Amazing Spider-Man #441 (November, 1998)
"The Final Chapter, Part 1: And Who Shall Claim a Kingly Crown?"
Guest Writer - John Byrne
Pencils - Rafael Kayanan
Inks - Bud LaRosa
Colors - Matt Hicks & Mike Rockwitz
Letters - Richard Starkings & Comicraft's Liz Agraphiotis
Edits - Ralph Macchio
Chief - Bob Harras
Cover Price: $1.99
Y'all ready for the final issue of Amazing Spider-Man? Hoo-boy, this is sure to be a monumental issue... I mean, this was before the days of nu-Marvel and the annual relaunch... at this point, Amazing Spider-Man only had ONE #1... and, check this madness out... it only had ONE cover too!
Ya know, I wrote that paragraph as a gag... but, it actually sorta-kinda made me gag. What an absolute s-show the "current year" comics biz is.
Yeesh.
Least we've still got the old stuff to relish in... like this sure to be amazing final issue of ASM!
*cough*
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We open at the Osborn Building... or wherever it is that Norman Osborn works... and, check it out, it's finally time for that thing the last story arc was named after: The Gathering of Five! Let's meet our players: we've got Norman, of course... Maxwell, that creep from the Pawn Shop, Madame Web, Override, and... some young girl with 'tude. This is the "Franklin" that arrived a few issues back at LaGuardia... that they didn't want us to see. She is Martha/Matt/Mattie Franklin, daughter of the Franklin Norman was expecting. Not much of a reveal here, folks. Anyhoo, they're all decked out in some geeky-looking robes for the ritual. Mattie and Maxwell butt heads immediately. Anyone care?
We shift scenes to Forest Hills, where a cab pulls up to the Parker home. Why, it's Alison Mongrain and Robbie! Been a minute since we last saw them. Mongrain insists that there's something she has to say... something she can only say to Peter Parker. Suddenly, steam begins to rise from the gutters.
Good grief, it's the Molten Man... again.
Inside, Mary Jane is on the phone with Jill Stacy... and is wearing the first of several hairstyles/lengths (and outfits) she'll be drawn with throughout this issue. She hears the ruckus outside, and is shocked by the scene.
Outside, Raxton looks to be quite conflicted... it's as though he's trying to stop himself from attacking Mongrain. He even manages to speak a little bit. And so, we get four pages of flashback where Norman Osborn embeds a chip into Raxton's head. Four Pages. This is the final issue of Amazing Spider-Man... and we're wasting like a quarter of it on the friggin' Molten Man's flashback?!
At this point, Mongrain... who is lookin' roooouuuugh... realizes that, duh... she's been wearing a locket given to her by Norman Osborn this entire time. You kidding me with this? There's a dude tracking you to all corners of the planet to do you harm... and you're still wearing his jewelry? C'mon. Robbie nyoinks the locket and tosses it into the street... and just like that, the Molten Man backs off... and heads over to the trinket.
At this point, Mary Jane rushes out to see what's up. Mongrain, upon learning that Emjay is Parker's wife... decides that she can tell her the big secret. And so, she whispers something into MJ's ear...
... which shocks her to the core! Ya see, folks... May is actually alive! I fear this revelation might not have quite the same oomph it did back in 1998. If I'm talking about Spider-Man and say "May", where does your mind immediately go? Well, here's a bit of context: Not too long before this story, Mary Jane and Peter had a daughter who was stillborn. They named her May. See where we're headed here?
We shift scenes back to the Osborns, and it's finally time for the Ritual. I feel like I already said that. They each hold their shard over their head... and the room fills with electricity.
Madame Web goes first, placing her shard on the altar. She immediately dies... soooo, that's the gift of DEATH. Welp, there's one outta the way.
Mattie goes next... and her result isn't quite as clear. There's a buzzing in her fingers, and a numbness in her mind. Maxwell presumes she has received the gift of KNOWLEDGE. Norman then tells "Overpower" to place his piece. Overpower? Ya mean Override... the goofball we've spent like half of the last story arc following around? C'mon, there are three friggin' editors on this book... and, it's written by John friggin' Byrne. We expect more... though, we probably shouldn't.
