Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #19

Background

Venom's back, he's been making erratic appearances for awhile now, but this time he just wants to get his wife and job back. Sounds kinda familiar...

Story 'Mirror Mirror'

Pete has moved in with Randy Robertson, but still has other troubles in the form of a missing wife, no job and insecure nightmares about his role in his own problems. So, since he has an apartment now all he has to do is get back his wife and get a job...

Anyway, Pete has lost his Spidey suit and visits Aunt May's to see if he has a spare there. When he gets there though, Jill Stacy has been there for the night, Aunt May tries to sort him out a bit and he can only find his old black suit. Meanwhile Eddie (aka Venom) visits his wife to try and get things back together with her. She seems quite disturbed though and when she sees Spidey swing past looking like Venom, she totally freaks. Eddie assumes that Spidey is the problem and a fight ensues.

The fight doesn't end how they usually do between Spidey and Venom though. They actually end up talking to figure things out! But, when Eddie returns to his wife's apartment, the thought of having the symbiote back in her life has driven her to suicide! Which in turns leads to Eddie vowing to turn Spidey into a paste with a consistency smooth enough to butter his bread with.

General Comments

Well, this issue had seemingly one purpose. To compare Spidey with one of his enemies, Venom, and to show their similarities. Which generally isn't a bad idea. I mean it makes for a better villain when they have close ties to the hero, doesn't it? I mean look at Magneto & Proffesor X, Hank Pyn & Ultron, Spider-Man and the Green Goblin, etc. Well, this idea doesn't really work here. Venom already has close enough ties if you ask me and when he is done in a spooky, psychotic way, is a great villain. Which isn't the case here. So, what does that leave us with then? A comic based on a possibly good idea, executed poorly (mostly on the script side of things) and an hokey ending to bring it all together. Really, the ending conversation between Spidey and Venom is so bad, that when I think of the improvements that last issue made in dialogue and the dialogue in this issue, I'm moved to tears!

Was there anything that makes this comic worth buying you ask? Well, the art was good, while being vastly different from Byrne, I love the way way Spidey is drawn here! Some may say it's impossible for a human body to assume such positions, which may be true, but its still cool. The sub plot of Eddie's wife was good to. In fact all the scenes with Eddie's wife were done quite well and genuinely shocked and saddened by her demise at the end. Her character was good and different. The way she acted seems to me the way a normal person may react in the same situation. I mean I'd be pretty freaked out too, if I was married to a psychopathic symbiote.

Overall Rating

Two webs. This comic was mainly let down by the bad script and possibly a bad idea.