The Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 9: Skin Deep

The Amazing Spider-Man (1999) (Collected Editions) #13

by J. Michael Straczynski, Mike Deodato Jr. (Artist), Mark Brooks (Artist)

Peter Parker must confront a former classmate who - like himself - was granted amazing powers during a science experiment gone awry. But why does he blame Peter for the laboratory mishap, and just how far will he take his quest for vengeance?

Collects:
- Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #515-#518

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Spider Man, Superheroes, Comic Book, Science Fiction

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Joseph Michael Straczynski is an American filmmaker and comic book writer. He is the founder of Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Studio JMS and is best known as the creator of the science fiction television series Babylon 5 (1993–1998) and its spinoff Crusade (1999), as well as the series Jeremiah (2002–2004) and Sense8 (2015–2018). He is the executor of the estate of Harlan Ellison.
Straczynski wrote the psychological drama film Changeling (2008) and was co-writer on the martial arts thriller Ninja Assassin (2009), was one of the key writers for (and had a cameo in) Marvel's Thor (2011), as well as the horror film Underworld: Awakening (2012), and the apocalyptic horror film World War Z (2013). From 2001 to 2007, Straczynski wrote Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man, followed by runs on Thor and Fantastic Four. He is the author of the Superman: Earth One trilogy of graphic novels, and he has written Superman, Wonder Woman, and Before Watchmen for DC Comics. Straczynski is the creator and writer of several original comic book series such as Rising Stars, Midnight Nation, Dream Police, and Ten Grand through Joe's Comics.
A prolific writer across a variety of media and former journalist, Straczynski is the author of the autobiography Becoming Superman (2019) for HarperVoyager, the novel Together We Will Go (2021) for Simon & Schuster, and Becoming a Writer, Staying a Writer (2021) for Benbella Books. In 2020 he was named Head of the Creative Council for the comics publishing company Artists, Writers and Artisans.
Straczynski is a long-time participant in Usenet and other early computer networks, interacting with fans through various online forums (including GEnie, CompuServe, and America Online) since 1984. He is credited as being the first TV producer to directly engage with fans on the Internet and to allow viewer viewpoints to influence the look and feel of his show. Two prominent areas where he had a presence were GEnie and the newsgroup rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I get that this guy wrote a "great" tv series, but this was not all that great for me.....I can't see Peter Parker bullying another nerd...just felt way out of character.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but average Spidey story involving a bullied former classmate-turned-villain of the week. Heavy on the flashbacks (which perfectly captured the hell that can be American high school pecking orders) but sort of slim on web-slinging action. Still, Peter Parker's thought boxes - especially when nostalgically remembering the wisdom and ways of his Uncle Ben - remain durable.

[Frédéric · Rating 2 out of 5]

“Bullying others if you were once bullied is BAD”

This is the very heavily-handed message of this mediocre volume. It looks like it was written by Brian Bendis- because of the amount of captions all over- but without any challenging idea or concept. So welcome to the sneezefest.

The antagonist is one of Pete’s former schoolmate, even geekier than him. You should pity him but he is so despicably a whining looser you want to bully him yourself after the first issue. Then 3 boring issues to show how despicable he is and what he does is BAD. Zzzzzz.

Everything goes at snail’s pace, captions are everywhere, Pete is amorphous, the bad guy a bore with delusions of grandeur, MJ is shown in lingerie and that’s definitely the only interesting moment of the book.

Moreover, mixing Deodato (present scenes) with Milla (school scenes) is clearly the idea of an editor without any sense of art as a concept. Deodato is realistic with lots of shadows while Milla is cartoony and clear. Pairing these two needs some flair, indeed.

It seems like JMS has definitely run out of steam, maybe it’s time to call it quits…

[Oneirosophos · Rating 2 out of 5]

An incredibly mediocre anti-bullying story with some cool moments.

[Wing Kee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Zzz...

World: Art is okay, nothing special and does it's job. The world building is okay with more links to the past just like the last arc. I like little nuggets of the past but this arc and the last arc changes things too much which I don't enjoy.

Story: Zzz. Clichéd and bland. Other than what's happening with Peter and Co. everything else is just not that interesting. Charlie as a villain and call to the past was fairly uninspired and ended as we expected. Zzz.

Characters: Peter and MJ are still fantastic. Their quiet moments are the best. Charlie is bland and boring. Too in your face with the bullying message. Zzz.

Just a forgettable boring arc.

Onward to the next book!

