So, this is the real end of Brand New Day. The next issue will be Big Time, something that I'm sure many fans are looking forward to. This issue is a really long issue with lots of sub stories in it. Here's my attempt to review it at one go.

Main Story
The opening scene is of a man who just got out of prison, getting a coffee at the same place that Rhino met Oksana. There we see a photo of Oksana in memory of her (She became the wife of the Rhino, who became good for a while, but died)

The next scene is of Peter and his moody friend Carlie. They were supposed to be picking costumes for a Halloween party. Carlie however is upset and does not want to go. She is upset at Peter for not making a move ( in short words). I am really not a big fan of Carlie, but lets carry on. Peter is then seen on the phone, explaining to Michelle how he will be late meeting Vin for his release from prison of some sort.  Vin is Michelle's brother who was a dirty cop.

In the next scene, Peter walk out of the store alone, and witnesses a kidnap by Overdrive ( some goon who can change cars into awesome cars). Peter uses a Spider-Man Halloween costume, since his is in the wash, and goes after the crook and catches him ( in short).

Michelle is seen next, surprised to see Peter already with Vin, early for once. Vin talks about Carlie with Peter ( he used to have a thing for Carlie). Peter says that he doesn't think anything will result from his relationship with her though.

Vin is next seen at the police station, walking free, approaching Carlie, claiming he needs her to listen to him. That night, everyone arrives for the Halloween party, which is also the last time we will ever see Harry since he is going into hiding to protect his son.

Peter arrives at the party dressed as Jonah Jameson Jr. He then sees Felicia at the party with Vin, who looks stunning as ever ( at least for this art). This Felicia however turns out to be Carlie, dressed as the Black Cat. Apparently Vin convinced her to come to the party.

In probably one of the more interesting scenes, Vin approaches Harry saying that his father ( Norman) sends a message to take care of the kid. He then lifts his sleeve showing a tatoo of the green goblin. After seeing Carlie with Vin, Peter needs to go out to get some air. There he sees MJ, dressed as Jackpot, who to my disliking convinces Peter to get together with Carlie. With that, Peter walks in the house, finds Carlie and asks her to be his girlfriend. The first story ends with them kissing in the kitchen.

Story 2 - Honor thy Father


After the party, Vin walks out to be greeted by Harry. Harry, somehow electrocutes Vin, threatening him never to threaten his son again. He then punches Vin bloody, wipes his hands and walks off.

Story 3 - Stand off
This story was really a waste. We see Mayor Jameson making a new law stating that citizens are not to touch public property, and that such things, like repair, for instance are for those paid to do it. Later we see that a lamp post has fallen and is obstructing traffic. Spidey tries to move it but is stopped by the police. After much negotiating, Spidey says he will lift it, so that the traffic can flow until the crane comes. Then the crane can lift it.

He holds the lamp post till the crane is 5 mins away. He then puts it down as ordered by the police, only to have the mayors car crash right into it. Turtled in the car, Spidey refuses to help Jameson out until he revokes the new law he had just made. Jameson eventually agrees and things are set back to normal.

Story 4 - Norah last day 
Peter notices Norah is having a bad day. He finds out that she is moving out of New York but does not want to tell why. That night, Spidey meets Norah, takes her around NYC, and then fishes out that Norah is leaving because her mother says she is not being a productive reporter in the city. Spidey advises her to stay and to help change the city as a reporter. The next day, Norah is back to normal, and is staying in NY.

Story 5 - American Hero
This story features Flash Thompson, former classmate of Peter, who looked up to Spider-Man. He went to the army and came back without legs. He recently wrote an article stating how he looked up to Spidey as an example to follow.

We see Flash by himself in an alley when he is attacked by muggers. He fights them off as much as he can till Spidey appears and helps him out. After the action the two chat. At the end of it all, we find that both parties look up to the other for inspiration.

Story 6 - You Again?
This is the story of Mia, the girl who kissed Peter at the very first issue of BND ( 101 issues ago) Apparently she was trying to get Harry's attention.

88 issues ago, she was standing outside the club waiting to catch a glimpse of Harry, hwom she is very much interested in.

79 issues ago, we see her at the FEAST looking for Peter, still hoping he can get her close to Harry.

