Amazing Spider-Man #561 Review

For some reason, Amazing Spider-Man arrived a day early this week. Not to question the comic gods' divine wisdom, I took it home and read it.

Hit the jump to find out what I thought about the conclusion to Peter Parker, Paparazzi!

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #561
Written by Dan Slott
Art by Marcos Martin

Peter Parker, Paparazzi is about, as you'd suspect, Peter giving up the Spider-Man picture taking gig and opting to use his spider powers to track down and take photos of celebrities all paparazzi-like.

I jumped in on this storyline because a) Dan Slott was writing it, b) Marcos Martin was drawing it and c) I really love Spidey comics and half want them to give me a reason to ignore the One More Day / Brand New Day nonsense and start reading the Spider-Man comics I used to love.

Sadly, while this arc was a fairly fun read, it still doesn't impress me enough to make me stick with this and, in my Post-Crisis Previews, I even had to ask people if they'd like me to stick with this for the reviews, another desperate attempt on my part to try and find a reason to stick with this book.

None of my problems really stem from the usual sources - bad writing or art. I just feel like I woke up in the Twilight Zone. It looks and feels like Spider-Man, but it's such a bizarre status quo change and throwback to the 70's that it's literally pulling me out of otherwise great storytelling and artwork.

This final issue of Slott and Martin's three part Paparazzi storyline just cemented that notion for me. We get the basic origin for Paperdoll, which was told in about a page or two, that consisted of them telling us she was subjected to one of her father's lab experiments by mistake, that she was already a little disturbed for a teenager and it showed that her name was Piper and that, I believe, the trauma of her new powers and outsider lifestyle caused her to confuse reality and a Bobby Carr movie, where Carr's character was reaching out for a movie character named Piper, who happened to be his love interest. It's a rather standard stalker origin. Minus the freaky lab experiment gone wrong part and her gaining super powers, of course.

From there, we explore more of the paparazzi aspect of Peter's life and how his friends are all completely against the idea. Robby Robertson even goes so far as to quit the DB.

As I said in previous reviews of this series, the idea he's so upset that public figures, like celebrities, who put their lives out on display for everyone to see and practically crave attention, flies in the face of the fact he let Jonah tar and feather Spider-Man every chance he got, despite Spidey being someone Robbie respects and believes is a force of good that selflessly helps people on a daily basis.

So, making up lies and character assassination is good when it sells papers, but only when it's used against honest people that put their lives on the line every damn day of the week, but not for self centered movie stars. It's the only problem I have with their trying to paint paparazzis in a bad light and put some kind of guilt trip on Peter and the story kind of hinges on that reality.

After Robbie quits, we get the Spider-Man stake out at Carr's mansion, where he's set up to take a photo of the "mystery girl", Mary Jane for those out of the loop, for the tidy sum of $2 million. He tries to rationalize his involvement as looking out for the mystery girl instead of being there for the $2 million, but doesn't get to think too long on it as Paperdoll comes screaming into the resident, killing several guards and making it all the way to Carr's bedroom, where he and MJ are settling down for the night. Peter's camera, on automode, managed to snag a goodnight kiss between Carr and MJ as he went off to stop Paperdoll. More on that later.

We get the generic stalker girl obsession fight scene as MJ makes it off to the isolation chamber hidden in Carr's closet. Carr gets hit by Paperdoll and she immediately apologizes and goes on about how she would never hurt him. Like I said generic stalker girl act.

This buys time for Spidey to get to the room where he takes over the fight with Paperdoll. MJ, on a static filled PA system, gives Spidey some helpful ringside advice during the fight as she watches on the security cameras. Somehow, Spidey's arm gets caught by Paperdoll and crushed into paper. He complains of pain, but is otherwise fine.

Eventually, after realizing Paperdoll's weakness, Peter smashes her through a wall and into the pool, where he has hypothized that in her paper form, her lungs are paper thin and that is why she's always short of breath and rarely speaks. She's forced to return to 3D form and reaches for Carr, who's at poolside now, and, in a scene that parallels the opening origin movie scene, Piper calls out to Carr, who has repeated his lines about coming back for her, and, as she reaches out for him, he decks her with a right cross, ending the threat.

Spidey webs up Paperdoll with some "extra goopy" webbing, which will stop her from shredding it like paper, as seen last issue. His crushed arm is magically better and there's little to no explanation as to how it is no longer paper sized. I guess it soaked up water?

We end with Peter taking the camera stick, which he hasn't even looked at yet, and crushing it in front of the new DB owner and telling him he's not doing the paparazzi stuff anymore, which ends with him being fired. $2 million down the drain. But, hey, he can sell unflattering Spidey photos and paint himself as a criminal for chump change still!

As a bit of an epilogue, the much teased moving day has arrived and Peter moves in with the anti-Spider-Man police officer friend of Carlie and has a bit of a party with all the supporting cast, consisting of Betty Brant, Robbie, Aunt May, Carlie and Lil. Even Harry, who's forgiven Peter after he's quit being a paparazzi, showed up at the end.

The last page of the book has Mary Jane about to call Peter on her cellphone at the airport when a fan asks for her autograph. MJ closes the phone, makes out the autograph to one, Sara Ehret, who chats about her, "Face it Tiger, you just hit the jackpot!", line from her old soap days and MJ waving farewell, saying she doesn't know when she'll ever be back in New York. If I'm not mistaken, Sara is actually Jackpot and this would explain the name and probably her fake hair and catch phrases.

Verdict - Check It. I did enjoy the issue, but I just can't find it in me to love it or even gush over the little extra touches Slott has put in this issue, like a moving box with old copies of Webs in it or the light hearted chat between MJ and Spidey. Considering this comes out three times a month, I find it odd how fast they ditched this paparazzi angle and I think they wasted a lot of potential on it.

In the end, I'm pretty much set on dropping this again. I'll grab the two month mini-event, New Ways to Die, in the summer and see if that can help spark some of the old magic in this title.

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