Well, I for one have no idea what’s going on. But it’s a Jazzy Johnny cover, and I shant say no to that. Inside, we’re back in the dependable hands of Mark Waid, working alongside the downgraded art team of Barry Kitson, Mark Farmer and Andres Mossa (Sorry, man, it is what it is). Does Mark eventually become a “Brain Trust” member? I don’t know. He should, he’s the brainiest brain they got.
Well, Peter finally arrives to see Betty, who is taking him to a speed dating event. While narrating that people love him despite him not being dependable, we see him cycle through one disaster after another. Then this happens…
I don’t get this. Is the implication that she’s bad or cheap or something? Awkward gender politics: engage! The fact that Betty once tried very aggressively to cheat on her husband with Peter seems like something that might come up in this context, but I guess not. Look at Peter’s weird eyes in that bottom panel, yeesh. Peter & Betty walk to the FEAST Center, and Peter wants to go talk to May. Betty narrates that she knows he’s planning something for her birthday Friday, and that’s what he’s talking to May about, and he thinks she doesn’t know. But she wonders if he’ll be able to pull off whatever he’s up to. As May is getting her stuff so Peter can walk her to her train, he spots a purse snatcher out the window, and makes a lame excuse to Betty.
Betty was thinking about how May has been alone too long and deserves to find someone special. Now Betty is thinking about setting her friend Haley up with Peter when she literally runs into Jay Jameson on the street outside the DB!. He doesn’t introduce himself, but he’s charming.
JJJ’s dad with Peter’s aunt? They wouldn’t, would they? Of course they would! Well, now Betty and Haley are waiting for Peter, and he’s not showing up, and they end up getting drunk on margaritas. Not your dad’s Spider-Man comic, eh?
Well, the next night, Betty is sure Peter has stood her up when he arrives… with a DVD rental and dinner from her favorite take out place. She is pretty surprised. They watch the movie, Peter having perhaps too much fun, Betty having none at all. She finally has had it, and wants to know why the party didn’t happen. He says he tried, and she demands to know what happened.
Man, it’s funny how something this specific could happen again in a Spider-Man comic someday, but… it will!
Man, if Peter is Betty’s best friend, her life is a disaster. And why on Earth is she still at the DB!, anyway? It doesn’t make any sense. What could smarmy Dexter Bennett have possibly done to instill such loyalty? A whole issue focused on Betty, I wouldn’t have minded if someone bothered to tell us. Well, not a whole issue. See, it’s January, 2009, and a certain history-making politician is enjoying almost unheard of popularity right now, so guess who’s coming to a bonus short in the back of this issue?
Man, Zeb Wells AND Todd Nauck. The creme of the crop, this is not, to celebrate the election of Barack Obama. Especially considering how effective this little stunt was, causing this book to go back to print over and over and over, they could’ve gotten some of their real talent on it. Ooo, I’m snarky today.
At minimum, they coulda sprung for someone who can draw a recognizable likeness. Word was, Obama was a comic book nerd. I’m not sure that was every really verified. All kinds of people were putting him in comics at this time, it was weird.
The Knight Rider thing feels remarkably correct. Meanwhile, Peter Parker has been sent to photograph the inauguration, but has lost his press credentials, of course. So he sneaks in, only to be recognized.
Trying to play to both sides, Zeb? It’s funny how, sliding time scale and all, this definitely didn’t happen anymore. Well, Peter’s out, ready to shoot the event, when President-Elect Obama arrives. And then a speeding car crashes into his limo, and a 2nd President-Elect Obama arrives.
Oh, let’s just run the rest, I’m tired of typing.
“Secretary of Shuttin’ You Up” did amuse me, I cannot tell a lie.
Spider-Man’s head is so small in that last panel! A Todd Nauck specialty! Well, there you go. Barack Obama is president in the Marvel U. They’ve rarely been willing to identify a president, but they’re stuck with him now. Can’t let the president be at the root of something evil like drone strikes on civilians or anything… But wait! The presidential antics don’t stop there! The collection I’m reading also includes…
What I believe was a digital-only short featuring… well, those guys. And it comes to us courtesy of writer Matt Fraction, line artist Andy MacDonald, and color artist Nick Filardi. A very 2000s indie comics lineup, even if Fraction was by now helming the comic they hoped people who saw the Iron Man movie would stumble onto. Andy MacDonald was the artist of NYC Mech with writer Ivan Brandon, an indie comic well beloved on the Bendis Board (And by me, personally) that I nonetheless don’t think really set the world on fire. He had a unique and quirky style. This short is only 6 pages, let’s just look at it.
Starting off silly. And in MacDonald’s wheelhouse. This is the kind of delightfully gonzo nonsense you might find in some of Fraction’s indie work, also. I could totally see Casanova Quinn fighting these guys.
How indeed?
Pretty fun! And with that, we can be done with presidential antics and return to the regular title– just kidding, we got another weird one next post.