|
Amazing Spider-Man #579
Unscheduled Stop Part 2
Credits
Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: Marcos Martin
Colors: Javier Rodriguez
Letterer: VC’s Chris Eliopoulos
Asst. Editor: Tom Brennan
Waterlogged: Stephen Wacker
Executive Editor: Tom Brevoort
Editor-In-Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley
Spidey’s Braintrust: Gale, Guggenheim & Slott
Synopsis
Aunt May waits for Peter at FEAST, glad he isn’t involved in the subway disaster…
Spider-Man’s webbing is not going to hold the leaking ceiling of the subway tunnel much longer so he decides to worry about J. Jonah Jameson Sr. and question Shocker on how he got in and was going to get out. Shocker tells him that there is another tunnel through the access hatch that they both just collapsed. Spidey dons one of Shocker’s vibro-gauntlets and fires it to release all of the rubble above him!
Elsewhere J. Jonah Jameson Jr. is meeting with Marla to discuss divorce proceedings. He leaves the meeting when he sees his father’s face on a news report about the train accident.
The remaining passengers pull Spidey from the rubble and he climbs up the shaft with JJJ Sr. He webs together a metal cradle for the others and lowers it down to them. He tells JJJ Sr. to shine the light on the passengers so they don’t get scared and he begins to haul them up. JJJ Sr. reveals that he didn’t raise his son but his military man brother did. Spidey yells out in pain but carries on pulling until everyone is safe. The light is then shone on him to reveal that he is covered in biting rats! Spidey shocks them off and they quickly head down the tunnel as the water rises faster and faster.
When they reach a rescue team, Shocker activates a self-destruct on the gauntlet Spidey is wearing! He makes his escape and seals the survivors off again. Spidey spots natural light above and the passengers climb up him to safety. JJJ Sr. stops to help him get them all out but submerges as the last one safe. Spidey dives and saves him and they both emerge to street level. Spidey finds JJJ Jr. and is about to introduce him to his father but finds that JJJ Sr. has disappeared.
Spidey leaves the scene considering the fact that he could call his day very lucky…
Highlight
Classic Spidey - putting all others first.
Comments
Again the structure and simplicity of this issue makes it so special. Mark Waid keeps the attention on the action and Marcos Martin delivers stunning visuals which combine so well to make this basic “escape” plot into something much more atmospheric and involving than it may be on paper.
The quiet impact of Martin’s work is something special. Where some artists glamorise larger panels or would have made too much of the little adversities that Spidey faced through this issue, Martin doesn’t. Instances like the revelation that Spidey has rats all over him, that JJJ Sr. is drowning and the final escape to the surface are all toned down and labelled as “quality over oversell”. This makes all of the reader’s attention go automatically to the detail of the art and the detail of the story. More clever use of lighting and panels within panels propel Martin further into everyone’s good books and I’m already clamouring after his next outing.
One sequence I have to quickly draw attention to is when Spidey webs together the cradle and pulls the passengers up. The speed of the panels, the fluidity of Spidey, the fading light, the physics of the motion and the opposition between Spidey and JJJ Sr. (in the longest interaction that they share) is all brilliant and superbly engineered by Martin.
Waid gives JJJ Sr. some more point and depth this issue but the surface is only scratched. I am looking forward to seeing more of him but am more interested in seeing Waid tackle Spider-Man on a bigger story soon. He racks up the odds against Spidey with logical ease and then puts him through the mill, all the while maintaining the humour, the selflessness and ingenuity that make a good hero and reminds us that this should be at the core of writing Spider-Man. Dan Slott got it in his opening Mr. Negative arc and Zeb Wells got it in his opening Deity arc and so does Waid. I just like the sense of pride you get seeing Spidey use himself as a ladder for the passengers to escape the rising water – it’s got to a be a good writer who can create that through such a small action.
Marcos Martin now comes with a quality assurance stamp. The three stories he has drawn thus far (Peter Parker: Paparazzi, Character Assassination: Interlude and this one) have been enjoyable reads and visual treats, capturing an essence of Spider-Man not seen since the days of Ditko and Romita Sr. Mark Waid is nearly the same but I’m going to reserve my last little bit of judgement until his issue with Barry Kitson (#583) and more-impacting upcoming arc 24/7 (#592-4).
Overall though, this little, simple tale is an instant classic and one of those gems in your collection you’ll keep on returning to.
Rating
Cover –  
Overall –
Reviewed by Adam Rivett
|
Ultimate Spider-Man