Spider-Man : Revenge of the Sinister Six

Sinister Six #2

by Adam-Troy Castro

As the amazing Spider-Man, Peter Parker has had to endure many shocks in his life: The death of his uncle Ben -- shot by a burglar years ago, when Peter might have been able to stop the killing. The loss of his girlfriend, Gwen Stacy, who perished at the hands of his deadliest enemy, the Green Goblin. The realization that his wife, Mary Jane Watson, knew his secret identity years before he finally revealed it to her. But nothing could have ever prepared him for the latest unexpected turn in his life: the possibility that he has a long-lost sister!

The revelation of a sibling he didn't even know existed is far from the only complication to the matter. For not only is his sister a deadly super-villainess known as Pity, but she's working alongside the manipulative Gentleman -- a man who masterminded the deaths of Peter's parents! Together with Doctor Octopus, Electro, the Vulture, and Mysterio, the Gentleman and Pity have formed the newest incarnation of The Sinister Six -- a group dedicated to destroying Spider-Man!

Faced with the challenge of trying to save Pity from her predicament while, at the same time, stopping The Sinister Six from carrying out the Gentleman's world-threatening plans, Spider-Man must turn to the super-spy organization S.A.F.E. and its volatile director, Colonel Sean Morgan, for help. But even with help from his hi-tech allies, Spider-Man discovers that nothing he can do will stop the Sinister Six from achieving their goal of revenge!

Genres: Fiction, Comics, Superheroes, Marvel, Spider Man, Science Fiction, Action

Library Binding

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Adam-Troy Castro made his first professional sale to Spy magazine in 1987. Since then, he's published 12 books and almost 80 short stories. Among those stories are "Baby Girl Diamond" (nominated for the Bram Stoker Award) and "The Funeral March of the Marionettes" (nominated for the Hugo and Nebula Awards in 1998). "The Astronaut from Wyoming," a collaboration with Jerry Oltion, appeared in Analog and was nominated for the Hugo and Nebula Awards in 2000, before winning the Seiun (Japanese Hugo) for best translation in 2008.

His "Of A Sweet Slow Dance in the Wake of Temporary Dogs" was nominated for the 2003 Nebula. His original short story collections include Lost in Booth Nine (published by Silver Salamander Press in 1993), An Alien Darkness and A Desperate Decaying Darkness (published by Wildside Press in 2000), Vossoff and Nimmitz (2002), and Tangled Strings (2003). He is also the author of the Spider-Man novels—Time's Arrow: The Present (written in collaboration with Tom DeFalco), The Gathering of the Sinister Six, Revenge of the Sinister Six, and Secret of the Sinister Six—as well as the nonfiction My Ox Is Broken! The Andrea Cort novels include, Emissaries from the Dead, The Third Claw of God, and a third installment currently in progress, tentatively titled The Fall of the Marionettes.

Castro, who married the divine Judi on 25 December 2002, lives in Florida with his wife and four cats: Maggie, Uma Furman, Meow Farrow, and the latest acquisition, Ralphie, an orphan of 2005's hellacious hurricane season.

Reviews

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about on the same level as The Gathering of the Sinister Six -- bonkers but entertaining. Castro makes some unusual choices along the way, including the use of out-of-universe character cameos. At a club for super-villains, I would expect to find R'as al Ghul, but Keyzer Soze? Hannibal Lecter? Mortimer and Randolph Duke??

Castro's narrative sometimes feels a little off, like he's telling us too much, or getting too heavy-handed with his message. Granted, from what I remember of superhero comics, this is to be expected, so I wonder if this was what Castro was intending to do to highlight that aspect of comics, as well. Regardless, it doesn't quite work in a narrative form.

It's also worth noting that the iBooks edition of the book has numerous typos and other errors with the printing. I'm not sure if that's the case with the other editions, but I'd avoid this one if you have the option. Plus, their choice of font isn't the easiest on the eyes.

