Amazing Spider-Man: Freakshow

AMAZING
SPIDER-MAN
#554 cover by
Phil Jimenez

By Jim Beard "Brand New Day" has brought many "new" elements into play for Spider-Man and Peter Parker: new life, new freedom, new friends…and now, unavoidably, new enemies. You've probably piped the crazy cover image of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #554 featuring Spider-Man's newest, baddest bad guy—who hasn't? A hulking, monstrous abomination puts the screws to our favorite wallcrawler while the whole shebang burns around them—but from where did this Freak of nature spring? "Freak is from the 'lab accident' school of characters," beams proud papa Gale. "He may be the first drug addict who becomes a super villain, and that informs everything he does." Gale's primed and ready for his arc of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, specifically #552-554, and when he plopped down with the Spidey Brain Trust to hash it all out, he knew what he wanted to do: create a brand, spankin' new super-villain.

AMAZING
SPIDER-MAN
#553 cover by
Phil Jimenez

"The basic concept [for Freak] is my own, with embellishments by the Brain Trust and editors," explains the Spidey-Scribe. "I described certain key visual elements in the script, but left other aspects up to artist Phil Jimenez. He got it right the first time, so we didn't have to do any artistic tweaking." You may very well ask what exactly makes for a good Spider-Man opponent. Too shy? No prob. We did it for you. "This may sound like a smart-ass answer," begins Gale, chewing on the question. "But it's almost always a function of a good writer, teamed with a good artist. A villain can be pretty uninspired at first go-round, but a good 'hook' can make a huge difference. "But there's no formula for it," he concedes. "Somebody on the creative side has to be inspired, either with the visuals, or the m.o. or the character's agenda." Does that mean Freak can be applied to a multitude of story-types—or will his motives prove singular in purpose?

AMAZING
SPIDER-MAN
#552 cover by
Phil Jimenez

"There's a very cool aspect to Freak's biology," says Gale, keeping plot specifics close to the vest. "That will make him very interesting to brink back in the future—inside reference absolutely intended! He doesn't have a very deep agenda, but he's also someone I could see being used and manipulated by a smarter villain". And should the Sinister Six ever be short a psychopath, will there be a seat at that terrifying table for our freakish new fiend? "Because he's selfish, anti-social, angry and less than an intellectual giant, Freak 'does not play well with others.'" says the writer. "No one is going to want to go out and grab a beer with this guy!" Inquiring, curious sorts would do well to carefully peruse their back issues of "Brand New Day" for happy hints of Freak's beginnings. Then, join us next week for AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #552 and get your Freak on! While you're waiting for the next installment of "Brand New Day," check out the first 100 issues of the original AMAZING SPIDER-MAN on Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited.

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