The Kingpin’s Midnight Massacre!

Other than a brief Daily Bugle interlude, this whole issue is a fight in which the Kingpin kicks the crap out of Spidey. The only reason Spider-Man is alive at the end is because Kingpin chooses the love of his wife over vengeance against Spider-Man.

It was alright, I guess, but the fighting got kind of boring after awhile.

Rating:

Requiem!

Well…Aunt May certainly appears to really be dead. BUT I DON’T BELIEVE IT.

This was a crazy issue. In addition to Pete grieving like crazy over Aunt May, Robbie Robertson quits! We also learn that Robbie had another son before Randy, and that he died as a child.

This was a pretty interesting issue. Not action-packed by any means, but that was one reason why it was so awesome. Really nice characterization and plotting here.

Rating:

Nine Lives Has the Black Cat!

This Black Cat issue wasn’t as good. The banter between the Cat and Spider-Man seemed more forced, and the story wasn’t really as interesting. The bits of the issue that were good were that Spidey broke his arm and that the Burglar convinced Aunt May’s nursing home to (falsely) inform Pete that Aunt May had died.

Rating:

Kraven is the Hunter!

• There’s a little foreshadowing of what I assume will be the return of the Lizard next month
• Who’s the leader of this whole kidnap operation? I assumed it was Lansky himself, but I could be wrong. Anyway, now Kraven the Hunter has joined Tarantula on the team.
• Glory Grant becomes JJJ’s new secretary.

I normally hate Kraven issues. This time around he wasn’t so bad, possibly because of all the other crap going around that kept his on-panel time down.

Rating:

Deadline!

The Kingpin drains Spidey’s lifeforce to revive his son! This was a great conclusion to the lackluster story started last issue.

Rating:

Twice Stings the Tarantula!

Danger: Demon on a Rampage!
Guest writer: Gerry Conway
Artists: Sal Buscema, Mike Esposito
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Don Warfield
Originally published: December 1976

All the Kingpin’s Men!
Writer: Len Wein
Illustrator: Ross Andru
Embellisher: Mike Esposito
Colorist: Glynis Wein
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Originally published: December 1976

man, it’s been ages since I read amazing spider-man! and, we have the start of a brand new spidey series!

alright, so spectacular 1 has a reference to amazing 163, and amazing 163 has a reference to spectacular 1. i guess they intersect, with everything up to and including the surprise party in amazing 163 comes first, then all of spectacular 1, then all of marvel team-up 52, then the rest of amazing?

in asm 163 pete thinks MJ is mad at him, and she is kinda chummy with flash. later, in spectacular, pete says that mj has been dating flash. however, pete and mj were just hanging out together in marvel treasury edition 12, and mj expressed jealousy about pete recognizing bev switzer. hmm… maybe that’s what pete was apologizing for.

• spidey runs into the kingpin’s goons
• peter’s apartment gets furnished in a surprise “please-provide-for-peter-parker’s-pad” party
• harry and liz are makin’ time
• spidey fights the tarantula, who escapes and kidnaps some guy named lansky
• pete and mj have an off-panel talk
• tarantula, under somebody’s orders (i suspect the guy that originally got “kidnapped”) tries to fake-kidnap-but-really-kill the mayor, but spider-man stops him
• tarantula gets away
• spidey’s swinging home and a interdimensional portal opens, spitting out a monster, the falcon, a cowboy, some crazies, and captain america
• the monster runs afoul of batroc the leaper, who enlists him to rob a shield hovercar
• cap and spidey stop them and capture batroc, but the monster gets away
• spider-man acknowledges that the monster is lost, confused and trying to get home, but kills him anyway. nice.
• pete and mj pick up aunt may from the hospital
• spidey tracks down kingpin’s men, but really it’s a trap and he has to face the kingpin himself
• they fight like mad, and spidey gets captured, gassed, strapped into some kinda contraption

overall, these issues were all kind of boring. not a great return to amazing, and not a great debut for spectacular. i give these three one big “meh”.

