spidermanissue11

What Marvel Say: Humiliated by a prior defeat, Peter Parker sets out to topple the Kingpin of crime. But will the young wall crawler's burning desire for vengeance instead deliver him straight into the ham-like hands of Wilson Fisk? Plus: the aftermath of the Green Goblin's attack on midtown high.
What Jonathan Says to parts 1 &2: An issue that's more interlude than action, #11 starts off with Peter reprimanding himself for his foolish actions with the Kingpin ("How many times am I going to escape something like what happened at the Kingpin's tower before I get myself into gear?") and by posing as an employee of Miramax Films in an e-mail to the makers of the Kingpin's digital security system looking to uncover a weakness in his newest enemy. Bendis is showing us something very important here: we are starting to see Peter mature as a superhero as he looks to start using his brain more and rely on his powers less. Bendis gets why this character is so beloved: it's the brains, not the brawn. And again, he's doing a fantastic job exploring what it must be like to grow into the role of a superhero: you take your lumps, you learn, and you get better, smarter.

We next see Peter confronted by Doctor Bradley, a mysterious woman who claims to be checking into the student body's emotional response to the Green Goblin attack at the school. "You mean Harry's dad?" Peter asks and it is revealed that Harry took off to Colorado to stay with an uncle. Dr. Bradley probes into Peter's feelings about the event and then into his more personal life, asking about Uncle Ben's death, and Peter gets suspicious. "Was that real? Or is

someone - like investigating the whole thing?…Do they know I'm Spider-Man?" he asks himself in thought bubble. It's a little unclear whether this woman is a legitimate psychologist and Peter is just having problems dealing with all of his conflicting emotions stemming from recent events (a nice story idea) or if she is indeed someone other that who she is claiming to be, say from Oscorp (which would be more cliché). Whatever she is, she will certainly be back.
Peter checks his e-mail (no response) and then checks out Mary Jane in the hall (my boy Kong makes an appearance in the panel and in the hallway, wrestling Flash and talking about Keanu Reeves' films) and MJ is still a little miffed about Peter canceling on her and ignoring her so much lately. "Well, don't be mad forever," Peter pleads. He leaves school and contemplates telling her he's Spider-Man. More great work from Bendis as he again shows us the day-to-day thoughts of an emerging superhero: should I let my best girl in on the secret in order to help our relationship? Maybe MJ is the big secret character that Peter is revealed to as rumored, though Aunt May is the early Vegas favorite on that one. Peter checks his e-mail again (such a 21st century boy) and bam, he's gotten his reply.

The next two pages are an interesting look into the world of digital surveillance (There's cameras everywhere these days aren't there? When is someone going to start worrying about what that means to the individual rights of citizens? Big brother anyone? Sorry about that tangent folks. Anyway…) Peter realizes that everything he needs to put the Kingpin in jail is probably on the backed-up security DVDs, as is his own unmasked face. So he heads out in Spidey gear in a full page that shows Bagley's wonderful take on the character slinging through the NYC skyline.

We move on to Kingpin hanging in his crib with Electro and the Enforcers and the Kingpin asks if they did a sweep of the block. They assure him Spider-Man isn't coming back, Kingpin seems satisfied, and says "This costume fad. It's quite annoying." Kingpin is pretty funny for a multi-billionaire criminal mastermind. His ears bright red, Peter breaks into security downstairs (upstairs maybe?) while the Enforcers go over a mobster loyalty crisis as they wonder how they killed their own friend and boss Mr. Big. Could they possibly turn on the Kingpin? I hope not. I'm really sick of the "bad guy turning against the other bad guy during a battle with the good guy" routine. It's hack. Peter gets the DVDs he needs as the scene is colored in an electric red (nice art) and then as he is just about to congratulate himself for being such a good superhero, The Enforcers and Electro show up, shoot the place up a bit, and Electro says to an upside down Spider-Man, "Don't worry, this'll only hurt a lot." I really love this Electro. I mean, what a total improvement of the character. He's looks awesome, he's mad powerful, and he's quick to quip.