peter's reconciliation, but we also get strong appearances from Doctor Doom and Captain America. It's great fun.
Yeah, Dr. Doom vs. the metal detector was pretty funny, and the back and forth between Pete and MJ trying to talk and the repeated angry guys in armor attacking was a lot of fun, and fit perfectly with MJ's doubts.
There was this issue, the Loki story, I enjoyed the one with the Hulk-creature made out of various dead mobsters, and the two-bit crook sneaking out of the astral plan. We got a pretty solid Doc Ock story too, which I think was the only time JMS wrote one of Spidey's classic villains until, Sins Past, maybe? Although now that I've reminded myself of Sins Past existing, I'm sad.
It's a weird run, because half of it is great and half of it is terrible. For the most part, the terrible stuff is the crossovers or the bits editorial made JMS write.
I had forgotten all about Sins Past. Urgh.
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