Ok, we’re finally here. After all that pointless Back In Black stuff and a welcome return to USM, we can see what the Brand New Day era of Spider-Man is like. Sort of. Maybe. See, while this is technically the first story of the period… it is not of the period. Somewhere in the 2000s, comic book companies and retailers hit upon the idea of Free Comic Book Day, an event designed to bring people into comic stores that wouldn’t otherwise be there. A big event with a media blitz telling people to seek out their local comic shop to get free stuff. It was a really smart idea. I don’t know how effective it was, but it was smart. I think it’s mostly just become marketing to existing readers, at this point. FCDB offerings initially comprised reprints and things like that, then slowly shifted into all-new material, then further shifted into glorified teasers for upcoming paid product. Get the FCBS book for a 15-page short leading into the next Marvel event or whatever. Here, in 2007, we’re in the middle of that process, and that brings us FCBD: Amazing Spider-Man, also called Swing Shift. It was, rather absurdly, released during the first month ASM missed during Back In Black. And while it’s careful not to give much away, it takes place after One More Day, so it’s technically the beginning of the new thing.
I got this at a comic shop I frequented for about a year that I’d forgotten until I saw the stamp on the cover. I don’t think they lasted long. This same year, I do believe, I switched to mail order. It was cheaper to order from Midtown, the big NYC store, at a discount, than to go to the local store. Somewheres in the near future, 2009 or 2010, I’ll start going to a shop near my brother’s apartment for a while. But after months of their very nice and very apologetic owner having to say Diamond once again shorted him a bunch of stuff I’d ordered, I would switch back to mail order and never look back. By 2024, I would have quit buying comics altogether years ago if not for Discount Comic Book Service offering a steep discount. The catch is you have to buy everything months in advance, like stores do, but it’s the only thing that makes the ever-rising cost of comics manageable. Currently a grimly overpriced $4.99 Marvel title is $3.16 through DCBS, and their ever-more-frequent, patently insulting $10 “special issues” are $6.39. I would not buy a single issue comic book full of filler short stories for $10 under any circumstances, but DCBS has me limping along, desperately trying to enjoy this hobby I used to love. But I have gone way off topic.
This story is by Dan Slott and Phil Jimenez, both of whom will be part of the new regime, tho I’m not sure that was confirmed at the time. A lot of things were suspected, but nothing was concrete 6 months before the actual new status quo started. Slott was a “fan favorite” writer, beloved by his readers, but only just started to breakout after a decade in the business. Phil Jimenez was a fairly popular artist. I’m not sure how big he really was. And his art was ok, not always my thing, but fine, but the thing is, this book gave him ample chance to show that…
…he draws a terrible Spider-Man. He draws Spider-Man like he’s doing the 3rd feature in Spider-Man Unlimited in 1994. Anything that isn’t Spider-Man on the page looks fine, but not the main character, and that’s not good news! He is inked by Dan Abnette and John Dell and colored by Jeromy Cox here.
The brief for Brand New Day was, well, new. New friends, new enemies, new possible love interests. So, we get… Overdrive. A… a car-themed villain. This is not a promising starting point. But, as I said, this art, perfectly acceptable. Nothing to complain about.
And then he turns into a 3rd rate Todd McFarlane when Spider-Man appears. Well, we can see 2 things right off the bat: Spider-Man’s identity is a secret, and Aunt May is not dead. This came out in the month between ASM 541 and 542, Back In Black still very much in progress, and “Will Aunt May live???” is answered. Yikes. I’ve complained before about colorists adding hideous blur effects to art, making it look worse, but looks at this:
Cox blurs the background so bad you can barely see the taxi Overdrive is talking about! Mr. Negative is another new villain, surely familiar to players of the Sony Spider-Man game. Spider-Man smashes into Overdrive’s car, ripping the roof off, as 2 pursuing cops debate whether Spider-Man is helping or hindering them, and then Spidey discovers the car is full of Spider-Man-themed chotchkies. Bobbleheads, air fresheners and so on. Overdrive says he’s Spider-Man’s biggest fan. Last time Spider-Man encountered something like this, it was Black Cat’s shrine to him in ASM 205. He probably won’t end up dating this car, tho. Spidey’s so distracted that Overdrive is able to electrify the surface of the car and zap him.
The mind reels trying to figure out this 3-week gap. What is it? Why would he take 3 weeks off after OMD? Or did he disappear because history was rewritten? Will there be an answer? I don’t know. Meanwhile, in the rapidly-becoming-overused Bar With No Name, quickly rebuilt after Punisher blew it up, apparently, villains watch the news, including the Answer (Everywhere lately!), Cobra, Spot, Slyde, Speed Demon, the original Ox, Boomerang, and other losers, betting on whether Spider-Man will beat “the new guy.” Then it’s back to the fight, where Spider-Man is very upset that this is what his afternoon is turning into as he’s dragged down the street by his web.
What fresh hell is this?
Why, it’s Jackpot, the brand-new superhero who absolutely is not Mary Jane. Really, she isn’t. She’s designed to make you think she’s Mary Jane, but for some unfathomable reason, she’s not. Despite being a redhead named after MJ’s catchphrase who calls Spider-Man “Tiger,” it’s just some lady. It’s one of the stupidest things ever printed in a Spider-Man comic. And this is far from her last appearance. Not a strong start! Our man catches up to the cops from earlier, giving them traffic advice and convincing them to ram Overdrive, sending his car flying off a bridge or something.
Who the hell is Joe??? Will he ever be seen again? I don’t know. The rest of this issue is a preview of One More Day, maybe the first time it was revealed, I don’t remember. Well, there you have it. A crappy new villain. The ludicrous Jackpot. And things looking pretty status quo. This is the first look at the new world, and it looks… rough… This, of course, I read in 2007, but from here on out, it’s all new to me. I hope… some of it is good…