written by Nick Spencer
penciled by Ryan Ottley (with Humberto Ramos)
inked by Cliff Rathburn (with Victor Olazaba)
colored by Laura Martin (with Edgar Delgado)
With Dan Slott having wrapped all of his pending stories up quite nicely in The Amazing Spider-Man #801, his successor on the title, Nick Spencer, was free to take the book in an all new direction, and to the man's credit, right out of the gate, he's made some pretty big changes, even as he's brought back some old favorites.
The Parker luck is in full display in this issue, as Peter, who's already lost an entire company, manages to lose the doctorate that Otto Octavius earned while hijacking his body several years ago, when a new software developed by one of the alumna of Empire State University, Peter's alma mater, finds out that his doctoral dissertation was actually a recycled version of one of Otto's old papers. He was only just getting back on his feet, following the debacle of Parker Industries, sharing a room with Randy Robertson and, of all things, a supervillain, and finally getting settled into his new job as science editor, when the news hits, and the reverberations are far reaching. All of this happens as an alien invasion descends on New York, one which even the Avengers can't seem to stop, and which leaves Spidey reeling. With his life potentially back on the skids, how will Peter find his way back?
Infamous for having turned Captain America into a bad guy, Nick Spencer starts his tenure on Spider-Man by turning up the screws on Peter Parker something fierce. I find it both interesting and somewhat gratifying that the monkey wrench Spencer throws into Peter's life was actually something Dan Slott's run had made possible, and yet which Slott himself had never quite exploited. When Peter got his life back from Doc Ock back in 2014 I was eagerly awaiting the fallout from the hero community following Ock's antics as the Superior Spider-Man, but in all honesty, with the exception of an angry Black Cat, it never really came. Still, I'm glad someone went for it, though I think Spencer kind of gets his titles wrong. Pete lost a doctorate that Otto had earned, but already had a graduate degree, i.e. a master's before that. I'm kind of annoyed that editorial didn't catch this, as these are two somewhat different distinctions. Anyway, I'm sure some industrious fan there is already working hard to earn his no-prize for this, but I do wish they'd been a little more consistent.
That issue aside, I have to say I quite enjoyed Spencer's first outing as a Spidey writer, in which he delivers a rock-solid done-in-one story, with plenty of potential for a full-blown arc, and shows pretty easily that he definitely gets Peter Parker. I confess I really didn't know what to make of Spencer coming on board and, in fact, wasn't even 100% sold on picking up his new run, but with this issue my fears have been assuaged.
I was not quite as taken with Ryan Ottley's inaugural work on this title, but then, Ottley had a much tougher act to follow than Spencer did, as his immediate predecessor on this title, insofar as regular artists goes, anyway, was the legendary Stuart Immonen, who turned in some of his best ever work drawing the adventures of the web-slinger. Incidentally, this may interest trivia buffs: Ottley isn't the first artist of Robert Kirkman's Invincible to try his hand at the wall-crawler; Invincible co-creator Cory Walker actually drew Spidey AND Invincible in a somewhat unheralded team-up waaaay back in 2005's Marvel Team-Up #14 written by Kirkman himself (of course). That little tidbit aside, Ottley, working with inker Cliff Rathburn and A-list colorist Laura Martin, turns in work that is several notches above the work of former Spidey artists Giuseppe Camuncoli and Humberto Ramos, but falls nonetheless short of the virtually immaculate work of Immonen, Wade Von Grawbadger and Marte Gracia. It was very good...but not quite great, given what's come before it. Also, it could also be a result of jumping universes but his work here is not quite as assured or vivid as his later contributions to the hyper-violent Invincible that made him a fan favorite. I'm not a fan of Invincible, but a quick Google-search of Ottley's work on that series turned up some pretty striking, if somewhat disturbing images. In short, we Spidey fans are not quite getting this guy's best work just yet. Spencer's writing soars, but Ottley's work is just...well, really okay, and the fact that he's capable of significantly better work than what he's put on these pages is just the tiniest bit frustrating. I am eager to see what he can bring to the book once he's settled in, though. I do appreciate the extra pages, though.
Incidentally, Ramos, his inker Victor Olazaba, and colorist Edgar Delgado, contribute art for a ten-page epilogue of sorts to the main story featuring the story's villain, in which Spencer tips his hand a bit by showing his plans for the book, just before he unveils another, briefer epilogue, this one drawn by Ottley, that ends the book on a heck of a cliffhanger.
Like Captain America #1 by Ta Nehisi Coates, Leinil Yu, Gerry Alanguilan and Sunny Gho, this issue makes a pretty darned strong argument for the whole "Fresh Start" initiative, because this genuinely feels like one.
8.5/10
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