written by Dan Slott
drawn by Jim Cheung (p) John Dell and Cory Smith (i)
colored by Justin Ponsor
Spider-Man's showdown with a new and improved (and surprisingly familiar) Jackal continues as his adversary and one-time ally tries hard to sell him on the concept of his clone utopia, where death is a thing of the past. Peter reflects on his attitude towards death, including his "no one dies" vow that he made several years ago, realizes how foolish he was to make such promises, and not only does he respectfully decline, but he says something that manages to serious piss the Jackal off. Meanwhile, Anna Maria Marconi and her erstwhile lover Doctor Octopus (albeit no longer in Peter Parker's borrowed body), work together to defeat the cellular degeneration that is plaguing all of the clones, Spider-Gwen--er--Woman, comes to Kaine's rescue, and basically all hell breaks loose...all with one issue left in this miniseries to go.
It irks me that a lot has gone on between the last issue and this one, particularly in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man, and it calls to mind why I hate "events" that require reading several other books aside from the main title. It seriously diminishes the narrative experience, but the good thing here is that Peter's key realization regarding death is at the core of this story, and the moment he makes it everything leading up to this moment pays off pretty well. I'm quite interested to see how things will turn out for this iteration of the Jackal next issue, especially in view of Marvel's marketing department already dropping massive spoilers as to what happens to him. From what I've read here and in other issues, he clearly isn't painted as a villain as much as he is a misguided, broken soul, though his actions near the end of the issue lean a little bit towards straight-up bad guy.
One moment that stood out for me was when the Jackal offered Anna Maria Marconi a "better" body, or one unaffected by dwarfism, and her response, was one of the more heroic things I've seen in a superhero comic book lately, and a nice shout out to "different" people at a time when racism and discrimination in America are getting a serious shot in the arm courtesy of the country's new President being an outspoken bigot.
Throughout this issue, Jim Cheung maintains, more or less, the standard of quality that has made this series easy on the eyes, though having a new inker in Cory Smith brings a slightly different feel to his work. The preview pages of issue #5 promise more of the art that I have been loving all throughout this series, and for this I'm very grateful. This guy deserves to be regarded as a Marvel legend.
Having seen the marketing material, I don't see myself following the regular series that will sprout out of this event, but I'm glad to have picked it up just the same.
8.5/10
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