Amazing Spider-man #542

By Herve St-Louis
September 13, 2007 - 00:08

This issue, Spider-man goes to prison to meet the man who ordered his Aunt May shot. The Kingpin of crime, the former, and it appears, still the leader of New York’s underworld has put on his best suit and bribed the guards so they look the other way, when Spider-man comes and challenge him. All the inmates are free and this promises to be the fight of the century between the age-old nemeses.

I have seen the Kingpin defeat Daredevil so many times that I was asking myself if we were not about to see the same here with Spider-man. Sometimes the character’s charisma and presence are so exaggerated, that he seems more than human. From the start, Straczynski pushed aside any attempt to show the Kingpin as the better fighter of the two.

But that’s where the problems come for this story. Although the Kingpin thinks he has dealt a major blow to Spider-man, he is still no match for him. So my question is why would a man as smart as the Kingpin even delight in fighting someone who can lift several tons? Although the fight and the intensity of this issue were very high and entertaining, there is lack of internal logic in the story.

But at the same time, the Kingpin is now back in Spider-man’s turf, after having been borrowed to Daredevil for so long. It seems that after recent events in Daredevil, the Kingpin is now looking for a new arch nemesis. That’s good.

However, any pairing of Spider-man and the kingpin will always be compared to the Kingpin and Daredevil and sadly, based on this story, Straczynski is not a strong enough writer to pull off the sense of pathos needed for this to stick.

I’m tired of saying that Garney is an excellent artist and storyteller. He is. He also does a good job with facial expressions, although one can feel that this is not his specialty. He does better with angry faces than all others. But I do like his Kingpin.

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12

RSS Mobile Contact Advertising Terms of Service