CBR: ADVANCE PREVIEW: "Amazing Spider-Man" #661

[CBR News]

Marvel Comics has released an advance look at "Amazing Spider-Man" #661 by Christos Gage, Paul Benjamin, Reilly Brown and Javier Pulido. The students of Avengers Academy guest star May 18.


Full article here.

[tigerkaya]

This should be interesting.

[CyberHubbs]

Having enjoyed Gage's Spider-Man/Fantastic Four mini-series, I welcome him with open arms to Big Time.

Also, shit, I really need to get Avengers Academy back on the pull list. But with Uncanny back on also with Gillen as the sole writer, my stack is getting expensive.

[BeastieRunner]

He's still in the FF??

Crap. this might be staying on my pull list for the time being then ...

[James Hunter]

He's still in the FF??

Crap. this might be staying on my pull list for the time being then ...

You mean you were going to drop it in the first place?? On what basis? (genuinely curious)

Cheers.

James.

[Meehaul]

I'm tired of the "very special gust stars." I'd like to see Pete's life get a bit more development.

[DarkKnghtJared]

I haven't read Academy, but it sounds like it could be interesting.

This does remind me of something, though--with OMD/OMIT and all that, was Peter still a teacher at some point?

[stillanerd]

I'm tired of the "very special gust stars." I'd like to see Pete's life get a bit more development.

To be fair, this is kind of the idea--that because Peter has decided to re-dedicate himself as Spider-Man via making more weapons, suits, and tech for himself at Horizon and signing up for whatever mission the FF or the Avengers go on, he virtually has no time to spend with family and friends as Peter Parker. But yeah, at this rate they might as well rename "Amazing Spider-Man" "Marvel Team-Up."

[daveageallen]

To be fair, this is kind of the idea--that because Peter has decided to re-dedicate himself as Spider-Man via making more weapons, suits, and tech for himself at Horizon and signing up for whatever mission the FF or the Avengers go on, he virtually has no time to spend with family and friends as Peter Parker. But yeah, at this rate they might as well rename "Amazing Spider-Man" "Marvel Team-Up."

for all of bnd spider-man has been in his own little corner in ASM. for the first time in a while he has alot of other major marvel characters in his book(which is something fans were complaining about and dan slott said specifically he was going to bring back) and now your complaining that he doesnt have enough of just spider-man?

the first arc had the avengers in it for a few pages and then all of hobgoblin was spidey and black cat. then the insect army arc, all spidey and his cast. then no one dies. this FF stuff is the only arc that has had any real team ups for more than an intro. he also is fronted a big event all summer long? what more could you want?

[CyberHubbs]

The insect army arc had New Avengers for most of it.

That said, I like that Slott is juggling in Spidey's various teammates. The book still focuses on him, of course, but also lets Slott play with others' toys. Guess it could be seen as MTU, but that's not a bad thing. It's the best of both worlds, even.

[stillanerd]

for all of bnd spider-man has been in his own little corner in ASM. for the first time in a while he has alot of other major marvel characters in his book(which is something fans were complaining about and dan slott said specifically he was going to bring back) and now your complaining that he doesnt have enough of just spider-man?

the first arc had the avengers in it for a few pages and then all of hobgoblin was spidey and black cat. then the insect army arc, all spidey and his cast. then no one dies. this FF stuff is the only arc that has had any real team ups for more than an intro. he also is fronted a big event all summer long? what more could you want?

In the first place, the only story we have had that was strictly a Spidey solo adventure was "No One Dies."

Second, the whole idea is that Peter Parker's life is just as important, if not moreso, than his being Spider-Man. It's a balancing act between the responsibilities of himself and Spider-Man. And right now, things are swinging to far into Peter being Spider-Man. Which, interestingly enough, was one of the main complaints readers had about JMS' run, especially towards the end, in that Peter's rich supporting cast was being ignored in favor of him hanging out with the New Avengers and one of the "reasons" given for why the marriage had to go.

That said, I have no problem with the idea that Peter, because of him wanting to be a better Spider-Man, is now putting all of his commitment into being Spidey at the cost of his personal relationships which is what Dan Slott is clearly going for. He's using Spidey as an Avenger, as a New Avenger, and now as a member of the Future Foundation, to show that, yes, he is spreading himself too thin and that it's going to come back and really screw things up for him later on.

The insect army arc had New Avengers for most of it.

That said, I like that Slott is juggling in Spidey's various teammates. The book still focuses on him, of course, but also lets Slott play with others' toys. Guess it could be seen as MTU, but that's not a bad thing. It's the best of both worlds, even.

Just as long as he doesn't make the mistake that sometimes happens in Marvel Team-Ups in that Spidey winds up taking a back-seat in his own comic.

[bulletproofsponge]

meh.. Nothing too interesting.

[pedroparkero]

the art looks good...

i said it before and i will say it again...

Gage can write spider-man...i love his sm/x-men and sm/ff series

[Xenon]

I haven't read Academy, but it sounds like it could be interesting.

This does remind me of something, though--with OMD/OMIT and all that, was Peter still a teacher at some point?

Ooo, I can actually answer this. When the Chameleon took over his life in 603 (right after Mary Jane comes back), he goes through all his stuff and mentions that he is licensed to teach in the state of New York. Chameleon mocks him for this fact because he's a photographer still at that time.

for all of bnd spider-man has been in his own little corner in ASM. for the first time in a while he has alot of other major marvel characters in his book(which is something fans were complaining about and dan slott said specifically he was going to bring back) and now your complaining that he doesnt have enough of just spider-man?

the first arc had the avengers in it for a few pages and then all of hobgoblin was spidey and black cat. then the insect army arc, all spidey and his cast. then no one dies. this FF stuff is the only arc that has had any real team ups for more than an intro. he also is fronted a big event all summer long? what more could you want?

See, In my opinion, I don't think that crossovers work all that well because of deifferent themes and focuses in each of the diffrent titles. So if Spider-Man is just in his corner with no other heroes interfering for the most part, I'm totally cool with that.

And these last two issues have suffered on the Spider-Man front because of the cross-overs. As emotional as 657 was, it was largely a story about the Fantastic Four where Spider-Man happened to be. 658 has important plot developments at the beginning and end, but outside of that he's just on a FF adventure.

If you must put him on other teams, keep his adventures on those teams in their own book. Or use them when they help with Spider-Man's story but not otherwise. Like during the Spider-Slayers arc. THAT worked. Spider-Man was key in that story, but they enabled the crisis to be bigger because you had these other heroes to help fight the army of bugs. They contributed to Spider-Man's story, which is what they should do when they appear in Spider-Man's book.

[Ravin' Ray]

Well, it's inevitable that there's going to be plenty of overlap between ASM and FF, Hickman or Brevoort said so themselves. Well what about overlaps with Avengers and NA, we might ask? Maybe Marvel wants to emphasize the differing reasons why Spider-Man joined these teams, and in the case of FF it's more personal for him. Anyway, there's no guarantee the FF will appear in every issue of ASM.

One crossover that really worked (albeit it only spanned two isues) was in the Avengers and FF Annuals back in the 80's about Kree-Skrull war. Roger Stern and John Byrne were in such close collaboration that when the Avengers Annual left off, the FF Annual picked up as if it was a single story, which it was.