Writer: Nick Spencer
Artist: Kev Walker
Colors: Laura Martin
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna

Release Date July 24 2019
Review by D. Brown (WolfCypher)

Peter Parker & his unlikely roommate Fred Myers have started to really hit things off, much to Peter’s surprise. It turns out, Fred is legit trying to go straight, and Peter’s has actually been having fun hanging out with him. It also seems as if the only thing stopping Mayor Fisk from getting his hands on Fred is his close proximity to Peter, as the former Kingpin has an axe to grind with Fred.

Meanwhile, the current Electro is brought into the ranks of a team of all-women supervillains who are going to cut a niche for themselves in what they perceive to be an all-male criminal market empire. While their de facto leader, the current Beetle, fails to win Electro over with her promise of “breaking the glass ceiling”, she changes her mind when she offers her a chance to get revenge against Boomerang.

I’m very much losing the thread of Spencer’s take on the Amazing Spider-Man. This is now the third issue that relegates Spider-Man/Peter to either the role of a B-character in his own title, or to the B-plot; in this case the former, as Fred was the better spotlight character of the two. Make no mistake, this is true and true a Peter and Fred/Boomerang issue, but its Fred that carried my interest here. Walker’s art was good, but I really wasn’t digging his Peter. There were instances where Peter looked tired in the eyes, and the spiky “adult Gohan hair” wasn’t doing his look any favors. Everyone else looked relatively well, as long as you weren’t the titular character.

Spencer must be channeling his “Superior Foes of Spider-Man” talent, because this issue really relies on Fred carrying the story, and we even have our B-list supervillains coming together to form a group of rogues, with “humorous” bits thrown in (bickering among themselves, W-9 – 401K jokes…), undermining any belief that these women may be written as a serious threat. None of the humor worked for me, not from the Electro/Beetle segment of the book. If I had to guess, I’m thinking this arc may be some spiritual sequel to Superior Foes. It kind of goes for that humor, but it was irksome to read. The supervillain lair with a day-care center? This is becoming more Venture Bros. and less Spider-Man.

Final Thoughts

I enjoyed Fred Myers in this issue, and I like the idea of a trying-to-do-better Fred getting more involved in Peter’s personal life. But it’s all brought down by the goofiness of the Beetle’s new syndicate. Don’t expect any new developments on the Kindred arc, either.

6/10