(2008 Cover Date Issues - Most current first)

February 6, 2008

Story
"Brand New Day" is now in it's second month with the new creative team of Marc Guggenheim and Salvador Larroca. Another three-part storyline begins with the introduction of a new villain. We never see the villain close-up this issue, but he definitely leaves a deadly first impression. The new villain glides in and attacks some men in a warehouse near Port Authority Marine Terminal in Brooklyn early one morning. Later that day, at the offices of the newly named "DB" (formerly the Daily Bugle), new boss Dexter Bennett has his first staff meeting. It is there that Peter Parker first learns of this new villain who now has the name of Menace, and that the first person to get a photograph of him gets a ten thousand dollar bonus. Even later, Peter suits up as Spider-Man, and goes searching for the new villain. He is distracted by a disturbance taking place in an alleyway, and goes to check it out. There he meets Jackpot, the new super heroine (that may or may not be Mary Jane Watson), who is fighting some street thug. The thug gets away into the subway, where he narrowly escapes the two heroes. The next time that Spider-Man searches for Menace, he discovers that the villain uses a glider with similar glider exhaust trails to that of the Green Goblins glider. He follows the exhaust trails to a warehouse, where he bumps into Jackpot once again. Jackpot tells him that she is registered with the superhero registration act (from Civil War), and within a matter of minutes, the two are joined by an unknown third party.

The new creative team, while not on par (thus far) with the first team, still presents a very entertaining read. Another new goblin based villain is not exactly ground-breaking, but the mystery surrounding his identity has the potential to be a memorable event if handled well. Sorry, but I have felt that Jackpot is an extremely silly character since she was introduced in last year's free comic book day issue. She may very well turn out to be a character that will be taken much more seriously, but at this point, the whole idea is rather silly. The best scenes in the comic was the DB (Daily Bugle) scenes, with the new ownership setting his "ground rules" on the staff. The art, again, is wonderful. There is also a variant cover available by David Finch.

The transition between creative teams were pretty seamless. Sub-plots were picked up and advanced, characters stayed in-character, and the mysteries became more mysterious. Next issue is next week!

Art
Excellent.
Best Page: The final spoiler-filled last page with Spider-Man and Jackpot.

Continuity Police
No tickets given.

Spoilers
We learn that Mary Jane is currently in Los Angeles.
Spider-Man is put under arrest on the final page by some character in the shadows.

January 30, 2008

Spider-Man appears in Spider-Man: With Great Power #1.
Spider-Man makes an out-of-continuity appearance in What-If Spider-Man Versus Wolverine #1.

January 16, 2008

Spider-Man makes a cameo flashback appearance in New Warriors (2007) #8.
Spider-Man makes an out of continuity appearances in Marvel Adventures The Avengers #20.

Story
This issue introduces a new villain named Deadspot. She's a hired assassin with a taste for the finer things in life. The Black Tarantula has hired her to take out Spider-Girl! Deadspot's high-tech costume allows her to become invisible and also generates a lethal electrical charge when she touches her victims. As if that isn't enough, the Kingpin's old files resurface and the Hobgoblin and Mindworm are after them. A masked man (Who appears to be the latest incarnation of the Crime-Master, an old Spider-Man villain from the Stan Lee/Steve Ditko days) claims to have access to them. But Spider-Girl gave them to NYPD Detective Drasco, not realizing he secretly works for the Hobgoblin. What is the connection between Drasco and this new masked villain?

Oh, and Fancy Dan, a member of the Enforcers and one of Spider-Man's earliest foes, makes a cameo appearance.

Reviewed by Bruce Buchanan.

Art
The typical good effort from Ron Frenz and Sal Buscema. These guys are so consistent.
Best page: The splash page of Spider-Girl balancing on a giant needle in New York City's Fashion District.

Continuity Police
No tickets given.

Spoilers
Chesbro, the Black Tarantula's right hand man, warns Spider-Girl about the contract on her life.
As a result, Chesbro is almost killed by Deadspot, but Spider-Girl makes the save.
A mysterious stalker who appeared outside the Parker home last issue makes another appearance.
Peter Parker learns that his infant son Benjamin also has inherited his spider-powers.

Story
With that big fat Venom on the cover, you just know that this is gonna be a good comic! Spider-Man steps up on the very first page in helping a man who is being mugged by two crooks dressed up as playing cards. He almost knocks them out before Venom shows up, who is not there to fight Spider-Man, but rather to help him. Venom explains to Spider-Man that he is sick of being hounded by the law, and that he wants to use his powers to now help people. He asks Spider-Man to his sidekick, and after a couple of immature threats, Spider-Man allows Venom to tag along with him on the present night's "patrol". Off they both go, swinging through various parts of the city, and they stop off to have some pizza. Finally, there is some actual criminal activity in the vicinity, as two police cars are chasing after someone on the streets below. Spider-Man has some problems with his web-shooters, so Venom goes alone after the criminals in the car. He ends up turning their car over, while he turns into "Venom: Lethal Protector". Venom rather hear the criminals scream, then read them their rights, and Spider-Man gets to them just in time to save them. The police radios go off and report that their is presently a break-in at a library. Spider-Man and Venom both rush on over to the library, and then change into their civilian identities to "interview" witnesses. They discover that the crooks are headed towards the west coast docks, and they both swing on over there. When they arrive at the docks, the find a very suspicious boat. When they get onboard, they meet a very surprising villain..

Art
Very Good.
Best Page: The page with Spider-Man and Venom looking down towards the boat.

Continuity Police
No tickets given.

Spoilers
The White Rabbit is the spoiler-villain.
It turns out that Venom was working with the White Rabbit from the beginning.

This site & all scanned images created & maintained by Eric Gillette
Thank you very much for your visit!

Spider-Man   ™  and © 2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at:
http://www.marvel.com