Writers: Mark Waid and Tom Peyer
Pencils: Salvador Larroca
Inks: Danny Miki
Colors: Liquid!
Letters: VC's Cory Petit
Publisher: Marvel Comics
$2.99 U.S. / $4.25 CAN
Plot:
As J. Jonah Jameson finds himself lying in a pile of garbage, we see him discover the Green Goblin has given him an invaluable prize that he quickly recognizes can be used to destroy the life of his tormentor, Peter Parker. As Jameson struggles to make it across town we see Peter's guilt over his shoddy treatment of the missing Jameson begins to get the better of him, and he sets out to find him, but Jameson manages to find a reporter and camera man first, and he uses the opportunity to rip apart Peter's perfect life.
Comments:
I suspect J. Jonah Jameson's frantic efforts to make it back to civilization were supposed to be more comical that harrowing, but I have to say the whole scenario felt a little too desperate in its bid to produce the moments where Jameson became involved in a silly situation, and I found myself growing a little annoyed with the issue. Now I recognize that in the House of M universe J. Jonah Jameson is little better than a glorified toady, and that in the Marvel Universe proper the character's main gimmick is his ability to ignore the blindingly obvious if it conflicts with story that he wants to tell. However, this issue presents the character as little better than an bumbling fool. I mean Jameson may be an arrogant blowhard but he's not an idiot and this issue is clearly reliant on the readers accepting that he is. I get that he's supposed to be paranoid, but having the character jumping at shadows, and completely unable to think of the hundreds of ways that he could get to where he wants to go became increasingly irksome as the issue went down its laundry list of silly things that Jameson could do. Now I'm not against a story that wants to offer up a series of comical blunders involving J. Jonah Jameson, but I am against such an issue if the humour is entirely dependant of the character suddenly becoming the dumbest member of a book's supporting cast, especially when this supporting cast includes the Rhino. I also have to say that I'm a little annoyed at myself for reading the advance hype that surrounded this miniseries as it's a little difficult to be surprised by this issue's big final page development when this plot path had been clearly spelled out before the first issue had even been released. Still I will give this issue full marks when it come to the simple fact that the plot has gained considerable forward momentum, in that the last page development is sure to make things very interesting, as Peter's happy little life is turned on its ear and I'm sure it'll earn him a wealth of unwanted attention.
Salvador Larroca turns in a pretty solid looking issue as while there are some panels where the art looked a little rough around the edges, for the most part this is a very good looking issue. I mean the sequence where the Rhino loses patience with Crusher Hogan has a nice sense of urgency to is, as does the scene where Spider-Man finds his efforts to locate Jameson in the subway station are hampered by his celebrity status. There's also a number of fun little moments that I rather enjoyed, such as Jameson's look of utter delight after he reads a particularly embarrassing section of Peter's journal, or Peter's smile as he answer Gwen's question of why he's going out wearing his costume. There's also some nice action shots in this issue, such as the clip from the Spider-Man movie, to Jameson's dramatic action hero leap over the subway turnstile. I also have to give the cover full marks for managing to capture the sense of danger that the story inside was lacking, as that's a lovely visual representation of Jameson's paranoia.
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