Alford Notes: ASM #43/844: True Companions Part 3

It’s been a while, folks, but no worries! We have plenty of Gog for you – with a side of Boomerang and Spidey, to boot!  I think it was mighty nice of Spencer to hold this issue and wait to release it on my 25^th wedding anniversary.  My wife, I’m sure, shares my sentiments.  We’ve delayed getting this issue long enough – let’s break down the events of ASM #43!

 

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Story Title:  True Companions: Part 3

Writer: Nick Spencer

Penciler: Ryan Ottley

Inkers: Cliff Rathburn

Colorist: Nathan Fairbairn

Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramanga

Cover Artist:  Ryan Ottley and Nathan Fairbairn

Asst. Editor: Kathleen Wisneki

Editor: Nick Lowe

Published: May 27, 2020

 

Remedial ASM 101

Boomerang has been given Lifeline Tablet Sense and knows where pieces of the tablet lie hidden.  Spidey has joined in the search in a race against time to keep Kingpin from obtaining it.  But if you think this tablet is just for turning old gangsters into young children, think again!  Apparently, it is an intergalactic war MacGuffin and Gog is tasked to hiding the pieces on earth (since earth has been shown to handle itself so well with this stone in the past) and keeping one piece in particular safe.  Oh, and Gog is a sad and sympathetic monster that you should ohh and ahh over (on a similar level, but not quite as much as Baby Yoda).  And he’s going to kill Boomerang for stealing his piece.

The Story – Pay Attention, This Will Be on the Test

Picking up right where we left off, Baby Gog flies in a spaceship back to the Baxter Building, which must have its defense system down for maintenance, and hides his piece of the tablet.    Boomerang accidentally leads Gog (full strength, no cute little Baby Gog here!) to the surface where the monster proceeds to destroy public property.  Kingpin, being a responsible mayor, comes to the rescue of his citizens and has his police force proceed to shoot to kill the menace (after congratulating Spider-Man n a job well done).  Spidey leaps in to save Gog.  When Boomerang tries to help, Gog reverts to Clifford the Big Red Dog mode and fetches his boomerangs for him.  Spidey has Boomy throw a sleeperang into the back of a truck, where Gog goes, using the Pym Particles in his system to shrink back to Baby Gog (aww!) size.  Boomerang decides to take him home as a pet.

What Passed and Failed

PASS – Spider-Man and Boomerang Team – I love this.  The dialogue between them is always enjoyable and the situations that Spider-Man finds himself in with Boomerang is appropriately humorous.  What Spencer does so well with Boomerang is how he keeps him in character.  So, Boomerang is a “good” guy, but at heart he is still Boomerang.  While I like my Spider-Man solo, I would buy a Marvel Team-Up that featured only Spider-Man and Boomerang if Spencer wrote it.

FAIL – More Gog Background – Normally, I don’t think I would have minded too much about this quick continuation, but given the circumstances, I wasn’t too thrilled to see it picking up where we left off two months ago with the Spider-Man-less story.

PASS – This image of Kingpin in a normally Jonah-esque situation.

FAIL – The End? – Well, I believe this marks the end of the True Companions arc and it is now revealed that the companions are Boomerang and Baby Gog, but I was expecting this to end the Boomerang / Kingpin arc. I don’t feel that this story line is over yet, but here we are moving on.  I want some closure on this one before jumping into another story.  Am I wrong?  Anyone feel like this doesn’t have a satisfactory ending?

OOTI (Onomatopoeia of the Issue)

Spencer (or Ottley – whoever it is that adds the onomatopoeias) got quite chatty this issue!

On a scale of 1 (POW) to 10 (BLRKBQRKPQRBLNB), K-THOON! rates an 8. I’m a sucker for the addition of the exclamation point to drive an onomatopoeia home.

 

Analysis

Pym Particles – I am not an expert on Ant Man (though I cannot recommend the Irredeemable Antman enough!)  However, I am quite sure that the particles do not stay in one’s system long enough for Gog to be able to still make use of them.  I am aware that long term exposure to them starts to change the body so that the body naturally produces them, but doubtfully can we say that Gog was exposed that long.  Spider-Man should probably know more about Pym Particles – isn’t that how he got his job in the Daily Bugle science department?  Maybe I’m remembering wrong. Oh well, Gog has some sort of growing ability, so maybe the Pym Particles work differently on him and Spider-Man just got lucky. Anyone here an expert that can set me straight?

Kingpin – I’m reading Daredevil on Marvel Unlimited and am really enjoying all the depictions of Kingpin as he moves to try and legitimatize his business dealings.  The characterization of Kingpin there and here do not mesh, but that is because the tone of the two books are very different.  I do like how Daredevil’s issues show Kingpin trying to distance himself from crime and here we see that he is most likely trying to get the tablet in order to bring back Vanessa, who in the past has frowned on his criminal dealings at times.

Pet Gog – I like the idea of Boomerang now owning Gog as a pet.  I would like to think that we will see the problems with house training such a pet going on in the background , but I doubt we will.  In fact, I am going out on a limb and predicting that we will not see Gog again (maybe once) until after #850.  Who knows?  Maybe I’m wrong and Gog will play a big role in taking down Kindred.    What I really want to see is that Randy gets saddled with having to do all the chores dealing with Gog and getting bit every issue he appears in.

Extra Credit

I’m not very observant, so I can’t remember.  Has Ottley been drawing Spider-Man with McFarlane-esque spaghetti webbing this whole time?  It looked different to me this time.

 

Final Grade

This is purely a grade on how it hit me.  I love a good Spider-Man/Boomerang team up, but this issue just didn’t move me.  I can’t really put my finger on it, maybe too much Gog, maybe the lack of closure on the lifeline tablet, but I’m betting it has a lot to do with the lull in between issues, which is no fault of Spencer’s.

C

Your Turn

What grade do YOU give it?

 

But Wait!  There’s More!

Back up teaser – There is a large vault door.  Sin Eater (presumably) walks up to it, then away.  Whatever is inside the vault blows up.

I’m clueless here.  Who is behind the vault door?  How did Sin Eater blow up whatever it inside the vault while being outside the vault?  It appears that maybe Sin Eater now has some actual powers?

What’s Next?

• Kindred has big plans with the Sin-Eater, and none of it looks good for Spider-Man.

Amazing Spider-Man is going to explode this summer, and this is where we light the fuse.

Even though I am quite sure this is going to be a “Road to Kindred” issue, I am psyched!  I am ready!  If you haven’t already, check out my Kindred Revealed! Cobwebs article where I lay out all the clues presented so far (I’m not above a little self-plugging here and there).

I was specifically forbidden to use this image again by none other than BD himself, so this may be my last review, freinds!

 

Nick Lowe has asked people to let the Spider office know how they are doing by sending an email to spideyoffice@marvel.com and to make sure you mark it “OK to print”.  If you get published, make sure to draw our attention to it!

 

 

 

‘Nuff Said!

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