(Late Review) The "Heist" Begins: A Review of The Amazing Spider-Man #8

written by Nick Spencer
penciled by Humberto Ramos
inked by Victor Olazaba
colored by Edgar Delgado

After an entertaining, off-beat story revisiting one of his Superior Foes of Spider-Man protagonists, Nick Spencer begins a new, more "traditional" Spidey story in which a new menace, the Thieves' Guild, emerges, and plans the Mother of All Heists. Throughout the issue, this heist apparently starts taking place as superheroes all over the place start losing their gear: Captain America loses his shield, Iron Man loses his armor, and Spider-Man loses his webshooters, all of which literally vanish into thin air. How this is even possible is something that will soon be revealed. Also, Peter's mysterious antagonist gets even closer.

I confess I was a little disappointed that Spencer didn't continue the little subplot involving friction between Boomerang and the Kingpin that he'd started in the last two issues; I thought that was the prequel to something bigger, though I imagine he'll revisit it later. I don't quite know how I feel about this storyline yet, as everything's shrouded in mystery and we're basically only given the barest or vaguest of details as to what's to come. It's somewhat unlike Spencer's last two story arcs, in which each issue was pretty generous with that individual issue's story apart from contributing to a bigger story arc. I get the need for mystery here, though I don't much care for it. Still, it's a pretty good setup, and my interest has been piqued.

Another thing I didn't much care for was Humberto Ramos' art. The cover wasn't actually that bad (and consistent with what happened inside the comic book...what a concept!) but the interior art was a step down, even taking into account Ramos' highly-stylized figures, from the last couple of issues. I've made no secret how I feel about Ramos' artwork, but I do acknowledge he can tell a decent story when he's up to it, as the last couple of issues showed. This issue feels a little phoned-in by comparison.

It's a shame to have read a relatively weak issue of this title just days from the death of Spidey's co-creator, the inimitable Stan "the Man" Lee, but given that Spencer's done pretty well on this book so far, it's easy to forgive him this little misstep for now. Lee's death should bring into sharper focus the legacy Spencer is carrying on with this book, so I hope he goes back to the standard of quality that's made his run worth following so far.



7/10