56 issues ago we see her still looking for Peter at Jameson's Campaign headquarters, where Peter was supposed to be.

52 issues ago, Mia is talking to Venom, who at that time is posing as Spidey, asking questions about Peter. Venom later eats her dog.

47 issues ago, Mia hopes to get Peter's attention by catching Aunt May's wedding flowers. Unfortunately for her, MJ appears and steals the show.

44 issues ago, she finally meets Peter outside the coffee bean and exchanges numbers with him. We later find out that it was actually the Chameleon posing as Peter.

In this issue, she appears in the kitchen, witnessing Peter and Carlie kissing. Annoyed and depressed, she goes outside to the hall where she meets Harry. Harry talks to her and explains how he's leaving for good. Upon hearing this, she gets upset and storms out the house.

Thoughts
This was definitely a fantastic way to end Brand New Day. Fortunately I have some time on my hands to do a review of such a long issue. (Even if it is a few days late) The issue ends with some previews for coming stories, featuring Spider-girl, and an Osborn series. See the video for Big Time on the right side bar.

As if things are not already more complicated than they already are in Brand New Day. We now have a new character in play, wearing some form of a Scorpion costume lady roaming the streets, whose dialog is green.
In the Amazing Spider-Man 626 preview, we saw Michelle in the room, chatting with her new 'boyfriend.'

While in the room, Peter's Spider-sense go off, causing him to be suspicious of her new boyfriend. In an effort to keep Michelle from danger, he stalks this guy, who leads him to a group of thugs led by the Hood.

The Hood has come into possession of the original Scorpion costume. He has rounded together a bunch of small time thugs to fight. The winner will be given the Scorpion costume. As Spider-Man watches, he bumps into some female, non attractive version of the Scorpion. While Spidey tries to explain he is one of the good guys, after getting the impression that she is one too, this girl Scorpion decides to do Spidey a disfavor and stings him.

She then disappears into the dark. Spidey continues to stalks the Hood and his friends. Unfortunately, he suddenly starts losing his Spider powers. Left defenseless, the Hood orders Spidey to be killed. Obviously the 'girl Scorpion' comes just in time to distract everybody and runs off with the Scorpion suit. Spidey then changes into Peter and is soon spotted by Michelle.

Michelle tells her story of how the man he followed was not her boyfriend. Instead, he was her client whom she failed to prove innocent of a robbery when he was a kid. ( Michelle is a lawyer ) The two run into a little trouble along the way, nothing that Michelle and her martial art skills can't handle though.

Somewhere along the line, Peter's Spider powers come back, just in time as all the bad guys spot them. At this point, Michelle's client explains that he was never innocent, and that he did commit the crimes he was charged for. Michelle is dumbfounded and Peter knocks him out. He then tells Michelle to go somewhere safe, giving no explanation to where he is going. He quickly changes into Spider-Man and returns to the scene to rescue the crazy woman who stung him in the first place, from a lot of trouble she just got herself into.

At the end of the day, everybody gets out safely, and this new Scorpion got what she was looking for - the original Scorpion suit. Spidey has no time to make friends, and rushes off to meet with Michelle. If there is anything good that resulted from this issue, its that Michelle acknowledges her biased feelings toward Peter. They then make a truce and I suppose remain good house mates.

Elsewhere, we see that the Scorpion girl was working for the Kravens, who wanted to have the Scorpion costume in their possession.

Personal Thoughts
Nothing special about this issue really. I was hoping to find a much cooler Scorpion lady when I first read about her appearing in issue 626. Everything here is pretty much expected. It was obvious that the Kraven's wanted the Scorpion costume.

In Siege: Spider-Man #1 preview art, we've had the privilege of seeing Mac Gargan being pulled out of the Venom suit. Anyone else thinking that the Kravens will recruit him and give him back his old costume? They must have seen the preview art as well.

From the preview, we know that Amazing Spider-man 613, continues exactly where ASM 612 left off, with the exact same art style. The last scene in the preview shows Spider-man has escaped the angry mob and changed back into simple old Peter Parker.


We also see that poor Electro is seriously suffering from his own powers and is seeking a cure from the Thinker.

