Marvel Comics Disappoints Yet Again, Kicks Off New ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ Run With Near Exact Repeat Of ‘Brand New Day’s Opening Scene
In yet further proof that nobody hates Peter Parker more than Marvel Comics, the first issue of the core Amazing Spider-Man series’ newest volume begins not with the exploration of “bold new horizons” as previously promised, but rather a near identical retread of the opening scene of the hero’s Brand New Day era.
Featuring words by Spider-Man/Deadpool Vol. 1 writer Joe Kelly and art from Blood Hunt Vol. 1 line art/colorist duo Pepe Larraz and Marte Garcia, the debut issue of Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 7 finds the wall-crawler yet again unemployed, down on his luck, and struggling to make ends meet thanks to the ever-present demands of his superhero responsibilities.
To this end, realizing that he needs to change his circumstances, Peter hits the streets and manages to arrange a number of job interviews, all of which happen to be in-person.
Unfortunately for Peter, rather than any level of success, his conversations meetings all play out in generally the same way: After receiving praise for his qualifications, he is then pressed as to his spotty work history. Following a a brief ‘internal cutaway’ to his super-heroics, Peter ultimately fails to give a satisfactory explanation for his less-than-stellar resumé, which ultimately leads to him being rejected and ending the day still jobless.
And if that sounds familiar, dear reader, this is not just because this opening set-up is essentially the same ‘Peter struggles to juggle his personal and Spider-life’ one that Marvel Comics always defaults to whenever they relaunch, reboot, or reimagine him.
It’s also because this is almost a shot-for-shot retread of a scene that played out 17-years earlier in Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 #546 – otherwise known as the very first issue of the hero’s post ‘selling his marriage to Mephisto’ life.
Coming to readers from then-new series writer Dan Slott, penciller Steve McNiven, inker Dexter Vines, and colorist Morry Hollowell, the issue first finds Peter waking up in his childhood bedroom at Aunt May’s house, his stay necessitated by the fact that he has neither the savings nor the ‘current employment status’ to afford his own place.
Aware that his current situation is “just sad”, Peter spends the morning scouring the ‘Classifieds’ section of The Daily Bugle and proceeding to schedule same-day interviews for three positions that speak to his specific skill sets: A high school science teacher, a fashion photographer, and a research assistant at an advanced technology lab.
Unfortunately for Peter, not only does his flaky and unprofessional reputation proceed him, but when faced with the observation that he has not done any notable science work since his time in high school and the subsequent question of “What have you been doing all this time?”, he not only finds himself briefly reflecting on his history as Spider-Man, but is also only able to explain his time in the tights away as “You know…this and that…”
In the interest of fairness, it should be noted that due to the ‘ever-ongoing’ nature of the Western industry’s approach to comics, most superhero books, especially those from the ‘Big Two’, are prone to occasionally stepping on the toes or even outright retreading old stories, characters, and interactions.
However, unlike in Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 7 #1, said retreading is usually not this blatant, with most instances usually being different enough thanks to occurring at different time periods or during different events than the original.
Now, this is all not to say that Kelly directly plagiarized Slott’s work; far from it, as Kelly’s writing history proves he’s more than capable of doing his own writing.
Rather, it’s to point out the fact that thanks to Marvel’s ongoing insistence that Peter can never, ever mature past this exact spot in his life – broke, unemployed, single, and struggling – they have all but officially run out of new and interesting ways to both explore his character and believably explain his inability to move forward.
For those interested in seeing yet another refresh of the web-slinger’s life, Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 7 #1 swings onto shelves today, April 9th.
More About:Comic Books