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wasn't nearly as bad as the previous volume, but it was also not good either. It was boring and generic and I really didn't care about the villain or his motivations. This was basically a poorly written revenge story about bullying.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do people not enjoy complex characters? Every day I more and more understand the backlash to Last Jedi, an excellent film with an excellent portrayal of a more complex Luke. I've seen people complain about this story because in it, Peter Parker bullies a nerd. But that's a gross oversimplification. Parker is portrayed pre-spider bite and enjoys respite from local bullies when a nerdier nerd shows up in high school. Parker does his best to stay in the shadows and let the bullies focus on the new kid. Not exactly a profile in courage. Parker makes it worse when he hits the new kid with a volleyball in PE. But that's where it ends. Parker realizes what an ass he's been and then befriends the nerd. Parker even takes the wrap for the kid bringing a knife at school. Fast forward to present day and Parker meets this former classmate and vouches for him to Tony Stark which sets off the real plot.

I don't think that exactly qualifies as bullying and it certainly isn't a "betrayal" of Parker's character. Parker fundamentally is good but that means making mistakes and learning from them. This is not out of character especially when the character includes finding out he has powers and immediately using them to try and win fame and fortune. Parker is good but flawed and with lots of bad luck. It is why we keep reading about his adventures.

This wasn't a groundbreaking story but it also wasn't bad and certainly wasn't character assasination

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good personal story for Peter. When one of his old friends Charlie Weiderman comes to him for his help and we learn more about how he was bullied in school and may have gotten in over is head and had done some not so good things and then how his present gets impacted and how he becomes the Vibranium man and goes after Peter who he thinks did this...it becomes a good story, so Pete has to find a way to stop him while questionings whether things he did were right or not. Also Iron Man gets involved and this takes us to the next part that will be the Civil War!

[Fr. Andrew · Rating 1 out of 5]

The message seems to be "don't do bad things just because you're bullied," and yeah, that's a valuable message, but please, the reasoning provided here is "it's dishonorable" and the solution here is akin to "just say no." Could have just been a filler story, but it ends up a limp, empty shrug of an attempt at a moral treatise with not even a nod to the complexities of reality.

[Nathan Guetteville · Rating 4 out of 5]

L'intrigue de Skin Deep concerne plus Peter Parker que Spider-Man, et ce n'est pas une mauvaise chose. Cet arc traite notamment du harcèlement scolaire, en la personne de Charlie, camarade de classe de Peter au lycée avant que ce dernier ne se fasse mordre par une araignée. Encore plus nerd que Peter, les brutes de l'école ont commencé à s'attaquer à lui, ce qui fit culpabiliser Peter.

Dans le présent, Charlie refait surface et contacte Peter afin d'obtenir sa recommendation pour conduire une expérience dangereuse (spoiler : ça tourne mal), ce que Peter accepte à cause de sa culpabilité.

Peter Parker et Spider-Man devront faire face au résultat de cette expérience, qui met en danger Tante May et MJ.

C'est bien exécuté dans l'ensemble, l'antagoniste porte une thématique importante, et les discussions entre MJ et Peter mariés de Straczynski sont toujours adorables.

Le style de Mark Brooks pour les flashbacks du lycée correspond parfaitement. De son côté, Mike Deodato n'est pas des plus en forme pour les visages dans le présent, mais son Spider-Man est toujours fantastiquement bien dessiné et dynamique.

[Krzysztof Grabowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bardzo poprawna historia spod pióra Straczynskiego. Charlie Weiderman to znajomy Petera ze szkoły. To postać, którą inni nękają, ale jednocześnie sam w roli ofiary jest toksyczny, wymuszając pomoc na innych, aby nie dostać po skórze. Tak było za młodu, tak jest teraz.

Charlie chce coś osiągnąć w życiu, więc prosi Parkera o przysługę. O dostęp do laboratorium, w celu przeprowadzenia "niewinnego" eksperymentu. Jak się okazuje - jest to badanie powiązanie z vibranium. I oczywiście coś musi pójść nie tak? Mamy powstanie nowej jednostki o wielkiej sile, która kryje wiele uraz. Na pewno nie będzie tak płytki i nie odegra się na dawnych oprawcach...

Pisarz oferuje nam ciekawe dialogi i dobre relacje, co nieco zaciera fakt, iż cały ten zbiór to jednak historia, którą widzieliście wielokrotnie. W paru miejscach zaskakuje, ale to nadal tylko przetworzony motyw. Co nie znaczy, że nie zapewni godzinki w miarę dobrej lektury.

[Ian · Rating 2 out of 5]

An old acquaintance from Peter's school days appears asking for his help with getting some scientific research funded. However, after allowing Charlie to use his name as an introduction to Tony Stark, Peter discovers that his the other man is playing fast and loose with the safety of his experiments.

This story is very much akin to the 'villain of the week' style of stories from Spider-Man's early days but, it has to be said, definitely falls into the category of 'filler' too.
This face from Peter's past is someone we've never heard of before and almost certainly never will again and the villain he becomes is so unremarkable that he never even gets a catchy supervillain name.
Even the Kangaroo got a name (a terrible one, but still).

This isn't a bad book but there's nothing original or outstanding about it and a month from now I'll have probably forgotten I ever read it.

* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *

[Robert Dunk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Skin Deep (Solid)

In comparison to the last issue it's a masterpiece.

The story as a whole is fine, I wouldn't say it blew me away or did anything special. To me this feels like filler, giving the reader some lore about Peters past before the spider bit him, and introducing a character I'm not entirely sure we will see again. Then again it serves as a set up for future issues, where the Parker family will have to recover from recent events.

That being said, it's got everything from spidy that we love, conflict, swinging and quips. I can't say it's going to a memorable story, so for me it's sitting at that 3 stars simply for that, it's not terrible or bad, and is not great or amazing, it's a mid story that doesn't provoke any strong emotion.

Give it a read and judge for yourself.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Skin Deep (515-518). It's been twenty years since I first read JMS' run on Spider-Man, and when I picked up this story I have to admit: I didn't remember it at all. I mean, you can see what JMS was trying to do here: he wanted to create new memebrs for Spidey's rogue's gallery. But this one feels _so_ classic that it's a real case of been-there-seen-that-before. (I was constantly reminded of Molten Man for a variety of reasons.) There's some nice elements to the story, such as flashbacks to Peter in High School, Pre-Spider-Man, and the repercussions of the story lead to excellent-ness in the volume, but obviously this one wasn't that memorable [3+/5].

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really enjoying this run of Spider-Man. I enjoy the way Peter is written, and especially his relationship with Mary Jane and Aunt May. Solid action woven alongside storytelling that dives into Peter's past and also looks at the idea that, just because you're a "geek," doesn't mean you're necessarily the hero of a story. The antagonist in this story (Charlie) was, in many ways, the Peter who could have been. It's an interesting foil those two characters create, Peter and Charlie: A geek who chose to be better, and a geek who chose to be bitter. I'm ready for volume 10!

[Amanda Shepard (Between-the-Shelves) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume covers another story taken from Peter Parker's past; this time, a friend from high school comes back and asks for help--but things quickly take a turn for the worse. Peter is able to see what path he could have taken if he didn't have the support of his family and friends. There were a lot of emotional moments, and this marks a turn in Parker's story. There are also some really great layouts here; the art matches the epic fights that Spider-Man has in this volume.

[Bryan Fischer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was nearly a 3 star, but I did like the flashback sequences, dream sequence, and ending. There were a couple other things I liked (and didn’t like) that I can’t discuss due to spoilers.
There was a repeated joke which was lame. The villain’s actions towards one character seemed kind of unwarranted, they did explain why but I didn’t buy it.
It was a pretty standard basic spider-man story with a few cool additions.

[Sina Tavousi Masrour · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have no problem with Peter making mistakes as a teenager, but as a grown-up Spider-Man he should have known giving help to make super soldiers is a recipe for disaster. He stupidly caused deaths which was way out of character for him. I know Straczynski's run is both respected and hated; he seems to totally get Spider-Man on one page and then he ruins it on another by throwing in unnecessary drama.

[Matt · Rating 1 out of 5]

Collects Amazing Spider-Man issues #515-#518

This story was bad. A person from Peter's pre-Spider-Man life shows back up, and trouble comes along with this character. This whole story felt like a waste of time, although there is an indication that it will set up a future plot thread in Peter's personal life.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of the middle of the road volume. Had some great moments with Uncle Ben and Peter and of course peter in general is written really fun. Good cute moments with MJ too. But the Anti-bully storyline feels a bit too heavy handed at times and the end result is just decent but overall not a horrible volume or anything.

[Mickey · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid filler story that harkens back to some of the better silver age stuff. It's not the most interesting thing in the run, but it's not bad for a standalone. The story beats out pretty typically, but again JMS lends enough reality to the emotions that it works better than average.

[Josiah · Rating 1 out of 5]

If this were a single issue then I’d forgive it, but as this is a four parter where basically Peter grew up with the uni bomber, nah. Skip this one and move onto the next one.

[Kameron Nettleton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one. Felt like Spider-Man. Flawed. Mistakes from the past coming back to haunt him. I enjoyed it.

[Jacquie VanSlyke]

This was for my grandson, when he was12

[Josh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Villain of the week entry in which we discover that Peter bullied someone in highs school and now has to answer for his sins, or ELSE! Featuring lots of flashbacks! It was ok.

[kpolacik · Rating 4 out of 5]

7

[ddaengrey · Rating 1 out of 5]

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[Jordan Schroeder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Straczynski knows how to write Spider-Man. Made Spider-Man a bully but it shows weakness flaws and redemption. :)

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a surprisingly sensitive exploration of the psychology of bullying, and of being bullied. All told, of course, in the context of a superhero smash-'em-up.

[Joey Amorim · Rating 3 out of 5]

When a geek is bullied in high school, sometimes he’ll shoot up the school, and other times he’ll grow up to be a generic and mostly uninteresting homicidal incel supervillain. It’s a real issue.