"THE BIRTH OF...THE GIBBON!"
Writer: Stan Lee/Penciller: John Romita Sr./Inker: John Romita Sr./Letterer: John Costanza/Editor: Stan Lee/Cover Art: John Romita Sr.
Synopsis: Spider-Man is approached by Martin Blank, a former circus performer who is soon to take on a new, costumed identity as the Gibbon...
Review: Much like Steve Ditko before him, Stan Lee ends his tenure on The Amazing Spider-Man with a bit of a mediocre story. Correction: half of a mediocre story, as this is only part one. It's a shame that one of Spidey's most important writers - hell, his co-creator - ends on anything less than a triumphant note, but to be honest, very few ASM writers over the years have ended their eras on a high point. Those are stories for another time. For now, let's talk about the Gibbon.
The Gibbon is announced as "one of the greatest new SUPER STARS in the mighty Marvel Universe" on the opening splash page, a sentence that, I must confess, made me laugh. The Gibbon is hardly a memorable character for anyone that isn't a die-hard Spider-Man fan, and though he's made a few reappearances in the years since this issue, he's always been a D-list Spidey enemy, and even that's being a bit generous (I think the Gibbon belongs squarely in the lower-half of the alphabet). At the end of the day, he's just a bloke in an ape suit, and that's about it. John Romita does do an excellent job with Martin Blank's features, giving his face a characterfully simian appearance, and in all honesty, his backstory is one of the stronger parts of the issue, getting the reader to feel a good deal of sympathy for the guy and everything he's been through. As a side note, I also really like how quick Spider-Man is to try and cheer Martin up; it's often the little moments like these that define the character for me, those times where all it takes is a kind word to be a hero (not that it actually works in this case, but you get the idea).
Nothing much else of consequence happens in the issue, other than Peter's continued paranoia that Gwen is going to run off with Flash, which is getting incredibly tiresome at this point, and just feels like Stan spinning his wheels. It's the same subplot we've seen recycled over and over again, and it makes so little sense by this point because we know that Gwen adores Peter and would never think of leaving him or cheating on him (well, until Sins Past, anyway, but let's cross that thorny bridge when we get to it). Just a few issues ago we got a really nice scene between Peter and Gwen that seemed to put an end to the constant paranoia and jealousy, where Peter realised that Gwen's concern for Flash comes from friendship, nothing more. To have Pete just regress back to being a paranoid maniac, it's as though none of that character development ever happened. It makes Peter look deeply insecure, and makes Stan look as though he had run out of ideas for the book at this point in time.
ASM #110 is the epitome of a 'treading water' issue: nothing of any interest happens! Martin Blank makes for a somewhat sympathetic character, but already he's showing a bit of a 'woe is me' self-absorption that isn't so likeable, and the tired old Peter and Gwen routine is just that: tired. As said, it's a shame that Stan's run has to end like this, in the middle of a story (and not even a particularly good story), but such is life. A final issue that barely registers as average cannot erase the indelible mark he made on Spider-Man over the first ten years of the character. He told some good stories, some great stories, and some incredible stories. This is none of those, but that doesn't really matter. We love him anyway.
Rating: 3/5
Next time, the Gibbon is put under the spell of a returning villain who wants to see Spider-Man dead...
No comments:
Post a Comment