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Amazing Spider-Man #558
Freak The Third
Credits
Writer: Bob Gale
Pencils: Barry Kitson
Inks: Mark Farmer
Colors: Avalon’s Hannin & Milla
Letters: VC’s Cory Petit
Asst. Editor: Tom Brennan
Editor: Stephen Wacker
Executive Editor: Tom Brevoort
Editor-In-Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley
Spidey’s Braintrust: Gale, Guggenheim, Slott, Wells
Special Thanks to James Hodgkins
Synopsis
At breakfast, Peter has Freak on his mind as he realises that the melting snow means that he will return from his chrysalis state. Before leaving to find him, Peter mentions to May that he is thinking of moving to the city which turns out to be something she is all too pleased about!
An hour later Spidey is with Curt Connors and they arrange for him to contact Spidey as soon as he has found out where the wreckage from the burning apartment block (where Freak was last seen) has been taken.
Meanwhile, one the Upper East Side, JJJ returns home to find a tape left by his wife, Marla. On it she explains why she sold The Bugle and that, even though she loves him, she isn’t coming back until he is truly calm…
Over at The FEAST Project, Martin Li gives his public backing to Bill Hollister’s campaign. Peter is busy taking unflattering pictures when Connors phones him. He has located the wreckage and is enroute with the quicklime which will put Freak into stasis. Suddenly, Menace arrives at the press conference and demands that Hollister withdraw from the race or face his consequences! Peter gets May to safety and then enters the fray as Spider-Man! The fight is short however as Spidey breaks off to follow Connors’ directions and deal with Freak! With that, Menace leaves too…
Crowne watches all of this and demands that his men expose and destroy Menace!
At The Brooklyn Salvage Yard, Spidey is just in time as Freak emerges from his chrysalis once more! He is bigger and madder than before, with more heavy duty armoured plating on his arms, torso and back! Spidey tries to sucker him in so that he can crush him with a tonne of scrap metal but Freak is distracted by Connors’ arrival and moves out of the way. Spidey realises he needs to end this quickly and tells Freak that there are drugs in the back of Connors’ car. Freak tears open the trunk and the packages of quicklime believing them to be drugs. He passes out and another chrysalis forms around him putting him into stasis again. Spidey suggests Connors calls the police to decide what to do with Freak now…
Later, Crowne denies association with Menace and issues a reward for his capture and Lily Hollister issues a challenge to Menace – ‘Bring it on, ugly!’ Peter watches this with Harry who seems a little too relaxed about his girlfriend’s attitude.
Elsewhere a clean-up team take Freak to the freezing units… the freezing units… in Oscorp!
Highlight
Oscorp gets involved and makes Freak interesting!
Comments
It’s a pity that this is the weakest issue of Brand New Day yet. Having tasted Gale’s previous arc I still had a little bit of hope for his ability to handle a one-off issue and I was looking forward to the fact that this would sit firmly in continuity and develop threads that had been established already.
I should have listened to my head instead of my heart and not hoped.
Gale ruins most of this issue with his continued dated dialogue. His jokes and quips aren’t funny, the timing of his dialogue doesn’t often fit with the action and supporting characters are given atypical, cold, unemotional things to say. For example, Menace is no longer threatening and says stuff just for the sake of it. It’s lucky I’ve seen John Romita Jr.’s pencils of him in a later issue where he is pretty bloomin’ mean!
But I can’t just put this on the dialogue. Gale’s choice of plot is neither here nor there. The focus needed to be more on the confrontation with Freak and the decision to leave Menace needed to be much more obvious – Gale missed an obvious but useful guilt trip here as well as completely forgetting to explore Spidey’s feelings of killing Freak during the fight.
There are some nice scenes which tie elements together and I do feel that this issue accomplishes replenishing the mayoral election plot with a little more detail and intrigue (particularly Crowne’s passion, Martin Li’s involvement and Lily’s challenge to Menace) but that might be it.
Oh, there is the first mention of Oscorp which sends a few excited sparks into my inner fanboy! With Freak in their (Harry’s? Norman’s? I’m not sure!) possession, I’m looking forward to this subplot actually making Freak worth a dime.
Barry Kitson’s art is pretty strong and helps a little. He has a soft style that inks cleanly and captures the very fine lines he uses for texture and detail. His Spider-Man takes inspiration from Romita Sr. and has a springy yet rounded look about him. I think that certain impact in Spidey vs. Freak is a little lost due to Kitson’s over-detail of background and slight lack of depth and logical perspective, a negative aspect I found in Phil Jimenez’s work as well.
Bring back Slott.
Rating
Cover – 3 / 5
Overall – 2 / 5
Reviewed by Adam Rivett
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Ultimate Spider-Man