written by Zeb Wells
drawn John Romita, Jr. (p) Scott Hanna (i)
colored by Marcio Menyz
Peter Parker's latest series of misadventures continues as he meets up with Norman Osborn to discuss a potential job offer. When Peter sees that Norman has made a ham-handed attempt to get him to talking to his estranged girlfriend Mary Jane, who has also paid Osborn's company a visit, he storms out, even though he and Norman have started work on a rather special project together, one that they had apparently started during the mysterious six months that preceded the current status quo. When an old enemy launches an unexpectedly brutal attack, though, Peter realizes he may need to get his hands on that special project after all, as his very life may depend on it.
This is a late review because things got in the way of my picking up these issues, and because, odd as this may sound, I was actually so satisfied with the mammoth issue #6 I wasn't quite ready to resume following Spidey's adventures.
Anyway, Zeb Wells reunites with John Romita, Jr. for a brief but exciting two-issue story pitting Peter against a particularly unhinged Vulture, and debuting the long-hyped new suit that Peter developed with no less than his old arch-enemy Norman Osborn. After taking several months off following Nick Spencer's explosive conclusion to his run, Osborn is back, and, apparently has completely turned over a new leaf, courtesy of Spencer's "Sins Past" arc which had a resurrected Sin Eater quite literally erasing Norman's sins, something neither he nor Peter really understand. I quite like how Wells' has taken Spencer's shift to the status quo and made it particularly interesting by posing a simple question: how long will Norman stay "good?" Rather than make it a foregone conclusion that his conversion is a temporary thing, Wells actually makes it a point of tension that could keep things interesting for quite a while.
Then, there's Romita Jr.'s artwork, which, again, looks better than it has in years. I know I've said this already, but Wells really seems to grasp better than many, if not most of the writers who've worked with JR Jr just how extraordinary his storytelling prowess is. He's not just a guy drawing the writer's pictures; he's very much a co-narrator, and these issues reinforce that.
I'm not a huge fan of the "new suit" which doesn't really look all that different from the old one, but I'm willing to wait and see what they have in store for this new outfit. The last one they tried to introduce last year didn't really go anywhere, so I don't really see this one sticking around very long either. Still, it is an interesting story point.
9/10
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