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my second reading of this book; I first read it back when it first came out. It is still a fun book, overall, and a (relatively) fast read. There is plenty of action one the story gets started. The author does a nice job of delving into the characters and why they are the way they are (both heroes and villains), so there was surprising more character development than I would have expected or thought possible (considering it is a novel about licensed characters who regularly appear in comic book series). Some of the humor works better in some parts of the story more than in other parts (which is par for the course).

I am unsure as to why SAFE was introduced into the novels as the alternative to SHIELD (possibly because SHIELD was always supposed to be an international organization whereas SAFE is said to focus on the United States of America and "local" problems and the creation of SAFE helped keep SHIELD under the auspices of the UN where it "belonged"?), but they are a fun counterpart to SHIELD and being foils for various superheroes (especially irreverent heroes like Spider-Man). It felt like Sean Morgan was the substitute for Nick Fury (in that Sean Morgan was also a colonel, had a similar style of "leadership" as Nick Fury, and headed a government organization that utilized a flying monstrosity called a "helicarrier" and wore uniforms that sounded similar to SHIELD's uniforms), but it still worked. Colonel Morgan did have his differences, though, which set him apart from being merely a clone of Nick Fury (he did not smoke, he had the use of both eyes, and he was in charge of a U.S. government agency as opposed to the head of an international "secret agent" agency). I remember how it took me a bit to get used to Colonel Morgan interacting with the heroes versus Colonel Fury when I first started reading these books, but, overall, I do think it was a fine substitution SHIELD and addition to the novelized Marvel U.

There were some weak points to the novel, however. The first was the number of typos. I could not believe the number of errors in punctuation, spelling, and even missing words. It was kind of amusing after a point, even though they would break up the flow of the story for me at times.

The second weak point for me was the plot itself. Well, the part of the plot that had the Sinister Six staging at various points in the city in order to try to wreak the greatest amount of death and destruction possible to "celebrate" the number of lives that Spider-Man was unable to save. I am sorry, but this kind of braggadocio should have ensured that practically every hero in the city (and outside the city) would have been on-hand to ensure these villains did not wreak the level of casualties they were claiming would be wreaked. With Electro being as powered up a he was and the threat level that Doc Ock was acknowledged to be, I did not believe in the least bit that other superheroes in NYC would not have been assisting Spider-Man in his battle to save the city. Where were Fantastic Four? Why were they not available? Where were Doctor Strange, Daredevil, Luke Cage, and even the Punisher, at the very least? Had the author made some kind of “throwaway comments” about these other heroes being unavailable, it might have been more believable. Hercules was mentioned as being in the city, so where were the rest of the Avengers? Spider-Man meets with Captain America in the beginning of the book but heads to Tokyo after Spider-Man refuses his offer of assistance. No mention is made of any other Avengers being “out-of-town.” Even going with the line-up of the team in the X-Men/Avengers “Gamma Quest” trilogy, the rest of the team would have consisted of Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, and the Vision, Thor, Hawkeye, Firestar, and Justice in addition to Captain America. Where were these heroes? Why were they not involved? The New Warriors were a team at this time and had worked with Spider-Man in the past. Why were they not involved in the story? This list is obviously incomplete; it does not include Cloak and Dagger, Iron Fist, Moon Knight, Sam Wilson (the Falcon), She-Hulk, Ant-Man (Hank Pym) and the Wasp (Janet van Dyne) (granted, these two seem to alternate between the East Coast and West Coast at times, but based on the team listed in the “Gamma Quest” trilogy, they would have been “reserve members” and available), or even Misty Knight. Then you have Carol Danvers when she was going by “Binary” in NYC at the time as well. Never mind the X-Men, who did not live that far away from NYC and could have been there lickety-split to assist Spider-Man as well.