The story

Electro, in desperate need for money in order to pay for treatment to cure himself, is blackmailing Dexter Bennet, owner of the DB - 'give me money or you die.'

Electro succeeds in getting the required amount of money from Dexter and heads to the Thinker's base for treatment. That night, Peter Parker returned to his apartment staying up all night inventing an 'Electro tracer.'

I must mention that the story here is nothing all that impressive. As such it is not surprising that Spider-man tracks Electro down, just as he is being upgraded into Electro 2.0. As if Spider-man's timing is ever better, he comes in just at the right moment to disrupt the machine, making Electro an extremely powerful source of electricity. The Thinker and his associate manage to escape without being noticed.


The story ends with Electro posting another video on YouTube. Encouraging the public to turn on every light in the city to give him enough power to bring down Dexter Bennet and the DB. It is at this point that readers, I suppose, will stop feeling sorry for poor old Electro and will begin reading more about the Electro they have grown up reading about.



Personal Thoughts

In the past 11 issues or so, there have been meaningless glimpses of Aunt May and Jonah Jameson Sr. appearing every now and then. This is one of those issues in which they appear for a short period, adding no value to the story line. They appear, hoping to surprise Peter, only to be greeted by a barbaric looking Michelle, who is not impressed to see Peter's aunt.

Regarding Dexter Bennet, I understand that Dexter Bennet was in no position to negotiate terms when Electro broke into his house to 'rob' the poor man. Nonetheless, Dexter must have been rather silly to think that Electro was going to stick to his word and not come after him again. Especially after he powers up and becomes invincible.

Wouldn't it be simple however for Dexter to inform some authorities and have the power supply shut down for the night. Spider-man can then think through how he is going to take down this new Electro.

The issue is short, and there really is not anything fantastic about it. So far this 'Gauntlet' is going no where further than how the Amazing Spider-man cartoons in the 60's went. Moral of the story, start following New Avengers for better Spider-man stories.

Overall rating for the story: see below



But better than Amazing Spider-Man 611 or Amazing Spider-Man 612.

The story is divided in two stories. In my opinion, the comic makes the reader feel that he is back in the 1960's ( At least the first story does). Reason for this being that the art in the comic is very much like the art in the 1960's Spider-man cartoon. Others have commented that the art is very 'Vertigo' Styled.

It is implied that the first story takes place soon after Spider-man has spent some time with the Avengers. This could possibly be in New Avengers 59 , or Ms Marvel 47.
Before continuing, you may want to catch the preview for this issue here.



First story
At the beginning, focus is mainly on Electro and what he has been going through in more recent times. Such include a dysfunction in his powers, searching for a cure, and being treated like a freak by everyone else. Thankfully he is seen in this comic, mostly without his 'mask.'

In the meantime we find that Dexter Bennet, owner of the DB ( former Daily bugle ) is requesting a bail out for his dying company. Electro, tired of being accused a criminal is set on exposing to the public the real criminal - big shots like Dexter Bennet who is using the taxpayers money to bail out the DB.

Coming back to Peter, we learn that Peter never got drunk in Amazing Spider-Man 600, yet, he had a hangover the day after and was unable to remember what happened - i.e. his one night stand with Michelle. He was unknowingly drinking apple ginger ale the whole time, not champagne.

Anyhow, Peter finds out eventually from Michelle that Electro has gained the trust of the people and is protesting against Bennet. Spider-man obviously is not about to let the villain wonder around New York and attempts to stop him. Surprisingly, Electro seems to be able to counter attack all of Spider-man's moves. Spider-man is thrown down into the angry mob, who think Spider-man is Bennet's hired gun against Electro.



Second Story
The second story features Mary Jane, Black Cat, and Norah. Unfortunately, the art for this story has to be gross. This story focuses on Spider-man and the Black Cat. Peter wonder's where his relationship with Felicia is going as she does not really care about anything he does "out of the suit."

While trying to make some conversation with Felicia, Spider-man mentions that he bumped into his ex that morning. His Parker luck did not help him too much there though. As much as Spider-man fans would want to see Mary Jane in a comic, the art simply throws you off. I must highlight the terrible art.

Check out the ugly Peter Parker and Mary Jane below



This second story could be so much better if the art was good. It ends with Peter meeting someone in the office that sounds and smells like the Black Cat, but goes by the name Ashley Moon. Not to mention causes him to have some 'Bad Luck.'

