Amazing Spider-Man vol. 1: The Parker Luck

Normal service has been resumed in the life of Peter Parker.  After six volumes of “Superior Spider-Man,” Peter’s mind is finally back in control of his body and the title character is back to being the fun-loving, wisecracking wall-crawler that we all know and love.  More specifically, the title is back to reading like it did before its “Superior” interlude under the auspices of longtime regular writer Dan Slott.  So if you’ve liked what the writer has done with the character over the years, then you’ll find much to appreciate here.  Everyone who was onboard with the title for seeing Doc Ock run the show as Spidey may be interested to see how the fallout from that time is addressed, but I’m not sure what else they’ll find to keep them interested.

Now that he’s back as Spider-Man, Peter immediately finds out that a whole lot in his life has changed.  Not only is he running his own business, but he’s also living with Doc Ock’s girlfriend Anna Maria Marconi.  Who, it should be noted, figures out his secret identity after an encounter with some animal-themed supervillains leaves him with only his webbing covering his unmentionables.  Such is The Parker Luck.  It’s also set to get a whole lot worse as the Black Cat is looking to get some payback for how the Superior Spider-Man got her thrown in jail a few months back.  Teamed up with an Electro whose powers are out of control, she’s ready to make the spider suffer for all that she’s lost as a result of his interference.

All of this adds up to a fun romp that showcases the hallmarks of Slott’s work with the character and his supporting cast.  This includes a great handle on the title character from his unflagging optimism and desire to do the right thing no matter how hard it might be, and the whole hard-luck nature of his life in general.  It also extends to the writer’s use of the character’s supporting cast — giving J. Jonah Jameson his own TV talk show:  genius — the humor he infuses into just about every scenario along with the drama that sneaks up when you least expect it, and his efforts to acknowledge Marvel continuity without being beholden to it.  What you get here is exactly what you’d expect from a good Marvel and “Spider-Man” comic and while Slott doesn’t go out of his way to reinvent the wheel here, he knows how to tune it up to make sure it runs in a smoothly entertaining manner.

The most interesting thing to observe in this volume is how the fallout from “Superior Spider-Man” is managed here.  While nobody would’ve held it against Slott if he had decided to bow out after that run, the man is still around and I’m glad to see that he did.  Other writers might have succumbed to the temptation to write out or ignore as many of the developments from the past year and a half of stories in order to get Spider-Man/Peter back into a more familiar template that would allow them to write the stories they want.  With Slott at the helm, he dives headfirst into showing how Peter runs his own company (badly), deals with having a girlfriend he never knew (awkwardly), and starts mending fences with the superhero community (okay, all of the issues there are pretty much handwaved away).

Of these particular issues, it’s the parts with Anna Maria that hit the hardest.  She and Doc Ock actually had a genuine relationship going that he was preparing to take to the next level.  Then she finds out that the man she loved wasn’t who she thought he was and the person in his place doesn’t have the same feelings for her at all.  That she soldiers on and tries to make the best of things is admirable and makes her into a very sympathetic presence in this new title.  In all honesty, I think she deserves better than what she gets from Peter here.

Particularly after her run in with Silk at Peter’s apartment.  Silk is the new Spider-Person created by Slott and revealed as part of this title’s tie-in to the “Original Sin” event.  Not only does this volume function as a tie-in to that event, it also serves as buildup for the “Spider-Verse” storyline that will be built up further in the next volume.  I know that managing the transition between arcs has been on my mind for the past couple days, and having to deal with so many different stories would seem to make this volume turn out to be an incredibly chaotic read.  It’s another credit to Slott that things do read as coherently as they do and that the fallout/buildup from all of the different storylines being addressed in this volume comes off as organically as possible for a major superhero title.

Anyway, back to Silk.  She was bit by the same spider that gave Peter her powers and was subsequently trained and then sequestered by Ezekiel (I want to say he’s the wise old mentor from the J. Michael Straczynski run, but having never read it I can only attest to the last part with any certainty.) for the last decade because of the villain Morlun.  Anyway, once Peter finds out about her, he goes and breaks her out and she gets to experience life in the big city for the first time in a while.

Silk is an appealing enough presence and clearly capable of handling herself in a fight as her assistance proves to be invaluable against the combined efforts of the Black Cat and Electro to destroy Spidey in this volume.  I still think that more could have been done with her character here.  She finds out that her family has moved out of the city and her mission going forward is clearly going to be to find out what happened to them.  Unless they’ve made a concerted effort to stay off the grid, I can’t imagine that being too difficult in this day and age.  Also, not much is made of the fact that she’s been out of circulation for the past decade.  When we first see her, she’s got posters for “The Matrix” and “American Beauty” in her room and is watching Spider-Man’s best moves on VHS.  How does someone who has lived a sheltered existence for so long react to the rise of the internet and social media?  Even if it’s just for a series of punchlines, not taking advantage of this seems like a real missed opportunity to develop the character and give her some personality.

Humberto Ramos is back on art for this arc, and while he can probably draw Spider-Man’s adventures in his sleep at this point this volume is still full of the energy that is typical of his work.  After an intriguing sepia-toned flashback, the volume kicks off with a high-speed chase through the city where we get a full-page shot of Peter… in only his mask and webbing-underwear.  The reaction shots from the onlookers are priceless, and the whole sequence has the right amount of excitement and comic verve to let the reader know that the Spider-Man they know and love is back.  Ramos nails these things in his art and keeps the momentum going until the final page.

Much like the rest of this volume, if you’re not a fan of what Ramos has done before on this title then it’s not likely that what’s here is going to change your mind.  As with Slott’s writing, everything on display in “The Parker Luck” is simply a really good take on the well-worn “Spider-Man” formula.  If you liked “Superior Spider-Man” because of how drastically it departed from that setup, then leave this volume on the shelf.  Everyone else who is looking for an adventure that features all of the traditional elements of a “Spider-Man” story with a few new wrinkles will find plenty to enjoy here.