How Much Longer, Marvel? A Review of The Amazing Spider-Man #42 to 44

written by Zeb  Wells

penciled by John Romita, Jr.

inked by Scott Hanna

colored by Marcio Menyz

I'll cut to the chase: what has been billed as the next big "event" in Zeb Wells' current run on The Amazing Spider-Man ended without any significant change to the current status quo, without any cheap deaths or any meaningful moments of character growth for  Peter Parker or, for that matter, anyone in his supporting cast. "Gang War" plays out in the course of these three issues, with several criminal gangs going head to head, in particular the gangs of Tombstone, the Kingpin, the Rose, the Beetle and Madame Masque. Inevitably, one of them manages to come out on top. Whoop-dee-doo.   

I don't know what it was about this particular story that Marvel thought would be so compelling. It's not like "Kraven's Last Hunt" or "Coming Home" or any of the fun Marvel stories that put Peter Parker through such a wringer that, even though the status quo remained by and large unaltered by the end of those stories, Peter himself emerged from them a changed man.  This simply doesn't play out that way.

Even sadder is the artwork on display here, if one can even call it that. John Romita Jr. has been drawing comic books for the better part of five decades now, including some of the most important comic books ever published by Marvel, so to be honest it borders on depressing to see him tarnish his legacy illustrating a book so emphatically mediocre, especially one which is characterized with mean-spirited storytelling directed at one of JR Jr's very favorite Marvel characters. It honestly feels like he's been phoning it in for these issues, which I don't even consider worth reviewing individually.

I want to love this book again, honestly. I'm glad that the novelty of having Ed McGuinness rotate with JR Jr has yet to wear out for me, apart from the fact that McGuinness is apparently tasked with illustrating the one story thread of Wells' that I actually find compelling: the question of if or when Norman Osborn will go back to being evil.  Were it not for this, I would most likely have completely given up on this series months ago and just waited for a new creative team to come along. 

4/10