Rating:

Arm-in-Arm-in-Arm-in-Arm-in-Arm-in-Arm with Doctor Octopus

Well, the explanation for Hammerhead is that the nuclear explosion made him “out of phase”. Fine. That’s terrible, but I guess no more insane than a radioactive spider giving somebody super powers. I just hate when characters come back to life when they really, truly should be dead. It would be more palatable if either Doc Ock or Hammerhead to return, but for both to survive a nuclear explosion — in completely different ways, mind you — is just annoying.

Hammerhead is supposedly killed off again in this issue, but I definitely don’t believe it.

The one kind of cool thing was seeing Spider-Man and Doc Ock team up a little bit to fight Hammerhead and protect Aunt May. Unfortunately, this was stretched to a somewhat incredible point. Doc Ock is Spider-Man’s arch-enemy. He killed Capt. Stacy, he’s kidnapped Aunt May (and in the past, intended to kill her), and he’s fought Spidey a number of times. Having them help each other in a fight is one thing, but having them actually become a team is ridiculous. Especially against a villain like Hammerhead who, despite what Len and others try to tell us, is really not that intimidating. Spidey should easily be able to take him out alone. It just pissed me off.

On the upside – the Kingpin has and is restoring the Spider-Mobile!

I think I’m going to add the first Spidey/Superman crossover story in here, treat it as canon and part of the whole Amalgam thing. It features Doc Ock, and would kinda/sorta give an explanation for why we don’t see Ock for ages after this.

Rating:

The Sandman Always Strikes Twice

More continuity notes: this issue, and therefore Amazing 153 have to come after Team-Up 39 & 40 (as they now do). Since so much stuff is screwed up, here’s how I think my list should have looked:

• ASM 150
• (ASM 151 incinerator scene)
• SPEC 217/2
• ASM 400/2
• SM 57/2
• SPECT 223/2
• MTU 36-38
• ASM 151 (the rest)
• ASM 152
• DD 135
• HTD 1
• MTU 39/40
• A 144
• (HTD 10)
• DHKF 21
• ASM 153
• ASM 154
• IF 8
• ASM 155

Anyway, whatever. Onto the Sandman story. Sandman looks really weird in this issue. Sal Buscema totally didn’t have a grip on him. The issue was ok, but more interesting for hints it gave at upcoming stuff, rather than what was actually here. Seeing the Sandman get cryogenically frozen was pretty cool.

Rating:

Guns

Well, this is really obvious trying to recapture the glory of Marvels. Instead of the super-hero stuff told from the perspective of a regular joe reporter, we get the super-hero stuff told from the perspective of a regular joe cop. Unfortunately, it’s just not that interesting and it feels like it’s just recovering the same ground. The super-hero bit is all in the background and there’s not much of a story to it; the copy’s story line is completely unoriginal and two-dimensional. Some of the paintings are pretty good, but none of them really live up to what Alex Ross did in Marvels.

Rating:

The Schemer!

The Kingpin Strikes Back!
Author: Stan Lee
Illustrators: John Romita, John Buscema, Jim Mooney
Letterer: Sam Rosen
Originally published: May 1970

The Secret of the Schemer!
Script: Stan Lee
Art: J. Romita, J. Buscema, Mooney
Lettering: Sam Rosen
Originally published: June 1970

I haven’t read any of these in awhile, so I’m excited to get going again!

In this issue we meet a new criminal, the Schemer, who is intent on taking over the city’s crime scene. Apparently there has been a bit of a power vacuum since the disappearance of the Kingpin, and the Schemer wants to fill the void. The Schemer’s not-half-bad plan is to use guerilla tactics to attack the Kingpin’s forces. Once their attacks begin, though, they run into a wee problem: Spider-Man. The whole situation freaks Spidey out a bit. The Kingpin is kind of a big deal, and anybody willing to tangle with him must have major cajones (big testicles).