I appreciate what the author was trying to do, I think, in terms of raising the stakes for Spider-Man so that his ultimate triumph would be that much more satisfying when he defeats this sextet. However, I felt the stakes were too high for any other heroes not to be involved, especially after the Six broke into the main office of the Daily Bugle and announced their plans to the world. As I was reading the book, especially as it described how Spider-Man was visibly slowing down and becoming weaker at points due to the loss of blood and energy expended, I could not believe that other heroes did not make themselves available to help him in his fight against these six villains and their leader.

The third “problem” I had had to do with the “normal humans” on the Sinister Six. Not so much that they were on the team and used “mechanical/artificial means” to fight Spider-Man, but that his blows, even when Spider-Man as at normal strength, failed to do much damage until the author was ready for his blows to cause damage. The “primary villain” of this type that annoyed me was Adrian Toomes, the Vulture. I know his suit is what gives him his strength and powers, but there were times in his fight with Spider-Man when Spider-Man would either hit him or kick him in the face and nothing happened. Please! Something should have happened! The guy should have been knocked out! I know Peter forces himself to hold back so that he does not accidentally kill somebody, but he should still be landing blows on normal guys like the Vulture and knocking them out without any real effort on his part (in my opinion). We find this to be true later in the book, when Peter “loses his temper” and really takes advantage of his abilities; his speed and strength constantly shock and astonish is opponents (especially when they begin to get a glimmer on how much he has been holding back every time he has faced them in the past). I felt that any “fight” with the Vulture went on far longer than it should have. Mysterio was kind-of behind that assessment, too, except for how he could use his powers to skew Spider-Man’s perception of reality, but once Spider-Man had his hands on Beck, it should have been all over, too, as far as I am concerned. Even Doc Ock; there were a couple of moments where Spider-Man got in some good, solid hits, and it seemed to fail to do anything to Octavius. It is not like these characters have “super strength” and are invincible, yet it seems like Spider-Man constantly ends up on the worst side of any fight despite his superior strength, agility, and even durability.

There were some moments in the story that I enjoyed. For example, I enjoyed the discussion about previous helicarriers that had crashed (at the time this story was published) (50). The first mention is of one crashing in San Francisco because of a "giant radioactively mutated dinosaur" (can we say "Godzilla!"? This would have been a reference to the Godzilla series published by Marvel Comics that ran for 24 issues in the late 1970s and featured a team of SHIELD agents pursing the creature and trying to capture it; on a side note, Marvel's version of "Godzilla" would reappear in Iron Man vol. 1 #193 and battle members of the West Coast Avengers). The second mention from the comics is from the She-Hulk graphic novel in which a batch of radioactive cockroaches do indeed bring the giant airship down.

I also googled the characters listed in the Machiavellian Club that the Gentleman encounters when he goes there for dinner the night before the Sinister Six's "big day" takes place (162-165). I knew who Justin Hammer and Wilson Fisk were. It is mentioned that he nods at Ras (I assume this is Ra's Al Ghul, one of Batman's foes) after passing the Gruber brothers (who are international mercenaries and makes me think it is a Die Hard reference because Hans Gruber is the villain in the first movie and his brother is the villain of the third movie). I assume "Hannibal" is Hannibal Lecter (because of the comment about his "appetizers" that the Gentleman declines) and "Carmen" is Carmen San Diego (because of the comment about the new hat she is wearing). I think the reference to Napier and his "purple tuxedo" is a reference to Jack Napier aka the Joker from the 1989 Batman movie (starring Michael Keaton). Mr. Glass seems a pretty obvious reference to the character from Unbreakable. I assume the "scarred wheel-chair bound man who went by the name Ernst" is Ernst Blofeld from the James Bond movies/novels? I had to google Soze to find out he was a villain in the movie The Usual Suspects and that Randolph and Mortimer Duke were characters that were inside traders in two Eddie Murphy movies. It took a bit of searching, but apparently "the German Herr Tubman" is an alias used by a recurring villain in "87th Precinct Novels" by Ed McBain, and "the Wrightsville billionaire Diedrich Van Horn" is from an Ellery Queen novel (Ten Days of Wonder).

