Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #15 hits the stands this week, featuring Deb Whitman’s bookstore signing plus a cameo that’s already being noted at various websites. Whad’ja think?
PAD
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #15 hits the stands this week, featuring Deb Whitman’s bookstore signing plus a cameo that’s already being noted at various websites. Whad’ja think?
PAD
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First Post! Liked the book, loved the art. Great seeing “B”. (That’s the cameo, right?)
Uh, no. Betty’s presence in the book is far from a cameo. I’m referring to someone else.
PAD
I loved the Colbert cameo. I hope he mentions it when he comes back from the break. Frankly you would be a great guest for Colbert. You think there is a shot?
Also loved the Gaiman joke.
To digress a little. This was in Warren Ellis’ email list.
(You know who should have been
hired into a writer’s room years
ago? Peter David. He’s a natural
kibitzer, I think, and was hugely
valuable in the few group meetings
I did at Marvel that included him.
And possibly the last sane man at
one particular meeting wherein it
was proposed that the new Punisher
should be a university lecturer, to,
in the words of the proponent, “give
some texture to his soul. Also, he
shouldn’t kill people.”)
Is there anyway you can tell us that story?
I really enjoyed it. Seriously, your book is currently the only one that I feel is really showing us the periphery of Civil War’s effect on Peter and how it affects his entire microcosm rather than just focusing on Peter himself and how he relates to Tony now. This has been able to work along with CIVIL WAR while also still maintaining its identity as a Spider-Man book. Good job.
Also, I dig the updated Vulture. I think the best updates are tiny modifications to the costume and/or point of view and the idea that Adrian now sees himself as the righteous hero is just too fun, especially after that flashback.
Deb is interesting because I haven’t decided yet how much she actually IS against Peter. She said herself that the book had been edited to be “meaner” than she intended, but then told off Betty for defending Peter. Nice touch.
Colbert was great. Gaiman joke funny. Betty’s appearance always welcome and it was great to hear her take on things.
That’s my take on that. Thanks for the work, fellow Malibuvian. Keep it up. 🙂 Cheers!
Was the undamaged ear on “not Colbert” intentional, or did the artist not have good enough reference pics?
I enjoyed the issue, particularly the bits with Betty and Flash. However, I didn’t recognise the guy in the cameo, so I just figured it was some US politician/media guy; that probably worked better on an American audience.
One question I do have, since I’m not reading “Amazing Spider-Man” at the moment: is Peter back in his traditional costume now, or is he still using the new one to mimic the old one?
Colbert, sure, I knew that….DOH!!!
I think that the last time I laughed that hard at a comic when you put the heads of Opus, Portnoy and Hodgepodge from “Bloom County” on the shoulders of Spock, Sulu and Scotty in an old Star Trek comic to show Kirk’s hallucinating.
This Vulture tale is a little more connected to “Civil War” than the Mysterio tale, and so I felt that they should have had the Civil War cover style.
Another great issue.
“Was the undamaged ear on “not Colbert” intentional, or did the artist not have good enough reference pics?”
Colbert’s right ear isn’t “damaged” (hearing loss aside). It just sticks out a bit. Either Scott didn’t notice it and drew them looking relatively normal, or else he decided that to draw it right would have “looked wrong” to some people who would have wondered why Eaton didn’t know how to draw proper ears.
PAD
Actually, Scot (one ‘t’, please) Eaton is an absolute gem at drawing just about anything you put in front of him.
However, I am going to tell a tale out of school. Back when I had a brick-and-mortar funnybook shop, Scot was, for quite a number of years, a regular. I saw him emerge as a newcomer on a lot of books (including backups on the David-penned Dreadstar series and Dr. Fate for DC), slowly developing into one of the solidest, most dynamic pencillers in the industry (my opinion, but since it’s my comment, who else’s opinon matters, right?).
His ‘breakthrough’ strip, however, was his stint on the Swamp Thing. His pencils there showed a sensitivity and range heretofore undreamed-of in his super-hero work. His portraiture of women in particular blossomed here.
However, the crack Vertigo editorial staff either didn’t know or didn’t care that Scot had never received proper model sheets for the character. Both the original Wrightson and the later Bissette designs have only the right ear. This detail was never passed on to Eaton, who, for a number of issues, drew the character with two ears. It wasn’t until the subject came up in my store that it was corrected (with major howls of outrage coming from Scot, who was a huge Swamp Thing fanatic, but who had never noticed that one minor detail, and was justifiably disgusted at being caught out that way). I have always maintained that it was the fault of his editor that the gaffe wasn’t caught and corrected before publication.
But, you know…Eaton and ears. Second time around for me.
No reflection on Scot…he consistently hits it out of the park, and his artwork has never ever let me down. As PAD says, it was probably a conscious choice in this instance.
I’ve lost contact with Scot, but the great memories remain.
I missed the Gaiman reference, but I howled at the Billy Mumy shout-out. What’s your personal record for in-jokes in a single issue, or has science not yet developed a number that high?
And while I’m on the subject, are there any you’ve ever sneaked past EVERYONE until long after publication?
J.
(Who personally tracked down the Captain Marvel with the Giant-Sized Man-Thing bit…)
Colbert’s ear came up on one of his shows, and he pointed out that he’d had some sort of operation on it, which is why his right ear looks a little odd. Both ears stick out at the top, but the right ear doesn’t stick out at the bottom, and the left does.