If you’ll recall: the last time Spider-Man tangled with Kingpin, the crimelord escaped in a car driven by his mysterious woman, presumably his wife. In this issue we finally get a proper introduction to this woman, Vanessa. We learn that she and the Kingpin have a son together, Richard, and that he is missing in Europe, and possibly dead. A newspaper article about the incident implies that he may have even commit suicide, and Vanessa angrily blames the entire situation on the Kingpin and his life of crime. Kingpin (who I’m fairly certain still doesn’t have a real name at this point) is quite angry about this. His frustration leads him to stop hiding and return to the action of the underworld.

Back in his civilian life, Pete and the gang see Flash off for his return to Vietnam. With a completely uncharacteristic lack of jealousy, Pete watches Gwen (and MJ) give Flash a huge kiss goodbye — on the lips no less — without even exploding into a rage. Later, Harry and MJ go to watch Easy Rider. Awesome. THEN A TRUCK FALLS ON PETER AND GWEN!

Peter holds the truck off the ground, protecting Gwen, but she was injured in the fall. Besides Gwen’s injury, this is obviously a pretty bad position to be in – anybody seeing Pete holding a truck on his back might think something was up. Pete is able to prop the truck up with a parking meter until some cops and ambulances show up, so I guess that worked out. He also throws a tracer on the car that sideswept the truck, causing it to crash.

Unsurprisingly, the car in question was being driven by the Schemer’s men. Spidey tracks them down and attacks the crap out of them. Spidey’s able to take out all the regular hoods that are there, but the Schemer himself gets away.

When Pete goes to the hospital to check on Gwen, she’s pissed off at him. What else is new, though? AMIRITE?!

There was nothing particularly spectacular about this issue, but I still enjoyed it. Possibly because it’s just been awhile since I’ve read any Spidey, possibly because I just watched Spider-Man 2 and I’m in a mood for this kinda thing, possibly because it just actually was pretty decent.

At the beginning of the next issue, we learn that some unnamed source has a $5000 reward out for the Schemer. Could this mystery party be the Kingpin? Yes, but we don’t find that out until the next issue. In an attempt to find the Schemer, Spidey does a little breaking and entering and assault against on of the crime boss’s hoods. Unfortunately, he’s not able to get any info out of the dude, so he just goes moping around the city.

Also: it’s winter and snowing a lot, and Gwen’s birthday is coming up. Pete goes to visit the recovering Gwen, who is trying to decide whether to forgive him or not. She asks a couple of questions about the accident and Peter freaks out and leaves. That outta help her trust him.

Meanwhile, the Schemer is in his hideout: a car covered in snow. WTF?! That‘s his hideout?! And he supposed to be a major threat and potential crime lord? Talk about taking away any of this dude’s credibility. This is just about the lamest ever. The Schemer drives his hideout over the the Kingpin’s lair – an actual building – and attack’s some of the assorted henchmen he finds. The Kingpin is annoyed about this, and Vanessa is annoyed that he cares.

Spider-Man finds the Schemer’s mobile car/base and discovers that it:

• has a battering ram
• can go underwater
• can fly

The Schemer gets away again, then goes and breaks into the Kingpin’s house. Then something really weird happens. Vanessa looks into the Schemer’s eyes and gets hypnotized or something. Spidey shows up and annoys me by declaring yet again that he forgot how fast the Kingpin can move – just like he does every single time they fight. While the two are trading blows, both the Schemer and Vanessa disappear! Kingpin takes off after them, and Spider-Man is left alone with no resolution to his problems.

This issue was terrible compared to the last one. It was boring and it was poorly-written, in my opinion. Crap-fest! Let’s get this over with…

Wrapping up this arc is ASM #85. With a little bit of revisionism it turns out everybody was wrong and Vanessa is not gone. She is, in fact, fine and was hiding in the shadows (super believable, that). Meanwhile the Schemer is driving away in his base car and crashes. Darn the luck, now he needs to go get parts to fix it. I can’t believe this is a plot.

