Amazing Spider-Man #613 – Review

By Mark Waid (writer), Paul Azaceta (art), Dave Stewart (colored art)

The Story: Spider-Man is swarmed by a mob.  Electro finds the money he needs for his treatment.  Thinker gets his money.  Spider-Man races against time to find Electro.

What’s Good: Firstly, this was a fun ride, from the lynch-mob at the start, to Peter as the sleepless genius, to confrontation with Electro and the Thinker.  This book was wall-to-wall action, with lots of moments for character to show through.  Spider-Man had about five zingers I wanted to show, but picking one would do a disservice to all, so let’s just say that Peter’s in the zone on trash talk.  The Thinker and Annie have a few moments that reveal what kind of people they are and what they worry about with just a few brief lines of authentic dialogue.  Electro, especially half-looney, sparking over a bathtub full of water, is great.  Manic.  Alive.  Dangerous.  Unstable.  You can’t take your eyes off him.

Secondly, the art, while not a stirring example of realistic draftsmanship, fits the kind of story Waid wants to tell.  The grit and the roughness, and the art’s stylized sparseness and even retro computer and household tech, all give this series a particular look that really works.  Azaceta tells a whole story in one panel of Peter squeezing through a crowd because this artist really gets body language.  I wonder if that’s why his action scenes work so well?  I’ll keep you posted as I get to see more of his art.

What’s Not So Good: I was going to trash the backup feature again, but there is none, so no complaints.

Conclusion: I stayed away from Spider-Man for a long time because after forty-five years (and even after thirty), his world had become so convoluted that I felt I needed a playbook to keep up.  This current Spider-Man doesn’t feel like that at all.  In fact, with classic villains and a soap opera background, this feels far more like the Lee/Ditko Spider-Man I love, just brought up to date.  That’s a huge compliment to Mr. Waid and Mr. Azaceta.   Pick it up.  You’ll like it.

Grade: A-

-DS Arsenault

Amazing Spider-Man #612 – Review

Lead story by Mark Waid (writer), Paul Azaceta (artist), Dave Stewart (colorist)

Backup story by Joe Kelly (writer), JM Ken Niimura (artist, colorist and letterer)

The Story: Power to the People, Part I: Spider-Man and Max Dillon both discover a new Electro, one transformed and redefined by the melting economy and his own decaying health.  We are also treated to a backup story featuring Spider-Man and Black Cat.

What’s Good: I dumped on Waid’s work on Strange #1 earlier this month, but pointed out that Waid does a lot of good books.  This is one of them.  The entry-point of the book is a neutral, newspaper text that brings us up to speed.  But then, right away, we’re into some really creepy monologue in the head of Max Dillon (Electro).  I love how Waid has shown Electro and his problems in this issue.  Dillon’s got himself some real and unconventional problems and some half-justifiable chips on his shoulder that Waid takes in a direction that was unexpected to me and to Spider-Man.  Most importantly, while Dillon is still a schmuck in a rubber coat, Waid gives us enough of his side to make him sympathetic.  Never thought I’d appreciate this loser, so good work by the writer.

On the art side, Azaceta makes New York, Electro and the Thinker gritty and dirty, Spider-Man heroic and clean, and Peter Parker and his friends authentic and likable.  That’s quite a range and I want to point out that not a lot of artists seem to be able to make their characters’ faces look different, but Azaceta really succeeds.  Jameson, Peter, Dexter, Michelle, Dillon and Betty all have different types of faces that you could tell apart even without context.  The action is dynamic (check out Spider-man trying to grab Electro at the Stock Exchange) and clear the gritty style works for this book.  Azaceta is the right artist to tell this story.

What’s Not So Good: No real complaints about the lead story.   On the backup story, the writing was fine, but for some reason, when the art doesn’t fit, it ruins the whole experience for me.  Niimura is obviously a competent artist with an interesting style, but as I noted with Strange #1, an anime-style doesn’t really suit a lot of Marvel stories, so this story detracted from the book as a whole.

Conclusion: Waid and Azeceta effectively launched the new Gauntlet arc.  They’ve hit the right tone, put the menace in place, have some secret plan hatching and it’s all going south for Spidey.  The editors unfortunately inserted a backup story that artistically doesn’t fit the mood of the main book and the gear-shift didn’t work for me.  I’ll still tune in for the next issue, though.

Grade: B (A- for the lead story, D+ for the backup story)

–DS Arsenault