In any case, I was mainly wondering if it was a specific art direction to remove that feature for whatever reason, and the answer seems to be “no”. 🙂
Mr. David,
A random thought and question…
At the last Baltimore Con I got the chance to talk with Jim Starlin who was kind enough to sign my Gilgamesh issues. He mentioned that he’d been approached to do the Gilgamesh prop but that they (i don’t recall who the ‘they’ were in this particular story… possibly Marvel?) had decided not to do it and instead went with another writer’s idea. He thought that writer was you. Was it? If it was, what was your idea? And was the comic ever published?
Thanks for your time
That isn’t exactly how the whole “Gilgamesh” thing played out, actually. There’s a whole story there and I’d rather not go into it as it reflects extremely badly on a particular editor.
PAD
Am I the only one that thought Betty packing heat and totally pìššëd at Deb Whitman was kind of hot?
Almost as much character development in that one issue than there has been in the past decades.
And she’s a reporter now? Ben Urich, Kat Farrell, the woman reporter from Civil War Frontline, and now Betty? Can I get an Amen for a 1 shot or mini focused on the Bugle Reporters?
Betty’s been packing heat for a while (see Ninja-Betty from early 90’s Web). Every good investigative reporter should have a piece.
When listing reporters Jay forgot the much-neglected Ken Ellis who actually resurfaced in a recent issue of Cable/Deadpool.
Recognized Colbert immediately ofcourse and it will be interesting to see if he brings it up on his show. PAD, be honest, was that your intention? 😉
Anyway, good issue. I want to see more on how Flash balances his loathing of Peter Parker with his gushing admiration of Spider-Man.
I really liked this issue and loved the Colbert cameo. Except for one thing. Shouldn’t Colbert have been the one to to defeat the Vulture?
Loved it. Your set-up at Barnes & Barnes (if I remember the name correctly) was great. It made sense how it would actually happen, rather than Spidey showing up to just confront. Well done.
The intro to this issue was interesting. The case for “helping” those who want to end their life is a complicated one (though you can guess my position I am sure). Your portrayal did a great job of incorporating the deep feelings it would raise into the history of a character in the story.
Since I rarely was a Spidey fan (you and JMS are the only reasons I currently read two Spidey titles at the moment), I was unclear on the vulture back story. But even with my lack of knowledge, the implications seemed clear.
The cliffhanger at the end was particularly effective. See you next month.
Iowa Jim
That was a REAL good issue. Probably the first issue of the FNSM run that I’d call “great.” Just really, Really solid use of the supporting cast. The jokes hit. The high moments hit. The lows hit. Flash hit, though not so hard. Betty hit, significantly harder.
Great issue PAD.
Both FNSM and SSM are so good right now (with MA:SM consistantly enjoyable) that it might be the best written period on the Spider-titles in a decade.
J. I missed the Mummy reference. Where was it?
Sean
Sean, not The Mummy, Bill Mumy. The book store where the fight takes place is named “Barnes and Barnes,” the name Mumy uses for his musical endeavours. Their biggest hit was “Fish Heads.”
J.
No one has mentioned the school nurse eating the spider or is that too common place these days? 8^)
Thanks PAD and crew for a great issue in so many regards.
Y’know, for some reason this issue reminded me of an issue that I had when I was 5 years old, and could just BARELY read some of it. Story in that one had the Kingpin strapping Spidey and some woman to tables on the splash page, and then lots of other stuff happens.
Now, I KNOW the stories aren’t remotely similar. But what IS similar is the can’t-wait-to-see-the- next-panel-to-find-out-what-happens feeling that I got with this one. ANd the fact that I showed it to MY five-year-old when he got home from school I think is just really cool.
He liked it, too.
“I missed the Gaiman reference, but I howled at the Billy Mumy shout-out. What’s your personal record for in-jokes in a single issue, or has science not yet developed a number that high?”
I’ve honestly never kept count.
“And while I’m on the subject, are there any you’ve ever sneaked past EVERYONE until long after publication?”
Oh, sure. “1602: Fantastick Four”, for instance, is rife with historical “in-jokes” that no one noticed or commented upon.
PAD
“Recognized Colbert immediately ofcourse and it will be interesting to see if he brings it up on his show. PAD, be honest, was that your intention? ;)”
I wasn’t really thinking about that when I did it. The way the scene was playing out, I wanted to have a guy in the crowd who was pro-registration start busting Peter’s chops. But how to create an interesting personality who’s only going to be there for a panel or two? And I had on Comedy Central in the background while I was writing, and they had an ad for “The Colbert Report.” So I thought, “Perfect.”
It wasn’t until I saw Scott’s terrific rendering of him that I started thinking, “Hey…I wonder if Colbert will pick up on this.” There’s worse things that could happen than a mention that sends a million or so Colbert fans scrambling for their nearest comic book stores.
PAD
[i]It wasn’t until I saw Scott’s terrific rendering of him that I started thinking, “Hey…I wonder if Colbert will pick up on this.” There’s worse things that could happen than a mention that sends a million or so Colbert fans scrambling for their nearest comic book stores.[/i]
Well there are several Colbert fans on his message boards saying they have to pick up this issue. will you let us know if you experience the famous Colbert Bump?
I liked the issue a lot, seeing Betty, Flash, Deb Whitman. I did not care for the cameo, because it took me out of the story (Colvert doesn’t mean anything to me as a personality, and I am not all that familiar with him. I knew enough to know who he was and found it distracting). Everything else I liked.