Back at Peter’s place, Gwen and Captain Stacy drop by to ask him how he always manages to get such good photos of Spider-Man. Pete flips out again, totally not managing to keep his cool. His brilliant plan is to excuse himself and then show up as Spider-Man and ask for Pete. What the fuck?! Worst plan ever! Completely unbelievable resolution to the problem. Bahh!

Later, the Kingpin is relaxing with the newspaper. He finds it weird that there are photos of his fight with the Schemer taken within his own house, but he is distracted by what he sees in one photo – Vanessa helping the Schemer escape. Oh noes! Dude flies off the handle and looks like he’s about to wail on her. Luckily the scene changes before we’re forced to witness any spousal abuse.

Spidey catches up with the Schemer, captures him, and takes him to the address specified to claim the reward. Surprise of surprises, it’s a trap by the Kingpin. Spidey gets trapped and the Kingpin confronts the Schemer, who turns out to be the Kingpin’s son Richard. Big surprise. Well, maybe not for me, but it was for the Kingpin, who went into a mad shock and basically went catatonic. Spider-Man escapes and, instead of capturing any of the bad guys, he just leaves.

Another shit issue. This arc went downhill fast. What a shame.

Rating:

Crisis on the Campus!

Mission: Crush the Kingpin!
Script: Stan Lee
Storyboards: John Romita
Illustration: Jim Mooney
Letterer: Sam Rosen
Originally published: February 1969

Spider-Man Wanted!
Author: Stan Lee
Innovator: John Romita
Illustrator: Jim Mooney
Letterer: Sam Rosen
Originally published: March 1969

The Kingpin is after an ancient, mysterious clay tablet that nobody can read. This appeals to both the linguist and wannabe-archaeologist in me.

Kingpin’s right-hand-man here is named Wilson, which is also the Kingpin’s name. It’s not important, but it’s weird. I guess Stan hadn’t figured out the Kingpin’s real name yet.

There’s a brouhaha on campus over the school’s decision to convert a student building into fancy private dorms for visiting alumni. The students are protesting but Parker acts like a dick and sides with the school administration. What a fuckin lamer. Later, he regrets it. Some guy named Josh calls Peter “whitey”:

The Kingpin uses the events on campus to steal the tablet. Spider-Man shows up. Kingpin beats Spider-Man, hurts Robbie’s son Randy, and gets the tablet.

Anna Watson refers to herself in the third person (actually, she just calls May “Anna” – dumber, but not as funny):

Next issue!

The Kingpin has the tablet and is laying in wait for Spider-Man. Spidey shows up, beats the Kingpin, gets the tablet. The Kingpin tells the cops that Spider-Man’s a bad guy and then they try to shoot Spidey. He vows to be a “menace” if that’s how they’re going to treat him.

Meanwhile, Gwen questions whether Peter might be a pussy.

We get the first mention of the Kingpin’s wife.

Next issue!

Bullet holes in Spider-Man’s shirt (from when the Kingpin’s men shot a dummy in the last issue) = nice continuity detail.

Apparently Spider-Man’s a crook now and he keeps the tablet. In addition to being a crook he is now also way more whiney than usual and spends a good deal of this issue complaining about all his bad luck.

The whole Gwen/cowardice thing leads to a fight. It’s uninteresting.

Um…the Kingpin breaks out of jail and then fights Spider-Man. When Spider-Man starts to kick his ass, Mrs. Kingpin shows up and drives him home.

In an interesting turn of events, Spider-Man threatens Jameson to the point of giving the old bastard a heart attack. As this issue ends, Jameson is basically dead. Will he recover? Probably.

OK, I’m done for now. These issues were kinda weak.

