More like Spider-Man: Groan.
Writer & Artist | Kaare Andrews |
Colorist | Brian Reber |
Publisher | Marvel | 08.07.24 |
Spoilers Ahead
You know things are rough when the recap page of a comic provides more clarity than the actual issue that preceded it. Such is the case with Spider-Man: Reign 2 #2 by Kaare Andrews. Seriously, I read the recap and it gave me insights into things that I wasn't able to grasp on my own in the first issue. Kingpin is running New York and using the WEBB electrical defense system to keep an army of zombie people at bay. It also simultaneously keeps the people of New York trapped within. However, the grid is starting to fail, and so Fisk is offering residents a new deal—immortality in the form of a digital life simulation.
Peter has been a beta tester of this system because, according to the recap, he's trying to "[live] out a digital life with his deceased wife, Mary Jane." This is a major red flag and we'll get to why momentarily. Moving on, though, Peter gets broken out of the facility by a thief named Kitty-Kat, who wants him to help save everyone from Fisk's plan. Peter, however, isn't sure at first if that's what he even wants to do and that maybe Fisk is actually right.
However, Kitty-Kat takes Peter to his old enemy the Green Goblin to offer him a different option: go back in time and find a solution to fix this problem before it ever even starts. Now, Peter has 48 hours to figure out how to save everyone, but his old partner Miles Morales is being pushed by the Kingpin to hunt him down before that. Miles seems reluctant to be involved, but apparently Fisk has something on him that can't be overcome.
Whoof! Alright, that's a lot of exposition, but it's necessary because, as I said, it's hard to get exactly all that just from reading issue one on its own. Now, when I wrote my review of the first issue, I was willing to give this series some leeway. After reading this second issue, all of my patience has been worn out. Spider-Man: Reign 2 is exactly what I feared it would become: a pointless retread of the original miniseries. Worse, it's insulting to the character, his supporting cast, and readers.
The story picks up where the last issue left off, with Peter and Kitty-Kat in a New York of the past. It's not exactly clear when, as it's never stated, but it's sometime before the devastation of New York, Immediately, all Peter can think about is finding Mary Jane in order to save her. Which would be rather sweet and charming but for the fact that this Peter is a complete maniac and is fixated on the idea of saving her. He makes his way back to their Michelinie/'90s era apartment with the skylight in the bathroom, hoping to find MJ at home.
She is, alas, not there, with Peter instead discovering some random person living in the apartment. As he will do for the entire issue, Peter begins belligerently asking the new apartment renter "where is she?!" with zero regard for the fact that no one knows who he's talking about. Now, you might be thinking, "Well, he loves MJ! He wants to save her, that's why he's acting like this!" To which I would say, the original Spider-Man: Reign culminated in a reborn Peter Parker, who had accepted the death of his wife and was once again Spider-Man, saving innocent people from the same fate his Uncle Ben suffered. He wasn't nuts anymore and seemed to be returning to a semblance of normal life.
Spider-Man: Reign 2 seems to be hitting the reset button on all of that or flushing it down the toilet—take your pick. Peter has completely devolved back into the state he was in for the first miniseries, albeit worse. So what then was the point of the first series? Why would anyone want to see Peter go back to the miserable state he was in? This entire setup feels so forced, making Peter a deranged maniac because it suits Kaare's needs, not because it's a natural place the character would have gone. Kaare is apparently invalidating all of the work he put into the original simply to take another swing at making his own Dark Knight Returns.
But wait, there's more.
As Peter is shrieking "who is she?!" at this poor guy, the Beetle and the Vulture swoop in, killing the man and then turning their attack on Spider-Man. Peter (you guessed it) now starts screaming "where is she"!" at them, which of course yields no answers because they don't even know who she is. The Vulture says as much right before Peter sends him careening down the street onto a parked car, killing him. Then, Peter heads back up to the apartment to interrogate the Beetle who, yep, also dies from the injuries Peter gave him. That's right, dear readers, Spider-Man is now a killer.
It gets worse. Peter turns his attention to The Daily Bugle building, where he goes to ask J. Jonah Jameson about MJ's whereabouts. Except, despite the fact that Peter's inner monologue suggests he has some sense (he assumes that JJJ can tell him where his current address is), his actions say otherwise, as he again devolves to screaming, "where is she?!" at Jonah. Jonah, like Vulture, doesn't know who he's talking about, so Peter specifies he's looking for MJ. JJJ says he doesn't know where she is, which enrages Peter further.
Robbie enters the room and tries to ease the situation. Peter asks Robbie to tell him MJ's location when Jonah appears with a gun. JJJ shoots at Spider-Man, but he leaps over the shot, leaving Robbie in its path. The bullets hit, and Robbie is dead. And so, too, was my enthusiasm for this comic. I was already disgusted to see Peter kill Vulture and Beetle for no reason, but to see Robbie Robertson killed like that was a bridge too far, for me.
Peter blames Jonah, while Jonah blames Peter. I get the sense that Kaare is trying to make some kind of commentary on JJJ, or maybe gun owners, or who knows what. I was going to dissect the possibilities, but you know what? I don't care. This was a disgusting way to portray Jonah that doesn't suit the character, and it was a pitiful way to take out a character as important to the Spider-Man mythos as Robbie. And no, I don't care that this is a possible future—this is disgusting regardless.
What's more, even if Kaare wants to paint JJJ in a negative light here, his own portrayal of Peter makes the man's attempt to shoot Spider-Man totally valid. He says himself that Spider-Man killed Peter. Now, clearly that's not so, as Peter is Spider-Man, but JJJ lives in a world where he believes that to be so(including Aunt May, who we'll get to in a moment). This Spider-Man is a threat, and one that's violently burst into the Bugle offices screaming that he wants to know where the wife of the man he killed is. Who wouldn't shoot the guy if they felt like he was a genuine danger?
Eventually, Peter winds up at Aunt May's, who is now blind and mourning the loss of Peter. Although he isn't screaming at May, even here Peter is still maniacally asking "where is she," as though everyone knows who he means the second he opens his mouth. The scene with May is mildly touching, but with this facsimile of Peter in place of the real thing, it's nowhere near as powerful as it could have been. Peter trudges away from the house barely even seeming to register his talk with May, still focused entirely on MJ.
While Peter was out searching, Kitty-Kat was on the run with the tiny green goblin creatures that went along with her and Peter when they went into the past. They're trying to get her to build a bomb, which she doesn't know how to do, when Miles comes rushing at them with a pack of Fisk's men. Miles gets zero characterization here just as he did in the previous issue. I sincerely hope that changes, otherwise Miles' inclusion is insultingly superficial. He's barking for the men to kill Kitty-Kat and the goblins before they cause a "paradox," but despite their efforts she gets away. And if you're wondering what these tiny goblins are, I can't tell you because Kaare doesn't bother to explain. They're just there.
The issue ends with a twist (Venom is here, except it's MJ in the symbiote), which might have been interesting but for the fact that Kaare killed all of the series' momentum pages ago. This decrepit, crazed Peter isn't someone that I'm interested in rooting for. He's a murderer, he's selfish, and I already read this story in 2006. Except in that story, Peter was able to overcome his pain and loss, and continue on as the hero we all love. This time around, it appears we're going through the motions again for no discernible reason. While I can appreciate Kaare's art, which is damned good, I can't describe how disappointed this issue left me. I'm sticking it out and will review the rest, but while I hope things will start to make sense next issue, I'm not holding my breath.
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