The only real relationship that is visible between the Black Cat and this Ashley Moon are the green eyes. It is highly possible that Felicia is simply wearing a wig. Nonetheless, as I have pointed out before, Felicia, normally has blue eyes.Read this article I wrote a while back.


Image below: Ashley Moon



Ever since Amazing Spider-Man 606, the Black Cat has suddenly had blue eyes, which bothers me particularly because the green eyes are supposed to be one of the ways to differentiate Mary Jane when she is drawn by different artists. For eg, no one would ever know that it was Mary Jane in the panel above if it were not for her green eyes.

Now apparently the green eyes are what connects Ashley Moon to Felicia. Apart from this, Norah is also featured in this story, almost hiding none of her mixed feelings toward Peter.

Personal Thoughts
As in the review for Amazing Spider-Man 611, I am lacking any personal insight to this comic as the art is just too distracting. Overall, very disappointing in my opinion. Very poor story and art. I need to read some old Spider-man comics.

The first story was reasonably fine. The story was nothing special, nonetheless it is building the foundation for a good story that we are not yet seeing. Electro's character is magnified here, providing a refreshing new view on his character.

As far as the second story is concerned, if you want to read a good story with the Black Cat, do not read this. If there is anything to like about this comic is that we can pretty much confirm Spidey still has not let go of Mary Jane. Unfortunately enough, the sudden appearance of this Ashley Moon has once again blank out all hopes of Peter getting back with Mary Jane anytime soon.

Could it be possible that this is Mephisto's idea of giving Peter a 'chance at happiness?' After all, he is the devil, and I am certain that the devil would not want a happy clean marriage ahead for Peter Parker. So instead, he decides to keep putting sluts in Peter's way to keep him temporarily "happy." Any thoughts?



Other than that - rated 3.5/10 by bulletproofsponge

A comic that looks better than its cover is exactly what Amazing Spider-man # 609 is. As a reader, if I had not been following the story from the last issue, I would not pick this comic, judging from its cover. As can be seen below, the cover is not all that attractive. Spider-man swinging, (eyes at his nose) above some creep.



Fortunately, unlike the cover, this comic is once again near perfect. Guggenheim is doing an awesome job here. Art is again consistent with issue 608. Spidey, and even Peter has this cool Batman/serious look. Peter Parker, as we all know, does not take the safety of his loved ones lightly. Similarly, this comic is no different as Peter gets 'serious' when those close to him are in danger. As in # 608, the story shifts from present time to past, revealing more background information to the relationship between Ben Reilly and Damon Ryder in the past.

Summary

From the preview, we know that Kaine is looking for Raptor because he believes that Damen can help his deteriorating condition. Issue # 608 left off with Ben, not very pleased when he found out that Ryder had been experimenting on himself with Dinosaur DNA. As a result he ties Ryder up and quickly goes to get some help. He hopes to find someone who can sedate Ryder and flush out the Dino-DNA in him. We see Kaine's shadowy figure in the background, listening to the conversation between Ben and Ryder as they fight.




Returning to where the preview left off, Kaine is still fighting Spidey. The fight ends with Kaine stating how Peter would react in the exact same fashion as he is, if he were in Kaine's position.
And yes, Kaine knows Peter's identity. He then tosses a cab at Spider-man and makes a run for it. While catching the cab, Spider-man hears Screwball on the radio calling for Spider-man's attention. Apparently she wants to meet him since her hits on her website rocket sky high whenever they meet.

Honestly, I do not see any necessity in bringing Screwball into the picture here. However, there may be a purpose for it all later.

On a more important note, Peter returns to his apartment and gets a little frantic as he thinks Raptor may have hurt Michelle. Ironically, Raptor did not hurt Michelle at all. He simply used her to get some information on where the Reilly's were staying. He also left a little gift for Peter - a dirty stuffed toy.



We later see Damon's kid playing with that same toy in the Ben Reilly flashback. The comic takes us back Ben Reilly, who has found some help. Unfortunately, he returns to the lab with Damon no where to be found. It is interesting that there is some reference to Raptor, being similar to Stegron - an old dinosaur like villain ( below).



