Amazing Spider-Man #681 – Review

By: Dan Slott & Chris Yost (writers), Giuseppe Camuncoli (pencils), Klaus Janson (inks), Frank D’Armata (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: The conclusion of a 2-part story where Spidey & Human Torch try to save Col. Jameson from a doomed space station.

A Few Things: 

1. Massive credit to the editorial staff. – Big respect to the editorial team (Wacker and Pyle) for working with writer (Slott) to keep this series humming along.  When you consider that ASM ships 2-3X per month, they need to have multiple artists working on the series at the same time.  That means that someone needs to keep coordinated with Slott well in advance on the stories and make sure that the scripts are handed in on time.  And it means that the artists and editors have to be candid about how quickly the artists can work.  Someone has to know that we needed this to be a 2-issue arc to give Humberto Ramos enough time to catch back up.  It’s just impressive how it all runs like a top.  And, because this whole team clearly has such dedication and professionalism, a small, 2-story arc like this one still fits vitally into the main ASM story.  A lot of other editor/writer/artist teams would have just wasted a 2-issue story like this on fluff OR stuck with a predictable formula of alternating 4-6 issue stories.  I wish the X-editors would do an internship with Wacker!

2. Fun, action, humor… (again). – Why should this be surprising?  ASM has been fun, action-filled and funny for several years now and has only become more so since Slott became the sole writer.  As I said about last issue, this is really just a Marvel Team-Up on the space station with Torch and Spidey alternately being heroic and making fun of each other while they save the day.  The whole thing is light-hearted enough that I didn’t groan at a few of the convenient technologies that help to save the day; actually, reading a comic like this might be a good way of judging whether you are a “comic optimist” or not… Can you accept Spidey’s convenient special webbing without demanding an explanation?  But…in the end, this story flows us right into the Doc Ock-centered Ends of the Earth story that Marvel has been pumping for months now.  This is a great lead-in and I’m excited.  This is what comics should do: one-flows into the next and builds excitement!

Amazing Spider-Man #674 – Review

By: Dan Slott (writer), Giuseppe Camuncoli (pencils), Klaus Janson (inks), Frank D’Armata (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: Spider-Island is over and a certain winged foe of Spidey is back.

Five Things: 

1. Much better approach to the Vulture!  When ASM freshened up all of Spidey’s classic rogues during the Gauntlet storyline (ASM #612 – #633), most of the updated versions were pretty hot stuff.  The only one that didn’t quite work as well was the new Vulture who was this weird mutated, non-verbal mafia hit man who vomited acid and had a BAD underbite.  Marvel, recognizing that error, had Punisher kill that guy in the new Punisher series (at least I think he killed him….I dropped that series pretty fast).  This approach to the Vulture makes a lot more sense because it’s going to be the same basic character….just a little older and with a new approach to make up for his advancing age.  In a way it reminds me of the early story arc in the original Web of Spider-Man (around issue #3) where the Vulture gave wings to a group of fellow criminals and they ganged up to pound on Spidey.

2. Revisiting the Peter-Carlie relationship.  Not wanting to start another riot in the comments thread (since we all have strong feelings about who Peter should be dating), but it was nice to see that Slott isn’t dropping Carlie Cooper as a character.  I wasn’t happy about the dumping that happened during Spider-Island, but a few readers talked me off the ledge by saying that they were sure she’d still be around.  I like this new dynamic where they still have to work together as crime fighters and it’ll be interesting to see if there is still a chance for romance.

3. Pretty nice art.  It’s hard for me to review any ASM issues after I’ve gotten a steady diet of Humberto Ramos because Ramos is just one of my absolute favorites.  Camuncoli isn’t quite at Ramos’ level and he is less stylized in his approach, but this is still really nice art.

Amazing Spider-Man #663 – Review

By: Dan Slott (writer), Giuseppe Camuncoli (pencils), Klaus Jansen (inks), Matt Hollingsworth (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (senior editor)

Cloak & Dagger back-up by: Slott (writer), Emma Rios (pencils), Javier Rodriguez (inks), Edgar Delgado (colors) & Caramagna (letters)
Additional back-up by: Todd Dezago (writer), Todd Nauck (art) & Chris Sotomayor (colors)

The Story: NYC criminals suddenly have to deal with the Wraith and Anti-Venom.  Spider-Man doesn’t approve of their methods.  Fights ensue.

What’s Good: It sure was nice to see Peter Parker remember that he had to go back to work at Horizon Labs.  Even though we know that Peter’s good times where he has a nice job and money won’t last forever, it is so much fun to see Peter get to be a science nerd, hang out with the other science geeks, compete with the other geeks and do geeky things like getting his manuscript published in a major journal (although if, as the story states, he was getting this journal since he was a kid, it probably isn’t a major journal).  It was also really nice to see him spending more time on his love life.

It is very easy when Spider-Man is on two Avengers teams and the FF for those important elements to get squeezed from his narrative, so it is nice to see Slott return to these little elements.  Unlike Batman, Peter really is Peter, and Spider-Man is just one of the things that he has to fit into his very hectic days.  Spider-Man works best when it has elements of an Archie comic infused through it.

Also love that the editorial staff (at least I presume it is editorial) keeps including the asterisk references to prior issues.  Makes me feel like a kid again and I wish all comics would do this.

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.