Rating:

There’s another (or the same?) bad guy named Blackie here. After all this I’m kind of curious if the Blackies are all supposed to be the same guy. I need to look into this and compare them…

Anyway, a great issue. With the help of Norman Osborn, Spider-Man is able to save Captain Stacy and Gwen from the Kingpin, and the weirdo scientist that was actually doing the brainwashing got killed. In other news, it looks like their building up to Osborn regaining his memories and becoming the Goblin again. That should be exciting.

Rating:

The drama continues as Captain Stacy falls under the Kingpin’s control. Peter is forced to a) attack Stacey (which seriously jeopardizes Pete’s relationship with Gwen), and b) print photos of Stacey stealing police records. Also, the Kingpin finds out that Peter is suspicious of Stacy, so now the Kingpin is after both Peter and Spider-Man (not realizing that they are one and the same). When some hoods come to get Pete, they end up roughing up Harry and trashing the apartment. Oh boy!

I like this ongoing story, it’s pretty cool.

Rating:

The Spectacular Spider-Man Magazine story I just read apparently fits somewhere in the middle of this one. At first it seems like a bit of a stretch, but there’s actually room for a pretty significant lapse in time where it fits nicely (right after page 8, panel 1 for those keeping track – good ol’ Chronology Project tipped me off to that.)

This story was mostly about Peter and his friends, and not so much about Spider-Man. Peter smoothed things over with May and his friends after his odd amnesia / disappearance. There was also some Captain Stacy development.

As far as plot goes, there’s somebody called the Brainwasher who is trying to brainwash people. And then it turns out it’s the Kingpin in the twist ending.

Rating:

To Die a Hero!
Writer: Stan Lee
Art: John Romita
Embellished by: Mickey Demeo
Lettered by: Sam Rosen
Originally published: September 1967

Not knowing that Spider-Man is back in the game, the Kingpin continues his crime wave. The Bugle is publishing stories about it and getting close to the truth. The Kingpin wants to silence him, so he brings Jameson in to threaten him (and have the still-captured but now bad Foswell put some pressure on him too).

When Spider-Man finally finds the Kingpin, they fight and the Kingpin wins by shooting some gas in Spidey’s face. It’s a cliffhanger!

The Kingpin tosses Jameson (who refused to stop publishing the offending stories) and an unconscious Spider-Man into a sub-cellar that begins filling with water. Spidey ends up saving them by using his webbing to make an air-pocket they can breathe in until the room is drained. While kicking everyone’s ass, Spider-Man urges Jameson to run, which he does — headfirst into a pipe, knocking him out.

The Kingpin has gotten sick of Foswell and is about to kill him when Spider-Man busts in. Foswell runs off and, sick of getting walloped, so does the Kingpin. It turns out Foswell’s gone looking for Jameson. When he finds him he protects the frightened publisher but gets himself SHOT DEAD by some of the Kingpin’s men. The Kingpin himself got away.

Meanwhile, Flash has returned from the war. I think #51 had the first appearance of Robbie Robertson, too, at least in Amazing.

I still can’t figure out how any of that Kingpin series fits in with all this.

Rating:

Awesome, classic cover. I guess the 50th issue was probably a pretty big damn deal.

The issue opens with Spider-Man bustin up a robbery and it’s action action action. One of the victims is ungrateful and fearful, his head filled with J. Jonah Jameson’s brutal editorials. It really gets under Peter’s skin this time, too, and he starts really getting down on the public at large.

When Peter gets home, Harry informs him that his Aunt May has fallen sick (again), so Peter rushes off to her side. He finds her resting, but starts to kick himself over not being around when the call came in and not doing enough for her. Peter’s so upset he can’t even study for the big exam he has the next day.