Obviously he is much more dinosaur that Raptor. Although Raptor is not too far from getting there. Read this

Ben Reilly, then puts on his 'no-nonsense mask' and storms toward Ryder's home. Apparently, Ryder has mutated into some 'big jawed' dino-man. Outside of Ryder's home is Kaine observing Reilly.

Coming back to Peter, he too, has his 'no nonsense mask' on. After all, tehy are the same person. As mentioned, Peter's protective character over his loved ones is really shown here. He arrives at his aunt's house to find everyone held hostage. In the final scene we see our hero, ready to reveal his alter-ego to save his best friend and cousins, as revealed in the panel below.



Personal comments:

This is exactly the type of 'Serious Batman no-nonsense' mask that Peter puts on when those close to him are in danger. Due to the situation change (the bad guy is after Peter, not Spidey) we no longer have our harmless Peter Parker. Instead we will be having some serious action coming from the man without his mask!

He obviously is not afraid to reveal his identity if it means safety for those around him from
the Raptor.

Peter also leaves Michelle more clueless as his final words to her are ' Stay in a hotel tonight.'

According to an interview with Bob Gale,
there will be an issue centered around Michelle soon. I'm looking forward to see what Marvel will do with this character.

In this issue, we see quite a fair bit of Kaine sneaking around Ryder's house, spying on Reilly. It seems more possible that Kaine may have been the one to kill Ryder's family.



Overall personal rating: A

Who is the Black Cat?
Felicia Hardy. She is hot, very shallow, loves Spider-man, but not Peter Parker. At one point she was beginning to change her character to on that actually cares. At current, she's forgotten who Spider-man's secret identity is ( How is that even possible?) and it appears she is back to her old self.

In this comic, she denotes Spidey as "only good in the sack." That pretty much explains a bit about their past now doesn't it? Spider-man used to date her until she found out his identity and broke up. As I mentioned, she was, and is not into Peter Parker. She is a good crook.




Why does Peter like her?
Why wouldn't he? She's hot, smooth, sexy, and wants him. Unfortunately, there isn't much more to the Black Cat apart from her physical aspect. Although there are times in past comics where she does actually care about Spider-man.


Spoiler Summary

It starts, as in the preview, with Madam Web. Peter, in the meantime is having problems with the girls - Michelle, Norah, and MJ. MJ only had good intentions of breaking some ice with Peter. The preview explains what happened there. He's becoming a lil like archie now don't you think?

Next scene, Spider-man is taking out his frustrations on a poor mugger. When more bad luck fall upon him... before he can mention" Brand New Day." How queer. At this seen, the artists chooses to zoom in on a gargoyle/ demon type statue. Interesting huh?

When he bumps into the Black Cat. She is on a 'mission' of some sort. They chat about their previous relationship. Apparently Peter's breath gets choppy when he's horny and the Black Cat's breath get choppy when she tells the truth. Whatever.. this is useful info to understand image I posted below

We find out that the place they are breaking into belongs to Dexter Bennet. We find a 'stoned' corpse in his house and then *boom* out comes some felon called Diablo. There is an explosion in the place and Spider-man jumps out.

It still bugs me as to what happened to the bad guy. But the next thing we know, Black cat walks out just fine and walks off with a book.

Do not forget, the Black Cat is still some kind of a bad guy. She may have something to do with it.

Anyway, Spider-man gets all dramatic and chases after her. Looks like he forgot about the bad guy too. DUMB. It ends with Peter knowing fully well he shouldn't be kissing Felicia. But after the terrible day he's just had, he decides to give in to his body, and face whatever happens next.

Also, this whole Spidey/ Black cat romance in being recorded on tv.. Live. And guess who sees it.

Check out the scene below.






This issue is all about Spider-man not using his brain. He just foolishly falls for the Black Cats sex appeal =p Obviously Spider-man is gonna regret this later on. We'll see what happens.

It is sad for MJ though. She is the only one who really loves Peter,besides Aunt May. If I hadn't read what MJ was doing in LA in Amazing Spider-Man # 605, I would not like this issue. But since Mary Jane could date someone else. I think Peter should be allowed this dance.

Just try reading this comic without thinking about One More Day.