I also found out the club itself was founded by Professor Moriarty of Sherlock Holmes fame, so that was fun to discover. The club reminded me of The Hellfire Club to be honest, except that it was "geared towards non-mutant membership only" (so it seems), based on the clientele mentioned in this book (and the Hellfire Club is controlled by mutants and some enhanced humans). So it was fun to go and look for these characters mentioned in the story, to see who they might have been in the fictional world.

There was also a moment at the end where Spider-Man is receiving a briefing about the Gentleman and various (deadly) events in history in which he has been involved and had a hand in. Mention is made of the Hindenburg disaster and how it is believed the villain caused the fire to ensure that people would switch from airships to airplanes, thus ensuring his investment into airplanes would create a fortune for him. It is also mentioned that he blew up a café in Casablanca to escape the Invaders and other allied agents, making me wonder if it was Rick's Café from Casablanca. I am sure there were probably other such "pop culture references" scattered throughout the book, but those were the ones that stood out to me.

The funniest moment of the book had to be when when Sibert (a reporter/journalist) cracks a joke that maybe MaryJane Watson is actually Spider-Man (after it is reported she not only took down the Chameleon by herself but gave him one of the severest beatings of his miserable life) (358). jolly J. Jonah Jameson momentarily take the joke seriously before retorting that he has seen both MaryJane and Spider-Man up close and that with the "skintight clothing" both characters wear, it is obvious that Spider-Man is a man and not a woman (because of MaryJane's curves and proportions). It is a hysterical moment, followed up by another columnist following up Jameson's rebuttal with the comment that maybe it is her "unknown superhero power" (359). Jonah goes batspit crazy, making a hilarious moment even funnier. It had to be one of the better parts of the book, to be honest.

I also liked the "intro" of the book, as it is about Peter's parents and their lives as spies for SHIELD and the CIA. They decide this mission they are on is their last one so that they can return home and retire (because Peter is still a babe back home waiting for them to return). This truly is their last mission, and they are killed in a plane crash. It was an aspect I was unaware of in terms of Peter's history, and it sounded like it might have actually had some kind of "factual basis" in the comic book universe as well. It also explained why Ben and May Parker are so much older (Richard Parker was born after Ben was an adult, making him a "surprise" for their parents). I do not remember ever learning that about Ben and Richard Parker, so it helped explain why May is old enough to be a grandmother instead of an "age-appropriate aunt."

The book also introduces an interesting plot line: does Peter Parker have an older sister he knew nothing about? I do not remember how this is resolved, so it will be interesting to see the resolution of this mystery in the next story. The Gentleman strongly hints that this is the case when he tells Spider-Man that he not only knows Spider-Man's identity and how Peter's parents were, but that he enjoys taking revenge upon the children of those who betray him (which also lends credence to Pity being Peter's older sister, as her age is about right).

I thought the "shrink" who visited with Spider-Man had some interesting insight into why Spider-Man behaves the way he does as well as J. Jonah Jameson. I could have seen Marvel taking those ideas, those theories, and temporarily using them in a comic book storyline (until the next author came along and changed things up again). I could see Peter seeing Jameson as the "father he never had" and constantly trying to win the man's approval as Spider-Man; it made a lot of sense, the way it was presented in the book.

Another "great moment" was when Spider-Man entered the main newsroom of the Daily Bugle and saw all of his friends and co-workers brutally murdered. it was a crazy moment in the book, and I had totally forgotten that it took place. Granted, it took me a moment before I went "Mysterio!" and figured out that it had to be an illusion. In any case, it was probably the most shocking moment of the book and excellently done by the author.

