Mysteries Revealed: A Review of The Amazing Spider-Man #21

 written by Zeb Wells

penciled by John Romita, Jr.

inked by Scott Hanna

colored by Marcio Menyz

Finally, after nearly a year of patiently waiting for Marvel to explain their in media res start to this series reboot, which basically tore out a huge chunk of narrative between the end of the "Beyond" era and the beginning of this one, we readers are finally getting some real answers...or at least, the hint of some answers. 

The issue starts with Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson living out their separate lives, with one about to go to work and the other trying to get her husband and kids out the door, when something cataclysmic happens, something both Peter and Mary Jane recognize, and they realize that someone terrible has returned to their lives.  At this point the story flashes back to the epilogue at the tail end of the "Beyond" saga in which Peter and Mary Jane were about to move in together, only for their momentary bliss to be interrupted by a ray of light. We now found out what the source of that light was.

To make a long story short, it's not looking good for our favorite wall-crawler.

I am generally not a fan of the whole in media res concept; sometimes it feels like a cheap way to generate tension and drama in a story without really earning it yet, by placing the character in a bad situation straightaway.  Fortunately, in this instance, Zeb Wells has told strong enough stories over the last year or so to more or less keep me engaged long enough to find out what happened. It's gratifying that in this issue, he picks up exactly where he left off at the end of the "Beyond" saga; it's nice to know that answers are forthcoming. 

The only problem I foresee, and I hope I'm wrong, is that by setting this story up as the reason that MJ no longer wants anything to do with Peter, Wells may have us scratching our heads and saying "that's it?" or worse, may have Peter do something grossly out of character just to justify his shocking story twist. It's a tightrope he and editorial have chosen to walk, so I wish him luck with it. 

I am also genuinely intrigued in Wells' villains of choice: the Mayan deity Wayep/Wayeb and his disciple Benjamin Rabin, both of whom Wells co-created, but neither of whom I have seen in the pages of a Spider-Man comic since the earliest days of "Brand New Day" back in 2008. I'll readily admit that the characters, who looked pretty fearsome until the story was abruptly ended, felt distinctly underused way back then, so it should be interesting to see what Wells has in store.  

I'm glad to see John Romita, Jr. back on art chores for this issue.  This really is some of his strongest work on a Spidey book since the JMS days.

8.5/10

Hot Date: A Review of The Amazing Spider-Man #19 and 20

 written by Joe Kelly

penciled and colored by Terry Dodson

inked by Rachel Dodson

Following the multi-issue crossover with the X-Men books that was "Dark Web," The Amazing Spider-Man gets back to telling its own stories, this time courtesy of a guest creative team in writer Joe Kelly and artists Terry and Rachel Dodson.  Gratifyingly, the team also takes a bit of a break from all of the drama in Peter Parker's life lately as he and Black Cat go for a weekend away from it all at a posh ski resort. After a brief moment of awkwardness in which the two of them see Mary Jane and her husband Paul at the exact same resort, they soon find themselves chasing down what appears to be a super-villain related commotion only to find Tombstone's henchwoman White Rabbit actually renting out supervillain gear to several Silicon Valley types for a weekend retreat. What seems like easy money to White Rabbit, however, is a disaster just waiting to happen, and happen it does, forcing Spider-Man and Black Cat to put their awkward holiday on hold.

I've been reading comics for over four decades now, and it's genuinely entertaining when someone comes along with a fresh storytelling concept.  Joe Kelly's idea of supervillainy as material for a corporate retreat feels fresh and most of the jokes land. I also appreciate how Kelly writes White Rabbit, a fairly old character (40 years as of writing) in that he manages to make her feel a little less like a Harley Quinn knockoff.

Unfortunately, as much as I'd like to give this entertainingly written two-parter full marks, I simply cannot bring myself to do so because for some strange reason, the usually reliable and talented husband-and-wife duo of Terry and Rachel Dodson seriously drop the ball in terms of the art. It's not that they've lost any of their talent; the problem is that the art of both of these issues looks distinctly unfinished, as if they drew Spider-Man and the Black Cat but couldn't be bothered to draw anything more than sketches of the remaining characters. It's bizarre; I've never seen the pair of them off their game like this, especially considering they're just guest artists.  This is really disappointing considering the caliber of these creators. I still have fond memories of their awesome run on Marvel Knights: Spider-Man with Mark Millar nearly twenty years ago. I'd hate to think they lost their mojo from that time. 

It's a pity the the art falls so conspicuously short of the writing, because these two issues were a genuinely good, fun read. 

6.5/10

Super-Late: Dark Web Finale #1

written by Zeb Wells

drawn by Adam Kubert (with Francesco Mortarino and Scott Hanna)

colored by Frank Martin

The Spider-Man/X-Men crossover "Dark Web" finally ends in pretty much the only way it can, and yet manages to be pretty decent.

In a nutshell, Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man teams up with the X-Men and Madelyne Pryor, aka the Goblin Queen, team up to retake New York from Ben Reilly, aka Chasm, the King of Limbo. Ben has the entire army of Limbo on his side not to mention his formidable lover Janine Godbe aka Hallow's Eve, but Pete's got a couple of surprises up his sleeve as well, all of which he will definitely need if he's going to free New York from Limbo's thrall.

As big event issues go, this one was well-put together, with some well-paced scripting by Zeb Wells and some nicely dynamic art by veteran Adam Kubert, who gets a bit of an art assist towards the end by Francesco Mortarino and Scott Hanna and lively colors by Frank Martin. The story ties up nicely with a bit of a status quo change, albeit one more relevant to the X-Men's corner of the Marvel Universe than to that of Spider-Man. It's nothing spectacular from a writing perspective, but it made for okay reading. If nothing else, though, I was glad that Adam Kubert closed out the story with decent art after Ed McGuinness put in a solid four issues of brilliance over in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man.  

More than the somewhat paint-by-numbers resolution to the story, though, what appealed to me the seemingly "meta" way in which Wells handles the question of what to do with Ben Reilly moving forward.   He kind of acknowledges that, as bad as Ben's behavior was over the course of this story, it is still overshadowed by the many tragedies that have befallen him, and as a result he still doesn't quite work as villain, so he quite literally ends the story in Limbo, with Marvel keeping him on ice until they figure out the next big story to drop him into. Hallow's Eve, in contrast, is getting her own miniseries soon so I'm at least glad to see they appear to have some kind of plan moving forward.  

 Ben Reilly is a character with a whole lot of potential far beyond just being a Peter replacement or a Spidey villain, and I do hope Marvel figures out what to do with him eventually beyond just killing him again or worse. This story, to be fair, treated him well enough.

7.5/10