Cathartic: A Review of The Amazing Spider-Man #34

 written by Zeb Wells

drawn by Patrick Gleason

colored by Marcio Menyz

As I write this, the next issue of the story is probably hitting stores now. Life got in the way a little bit and I don't have a whole lot of time now so I'll keep this short.

This was a good, solid issue, even as it clearly sets the stage for yet another escalation of the rather hateful status quo that Spider-Man's brain trust have imposed on him. 

Basically, Peter Parker aka Spider-Man, infused with Norman Osborn's "sins" or his evil essence, having buried Kraven's clone alive as retribution for what his progenitor did years ago, is now out to take revenge on the person who hurt him most deeply: Spider-Man editori--I mean Mary Jane Watson and her new beau, Zeb We--I mean Paul Rabin. Norman is able to give Mary Jane and Paul advance warning for them to clear out, after which he waits at their home so that he can talk Peter down from his murderous rage. Suffice it to say, it does not go well for Norman. After all, Peter still remembers quite vividly the fact that he killed Gwen Stacy all those years ago. 

Spider-Man has beaten the Green Goblin before, whether it was in his original incarnation up until his death in 1973 or even after he had been resurrected in 1996. Seeing Peter pummel Norman Osborn, therefore, is nothing new. Seeing him do it here was nowhere near as cathartic as seeing Ben Reilly finally get his licks in after the Green Goblin had gaslit him and then murdered him all those years ago. It was, however, still somehow satisfying, seeing Peter finally unleash his rage on Norman for the death of Gwen, the woman he loved more than just about anyone else. It wasn't about stopping him or ending the threat, nor was it even about killing Norman; it was just about payback, which Peter dished out quite  generously.  It's not the kind of thing one sees very often in these long-form, serialized stories. It was similar to how Matt Murdock finally got to kick the s**t out of the Kingpin back in Brian Bendis' run on Daredevil two decades ago.  There's some real psychic satisfaction to be had when a creative team allows the heroic character, eternally locked in struggle with their enemies, to get their own a little bit.

It helps, of course, that Patrick Gleason, still in top form, drew this story. 

8.5/10