Spider-Man: Brand New Day #1

(This is copied over from my comic-related blog Comic POW! On the Entry this is copied from I take a look at how well Volume 1 and Volume 2 fit together as a whole story. See that here)

This volume starts out with an introduction to Spider-Man — what’s changed and what’s the same starting with Brand New Day. The result is an interesting mix of retaining the old and starting over. It seems a lot like the status quo of Batman in the new 52 DC Universe. I would actually have preferred to have had a page like this that explains what’s the same and what’s different instead of having to guess at what’s still canon. Of course, in Spidey’s case it was a spell that was used to allow the new status quo of getting Spidey’s ID secret again as well as nullifying his marriage. I still haven’t read that issue, but I know I was initially very annoyed to hear about it as I hear others were as well. However, it WAS one of the best ways to reboot a character without having to start again and without having to confuse everyone about what’s canon and what isn’t. DC REALLY could have taken a page from Marvel on this and let us know what’s going on with those characters that weren’t rebooted. For example, with Superman, it’s starting over so nothing from the old canon is still there. (for the most part) While Batman has pretty much all the same canon except on a compressed time schedule that means some of the stuff didn’t happen. It’s only really important when it comes to the relationships certain characters have with each other — not so much in which villain was punched when.

Anyway, back to Spider-Man — reading the inside flap clues me in that this is when Mr Negative is first introduced. I’d have to say that for anyone who’s just getting into Spider-Man for the first time or, like me, hadn’t read Spider-Man since the 1990s needs to start here. The previous volumes are probably a great read and will be fun to read in general, but if you want to know what’s going on now, start here.

One last thing before I get into each issue, I have to say the ONE thing I didn’t like from the “what’s different” spread is that they say “the past is past —look to the future” which is essentially asking a comic book reader not to be a comic book reader. Something about the way they say it just put me off a little. Oh well.

Each issue individually:

Spider-Man: Swing Shift (2007 Free Comic Book Day issue):

So this is a great first issue for Brand New Day even if a lot of people might have missed out on it since it was a free comic book day comic. It establishes that the registration act from the events of 2005′s Civil War are still in effect. The only main difference, as was noted in the opening two page spread for the trade (and was probably well known at the time), is that Peter’s identity reveal has been wiped from everyone’s head. Dan Slott’s humor is also put right out there from the beginning – Spider-Man calls his enemies “bad guys” — usually a term we outside the comic book world use. It’d be more realistic for him to say nemesis or rivals or something like that. But Dan’s always straddling the Fourth Wall. (See my Spider-Island Epilogue selection for Week 2 of Comic POW!)

Again, he does this with Spidey ending his “with great power” catch-phrase with yadda yadda. Outside the comic book world, no one would really repeat a catch-phrase like that over and over. I know some people that come close, but it’s usually to others, not to themselves. Skipping over the introduction of the new Big Bad (in Buffy-speak), we get even more of Slott’s brand of humor. The henchman who’s the villain of this issue is a huge fan of Spider-Man. He has all this Spider-Man junk in his car and at the end of the issue even wants to keep the “Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” paper. Skipping over a few other details I’ll get to in a minute, we finally get a bar where New York City’s super villains hang out. This is one of those Slott jokes that straddles the absurdity line — almost like a wink towards Silver-Age type jokes. On the one hand, it’s silly for all the villains to be hanging out in one place. On the other hand, it makes perfect sense. They need a place to socialize and hang out without being harassed by heroes and cops. Back to the first hand, they could just do it out of costume like the heroes do, but back again to the other hand, at least it’s a place where they can brag about their villainous exploits. And take bets on whether Spider-Man defeats his villains!

Going back earlier in the story, this issue is also, as far as I know, the first introduction to Mr. Negative. There’s always a tension in comics between the old and the new. On the one hand, since most villains (and heroes to some extent) have a gimmick, it can get really boring for them to fight over and over. On the other hand, new villains need more explanation of their back-story which gets away from the main story for the arc. Old villains give you shorthand that lets you get on with the story. At any rate, Mr. Negative was one of the main villains up until just before Spider-Island so now I can get a bit more history on his involvement with Spider-Man and his back-story.

