Amazing Spider-Man Volume 5: Unintended Consequences TPB: Unintended Consequences v. 5 [Paperback]

I've been following Straczynski's run on "Amazing Spider-Man" ever since the first book caught my eye in the graphic novels rack. This is his fourth volume, and he shows no sign of slowing down. Quick summary: Peter and his wife have just reunited, but -- as these things tend to happen in their world -- a reincarnated gangster shows up in New York, bent on getting revenge on the now-elderly Mafia boss who killed him fifty years before. On again, Straczynski shows himself to be one of the most capable writers in comics -- great dialogue, great plots, and his character work is something you have to see to believe. I've never seen anyone get inside Spidey's head like he does; in only five issues, he makes the new villian, Digger, one of the most sympathetic characters I've seen in comics at the same time (just take his reaction as he catches up to the fifty years of history he's missed...). An excellent job -- I can't recommend this book highly enough.

Title: Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 4: Unintended Consequences
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Artist: John Romita Jr.
Collects: Amazing Spider-Man #51-56
Price: $12.99

This volume collects two story arcs: Digger and Unintended consequences. The first arc introduces a new character (Digger, duh!) who is a bit reminiscent of Solomon Grundy. The character is a conglomerate of many mobsters who were killed, buried near a chemical dump site, and then resurrected in a monstrous form (complete with green hulk-like skin) after a gamma bomb test near the place where they were buried. Yeah, I know... it's pretty generic and ridiculous. Not the best character I've seen introduced lately, and it's clear Straczynski made him up as a disposable character. Digger does die and break apart by the end of the story arc, and Spidey's character is really not advanced any further. The story's a no-brainer, and really nothing special, but it was an easy read for me that required no real introduction or set-up to jump into. So, in terms of accessibility, the writer does a good job.

The same can be said of the second arc. It focuses on the life of one of the students in Peter's school. After learning that the young girl dislikes Spider-Man because he sent her older brother to jail, Peter tries to find some way to help out this stubborn, independent child. Along the way, he crosses paths with the mysterious Ezekiel, and manages to reunite the girl with her paroled but missing brother. It's a feel-good story that seemed to me to be stronger than the more action-oriented Digger arc.

It's really nice to see Peter and MJ back together again, too. I really didn't like the separation idea, as it seemed too contrived and too much like an afternoon soap opera dilemma. I know the idea was supposed to show realism in the characters, but I hate it when Peter is all-too-often shown as a depressed man on the verge of breaking down.

Something else I've noticed with Straczynski's writing is that he seems to portray Peter as a real motor-mouth who doesn't know when to shut up. I really don't like this. It's perfectly fine for Peter to be a smart mouth, but talking incessantly seems wrong for him - like he's a nervous girl. I doubt Straczynski will be changing anything anytime soon, but I hope other writers don't copy this aspect of his writing. Also, once again, I found Straczynski's humor in the book to just be OK. I understand how it could be hard to come up with new material for Peter that is pretty funny, so I can cut him some slack. But I wish the humor was a bit funnier.

JRJR on art chores is usually a good thing. Here, he continues his excellent tradition of hard work and strong pencils. Most everything looks great. Peter's facial expressions are well-done and MJ looks (appropriately) like a foxy supermodel. My only beef with his artwork is his portrayal of May Parker. For some reason, he likes to portray May with a very large cranium - way out of proportion to her elderly body. I haven't run across many bobble-headed old ladies, so I'm not sure why he chooses to render her this way. It's odd to the point of distracting, which is unfortunate. Now, some may read the book and not even notice this aspect of the penciling details, but I don't see how. If he would have done a better job or drawing May Parker, I really could have given him a higher score on the art.

Overall, this book is just OK. It's not bad, but I can't give it a strong recommendation like I have to some of the previous JMS books.

Writing: 6/10
Artwork: 7/10
Overall: 6.5/10

"Amazing Spider-Man: Unintended Consequences" is the fifth trade paperback volume representing the work of writer J. Michael Straczynski and artist John Romita, Jr. that has revitalized America's favorite web-spinner. Collected here are issues #51-58 of "The Amazing Spider-Man," which starts in the aftermath of Mary Jane's decision to return home with Peter.

The first four issues deal with a new character, called Digger. In 1957 there was a gangland hit in Las Vegas, and now, after a Gamma bomb test near where the bodies were buried, a mutated creature crawls out of its grave and head to New York City to find the mobster to find Forellli, the mobster who ordered the hit. Meanwhile, Peter and Mary Jane are having fun out on the town reconciling, until the creature starts ripping a nightclub apart. The next thing we know our hero is getting weird clues from Lt. Lamont, having chats with mobsters, taking a trip to Las Vegas, and, most surprisingly, being hired by Forelli to protect his daughter.

The rest of this volume consists of a pair of two-part stories. "Unintended Consequences," co-plotted and scripted by Fionna Avery, is the best story in the volume. Peter Parker takes an interest in Melissa Coolidge, a student on crutches with a sharp wit, a pretty strong vocabulary, and an attitude problem. Peter gets her into his Honors Biology course and escorts her home. After an encounter with some local thugs working for the building's landlord, he meets Melissa's mom and learns that from Melissa that her older brother Jack in is jail because that vigilante creep Spider-Man nabbed him for stealing a car. After sending the landlord a message, Spider-Man talks to Ezekiel and the doctrine of unintended consequences and the fact that even bad guys have families.

"Happy Birthday" sets up the big 500th issue of "Spider-Man" (if you put Volume 1 and Volume 2 together). Things start going bad when Peter discovers that instead of "Poetry and Science" the school got copies of "Essentials of Cooking With Fowl, Pig and Cow" for his biology students. That night there is red lightning, which Spider-Man goes to investigate. What he finds is every superhero in the city fighting the Mindless Ones, which are invading from the Faltine Dimension. Spider-Man joins the fight. Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four has a solution but Dr. Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts, arrives to tell the heroes they have been tricked into bringing back the dread Dormammu. However, be forewarned that we do not get to the big payoff for this one (drawn by John Romita, Sr.) by the end of this one.

I got back into Spider-Man because I wanted to use "The Essential Spider-Man, Volume 1" is my Popular Culture class. The idea is that students read those first twenty issues of "Spider-Man" and come up with the defining elements of the comics, which they then apply to a current issue of the web-spinner. That meant I had to get current with what was happening in the various titles, and seeing what Straczynski and Romita Jr. was pretty impressive. I gave up about the time of the clone nonsense, so it was nice to see a different tone, better sense of pacing, and more interesting villains. Obviously, if you have been missing out on the fun the last couple of years you should go back to the first of these trade paperback volumes and pick up on what these guys having been doing from the start of what has to be considered a solid version of Spider-Man.