Pull of the Week:

Amazing Spider-Man #600 – Marvel – $4.99

Score: 7.5

After reading the abysmal The Incredible Hulk #600, there was a little trepidation in jumping right in to Spider-Man’s 600th issue. There couldn’t possibly be two epic failures released in the same week could there? Thankfully for the little Spider-Man fan in us all, this issue did not suffer the same fat. Instead, Dan Slot continues the work that the Spider-Man brain trust has pieced together resulting in the marriage of Peter Parker’s beloved Aunt May to J. Jonah Jameson Sr. But much as the cover and the past months have hinted at, nothing is going to run smoothly for the Parker/Jameson clan.

The story opens with Dr. Otto Octavius recalling past traumas he has suffered at the hands of his super powered opponents like Spider-Man, Captain America and the Hulk to a doctor who gives him the grave news that he only has a year and a half to live at most. Otto, the self-righteous and megalomaniacal genius that he is, cannot accept this and vows to leave something great to the world, worthy of his genius. The little eight legged creeper droids that had showed up in the past few months of Amazing Spider-Man are revealed to be a part of Otto’s plan to leave a perfect world behind as he left as they are controlled by his brain patterns.

As much as Otto has tried to turn a new leaf, his subconscious forces it way to the surface and instead of helping the city, the droids end up carrying out attacks on Spider-Man and disruptions to the pending nuptials between May and J. Jonah Jameson Sr. including abducting the groom. Peter, always prepared to do the right thing goes off to find Otto and put the city back together with some help from his good buddy, the Human Torch. The story comes to a feel good conclusion like many other superhero wedding issues have with Peter’s friends, past and present, being there for the sentimental moment.

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We recently got a chance to chat with Josh Keaton, the voice actor who, as of late, has been lending his pipes as the titular hero in Disney XD’s The Spectacular Spider-Man. He spoke about playing the character, the laundry list of cameos, and which other characters he’d love to voice in the world of comics.

The Flickcast: Playing a character like Spider-Man has got to be a big deal for anybody who knows the character, are you a fan of the comic?

Josh Keaton: I am. I grew up as a huge fan of Spider-Man, and I’m still a huge comic book geek, so it’s definitely a really cool thing to be able to say “Hey, I’m Spider-Man!”

TF: You’re not only known for playing Spider-Man, but you also have a cool Spidey-themed ride, correct?

JK: [laughing] Oh, yea. I have a Mini Cooper, and I like how everybody puts big graphics on the flat roof, so I have the poster art from season one of Spectacular Spider-Man up there. Also, my license plate reads “THWIPP”.

TF: Very cool. Being a voice actor, do you find yourself changing demeanor between Peter Parker and his costumed alter ego?

JK: A little bit. It’s not so much a physical change in the voice as much as an attitude shift. When he’s Spider-Man, he has a lot more confidence, and at first he’s that way because he’s able to do all the things that Peter Parker can’t do, but as the show progresses it starts changing a bit where he has to play up his “dorky side” as Peter to continue to conceal the fact that he is Spider-Man.

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