*First of all, Marcos Martin doesn’t do the complete issue, as Javier Pulido fills in for at almost half of the issue. However, unlike other times when a fill-in artist has to take over, Pulido’s style is so very close to Martin’s that you barely notice the change. I’m not sure as to whether or not that’s a disservice to Martin’s talent as an artist or whether it’s a credit to Pulido‘s. Each of them had their best moments, artistically. For Pulido, it’s when we see an x-ray depiction of Spidey taking a breath under his mask to prevent from inhaling Mr. Negative’s “Devil’s Breath.” For Martin, it’s the pages in which Spidey fights Mysterio in a red, swirling smoke, which intentionally evokes their first confrontation in which Spidey tries to hit Mysterio though his own fog. This is a nice example of artistic symmetry, in my opinion.
*In terms of the story by Dan Slott, this is essentially a series of knock-down drag out fights, first between Spidey and the Maggia. Then Spidey, the Maggia, and Mr. Negative and his Inner Demons. Then Spidey and Mysterio. Then Spidey and Mysterio again. There’s some gallows humor involved with the Maggia members spouting fake blood and guts whenever Spidey punches them, or when Beck pretends he’s suffocating from the “Devil’s breath.” There’s also a few nice one-liners, too. But it some ways, it felt as though the gags were being repetitive. This clearly was the case when Spidey confronts Mysterio the first time in the warehouse and then the second time on the Garbage scow. Still, it was mostly light-hearted fun.
*I also like the take Slott has with Mysterio here. Take away all the elaborate effects, props, and complex illusions, and Quentin Beck is nothing more than confidence man who gets his jollies off pulling the “short con.” Yes, we get no explanation as to how Quentin Beck is still alive other than he’s a “master of illusion,” and yes his plan does seem overly complicated (basically, he’s ripping off the Maggia by pretending to “fake their deaths” during a battle with the Inner Demons, plans to use the Silvermane robot to blow them all up, frames Mr. Negative, and getting away with the Maggia’s laundered money and Mr. Negative‘s money to boot) but it’s still a nice depiction of him in that, while he certainly looks ridiculous, he’s still very intelligent schemer. Not to mention there’s a bit of humor involved with him, what with kicking Spidey in the crotch after psyching him out by pretending to asphyxiate from Mr. Negative’s DNA bomb by saying “I’m your cousin!”; his saying his surface-to-air missile he’ll use to blow up the cops will go “All Michael Bay on their #@$!”; and his deadpan “I hate you” when Spidey--in a violation of the laws of physics--slingshots said missile back to Mysterio courtesy of his webbing. Not to mention there’s a slight nod to the other Mysterios, in that it appears Daniel Beckhart and Francis Klum are both working for Beck as his henchmen, which I thought was a nice touch (then again, weren’t these guys enemies of one another?)
*However, that doesn’t mean that everything introduced in this story line gets resolved like Mysterio’s scheme. Sure, we know the “evil Aunt May” and “Harry looking for a place to live again” subplots will be addressed next issue, so I’m not too concerned about that. However, there’s still the big loose end of the Ray Cooper “back from the dead” subplot. Like Carlie says in this issue “I’m not falling for this.” Oh sure, there’s enough logical reasoning why it could be him. As he explains to Carlie, his cop salary couldn’t get the treatment his wife needed as when she died he felt he no longer “[owed] the system any loyalty,” and that he’s doing this to ensure her future. Likewise, he doesn’t appear to be a robot or another goon of Mysterio’s in disguise since Beck addresses Ray by name, and it makes it look as though they co-engineered this scheme together. Yet, one has to think it’s more than coincidence that the police find a charred photos of Captain Jean DeWolfe--which the police assume Mysterio planned to “resurrect” as a “dirty cop”--and then the Chameleon shows up disguised as Jean DeWolfe to “arrest” Beck at the end. Which makes me think that Ray Cooper might actually be the Chameleon. But if so, why the interest in Carlie? I just hope this dangling plot thread doesn’t become another “Robot Parents” storyline.
*Speaking of Carlie, her likeability just went down for me in this issue. Granted, it’s understandable that she’s upset with Peter due to feeling that he’s “using her” to get what he wants, but at the same time she is, whether she intended to or not, guilt-tripping him to be more committed to her other than a resource, despite the fact that they are just friends and not actually dating. And of course Peter, being the dopey nice guy that he is, will now feel more obligated to spend time with her. If this is how the writers are going to have Peter and Carlie become a couple, having Peter guilt-tripped into a relationship is not necessarily the best way to start things off between them. I also have a feeling this issue hints at the possibility that Carlie may be willing to look the other way when it comes to her dad’s partnership with Mysterio, despite her helping Spidey temporarily track him down. If that’s the case, it seems odd she wasn’t willing to do this for Vin when he went down the road of being a “crooked cop.”