Peter’s bitchin new sweater:

After the exam, which Pete is sure he failed, Professor Warren warns him that his grades are slipping; Peter promises to buckle down. Gwen then asks Peter over for a party that she’s having, but Peter has to turn her down and blames his alter-ego for his inability to date Gwen and MJ. Continuing his brooding on the way home, Peter also starts getting upset about the job Norman Osborn offered him that he doesn’t have time for. Turning on the TV, Peter is then assaulted by one of JJJ’s anti-Spidey rants – Jameson even goes as far as offering a $1000 reward for Spider-Man’s capture and conviction.

Overcome with bitterness and self-doubt, Peter decides that Jameson is right. In a really awesome sequence, he goes for a walk in the rain and decides to abandon Spider-Man, leaving his suit in a trashcan.

The next day, a kid rushes into JJJ’s office with a fantastic prize: Spider-Man’s suit. Jameson is thrilled and immediately publishes a story question whether Spider-Man really is gone. Reactions in the city are mixed, but the over-all sense is one of confusion. Spider-Man becomes the topic of conversation on talk-shows and across the criminal world. Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin (in his first ASM appearance) uses this as an opportunity to start taking over the NYC mob scene and organizes a meeting of all the bosses.

Blackie Watch! Another bad guy named Blackie. That brings us to at least six (assuming this isn’t one of the same Blackies as before).

Frederick Foswell, former Big Man and current Bugle employee / stoolpigeon, also decides to treat this as an opportunity to lead the crime syndicates himself, as Patch. In the meantime, the Kingpin is starting a crimewave across the city. The criminals attacks are brazen and frequent without Spider-Man to keep things under control (I’m not sure what’s up with the rest of NYC’s super-heroes and cops, but whatever).

Back in his uncostumed life, Peter has quit his job at the Bugle to focus on school, he has more time to hang with the ladeez, and he’s generally in a pretty darned good mood. He finds, though, that even with all his extra time, his friends and family don’t seem to have time for him. Tooling around town he can’t help but prevent a robbery, and the harangued security guard (who looks like Uncle Ben) makes Peter remember why he became Spider-Man in the first place and realize why he can’t give it up.

After this triumphant turn of events we return to Foswell, who confronts the Kingpin and demands to be put in charge of the city’s mobs – with Fisk as one of his lieutenants! The Kingpin reacts as you might expect and takes Foswell captive.

Having made up his mind to resume his crime-fighting, Peter scales the Bugle building and busts into Jameson’s office to take back his Spidey suit. When Jameson returns he’s greeted by Spider-Man sitting in his chair, feet up on the desk.

Pretty fantastic issue all around, especially the art. Romita really outdid himself with this one.

Rating:

What a cool issue! Spider-Man actually convinces the Vulture that he’s being a jerk, and he turns himself into the cops! Ha! And the Vulture convinces Jason not to kill himself (though he may have also convinced him to become a super-villain…). We also get the first appearance by the Crime Master (Nick Lewis), and cameos by Kingpin and Norman Osborn.

Rating:

I’m glad to get back to these Busiek Amazing Fantasy stories. The first one was really great, and so was this one. The Kingpin actually makes an appearance here, but I’m confused about what stage of his “career” he’s at. Bah.

This story is still focusing on Peter adjusting to his new powers and trying to find his place in the world. Along with his powers, he also still struggling with the responsibilities that come with them. All of this is complicated further by Peter’s intense loneliness, which leads to his new friendship with Joey, a super-powered teenage girl under the employ of the Kingpin.

Busiek’s writing continues to be great, and the paintings in this issue are fantastic.

Rating:

Well, I guess everything (or mostly everything) was tied up alright in this issue, but it still left me a little cold. I was hoping the climax would bring back the cleverness and good writing from the first issue, but unfortunately the series ended up being somewhat mediocre and predictable. I still think it’s worth reading if you have the chance, though, even if only for the art.

(BTW, I’m not sure how or if this series fits in with the Kingpin origin stuff from ASM -1. I think my reading order is fine, I’ll leave it for someone else to reconcile the two.)

