Amazing Spider-Man #600 – Review

By Dan Slott, Joe Kelly, Mark Waid, Zeb Well, Stan Lee, Bob Gale (writers) John Romina Jr, Marcos Martin, Mario Alberti, Derec Donavan, Max Fiu mara, Coleen Doran, Klaus Jansen (art)

The Story: It’s the comic book event of the decade as Aunt May gets married to JJ Sr.! Well, not really, but they finally tie the knot in this six centennial issue of Amazing Spider-Man. Behind the wedding is a extremely solid Spidey story that reintroduces Doctor Octopus and features a who’s-who of marvel heroes taking cameo roles. Additionally, there is several back-up stories that are all good, especially a tear-jerker by Mark Waid featuring Uncle Ben.

What’s Good: This isn’t a comic; its a novel. Seriously– its the size of a small town phone book. And here is a shocker: its worth the 5 bucks! Every story here is good and features great writing and artwork by a slew of creators. Plus, there is a fake cover gallery paying homage to different eras of ASM that was actually funny. But the best part is that there are no reprints of “memorable” past ASM issues.

Let’s start with the art. I wasn’t a big fan of John Romita Jr.’s last showing on ASM during the tepid Character Assassination arc, but here, in a 65-page story no less, he is spectacular. First of all, he draws the best Human Torch I’ve ever seen, which is an infamous and common character to botch. But that is just one gem in his outing here as everyone and everything looks stellar. Thought Doc Ock was lame, cheesy-looking villain? Not anymore.  JRJR has recreated him into a powerfully evocative villain.

Dan Slott crafts a great story here and you can tell he’s loving the extra pages afforded to him to tell this tale. There is a lot happening and the story develops at a great pace. He made Doc Ock into a truly menacing and dangerous villain that your heart will break for. There was one scene when he was watching Spidey and the Torch on a security camera as they were busting on him where I instantly started to root for him. I don’t want to give too much away, but he is a victim in a certain sense.

Last point on the Slott/JRJR tale is that the wedding scene was surprisingly very good. I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed so it’s not saying much, but I was genuinely surprised with the surprise arrival at the end of the story.

As for the other tales, the best of the lot was Mark Waid’s Uncle Ben story. Not often do I fill-up during a comic (read: I Kill Giants), but Waid pulled the tears out of me in this one. Stan Lee actually writes a decent story in the collection too. However, the one I found least satisfying was Joe Kelly’s. I know it was supposed to be a collage of what’s to come in ASM, but perhaps it was too mysterious. However, seeing him re-team with the great Max Fiumara was awesome. Also, Zebb Wells writes a really funny story that busts on all of Spidey’s campiness.

What’s Not So Good: Nothing of note. This is the way an over-sized, 5-buck special should be.

Conclusion: I came into this with high expectations and they were all surpassed. If you’re looking to get back into Spidey after the Brand New Day debacle, get in now. Creatively, everything seems right in the new ASM continuity and I’m looking forward to see what the “brain trust” is going to do with all this momentum.

Grade: A

-Rob G.