written by Zeb Wells
penciled by Ed McGuinness
inked by Mark Morales, McGuinness, Wade von Grawbadger, Cliff Rathburn
colored by Marcio Menyz, Dijjo Lima, Erick Arciniega
To mark the occasion of the 900th issue of The Amazing Spider-Man title (give or take a few specials or one-shots) Marvel has given fans a super-sized issue featuring a doozy of a main story by writer Zeb Wells and artist extraordinaire Ed McGuinness.
It's Peter Parker's birthday, and in a true display of the infamous Parker luck, he manages to spoil his own surprise birthday party by showing up on time, while the grand architect of the surprise, J. Jonah Jameson, happens to be late. It turns out old flat-top's got good reason to be tardy: he's been kidnapped by four mechanical octopus arms belonging to a familiar foe of Spider-Man, and when Spidey swings to the rescue, the arms hammer out a single word on the wall: "HELP." Upon following the arms to their master, Spider-Man finds himself facing a foe even he might not be able to defeat: a Super-Adaptoid with the combined powers of the Sinister Six, which was dispatched by the Living Brain as it searches for the answer to its ultimate life's question: Who is Spider-Man?
As landmark issues go, this one's a winner, with a done-in-one story by Zeb Wells that he teased at the end of the first issue of this series reboot, featuring the Living Brain, a character from the very earliest issues of the book. This character was repurposed a little bit when Doctor Octopus took over Peter's body a few years back in the Superior Spider-Man days, but Wells restores him to his original status quo somewhat for this story. It's also a bit of a throwback to the older issues too, as Spider-Man gets a proper whupping from this genuinely formidable adversary, and later, from some more familiar foes as well, only to get help from the most unexpected of places. It's not quite on par with Wells' five-issue arc with John Romita Jr., but it's still got a really nice Silver Age vibe to it that really cuts to the heart of what makes Spider-Man Marvel's most popular and enduring character.
It really helps that Wells has a supremely capable collaborator in Ed McGuiness, an A-list artist who, for years, was near the top of my list of artists I wished would draw Spider-Man in a full-length story, alongside the likes of Jim Lee. Sure, he drew the first few issues of the Spider-Man/Deadpool team-up book some years back, but this time Spidey's got Ed all to himself, in a mammoth 70-page story that's basically the same length as three and a half issues. McGuiness definitely brings his A-game to an issue packed with fan-favorite supporting characters like Black Cat, Flash Thompson, Bobbi Morse and classic villains like Doc Ock and a whole lot more. This is wish fulfillment at its finest.
This is quite consistent with the way Wells has told his stories in this new iteration of the title. There's no reinventing of the wheel here, no shocking new status quo changes or new characters, just some engaging, entertaining storytelling by some of the best creators in the business. It's been so long since the book was this good that I can scarcely believe what I'm seeing here. Sure, I know some big status quo shakeup is just around the corner, but I am enjoying this while it lasts. Also, who knows? Maybe the status quo shakeup will actually be something meaningful this time, not some ephemeral death destined to be undone (sorry Dan Slott).
There are also a few entertaining, very brief side-stories at the end by Daniel Kibblesmith and David Lopez, Jeff Loveness and Todd Nauck, and Dan Slott and Marcos Martin. Notably, none of them teases some future story or leaves a dangling thread so the entire issue is self-contained.
9/10
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