Amazing Spider-Man by Nick Spencer vol. 2: Friends & Foes
Nick Spencer and Ryan Ottley delivered a solid reason to keep reading “Amazing Spider-Man” in the post-Slott era with the previous volume. Ottley is off for this volume and veteran Spider-artist Humberto Ramos is on for this volume, but he and Spencer keep the good times rolling here. He gets on my good side almost immediately with the opening two-parter that deals with the escalating friction between Peter Parker and one of his roommates: Fred Meyers, who is also the supervillain known as Boomerang.
As anyone who has read “The Superior Foes of Spider-Man” knows, Fred’s an all-time grade-A jerk. So it’s something of a surprise to see their relationship turn a corner after Fred invites Pete to the supervillain Bar With No Name to compete in their trivia night. Their Spider-Man trivia night. It isn’t long before Pete’s knowledge of all things Spider-Man leads to him having the time of his life and Fred… has a phone conversation with Wilson Fisk that leaves the Mayor of New York mad enough to put a price on his head. A price that all of the villains in the bar are more than happy to try and collect on.
While Boomerang’s role in “Amazing” up to this point has felt most like a nod to fans of “Superior Foes,” this storyline does a better job in showing us that he might be able to function in the series long-term. He’s still a giant dick, but we get to see a more sympathetic side to him as he hangs out with Peter and his old gang. Kinda/sorta for the old gang because while it’s great to see “Superior Foes” penciller Steve Lieber come back for a few pages to remind us of that series, the flashbacks also let us know that its time has passed. It’s still nice to have this short return here, though.
Ramos does solid work on the main scenes in that storyline and in the superhero-centric ones for the second. I mention this because the second arc features a subplot about Mary Jane encountering a Jarvis-led support group for “significant others” of superheroes. It’s a cute concept that works because it ultimately leads to MJ becoming more sure about the state of her current relationship with Peter. The art from Michele Bandini is also pretty nice too.
The main story for this arc involves the New York chapter of the Thieves Guild. While my first reaction upon hearing this was, “You mean like the one Gambit is supposed to be running?” any continuity issues are handwaved away when its mentioned later on that there are different chapters of it. So we’re dealing with the New York chapter led by the mysterious Odessa Drake and she’s out to remind everyone why they’re not to be messed with. How does she plan to do that? By stealing the stuff of pretty much every New York-based Marvel superhero.
The Fantastic Four’s Fantasticar? Gone. The hammer Thor’s currently using in place of Mjolnir? Gone. All of Tony Stark’s Iron Man suits? Gone. Spider-Man’s webshooters? Gone — and he didn’t even notice until he jumped off a building. There’s no denying that this storyline pushes at the suspension of disbelief necessary to accept how the Marvel Universe functions in the first place. I mean, the guild bypassed all of Stark’s security measures like they were nothing? That should make them an A-list threat that would never be able to be stopped by a Spider-Man/Black Cat team-up.
That’s exactly what happens and if you can buy into that then the storyline winds up being pretty fun overall. I liked how the tension between Peter and Felicia has been given a new twist because of the events of the previous volume, which ultimately leads to a surprisingly heartfelt end. It’s a nice bit of superhero fluff which provides further proof that this series is in good hands.