Overpowerride Places his piece down upon the altar... and is suddenly flooded with power. The feeling, however, is fleeting. Maxwell posits that this means ol' Doctor Greg received the gift of IMMORTALITY.
Maxwell himself goes next... and assumes he's going to get that nebulous power of POWER. Only, moments afterwards, he begins foaming at the mouth like a lunatic. Y'see, poor Maxie got MADNESS.
Welp, that only leaves one... looks like the power of POWER is waiting for our man Norman.
And, he's not going to accept it alone... he's brought his goofy alter-ego along for the ride!
Back to Queens, where Spider-Man finally shows up in the final issue of his flagship comic! He greets Mary Jane, whose hair has grown about a foot in the time he's been away. She brings him inside... and hoo boy, does the art take a massive dump here. I mean, some of these panels are almost criminal. Anyhoo, she tells him that MAY is alive... and being kept at Norman's hunting lodge.
Spidey's all "cool, that's just a couple hours away"... but, Mary Jane's all sorts of nervous. I wonder if she's worried about what this might mean to her modeling career! Oof, I'm sorry, that was mean. In actuality, (in perhaps the ugliest panel ever committed to paper) Mary Jane informs him that she knows deep down that this cannot possibly be true. She "felt" their baby die. Spidey figures it's worth a shot either way.
And so, the first volume of Amazing Spider-Man ends... with Spider-Man headed for Norman's hunting lodge.
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Thissssss succccccccked.
Woof. What a bad issue... a damn near criminal "final" issue. Felt like nobody involved was interested in making sure this felt like something special or monumental. I hate to harp on the importance of "legacy numbering" and stuff like that, but... to many of us, even the casuals, it matters. If you're going to ditch an entire volume, especially one that has its roots in the seminal days of the Marvel Universe... ya gotta do it with a bit more respect and care than this.
Amazing Spider-Man, while it wasn't burning up the sales charts during the late 90's, was still Spider-Man's (and arguably Marvel's) flagship title. It had near forty years of history... plenty of memorable stories, characters, and creators... and to toss it all out for a literal "blip" of relevancy in the pages of Wizard Magazine and the like... is a damn shame.
Let's look at the "care" that creative and editorial took with this landmark final issue. First, the art... suuuuuucked. Kayanan isn't a bad artist, but this was some uneven-bordering-on-lousy work he turned in... especially toward the end of the issue. Not to be hyperbolic, but, I don't think I've ever seen such bad art in a mainstream comic book. Scroll back up again if you don't believe me! This isn't how you close out a volume!
Spider-Man appeared on like three pages of his own final issue? Well, that's a blessing and a curse... at least that meant we didn't get saddled with balloons and balloons full of cringy and forced Byrne "banter". But, still... I hope my point is well taken here. Spider-Man barely makes an appearance in the final issue of Amazing Spider-Man. That's some crap right there. The Molten Man's flashback to having a chip implanted in his noggin received more paginal real-estate.
Editorial was completely out to lunch here as well. They were likely too busy patting themselves on the back with the May revelation (which we'll put a pin in for now... there's plenty more of that to come) to realize they got names wrong and there were drastic changes in appearance throughout the issue for like half the cast. Not good, gang. The week you cashed your paychecks for your work on this issue... you were stealing money from Marvel!
I minor quibble, but a quibble none the less. We had this pretty big cliffhanger a couple chapters ago at LaGuardia Airport, right? Norman was gobsmacked upon seeing... a certain character we weren't privy to. I wanna say he actually said something along the lines of "No, not you!"... annnd, here we learn it's just Mattie Franklin? No pomp or circumstance... she's just standing there in her ill-fitting geeky robe? You'd almost think there was going to be some sort of conflict... but, nope! She's just here now. Yeesh.
This is the sort of story one might refer to as a "bag of hammers falling down a flight of stairs"... and, if you were to do so... you'd be right. This was not good. I was hopeful that, with 22 years of hindsight (many of those years full of pretty lousy Spidey stories), that I might've "softened" to this one. Doesn't look to be the case! Maybe this being the final issue of Amazing Spider-Man can be looked at as a "mercy killing"... but, folks... we're not anywhere near done yet.
I hope you'll all stick with me... it's gonna be a bumpy ride.
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Fold-Out:
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Letters Page:
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Interesting Ads:
Sensational Spider-Man #33 (November, 1998)
"The Gathering of Five, Part Five: Gifts"
Writer - Todd DeZago
Pencils - Joe Bennett
Inks - Al Milgrom
Colors - Tom Smith
Letters - Richard Starkings & Comicraft's Liz Agraphiotis
Edits - Ralph Macchio
Chief - Bob Harras
Cover Price: $1.99
Even though nobody's following along anymore, we're still working our way toward the Byrne/Mackie Reboot... and today, we wrap up the lead-in story arc, The Gathering of Five. Be ready for one heck of a satisfying conclusion. Would I lie to ya? Hrmm...
If you wanna/needta catch up, here are the first four chapters. Just click'a the cov'uh, and you will be delivered:
Now, onto the senses-shattering conclusion! Tomorrow, we begin The Final Chapter... which, uh, is the next story line.
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We open with Override... yeah, him again... it's several weeks ago and he's sat at the bedside of his wife in the hospital. It'd been near a quarter-century since I last read any of this, so I assumed she was just "ill"... and not all tore up from their last outing together as supervillains. Anyhoo, she's been comatose for awhile, and our man decides he's just going to put her out of her misery... until, that is, she wakes up!
Back to the present, and Peter Parker is trying to repair his leaky roof. While in the attic, he comes across some old photos... and, like most of us do when in the same sort of situation, he starts to reminisce. He is soon joined by Mary Jane, who hems and haws about maybe getting back into the modeling game... even though she's clearly already made up her mind. We get a panel with some of Emjay's photos, which... if taken out of context, would be pretty gross. Splott, indeed.
MJ continues to hint that she's doneski with school... and starts harping on how expensive her textbooks are. $300 for a psychology book! Hmm. I've been a student of Psychology for a decade now (at undergrad, masters, and post-masters levels), and haven't had a book quite that expensive in any'a my syllabuses. She must be taking some advanced stuff! Peter tells her not to sweat it.
Back at the hospital, Greg (Override) tells Annie about the Gathering of Five ritual. Oh yeah, that li'l thing... almost forgot about it! It's not like it's front-and-center in the story named after it, is it? We learn a bit more about the extent of Annie's injuries... it doesn't sound great.
Greg heads out... almost ashamed of himself for not being completely upfront with Annie about what the Gathering of Five might actually result in. He realizes she's pretty hopeless at the moment, and he didn't want to pile on anything else for her to worry about.
We shift scenes, and... hey, it's Spider-Man! After nearly killing himself by swingin' in the rain... he pitches a tent around a homeless man, and follows the police to an armored car that had just been robbed. Ya see, he's hopeful to snap a few Spidey-action-pics to sell to Jonah... and use those monies to buy MJ her books!
Little does he know, however, that at that very moment... Mary Jane is withdrawing from all of her classes!
Back at the hospital, Annie Override has another visitor... it's Norman! He promises her that, should the Gathering of Five go sideways for Greg... that he himself will return to "bring her peace". Welp, that got kinda dark.
Back with Spidey... he notices, say it with me, Override running away from the armored car holding a briefcase. The next four pages have Spider-Man chasing the baddie... into a building, and up to its roof. Along the way Spidey sings a bit of Fastball's "The Way", which really helps ta get ya into the gestalt of 1998, eh?
Spidey knocks Override off the roof, but catches him before he falls all that far. He delivers the baddie to a pair of police officers, who appear not to give half a damn. Whattayagonnado?
What's important here is that Peter got his pictures... and the Bugle ran one of 'em! Look at the angle on this thing. Where exactly would "Peter Parker" be to snap this picture? Does Jonah ever stop to think about that? I mean, Pete would have to be hovering in a low-flying helicopter or something, no? Silly.
Back in the hospital, we learn that Greg managed to give the officers the slip... not that they cared all that much in the first place. He's now got "all the money" they could ever need... and soon, after the Ritual, their lives will be perfect. You almost feel for the guy, right?
Speakin' of guys we feel for... we jump to the next day, where Peter is putting the finishing touches on his roof repair. Mary Jane joins him... and he gleefully presents her with a gift. It's her Psych books! She looks at them the same way a kid might look at a gift of socks on Christmas morning. Or, perhaps how one might look at a mess the dog left on the new carpet.
