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.