I love the debate between the cops about vigilantism versus heroism. The Civil War storyline was Marvel getting their comics in line with reader expectations in a post-Watchmen and post-The Incredibles world in which we would be more suspect about heroes. Of course J. Jonah Jameson has always had that sentiment, but it was played for laughs since most people were on Spider-Man’s side. However, now the world has swung in Jonah’s favor which leads to a GREAT scene where he laments not being able to blast Supers now that they were all registered. J.J.J. has always been one of my favorite characters because of how fun it is to see him portrayed with all his (mostly) impotent rage.

I enjoy this art better than the current, more cartooney style, although the newer style did fit well with the mood of Spider-Island.

Finally, this issue introduces the new heroine Jackpot and tries to get you to believe it’s Mary Jane Watson. Is it? I don’t know. I’m guessing it’s probably a misdirect because MJ seems to be experiencing being a hero for the first time in Spider-Island. (Or that may just be special because she had spider-powers) I guess future issues will tell.

Amazing Spider-Man #546

As the first proper issue of the Brand New Day story arc, this issue does a great job. It introduces Pete’s situation — he’s poor, out of work, and living with Aunt May. At some point in the past he lost his job with The Daily Bugle. And it introduces Carlie who was at least one of his love interests until Spider-Island 3-4 real-life (our world) years later.

The issue starts in media res, one of my favorite techniques. We see Parker kissing some girl at a club and then “rewind” to see the previous 24 hours before swinging past that at the end of the issue. I always love seeing how the protagonists will end up in the situation we saw at the beginning of the book, comic, movie, etc. It goes along with studies that have shown we enjoy a story more if we know where it’s headed.

While this is a first issue of an arc, it doesn’t feel like the usual boring first issue of an arc. Part of that may be because Slott is introducing quite a few plots at once and part of it may be the fact that I don’t have to wait to get to the next issue. One of those new plot threads involves a guy (or guys?) dressing up as Spider-Man and mugging people. We don’t get closer on it, but the fact that the guy steals one of Parker’s web shooters may end up being important. We also get to see more of Mr. Negative and that he’s one of those criminal masterminds that operates on honor rather than double-crossing.

Another plot point is that Peter needs to find a job. I love the job hunt jokes. They are another great moment of Dan Slott humor in which he refers to past issues, continuity, etc For example, referring to the fact that as a teacher (back around Civil War time) it wasn’t as easy for him to go do Spider-Man stuff as it was as a reporter. Or referring to his trick of getting photos of himself as Spider-Man.

Spider-Man Brand New Day Vol 1 - Job Hunting

Carlie’s introduction is great because she’s not instantly in love with Peter or anything contrived. In fact, when they first part ways she thinks he’s an idiot for chasing a mugger with a gun. That leads to Mr. Li’s introduction. I love the huge dichotomy in how he acts as Mr. Li vs as Mr. Negative.

I also love the bombshell ending of Peter giving Jameson a heart attack. As a long-time Spider-fan it’s great schaudenfreude. I’d have really enjoyed reading this issue when it came out.

Amazing Spider-Man #547

This issue kicks off right where the last one left off. J. Jonah Jameson had a heart attack and Pete’s giving him CPR.

Spider-Man Brand New Day Vol 1 - Pete giving J.J.J. CPR

This issue proves that Dan Slott knows how to modulate the humor on his issues as it takes a more serious turn. At the time of publication we didn’t know whether or not JJJ was going to make it out of the hospital. Ever since Brand New Day started, Jameson’s been trying to head off a hostile takeover of The Daily Bugle. However, his wife, pissed off that it led to his hospitalization as she’d predicted, sells all his shares while he’s comatose. Those of us in the future know that he’s going to end up Mayor of NYC, but at the time it must have been a pretty dramatic turn.

The rest of the issue deals with the crime families meeting and Mr. Negative’s plans around the tablet he had stolen a few issues ago. We get some fun humor with the gangsters as they show that they’re in a different class of criminal than super villains. We also get a bit of humor in Mr. Negative’s surprise that Spider-Man has no idea who he is and has been ruining his plans by accident. Again, my kind of narrative!

Spider-Man Brand New Day Vol 1 - Mafia about Super Villains: "Let 'em steall all the Vibranium"

Finally, the last panel of this issue is another hilarious fourth-wall leaning by Dan Slott.

Spider-Man Brand New Day Vol 1 - Dan Slott's Hilarious and Awesome Ending

Amazing Spider-Man #548:

This issue seems to be the end of the first arc in which we meet Mr. Negative. So it’s a lot of action coupled with some tidying up. Of course Spidey didn’t die last issue because the poison is DNA specific. We also gain some Carlie characterization as we see her do some police work. We find out her dad was some famous cop.

