ASM gets the Civil War branding, but the other 2 titles have to settle for this. A visible note that they don’t really count (But they sorta do, so please buy them, anyway!). I certainly treated them as such at the time. But, same as with the 7 months preceding Civil War, the little gaps in the collection were starting to look kind of silly after all the other godawful crap I bought on purpose. So here we are. Never seen this. Other comics would get non-Civil-War-but-kinda branding as well, like a “Casualties of War” banner and things like that. Especially once the main title started getting later and later, they had to churn out product. I really don’t know how or even if these other 2 books can make sense in the larger story, but whatever they are, there’s 7 more issues of Spider-Man, 4 of this book and 3 of FNSM, before we continue the main story. Messy! Shades of the original symbiote story, in my mind. And just like back then, I’ve not read the 2 less important books. Let’s see what we’re in for. Clayton Crain is back on interiors this month. I guess he has a similarly McFarlane-inspired Spider-Man, but I don’t know if I think it’s a smooth transition between him and Medina. Or him and anybody.
Fun title, if nothing else.
The trauma of PE is such a well-worn trope in media. I was a big nerd with zero interest in organized sports, and I never had trouble in PE. I only recall taking it in 2 grades, and they both seemed like an hour the coach didn’t really care about. I remember people playing D&D in the weight room in my 11th grade PE class. I would regularly play basketball, informally, with whoever else felt like it. No big deal. Anyway, we further learn Jordan feels a connection to Mr. Parker, who’s teaching one section of biology due to cutbacks, and we then learn his mom is a paralegal at Nelson & Murdock, which is patently untrue. They’ve never had a paralegal in their lives, Matt’s in jail, and Foggy’s “dead” (Don’t worry he’s fine), the firm is not really operating right now. We get various other tidbits about the kid until his Mom sees the news: His science teacher just came out as Spider-Man. Aguirre-Sacasa weirdly detours to Sue Storm and Doc Ock’s reactions. Then the phone rings at Jordan’s house.
Clayton Crain renders these teens better than he does adults, and certainly better than he does superheroes. Look at that absurd Peter compared to Jordan.
Aguirre-Sacasa gives us a couple pages we’re told is Jordan imagining what happened before Peter revealed his secret, which is… just exactly what happened with the same dialogue, mostly… then a page of him imagining how this will impact his future.
So… so Tony hired Peter to work at Stark… while he was also part-time at the Bugle… and he kept teaching, too? While being Spider-Man in 3 titles AND an Avenger? Come on.
Is Otto not wearing a shirt because of Spider-Man 2? What about the coat? What about Ramos’ stupid vampire design, which is sadly still his official appearance for years after this?
I don’t like that this confrontation between Spider-Man and his most dangerous enemy after his secret is out is a side plot in a one-off about some kid we’ll never see again. Shortchanging a big moment in this series. Then we lose even more pages as Otto flashes back to the time he unmasked Peter in ASM 11, while Crain just paints over some Ditko panels and Aguirre- Sacasa makes fun of Doc Ock’s old costume, like “just pants and gloves” is somehow an improvement.
Jordan here is the dumbest kid in the world.
Spider-Man wasn’t even in trouble! He wasn’t caught in Ock’s arms, he was fine! Speaking of Ock’s arms, moving them to his back to be more like the movie sucks, and when the mysteriously return to the correct place, it’s going to be weird.
Why would anyone, including Peter, expect him to be able to just go back to work? How is that not wildly irresponsible? ESPECIALLY since he WORKS AT STARK ENTERPRISES. This school would be under siege by an army of villains. None of this makes a scrap of sense. Peter’s too busy being in Civil War in the ASM tie-ins to go teach. This does not bode well for the rest of the run.