I will still probably give the book a 4-star rating because there are some really good elements to it, and some clever moments as well. Clever on the part of the villains, but more clever on the part of Spider-Man in some of his battles. Despite my "problems" with some elements of the story, I still greatly enjoyed it and am glad I revisited it. On to the sequel! (And maybe someday I can find a copy of the first book and read that one, too)

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Spider-Man but this was a slog at times - also so many typos LOL

[Jaq Greenspon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second book in Adam-Troy Castro’s Spider-man trilogy, Revenge of the Sinister Six, picks up pretty much right where the first book left off. This time, though, the action revolves around all six of the Sinister group as opposed to just one, Mysterio. In effect, the first book acts as a prequel to this one, a gathering of forces for The Gentleman. We get to see him put together this incarnation of the Six in that preliminary novel, but it’s until we get started in Revenge we begin to see his plan come to fruition.

Unfortunately, this book suffers from the same lack the first one did, the lack of a good editor. I have it on the best authority that these books almost literally went from Castro’s word processor to the printer so the fault doesn’t lay with him. In fact, what’s amazing is the insight we get into the raw process of writing a superhero novel. I fear that had there been more editorial oversight we wouldn’t have gotten the book we did – and in the book we did get, Castro is writing far above the usual conventions of the genre.

In this segment of the story (and like all good middle books, he leaves us breathlessly wanting to read the last installment) we get two thirds of a 430 page book devoted to the ultimate battle of Manhattan (this week’s version). The Six (the aforementioned Mysterio, who is immediately sprung from jail after last book’s funeral hi-jacking, Electro, Dr. Octopus, The Vulture, Chameleon and a new girl, Pity), under the direction of The Gentleman, decide to help Spidey relive all his past failures and set up a tour of the city where he can stop in, see the death of ex-girlfriend replayed repeatedly, and fight a bad guy while he’s there. Yes, there’s a bit of set-up. We get a prologue about Peter Parker’s parents and some stuff about Mary Jane Watson Parker (Peter’s wife) and her acting woes, but generally, we get a battle royal with some pretty great action sequences.

We also get Castro’s take on the psychology of the super-powered. We get glimpses of the pathos Parker needs to be able to pull on the red and blue pajamas and go web-slinging. We understand the kind of toll it takes on his wife to watch the news and see her husband getting pummeled on national television. We are privy to the inner-workings of the villain mindset. But mostly we just get a really good story with well developed characters.

For my money, this is one of the things which separated Marvel from DC back in the 60s and continues to do so today. The DC universe is populated by ideas dressed as people while Marvel has people who are trying to live up to ideals. And Castro gets that. As he writes them, these are all three dimensional people, living real lives (even the bad guys).

One of the things I really appreciated was the way Peter Parker and Spider-man, while being the same physical being are actually two distinct emotional entities. It’s fascinating to watch Parker succeed at something Spidey failed at and see Spidey, in the midst of bad guy fighting madness, rely on the Parker in his mind to problem solve his situation.

On the down side, though, there are points where the book is over-written and needlessly expanded. Also, while I loved Castro’s nods to references in the first book, where they were more subtle, here they’re obvious and over the top. You don’t have to work hard to figure out who Jay Sein and Cosmo the K are supposed to represent and they’re examples of restraint when compared to the on-the-nose lifts from other pop culture movies and TV shows. Given the talent on display in other sections of the book, My personal feeling is these slots could have been used to mark satire rather than references which are so obvious you know if you you’re not getting them and should. It feels like a writer putting in a joke with the full knowledge it’ll be taken out later… and then someone forgets to take it out. But hey, if that’s my only complaint, it’s not a bad one.

Overall, this is a fun, fast read, worth the time invested. Can’t wait to see how the third part pays everything off.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Castro has scripted a fast paced and action packed hell of a story. Filled with twists and turns and emotion knifes twisted beautifully and action sequences masterfully laid out on the printed page. A fantastic read for the casual or faithful Spider-Man fan.

[Juan Sanmiguel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of Spider-Man's most dangerous enemies are being gathered by a mysterious Gentlemen. There aim as usual is to destroy Spidey but is there something more. Who is the Gentleman and his girl servant Pity. Castro does great job with character here particularly with the villains. I also like the scene between Spider-Man and Captain America in the second book. The conclusion should prove interesting.

