So Mary Jane and Peter are back together, and this is the first issue after this new status quo is established, and if this is the kind of thing we're going to get... I'd kind of like them to split again. Or for Mary Jane to mysteriously disappear. Or anything else that restores the separated status quo that I've hated for the past several years, because Straczynski's tendency to get overly cute and turn funny into syrupy and borderline stupid kicks into overdrive in this issue. There's kind of a nifty new idea for a villain and some sequences I really like, and the usual standout job from Romita Jr. and Hanna, but it's buried underneath cutesy dialogue and characterization that comes off as trying to be funny instead of actually being funny.
The story starts off on a pretty high note, as Straczynski and Romita Jr. serve up the origin of a new villain that hearkens back to the Silver Age style but with a modern twist in terms of the narration and the subject matter that the villain is based on. The story of a gangland hit of unprecedented size and the introduction of a radioactive bomb test is not far off from the kind of origin Stan Lee might have done, although the mob violence is kept a little less goofy.
Would that this less goofy tone continued throughout. I love funny books, I love super-hero books that can have fun with the concept, but that does not seem to be where Straczynski's strengths lie. I found the "banter" between Peter, Mary Jane and the waiter to be largely obnoxious and stupid rather than funny, and the constant use of gags like Spidey on the roof shouting at a guy trying to get some sleep or being drawn to his police contact by a cry for help from a boombox not only stretched the suspension of disbelief but made most of the characters look by turns selfish, dim-witted or plain old deranged. A couple of these gags go a long way, but Straczynski just litters the book with them, and it gets to be like watching a comedian die on stage, desperately trying to regain his audience by saying everything mildly funny that comes into his head.
Then there's the villain of the piece, who I quite like. The visual from Romita makes him look oddly reptilian instead of corpselike, which I suppose could be a nudge toward the gamma radiation. At any rate, where this new character shines is in his expressions, creating the sense of the character as an amalgamation of 50s goons, and Straczynski's dialogue for the character helps out in this regard as well. The bruiser from a forgotten age is an archetype that I like, whether it's because he just got out of prison (like Bobo Benetti in Starman) or out of the grave (which could only happen in super-hero comics.)
Amazing Spider-Man continues to be the best traditional Spider-Man book on the market, able to appeal to adult and younger readers and mixing action and characterization in a way that is reminiscent of some of Roger Stern's work on the character in the 1980s. If only it didn't seem so keen on being cute and winking at the reader on every single page, I think I'd be enjoying it a lot more.
