Skip to content
Menu
  • Secret Origin!
Menu

ASM 371

Posted on June 2, 2023January 25, 2022 by spiderdewey

Crisis for Spidey’s parents! Oh no! Looking a bit more like an old school Spider Slayer this time out. On page one, Felicia debuts her new-ish look.

It’s the 90s, so an already famously over-sexualized design somehow gets even more aggressive. Not sure why all the white parts are gray now, that doesn’t seem like the right move. Also note her hair is less crazy this issue, for some reason.

MJ pulls Peter aside to tell him to chill out with the accusations. While they’re having a fight, Richard & Mary decide to find that Shaddock guy and see if he can help them remember things. Which is a very weird thing to do. Then we jump ahead to night time, as Felicia is driving her and Peter to Long Island, partners again, it would seem. They’re going to see if they can get an audience with Mendel Stromm’s old lab assistant, currently living in an asylum. But they’re told he broke out recently, and also that that was kept from the public, and the administrator threatens to sue them if they tell anyone. So… why’d he tell them? As they leave, Peter gets the mild danger sense buz, and Felicia’s fancy new contacts allow her to spot one of the mechanical spiders up in the shadows. Soon, Spider-Man is scaling the building.

The one on the cover, of course. The faces on the screens bicker about who saw Spider-Man first even though they all look the same as they smash through the roof and dump everybody into a swimming pool in some physical therapy wing of the asylum. The water doesn’t bother the robot, but the bickering faces almost shoot it with their own laser hands trying to get Spider-Man off of them.

That’s a whole lotta guess work, Spidey! And also a terrible way to run a robot. He leaps onto a wall, and it shoots out a cable to snag him, powerful enough to rip him loose. But then Felicia’s on the scene, slicing through said cable and making with the banter. I note Michelinie is writing her more like the Mantlo/Milgrom Cat than she’s sounded in anything since then, a freewheeling adventure junkie. The admin who sent them packing earlier bumbles in, and when Spidey hears how much the various personalities hate the guy, he tries to rile them up and get them fighting over who gets to shoot the guy, and…

My goodness, what a coincidence, indeed. Spidey knows better, and he and Felicia are off to search for Smythe as we shift focus to the Parkers, taking a walk in May’s neighborhood…

Goodness, another giant shock. Well, only 2 chapters left, and things are moving along. For the backup, speaking of Al Milgrom, he’s back to write this one, with Lopresti, Hudson and Javins on art. This month, we focus on Mary Jane, who is getting ready to shoot a scene for a small role in a movie she landed. Some dialogue in the scene makes her flashback to her own terrible childhood, bringing you up to speed since it hasn’t really been a plot point in a long time. As she thinks about her failed writer dad abusing her family…

Certainly useful to people who’ve not read ASM 259, but not so much to me. MJ deep in thought and not speaking somehow nails her scene while thinking about marrying Peter and wondering if his parents are real, and they move on to another scene.

I actually remembered this one. Hudson really tightened up the linework. Not everyone is cut out to be their own inker, I guess.

  • Aaron Lopresti
  • Al Milgrom
  • Amazing Spider-Man
  • Aunt May
  • Black Cat
  • Bob Sharen
  • David Michelinie
  • Don Hudson
  • Marie Javins
  • Mark Bagley
  • Mary Jane Watson
  • Mary Parker
  • Randy Emberlin
  • Richard Parker
  • Spider Slayer
  • Spider-Man
  • Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recent Posts

    • USM 047
    • Ultimate Six 7
    • Ulimtate Six 6
    • Ultimate Six 5
    • Ultimate Six 4

    Archives

    • May 2025
    • April 2025
    • March 2025
    • February 2025
    • January 2025
    • December 2024
    • November 2024
    • October 2024
    • September 2024
    • August 2024
    • July 2024
    • June 2024
    • May 2024
    • April 2024
    • March 2024
    • February 2024
    • January 2024
    • December 2023
    • November 2023
    • October 2023
    • September 2023
    • August 2023
    • July 2023
    • June 2023
    • May 2023
    • April 2023
    • March 2023
    • February 2023
    • January 2023
    • December 2022
    • November 2022
    • October 2022
    • September 2022
    • August 2022
    • July 2022
    • June 2022
    • May 2022
    • April 2022
    • March 2022
    • February 2022
    • January 2022
    • December 2021
    • November 2021
    • October 2021
    • September 2021
    • August 2021
    • July 2021
    • June 2021
    • May 2021
    • April 2021
    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • January 2021
    • December 2020
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • April 2020
    • March 2020
    • February 2020
    • January 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    • September 2019
    • August 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • May 2019
    • April 2019
    • March 2019
    • March 6

    Categories

    • 1960s
    • 1970s
    • 1980s
    • 1990s
    • 2000s
    • Uncategorized

    Tags

    Alex Saviuk Al Milgrom Amazing Spider-Man Aunt Anna Aunt May Ben Reilly Ben Urich Betty Brant Bill Mantlo Black Cat Bob Sharen Brian Michael Bendis David Michelinie Doctor Octopus Flash Thompson Gerry Conway Glory Grant Gregory Wright Gwen Stacy Harry Osborn Hobgoblin Howard Mackie J. Jonah Jameson Jim Mooney JM DeMatteis Joe Robertson John Kalisz John Romita John Romita Jr Kevin Tinsley Kingpin Liz Allen Mark Bagley Marvel Team-Up Mary Jane Watson Mike Esposito Norman Osborn Sal Buscema Scott Hanna Spectacular Spider-Man Spider-Man Stan Lee Tom DeFalco Venom Web of Spider-Man

    Meta

    • Log in
    • Entries feed
    • Comments feed
    • WordPress.org
    ©2025 | Design: Newspaperly WordPress Theme