Marvel’s “point” numbering system may be irritating as all hell, and the premature revisitation to the Peter Parker identity of Spider-Man feels a lot like placating a certain type of fan, but Joe Casey’s entry into the “event” is a solid story that mixes a classic Parker scrape with his penchant for deconstructing aspects of cape comics.
Written by Joe Casey
Illustrated by Tim Green
Backup written by Jen Van Meter
Backup illustrated by Emma Rios• Continuing the special celebration of THE ORIGINAL SPIDER-MAN from Man of Action’s Joe Casey & Tim Green (AVENGERS ACADEMY)! • What is the Black Lodge? And how has Spider-Man been trapped there, surrounded by his deadliest foes? Then, the Black Cat and Spider-Man team-up to bust an international art thievery ring in CAT & MOUSE by Jen Van Meter (CAPTAIN MARVEL) and Emma Rios (AMAZING SPIDER-MAN).
Having made it to the 000.3 entry in the “Amazing Spider-Man #700” series of point numbered issues is pretty fitting for what we’re getting here. Just as “Amazing Spider-Man” can’t and won’t move beyond issue #700, these stories just seem to exist in a limbo. They don’t really matter to the overall Spidey narrative, if you care about corporate comics that “matter” in some kind of chronological canon, anyway. Also, despite what a certain rabid segment of the fan base says, these stories aren’t inherently better or more interesting simply because they feature Peter Parker at the center. As a matter of fact, there’s nothing extraordinary about this issue, but is a solid look at an underdeveloped aspect of mainstream comics on the part of Joe Casey.
Casey opens up by pitting Peter Parker’s quipping nature against an enemy that appears to have had enough and is willing to push things to the limit. Peter’s jokes quickly come to a halt and the “grim dark” overly violent trend in comics takes over. What happens to the participants in this battle is gruesome, but it accomplishes a greater purpose on the backend. We spend so much time following the heroes in superhero comics that we never stop to consider all the bodily damage that is done to the villains. Superheroic acts in comics only started appearing really violent and grim in the last couple decades or so, but let’s be honest with ourselves – the villainous flunkies in comics have always taken an unfathomable beating. Not that it matters whether we consider it or not – these are just superhero comics, after all. The villains are mostly disposable by nature. But give these characters to a writer like Casey, and he’s going to explore the ramifications of that damage. He’s the right man for the job, too.
Casey explores this through the “Black Lodge”, which I was slightly disappointed to find did not contain a backwards-talking dwarf and an evil version of Peter Parker, but instead was a hideout hospital for the express recovery of those with a villainous persuasion. Casey creates a pretty thick air of tension over the fact that Peter is trapped here, helpless and in danger of having his identity revealed to all there. You know, classic Peter Parker stuff. On the other hand, not much is actually done with that concept. It’s a seed of a great idea, but there doesn’t seem to be enough page space utilized to really explore it. Also, villains are very dumb in this story.
Tim Green’s art is also a more classic Spidey take than we’ve been seeing with Dan Slott’s run. Slott’s run is full of fantastic talent that has taken Spidey to new and different heights, but if the work of Giuseppe Camuncoli and Humberto Ramos is further away from the classic look of Spidey than you’d prefer, Green is a solid alternative. Green hammers home the brutality of that aforementioned opening brawl and the resulting affect on its participants is actually shocking thanks to how far the art goes in its depiction of the damage. The Black Lodge, too, is suitably creepy and an unsettling place for our hero to be stuck. Brad Simpson uses a simple, darkened color palette in these scenes. Gross green dreariness characterizes the broken down hospital horror show, and Peter’s gradual realization of the situation he’s in is well-worn in his body language and on his face, even if it’s covered in bandages. Oddly enough, the faces of the characters that are in plain sight suffer a little bit from some uneven penciling and a couple cases of unintentional “wandering eye.”
Continued belowI must mention that Jen Van Meter and Emma Rios provide a short little Black Cat-centric backup story. The art is gorgeous and fluid, as is expected from the wonderful Emma Rios. Van Meter and Rios combine to create a playful little story that ends on a nice little beat, but is ultimately a backup without much consequence. The personality in the story is pretty refreshing though, as the Peter/Felicia relationship is always good for some romantic tension.
These point numbered issues, for better or worse, do successfully harken back to when Peter Parker was your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. In reality, these stories aren’t doing anything to push the character, which is where Dan Slott continually finds so much success. Casey and Van Meter choose to focus on tertiary villain characters a bit more, but don’t end up doing a lot with them. What it amounts to is basically equitable to “status quo Amazing Spider-Man” from the ’80s. That is, decent enough comics that for the most part won’t be remembered down the line.
Final Verdict: 6.8 – Browse. Wacko Peter Parker fans buy, I guess.
