Customer Reviews

Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 9: Skin Deep

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The four-part "Skin Deep" storyline in "The Amazing Spider-Man" is a tale that bring's Peter Parker's past together with Spider-Man's present. Collected in Volume 8 of these trade paperback reprints, the story is written by J. Michael Straczynski with pencils by Mike Deodato, inked by Joe Pimentel and colored by Matt Milla, the flashback sequences are penciled by Mark Brooks, inked by Jamie Mendoza, and colored by Brian Reber. The contrast between the past and present might be too much, but you have to admit that you can tell them apart as you go along.

The story begins with Peter late for school and substituting for another teacher and dealing with an unruly student. That he looks out the window and sees Charlie Weiderman. Sudden we are back to when Peter was in high school and Charlie became the new kid in class. You see, "The unwritten law of the classroom is that the school geek only gets a break when and if an even bigger geek moves into the neighborhood." You guessed it: Charlie is that geek, and when Peter finds he is no longer low man on the school totem pole, he makes sure he has nothing to do with the new kid. Peter was ashamed of what he did that day, so when Charlie shows up to ask a favor he is more than willing to listen.

Charlie wants to get a big military contract for coming up with a new type of body armor. It would have to be from some kind of porous polymer compound that could cover every part of a soldier but still let oxygen breath through. That last part is what is stumping Charlie, along with something to absorb the energy of the incoming bullets. Charlie thinks the answer could be vibranium, the expensive natural material found only in the kingdom of Wakanda, soif he uses Peter's name as a reference when he goes to an interview with Tony Stark. Peter agrees and Charlie thanks him, saying that he has always been a friend. But when Peter remembers high school he knows that he was anything but a friend to Charlie.

Stark gives Charlie a check, rounded off to the nearest hundred thousand, basically because Peter wrote a letter of recommendation. Peter shows up to help with the experiment but discovers Charlie is taking a dangerous shortcut, and if you do not know what is going to happen then you simply have not read most of the previous 514 issues of "The Amazing Spider-Man." Peter walks away from the experiment and once again we have a new supervillain for Spider-Man created by an explosion tampering with science. Peter tried to help, but no good deed goes unpunished in his world and Charlie still wants Peter's help, or else he is going to kill him and everyone around him.

Stracynski maintains the present and past threads of the story line throughout the four parts of "Skin Deep," and while I am not sure what I think about going back and rewriting that part of Peter Parker's past, it certainly makes sense to be reminded of the geek that was left behind when the radioactive spider bit him. This is not a great storyline, but it is solid enough and after "Sins Past" (Volume 8) it is certainly a breath of fresh air. Besides, "Skin Deep" ends with a major change in the life of the Parkers and anything that sets up Aunt May taking on Wolverine is a good thing in my book.

This Spidey story was not one of the worst things that I have ever read. I guess the artist Deodato saved this story with his artwork.

There was an attempt to delve a little deeper into Spidey, sort of fleshing out his character, that sort-of-thing. In addition, Peter's relationship with Mary Jane and his Aunt May are also explored. THe problem is the shallowness of this exploration. A pity as Mary Jane is a potentially interesting character with the babelicious factor. Tony Stark is depicted as the all-knowing, all-caring paternalistic do-gooder with deep pockets. The relationship between Aunt May and Jarvis was developed too fast and the other Avengers have the usual walk-on roles.

The villain is just forgettable, Charlie whatever, and the constant flashbacks between the present and the past is irritating. How he can get Tony Stark to give him research funds just by name-dropping Spidey's name is ridiculous. Doesn't Tony Stark do background checks etc? Hence the general shallowness of this book.

This, like all of JMS' Spider-Man stories since "Sins Past" has been disapointing. It is not completely unreadable, and I continue to enjoy Mike Deodanto's art since he came back onto the scene, but compared to the the the great Spidey tales out there, this one is very missable. If you're new to Spider-Man check out Essential Marvel Team Up to see some great Spidey, or the first few trades of the current run with JMS and Romita Jr. they're a lot better than this one focusing on some minor character from Parker's past (who I don't beleive we, the reader, have ever met before). It starts out interesting exploring what could've happened if Peter wasn't so responsible, but quickly turns into cliched hero vs. villain fare.

While not nearly as bad as the previous arc, SINS PAST, the story in SKIN DEEP is still very poor. It focuses on some obscure character who hasn't existed in prior to this arc. Yet, this new character who has never been mentioned all of a sudden shows up and goes on a personal vendetta, and the target is Peter Parker. The villain in this arc seems like a bad rip-off of Molten Man, an older villain who dates back to the Ditko issues of Amazing Spider-Man. Overall, the story is dull, unimaginative, and predictable. The only reason you might want to pick this up is so you know why Peter, MJ, and May move into a new residence right after this story...

From the very beginning, you could predict the story along with the cliche flashback of Peter reminicing on his teen years as the bullied geek. This time a fellow geek is introduced. You feel sorry for him, but you realize early he is another cross that Peter willingly bares. I gotta say I really love the artwork over John Romita's work. I was kinda getting annoyed with the occasional, out-of-place anorexically skinny people (including Spidey!).
Artwork is an upgrade while the plot was downgraded. After the last issues being so powerful I guess you're due for a "relaxing" issue. This issue didn't move me in any way except for the improved artwork.