Amazing Spider-Man #597 Review

Amazing Spider-Man has really started to step-up its game over these past few months. And so far “American Son” has shown to have a lot of potential. The first two parts of “American Son” have been great reads. I am sure Amazing Spider-Man #597 will be another great read.

Creative Team
Writer: Joe Kelly
Artist: Marco Chechetto
Colorist: Chris Chuckry

Story: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Art: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall: 8.5 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: The issue starts in Avengers Tower where Norman Osborn explains to his Avengers that he has not provided the right hero yet. Norman takes the Avengers inside a secret room where he presents them with the suit for the right hero: American Son – Harry Osborn.

Norman tells the Avengers Iron Patriot represents the strength of America. However, that it is not enough. The American people need a heart which is what Captain America (Steve Rogers) played for so long. Norman comments that since the new Captain America (Bucky Barnes) isn’t willing to be a team player then Norman’s son will become the new heart of America as American Son.

Norman has been creating clones by combining the Super Soldier serum with the Goblin serum. Unfortunately, the results have been mixed. We see pods full of deformed clones.

As Norman continues to describe his plan, one of the clones escapes its pod and goes to attack Norman. Spider-Man, disguised as Venom, takes out the clone. Spider-Man then tells Norman that he does not think Harry is the right person to be American Son. Norman replies that Harry is the right person and that Harry only needs some motivation.

In another part of the Tower, Harry is trying to sneak into his father’s office to get the cure for Lily by using some of his Goblin tech. Before Harry reaches his father’s office someone comes up behind him and grabs him.

The scene then shifts to Aunt May’s house were May is planning her weeding. J. Jonah Sr. comes into the kitchen and tells May to come to bed already. As they talk the power goes out in the neighborhood. May decides that it may be a good idea to go to bed after all.

Outside of May’s house are a bunch of robots with familiar looking tentacles. The robots are stealing all the power from the neighborhood. And then we are shown that similar robots are all over New York City doing the same thing. It is then shown that these robots are working for Doctor Octopus; who is watching all his robots from an unknown location.

Back at the Avengers Tower, Harry and Lily are seen kissing. Lily reveals that she was watching Harry from some monitors and that she needed to see Harry in person. Lily tells Harry that she is scared of Norman.

Harry tells Lily that the reason he was sneaking around Avengers Towers was so that he could find the Goblin serum cure for Lily. Harry explains that once he finds the cure that he, Lily, and their baby can disappear. Lily, who is crying and slowly transforming into Menace, hands Harry a security card that can get him into all of the high security rooms in the Tower.

We cut to another part of the Tower were Norman tells the Avengers that he expects for them to welcome Harry into the team in a couple days. Then they will begin training as a team right after that. Norman then tells Venom (Spider-Man) that he has first shift on monitoring duty. Venom then asks to be first shift on Ms. Marvel. Ms. Marvel tells Venom that she will rip off Venom’s head. Venom replies “What a tease.”

Spider-Man enters the 25th floor for monitoring duty. Suddenly, Spider-Man is attacked by Wolverine (Daken). Daken says that Spider-Man may look like Venom, but he does not smell like Venom.

Spider-Man and Wolverine start to fight. Daken uses some pheromones to disrupt Spider-Man’s senses. Spider-Man proceeds to get his ass kicked by Daken. Spider-Man then decides to use the same strategy he used to defeat the new Vulture by relying on his Spider-Senses. Spider-Man is able to detect were Daken is and knocks him unconscious.

As Spider-Man recovers from the fight, Harry walks in the room. Spider-Man tells Harry what happened and that he is here to help him. Harry says he does not need Spider-Man’s help. Norman then walks in with his Avengers right behind him.

Spider-Man tries to convince Norman that Daken is a traitor. Norman asks his son if it is true. Harry replies that Venom is actually Spider-Man.

Bullseye then shoots Spider-Man in both legs with arrows. Norman tells Spider-Man that he is stupid and starts beating him. Bullseye sarcastically asks if they are going to lock Spider-Man up so he can inevitably escape. Norman says that he has something better in plan. Norman pulls out a gun and shoots Spider-Man. End of Issue.

Commentary
The Good: Amazing Spider-Man #597 was another solid installment of “American Son.” Joe Kelly is easily my favorite writer on Amazing Spider-Man. He just does a very good job capturing what makes Peter, his supporting cast and villains so wonderful.

Now, I will have to admit that my exposure to Dark Reign has been minimal. Invincible Iron Man is the only title I read that is part of Dark Reign. Because of that, I am not that familiar with how the Dark Avengers have been portrayed up to this point. Having said that, I thought that Kelly did a great job handling the various villains in this issue. Even though each one of the Dark Avengers are wearing costumes of other heroes; Kelly still makes each of them sound like a villain trying to play the role of hero.

Kelly delivers some excellent comedic dialogue as Peter had to try his best to sound and act like Venom. However, Peter still could not help but play the role of the hero as he “saved” Norman’s life from one of the clones. The best part was Peter’s line to Ms. Marvel as that is something you know Peter wants to say, but usually would not. But since Peter was playing Venom and not Spider-Man then it allowed him to let loose on some inappropriate banter.

Speaking of the clones, it was good to see the hero clones back. The clones of heroes were introduced back during the middle part of Civil War only to be forgotten once that event was over. It will be interesting to see if other writers in the other Dark Reign books pick up on this theme. Maybe we will see, for example, Norman send out a clone of Tony Stark to hunt the real Tony down.

Another thing I thought was cool was hearing Norman’s reasons for having Harry join the Avengers. Having Harry fill the role of Captain America by becoming the American Son is a smart move by Norman. This will give the American people a hero to have their complete faith in.

For a long time Captain America (Steve Rogers) filled that role. And it makes sense that Norman would want his own Cap that he will be able to control. Though I wonder how Norman will be able to convince Harry to put on the suit as Harry is already not too trusting with whatever his father gives him. And this fact was evident in the last issue.

Also I like the little teaser scene concerning the return of Doctor Octopus. It is a nice build up to the characters official return in issue #600.

Even though Marco Chechetto is the third artist to draw “American Son” he did a good job keeping a consistent look to this story by being able to replicate Jimenez and Sigueira’s work. All of Chechetto’s artwork, with the help of his colorist Chuck Chuckry, looked quite nice. They did a great with the fight between Spider-Man and Wolverine as both characters got some good shots in before the fight ended.

The Bad: I’m still not a big fan of Lily/Menace. She continues to be a very dull character. I just do not care that much about her predicament of not being able to control the Menace side of her personality, which I do not believe is an actual problem.

Also, while the last page of the issue served as a nice hook ending for the next issue it just felt a bit forced in order to “surprise” the reader. And from the angle of the last shot it looks like Spider-Man was shot in the wrist. It will probably be something like that since we know that Spider-Man is not actually dead.

Overall: Amazing Spider-Man #597 was another great installment of “American Son.” So far, this has been one of the best Spider-Man stories we have gotten in a while. Joe Kelly is doing a great job with this story and I hope that we can get just one artist drawing the rest of the story.