[Mamylon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this at like age 10 and it's why I'm like this

[Antonio]

Ight.

[skai_booksandbracelets · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story isn't a literary masterpiece, but this is an entertaining superhero thriller that would be worthy of a blockbuster budget.

[Adam Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Sinister Six are back and they have an even more sinister backer named the Gentleman who was an enemy of Peter Parker and Spider-man, but Peter Parker first. Can Spidey stop the six and their newest recruit, a mysterious young woman named Pity. This time their battle against Spider-man is personal as they have a full itinerary of mayhem all designed to highlight's Spidey's failures over the years.

This is not a graphic novel but a full length novel. I got this book by my mistake when I put in an interlibrary loan, but was intrigued enough to give it a read anyway (plus it came from the public library in my home town) and I wasn't disappointed.

The novel does a lot right. The most important thing is, without being preachy, the book portrays the true nature of the evil of the Six. Comics either gloss over it or create all consuming darkness, but this book has the feel of a Gary Cooper movie in that sense of this being a true battle between good and evil.

Another thing Castro does well in this book is imagining how the Marvel universe would actually function. From Television, you get the idea that superhero worlds are places where aliens or supervillain battles shock people. This book gives a realistic look at a world that's adapting with insurance products for supervillain attacks and yes, growing maturity in how the media covers the subject.

As a fan of the Peter-Mary Jane marriage, I also have to love how Mary Jane is portrayed here as she manages to take down one of the Six herself in a way that speaks to her courage.

While this book was part of a series, I didn't feel like I needed to pick up Gathering of the Sinister Six to know what was going on.

The negatives of the book: Well at 435 pages it could lose 100 pages and not lose anything in the plot department. Castro takes us to Avengers headquarters for an entire chapter when all that happens is that Spidey can't get information. He even shows a scene of Cap watching coverage of the battle even though it doesn't tie into the story. We see the death of Richard and Mary Parker in the prologue and then we actually know that Peter knows about it. Why we needed to see this on screen...you got me. Castro felt a need to show or tell us everything which makes the book start kind of slow and the ending has the same problem as the epilogue's biggest feature is a long infodump on the Gentleman's backstory.

I also would have liked to have seen more of the interaction between Peter and Mary Jane rather than being told about it.

I can forgive this because Castro's prose novel does such a good job of recreating Spidey's world. While getting this book was an accident, when I read the sequel, it'll be deliberate.

[Joseph Masiello · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first ever jaunt into reading a comic in book format. I have enjoyed Spider-Man in all his many forms from cartoon, to movie, and of course comic. I must say that I enjoyed reading this so much. The characters were all three dimensional and the story never fell flat. Each character had so much depth to them, you understood the reactions and felt the emotion from even the bit part characters.

The action was intense and kept me turning the pages long after I needed to be doing something else! There was almost no let down once the action got moving. Anytime the action took a break, you needed the break too!

I am upset that this is book two of three. Nowhere does it say it is part of a trilogy. The book stood alone on its own just fine, however I would have liked to know this from the start. The book ended on too huge if a cliffhanger to not have a sequel. Oh well, now I get to hunt down the other two! And what book lover does not like that. :)

[John West · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw this in my local library when I was in high school one weekend and being a fan of Marvel, I was drawn by it. I love the Sinister Six storyline and the individual they replace as their sixth member...she has an interesting connection to Peter Parker....and an unusual ability. I'd recommend it to any Marvel fan.

[Just Joshing · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very enjoyable read. Full of action. I am not a comic book fan by any means. I watched the cartoon as a kid in the 90's. just from that alone, I knew all I needed to love the characters and understand the connections.

[Seth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book, I loved it. Well writen and seemed to really catch the characters.

[Richie · Rating 4 out of 5]

i loved this book..read awhile back and i enjoyed the mysterious man behind the sinister six. it was a very good read!

[Scot Hickey · Rating 4 out of 5]

easy enough time frame to follow it.

[Tsuki · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've never found so many typos in one book before