Judgment Day: A Review of The Amazing Spider-Man #10

 written by Zeb Wells

drawn by Nick Dragotta

colored by Marcio Menyz

From teasing one crossover to actually taking part in another, The Amazing Spider-Man features a single issue story that ties into the ongoing crossover event featuring the Avengers vs X-Men vs Eternals. Unlike the "Dark Web" tease that Marvel gave readers last issue, though, which was pretty light on story, this issue, in just a few pages gives arguably one of the meatiest Peter Parker stories I've read in a long time, right up there with the likes of "The Conversation" by J. Michael Straczynski and John Romita Jr. 

In a nutshell, following the events of A v X v E, the Progenitor, the Celestial which used to serve as the Avengers' headquarters, has decided  to judge all of humanity, and that means appearing to each and every human everywhere and telling them if they're "worthy," whatever that means.  In many cases, apparently the Celestial appears to people as someone significant from their lives, and after observing them for a time, passes judgment on them.

In Peter Parker's case, the Celestial manifests to him as the late Gwen Stacy and as Peter goes about his day, with "Gwen" hovering around him with watchful eyes he finds himself wondering just how Gwen would judge the way he has lived his life.  This is what concerns him, even more than the imminent judgment of the Progenitor.

This is the kind of story that Nick Spencer, by undoing the abominable "Sins Past" made possible.  The stain that story left on Gwen Stacy as a character made it hard...if not impossible...to write stories about her without that getting brought up. Thank you again, Nick Spencer, 

And thank you, Zeb Wells.  It's interesting how it took a writer who's even younger than I am to tell a story that exemplifies just what Gwen Stacy means to Peter. By now, she has been dead far, far longer than she was ever alive in the comics, and yet her legacy of her character, and what she means to the Spider-Man mythos, is as strong as it has ever been. This is some of Wells' strongest work on a run in which he has gone from strength to strength.

The art by guest artist Nick Dragotta is charming and has a lovely Marcos Martin and even Tim Sale vibe to it.   I wouldn't mind seeing more from him down the line.

If the last issue felt disposable, this feels like essential reading, the kind of story that could show up in compilations of moments that really mattered in Peter's life. 

9.5/10