Peter Parker’s life has never been easy. He’s currently dealing with the fact that J. Jonah Jameson has been elected Mayor of New York City, he just walked in on Aunt May and JJ’s estranged father in bed together and to top it all off, his old enemy Norman Osborn is pretty much ruling the world.
This issue, the first of a 5-part story entitled “American Son”, has quite a bit of story packed into it. Pete tries to appeal to the journalistic integrity of the Front Line offices in regards to outing Osborn over his criminal record and past as the Green Goblin. He confides his guilt over Norman’s position to Wolverine and later ends up at a dinner party hosted by J. Jonah Jameson himself. And who should be in attendance? One Mr. Norman Osborn, of course.
And there’s more, including a visit from Menace , a confrontation between Spider-Man and Norman and a big surprise… but that would be spoiling.
The book has a good balance of comedy and drama, as a Spider-Man book should. I really enjoyed seeing Peter challenge the reporters in the offices of Front Line to strive to serve the cause of justice and I also enjoyed the humorous exchanges between Pete and JJJ regarding the impending marriage of J. Jonah’s father and Pete’s Aunt May. On the other hand, Norman Osborn is written as a perfectly despicable SOB: manipulative and just plain evil.
Have you ever seen a pilot episode of a television series in which all of the characters personalities seem to be “turned up to eleven”? Before the writers and actors really get a feel for who they’re writing, sometimes they come off as being a bit amplified? That’s how a lot of the characterization in this book felt.
As much as I loved the portrayal of Norman Osborn, I had an equal distain for Harry. His “laid back, smooth attitude” just felt really cheesy and not at all endearing. When Peter tells you how much he loves his best friend you find yourself wondering why – I was sick of him after the first page. Seeing Wolverine advise Spider-Man to off Norman if given the chance seemed incredibly out of character, even for a killer like Wolverine. For as dark as he is, I’ve never known Logan to invite someone into the dark and scary corner of the Marvel U that he inhabits.
And as for the jokes I mentioned… for every one good one, there were three bad. That’s not a very good ratio in my book.
Cover art to Amazing Spider-Man #595 by Phil Jimenez
© Marvel Entertainment
Marvel’s flagship character is also their most bland. While there was nothing in this issue that I found terribly offensive or so off-putting that I’d give it a failing grade, it didn’t really do anything to wow me either. It’s a casebook example of a C book: very middle-of-the-road. I haven’t been much of a fan of Spidey in recent years, but I think I’m going to try to stick this storyline out and see if it ends up getting any better. If the rest of the arc is on par with this issue then I think it’s finally time to take the “Amazing” out of the book’s title.
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Really?! Things are reduced to having to walk in on Aunt May's sexual encounters?
Ewwww...