(UPDATE: Actually, I take it back, I’m pretty sure my order is wrong.  In Kingpin, Peter’s already working at the Bugle, but in the rest of the stuff I’m reading he’s just got his powers and is still in high school. I should have at least put it after this Amazing Fantasy stuff I think.)

Rating:

This issue was actually a pretty big disappointment. I think all the manipulations and twists are getting too complex, and I don’t think it’s because I’m too dense to follow. Everybody’s in bed with everybody else, and I’m starting to doubt whether Brian Jones is going to be able to wrap this up satisfactorily in only one more issue.

For now I still have faith, but I’m starting to question it.

One thing I liked was the little booties and gloves Spider-Man was wearing to fight Electro on the first page. Was that so that he was electrically grounded? Pretty cool attention to detail in the art.

Rating:

Ooh boy, the shit’s hittin the fan now. That was quite the cliffhanger!

I think the writing’s getting worse, but I’m so invested in the story now, I really just don’t care. I’m enjoying it too much.

I do have to say, Tony Harris’s covers are good, but I liked Esad Ribic’s better. I’ve missed them on the last two issues.

Rating:

The action’s starting to pick up here, and it still has my interest. A couple things bothered me about this issue, though. First, the inclusion of Candy Chung, the reporter, was weird: she was killed off so fast she didn’t really have time to do anything, and there was an odd discrepancy about whether or not she was a newspaper or TV reporter. The second thing was Burke, the “deaf” stablehand: I’m fine with the (limited) purpose he served, but I thought the whole fake deafness thing really made his character too clichéd. I mean, the deafness was never even useful; it wasn’t a good cover, since he also got killed pretty much right away.

Anyway, I can look past these things because I’m still enjoying the story and the art. I’ve been thinking this would make a pretty sweet movie, if you just took out the Spider-Man angle (which so far has been extremely minimal).

Rating:

This issue again seemed to building up to future events, but it was still quite good. This issue focused on Fisk involving himself in politics, and provided ample opportunity to show off his manipulative and tactical abilities. Even though he’s complete scum, you can’t help but love Fisk.

I’m really liking this series so far. Jones is a great writer, and the art from Phillips, Janson and Loughridge continues to be top-notch.

Rating:

This book was good and still interesting, but not quite as engaging as the first issue. It seemed like setup for coming events; it wasn’t bad, but it made me just want to get to those events. Anyway, this was pretty solid and it’s keeping my interest, so that’s good.

Spider-Man so far has just made cameos; I’m not sure if he’ll actually have a larger role at any point. I don’t really care though, Fisk is interesting enough on his own.

Rating:

This story doesn’t really jive with the timing of events in Amazing Spider-Man -1. In this first Kingpin issue, Fisk is at the beginning of his plans to take over the New York crime scene; in ASM -1, he’s much further along in these plans. The problem is that in this issue Fisk has a brief run-in with Spider-Man, but in ASM -1 Peter Parker is still a teenager without powers.

Actually, I just went and took another look at ASM -1, and the interesting thing is that none of the Peter Parker stuff ties in with the Kingpin stuff. Although it’s implied they’re occurring simultaneously, there’s nothing concrete that actually indicates that’s true. I guess this could work if we assume this order:

ASM -1 (Peter Story) -> Kingpin 1 (and the rest of the series?) -> ASM -1 (Kingpin story)

This was a cool book. I don’t really know a ton about the Kingpin, so I can’t really speak to how this relates to his character as a whole. I can say that it was a pretty entertaining and involving crime story. We’re presented with a man that’s ruthless and calculating when it comes to getting what he wants, but not without his own morals and codes.

The first thing that struck me was the art, both the cover and interiors. The cover iss fucking awesome, right down to the cane for the first “I” in “Kingpin”. I don’t even know who did it, but I knows I likes it. The art inside is pretty damned different, but no less cool. I love the clean lines and high contrast.

Rating: