Spidey In June

As tired as I am of seeing Spidey unmasked in Ultimate Spider-Man, I really can't argue with what went on in USM #122. When I heard Spidey was gonna be unasked again, I let out a sigh. I felt even more annoyed when I found out that the person who caught and unmasked our teen hero was Shocker.

Shocker has been the joke villain of this series since USM #8. Whenever he shows up, he's quickly caught and sent to jail. In Peter's own words, Shocker is "the biggest loser in Loserville." Well Herman Schultz gets the upper hand on Spidey and he's pretty ticked that he's been defeated by a punk teenager time and time again.

What I liked about USM #122 is that we finally got some back story of a villain that has more or less been the butt joke of this comic for years. The Roxxon corporation shafted him, so now he's taking what he wants by force and he's tired of Spidey always laughing at him. Spidey breaks free, socks Shocker one and all is well and good in the world again. It was also good to see Mary Jane and Kitty working together to find Peter. Kitty even admits to Peter that MJ is an outstanding girlfriend. I hope we see more interactions between these two in future issue. Kitty has become one of my favorite supporting cast members.

I really am glad I jumped on the Amazing Spider-Girl train because it looks like things are really getting intense. We've got May 2.0 floating around in a tank in an underground lab, the mutant hate group, Humanity First about to get rough with May's friend Davida, Sara becomes a super villain, and then you've got the normal teenage drama. Whew!

From what Tom DeFalco said, someone "may" die in this arc and a new status quo will be established. I'm a little nervous about a new status quo hitting ASG, even though I've only been reading the book for a few months. I mean, we all know what happened when Amazing Spider-Man had a ahem, "new status quo" set up. It turned out to be a lot like the old one, except it really, really sucks. Still, I've got faith that Tom will keep me interested and I don't think we'll get any editorial mandates to muck things up.

In ASG #21, there was an explosion in the underground lab where May 2.0 is being held and it looked an awful lot like the boom that went off in Norman Osborn's face when he created the Green Goblin formula. The face caught in the blast this time? Peter Parker. Maybe we'll find out what's going on with him in the next issue. I don't think he'll be riding around on glider, throwing pumpkin bombs, though. At least I hope not.

Mayday's boyfriend Gene Thompson has a serious case of Me-Myself-and-I. He wants May to spend her time with him and shirk her responsibilities to her family, such as watching Benjy. Now I missed a lot of early ASG issues, but if Gene was so self absorbed in the past, I have to wonder why May is with this clown in the first place. I think Wes would be a much better boyfriend for May and he seems to still like her.

Ever since I saw the cover to Marvel adventures Spider-Man #40 months ago, I've been stoked for this issue. It wasn't what I thought it would be, but it didn't disappoint. Spidey saves Enchantress from a mugger (not that she needed any help) and to show her gratitude she makes him a warrior... one that she can control. So Spidey gets decked out in some sweet Thor-like threads and fights off nearly all of the gods of Asgard. With Thor's help, he's able to break free of Enchantress' hold.

Rather than post a cover, I provided a page from this issue, one of my favorites to be exact. Does Spidey look awesome or what? Artist David Nakayama, who drew the excellent cover of Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #36, and did the art for MASM #38 does the artwork for this issue. It looks like he had a lot of fun drawing it. Though I was told from a friend of his that Enchantress couldn't look too sexy, since MASM is targeted at children so he may have had some frustration here and there. But really, the artwork for this issue is stellar. You can see more of David's work at his deviant art page.