Amazing Spider-Man by Nick Spencer vol. 11: Last Remains

The last time I wrote about Nick Spencer’s “Amazing Spider-Man” run, I said that the writer had plowed it into territory that I didn’t find fun or entertaining to read about.  Finding out the identity of Kindred, the demonic being who has been tormenting Spidey from the shadows of Spencer’s run, was the only reason I picked up this volume.  A good reveal had the possibility of turning my interest around, especially if it showed that the writer had been planning things well since the character’s introduction.  I wanted to believe this was possible, especially since Spencer’s run had been so much fun while he was indulging his and the character’s comedic side.

Did I get that with this volume?  No.  No I did not.

[Full spoilers for this volume after the break.]

Part of the problem here is that Kindred never really struck me as a particularly interesting villain before his identity was revealed.  Yes, he had that creepy, crawly, fresh-from-the-grave look, not something you normally expect to see in a “Spider-Man” comic, but all he did was just act sinister in the background.  Kindred was more of a living symbol of Spencer having some long-term plan going in the background than an actual character.  That he was shown to be one step ahead of Peter Parker all this time without having to work for it did nothing to endear him to me over the course of the previous ten volumes.

Still, I’ll admit that I’m a sucker for a good mystery.  It was heavily implied that Kindred was someone from Spidey’s past who has come back to menace him once more.  So the possibility that his reveal could spark a realization in me that, “OH!  This makes sense!” was mainly what kept me from rolling my eyes too much whenever he came around.  Even after it was strongly implied that Kindred was actually Peter’s friend, Harry Osborne.  Which I figured was just misdirection in regards to the villain’s real identity, because hinting that a specific character was masquerading as another character before revealing them to be the hinted character in the first place would just be dumb.

Then I read this volume and saw that Harry Osborne was Kindred.

At first I was hoping that his dad, Norman’s, admission in the first issue was just more misdirection.  Then it was solidly revealed in the third issue and that just drove the volume further into the ground for me.  Putting aside Spencer’s misguided anti-misdirection here, making Harry into a villain again after all these years doesn’t hold any real appeal.  It’s been a lot more interesting to read about a Harry Osborne who has struggled to do the right thing from under the legacy of his father’s actions.  There was also no indication that the character had fallen back into his bad habits, so the reveal felt like a giant cheat as well.

OR WAS IT REALLY?!  You see, one explanation regarding Harry as Kindred I’ve seen floating around the net is that this isn’t the version of Harry we’ve been reading about for the past decade.  It’s actually the version of the character from the pre-”One More Day” soft-reboot of Spidey’s continuity that had found his way out of Hell.  (It’s honestly impressive to see how this little-liked story keeps mucking up Spider-Man’s life all these years later.)  None of this is explicitly stated in this volume, but it’s the only (terrible) explanation that makes sense.  Especially after Harry shows up at his apartment in issue #58 after Kindred has been imprisoned.  More on that later.

While the Kindred reveal was certainly the worst part of this volume, everything surrounding it isn’t much better.  That’s because it’s all a dark depressing slog that tries to sell us on the idea that maybe Spider-Man hasn’t taken responsibility for all of the people who have died around him over the years.  It’s a ridiculous conceit, to be sure, but one that Spencer feels committed to exploring.  In the grimmest and grittiest way possible.

Are you ready to see Spidey’s friends be possessed and demonized by the Sin-Eater’s escaped sins?  How about Kindred digging up the corpses of those closest to Peter for a macabre dinner?  Or seeing the villain spend an entire issue killing Peter and bringing him back over and over again?  If you’re not sold on any of this yet, then how about a climax that makes it look like Mary Jane has finally met her maker?

It’s not that “Spider-Man” stories can’t go dark.  It’s just that “Last Remains” goes way over the line in that regard.  What we get here is a story that mistakes darkness for dramatic weight and winds up being boring in a depressing way.  You get the feeling that Spencer thought that he was delivering his big finish with all of the bad things that happen to his cast here.  Except that he’s been going dark for the past two volumes and the result here just makes me go, “Enough already!”  What the writer delivers here isn’t entertaining, transgressive, or interesting.  It’s just a misguided attempt to bring back a villain that should’ve stayed in Hell.

With that said, was there anything I liked about this story?  The bit about Doctor Strange’s “ominous face” was fun.  As the only actual joke in this volume, I was glad to see that it worked.

The art was pretty good too.  Patrick Gleason returns to illustrate most of this volume and he does solid work trying to sell the events of this misbegotten storyline.  The demonized characters look appropriately menacing, the entirety of the cast looks appropriately frightened at times — except for MJ who retains an air of confidence to let us know she’s as over this story as I am — and if you’ve every wanted to see Peter’s face covered in grubs, then Gleason has you covered.  Pitching in for two issues here is old pro Mark Bagley, who shows us that he’s still one of the greats when it comes to drawing the Ol’ Wall-Crawler.  Even in stories like this that don’t deserve his talent.  Or Gleason’s for that matter.

Now, you may recall that I mentioned Harry shows up in person in issue #58.  That’s because I’m already three issues past the end of “Last Remains” on Marvel Unlimited.  Yes, even though I won’t be buying any more volumes of Spencer’s “Amazing Spider-Man,” I’ll likely still be reading it on that service.  It’s effectively “free” after all.  There’s also the hope that things might still turn around on this run, especially since the solicitations indicate that the story will be lightening up from here on out.  Hey, if Fraction and Larroca could dig themselves out of the hole they dug for themselves on “Invincible Iron  Man,” then Spencer and Co. should be able to do the same, right?

Well, I’ll be spending a minimum of funds and time to find out because hope springs eternal over here.  Everyone else, on the other hand, is advised to find better uses for their time and money and to drop Spencer’s “Amazing Spider-Man” if they can’t manage the same.