While Spider-Man didn’t succeed in saving the mafia heads, he succeeds in having the mothers and children in the always-hilarious trope of “this is real, not a performance. But I’m on a stage so no one believes me!” So Spidey has mafia gratitude — has that ever paid off or is it yet to happen in the future?

Mr. Negative also gains the ability to kill Pete with that DNA poison, but we learn May is safe because she’s not a blood relative — Uncle Ben was. And we get our reveal that Mr. Li and Mr. Negative are the same guy. Then we get three mini-stories.

Park Avenue Interlude:

The authors are still dedicated to convincing us that MJ is Jackpot. Again, I think that’s too easy and I can’t wait to see what they actually have up their sleeve.

The Astonishing Aunt May:

Has a hilarious scene where she plays dumb to save a homeless guy from another dude.

Harry and The Hollisters:

I love the art in this short story.

Spider-Man Brand New Day Vol 1 - Harry and the Hollisters

We also get some good character progression on Harry Osborn in this Brand New Day. We also learn about his girlfriend and her dad, the DA. Harry still has some baggage from his dad’s reputation.

Overall, it was the weakest issue so far. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t as awesome as the previous ones.

Amazing Spider-Man #549:

We switch to Guggenheim as writer, but still get great humor. I love the opening Mighty Mouse reference which goes into Spider-Man song — more fourth wall stuff. The guy who’s taken over the Daily Bugle is very annoying. The whole rebranding and so on. It’s a little boring, but we find out that there’s a new Goblin. I’m guessing it’s the Hobgoblin that’s been all over Spider-Man in 2011, but we aren’t given enough clues yet.

Spider-Man runs into Jackpot and they have a great comedic exchange including calling dibs on villains.

Spider-Man Brand New Day Vol 1 - Dibs on Arch-Rivals

We get more teases that Jackpot is MJ — would really have been annoying me if I had to wait week to week. And at the end, Spider-Man gets caught for the first time since Brand New Day started as an unresigstered super hero.

So there’s no Mr. Negative or anything from the first half of the book which takes away slightly from the cohesion of the book, but then again the creative team is introducing us to Spider-Man’s Brand New Day Rogues Gallery. Overall, a good, funny first arc issue.

Amazing Spider-Man #550:

Once again the issue begins where the last one left off. Spider-Man narrowly avoids de-masking and we finally get to see this new Goblin. We FINALLY find out who Jackpot is and it’s not MJ, it’s Sara Ehret. Then again, Parker gave a fake name so there’s no reason why she couldn’t have either. I wonder if it’s one of those scrambled up names that spells “fake name” or something. I’m always horrible on picking up on those.

We find out that JJJ still doesn’t know about losing his paper and Pete tries to confirm that Harry isn’t the Goblin again — who’s being called Menace. We also find out that some dude is going to sue Parker — with neck injury — looks just like the opening plot of The Incredibles.

Finally we find out that there’s more than one Spider-tracer killing.

The issue was OK. It’s the second weakest issue in this volume for me. Amazing Spider-Man

Amazing Spider-Man #551:

This is a very action-oriented issue that involves Jackpot and Spider-Man teaming up. Jackpot, who’s been shown to be very inexperienced, has to deal with her first death. The comic has a really weird ending that leaves on wondering whether or not Sara Ehret is Jackpot.

The volume also reprints Venom #1, Dan Slott’s first Spider-issue and contains the usual assortment of planning documents that these things have.

The Volume as a Whole:

This trade collection has one purpose — reintroduce the reader to Peter Parker post One More Day. The book succeeds wildly at that. The first half of the book, in particular, does a good job of balancing showing us the new status quo while also introducing new villains. The second half feels a bit disjointed the to first half. There are some threads flowing through the entire book — Jonah’s heart attack, Jackpot, and his problems as an unregistered super hero. But Mr. Negative gets his blood and then we don’t hear from him again. Carlie’s also gone for most of the second half of the book.

At the end of this volume: We still don’t know anything about this Menace. The Spider-Tracer killings thread has not been resolved. The lawsuit hasn’t happened. The Mafia hasn’t come back into the story. So this trade is clearly meant to be a huge arc that covers all three volumes before we see closure these threads, if at all.