Now, she finally comes clean... school, a degree... she don't want none'a that. What she wants is "adventure"... and "excitement"... and for her, that comes with modeling.
Peter says, if that's what is most important to her... than she should do it. Emjay corrects him, and while holding up a picture from their wedding day, says this is what's most important to her... but, she's still gonna get back to modeling anyway. And with that... The Gathering of Five story arc... and this volume of Sensational Spider-Man come to an end.
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Boy, I hope y'all didn't get too burned out on the hot-n-heavy Gathering of Five stuff in this issue! Hoo-boy, and how about that conclusion! Wow, I never expected the Gathering of Five to end... without the Gathering of the friggin' Five! Yeesh... I know a running gag in the bullpen and letters pages is to give "Ralf" a hard time about how bad a job he does, but... c'mon man... who paced this event? Five-parts... only two-and-a-half of which had anything to do with the actual thing it's named after!
Alright, let's put that aside for now... and talk about what we actually did get. This was Override's story... who, for getting such a focus here, feels like a character we should still be talking about today, no? Heck, it's been a long while since I read any "current year" Spidey... so, for all I know, he's looming larger than ever.
His story is pretty tragic... made even more so by the fact that his wife's current bodily state is his own fault. You almost feel for the guy... and perhaps, under other circumstances, I would. I gotta say though, every time he was on panel here... all I wanted to do was flip forward. I'm expecting some Norman stuff here... and all I'm getting is Dr. Greg Whatshisface. Not a fault of the story, the issue, nor Todd DeZago... but, more an "it is what it is" sort of thing.
Speaking of DeZago... I really like the way he writes Peter/Spidey. The banter is not forced like it is under Byrne, and it doesn't feel like he just found a book of Henny Youngman one-liners to recite from like so many other Spidey writers. While on the creative team, I really gotta hand it to Joe Bennett. His art has been one of the bright-spots of revisiting this story/era. His Dr. Greg might look a bit too much like Peter at times, but, for the most part... his work is really great!
Let's talk Mary Jane. As much as she got on my nerves for making excuses and hemming and hawing, I'd be lying if I said I myself have never had those thoughts and conversations. School as an adult... sucks. While everyone you know is focused on their careers and gets to plan to spend their free time however they see fit, the adult student has... schoolwork, research, and classes after their day job. It's not easy. I mean, it's not impossible... but, it's not preferable, ya know?
I've had those hemming and hawing conversations with the wife... where I make excuses about anything from "expenses" (like MJ did), and having a more accommodating schedule... questioning the "value" of an advanced degree, asking if it would make that much of a difference in the long-run. It's definitely something that can burrow into your brain pan. Especially when it's a Psych degree. I tell ya, a Bachelor of Science in Psychology... is worthless (I've had one for years!) Well, worthless if you actually want a career in Psychology, or Research, or Behavioral Health that pays more than minimum wage.
So yeah, didn't love Emjay's take... but, can't suggest that it didn't feel right or real. I still can't shake the feeling that we're supposed to feel somewhat betrayed by her quitting school. Even with her holding up the photo from their wedding... it still doesn't feel like they're "on the same page". We'll be exploring this further as we move through the Byrne/Mackie reboot.
Overall. This was a fine issue... but a lousy chapter (much less the concluding chapter) of The Gathering of Five. We get very little (if any) closure. It feels like something out of nu-skool "Marvel Events 101"... where final chapters don't actually conclude anything... all they do is lead into the next in a string of endless events. Imagine buying a The Gathering of Five trade paperback collection... and it only included these five issues? You'd feel like you were robbed... and you wouldn't be wrong!
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Fold-Out:
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Letters Page:
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Interesting Ads:
Strikeforce: Morituri #21 (September, 1988)
"The Earth is Red"
Writer - James D. Hudnall
Pencils - Huw Thomas
Inks - Tony DeZuniga
Letters - Phil Felix
Colors - Max Scheele
Edits - Carl Potts
Chief - Tom DeFalco
Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $1.25 USD (price hike!)
Release Date: May 3, 1988
