That’s more like it.
Now that the
reigns are back in the hands of writer Dan Slott, The Amazing Spider-Man is once again a book that pleases. If you
read my reviews of the previous Avenger’s
Academy crossover arc, you’ll know that I did like the previous issues a
decent amount. Still, I have to say that the difference is striking. Peter is
back in the swing of things, and still trying to juggle work, his girlfriend
and being your friendly neighborhood Avenger and member of the FF.
Eddie Brock is back too. Sweet Anti-Venom, and he’s as batshit crazy as ever. The character is definitely coming into his own, though. At one point he gets school-yard jealous of the mysterious Wraith because the baddies fear her more than him. To the reader, he’s clearly just trying to do some good in his crazy mind. But Spider-Man won’t have it and barely gives the guy the time of day before jumping to some obvious conclusions. I’m sure at some point these two will clear up their past and start working together in some way, but I don’t think we’ll start seeing that until Spider-Island.
This issue
really has a lot of standout moments. At one point, Parker gets his hands on a
copy of the American Science Journal that includes his featured article. After
furiously paging through it, he finds his first published work and literally
starts bouncing off the walls. It’s moments like this that remind me of how
Spider-Man is still one of the most relatable heroes in Marvel. He’s an Avenger
and a member of the FF and yet being published in a science journal still
makes him feel like a kid winning first place at the science fair.
Maybe it’s just me, but I just can’t get behind the art in this issue. Giuseppe Camuncoli’s pencils look almost half finished and Matt Holingsworth’s colors look like they were left out in the sun for too long. Anti-Venom looked admittedly cool, though I still found myself wishing Brown and Rouch handled the art for this issue. It definitely surprised me considering it took me a couple of pages to warm up to those guys. Maybe the same holds true here.
Whatever qualms I had about Slott taking over as Spidey’s show runner are pretty much gone. He really knows these characters, and is slowly starting to tie up a lot of loose ends that have been floating around the series. The more I read, the more I’m looking forward to #666.
Overall Score - 8.0/10
*Slott’s
return means the return of true Spidey, and the gap to Spider-Island is
steadily shrinking.