written by Joe Kelly, Noah Hawley, J.M. DeMatteis, Frank Miller, Paul "Triple H" Levesque, Brian Michael Bendis, Larry Leiber, Dan Slott
drawn by Pepe Larraz, Patrick Gleason, Humberto Ramos, Peach Momoko, Ed McGuinness, Stuart Immonen, Giuseppe Camuncoli, and Marcos Martin
inked by Victor Olazaba, Mark Farmer, and Klaus Janson
colored by Federico Blee, Marcio Menyz, Edgar Delgado, Matthew Wilson, Marte Gracia, Rachelle Rosenberg, Muntsa Vicente
Sixty-four years and multiple-reboots since the first-ever appearance of the Spider-Man, his flagship book, The Amazing Spider-Man finally hits its 1000th issue.
"Ravaged" by Kelly, Larraz and Blee
The main story features Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, coming face to face with his Ravage, the newly revealed supervillain identity of his newly-introduced cousin Cormac Crane, who, since his introduction in the Death Spiral storyline, has quietly plotted to take Aunt May, his biological mother, away from Peter. The scary part is that he might actually succeed. Strangely, while the story ends on a cliffhanger, Kelly and Larraz manage to wrap it up in an oddly satisfying way, with Peter notching up a win of sorts before getting ready for round two with his brand-new nemesis. It's testimony to Kelly's writing that he manages to make a cliffhanger somehow feel like a full story, and Larraz continues to shine like the certified A-lister he is. This story has left me with a lot of more questions than answers and I guess it's fair to wait and see what Kelly and Larraz have in store before passing judgment on this brand new bad guy. If this issue had come out ten years ago we would have gotten a full forty pages of his glorious art. Still, as a main attraction, they could have done worse.
9/10
Fortunately the rest of the book features stories, ranging from entertaining to creepy to heart-warming that almost make up for the fact that the main story only gains four pages and doesn't even wrap up the main storyline.
"Still Standing" by Hawley, Gleason, and Menyz
This, for me, is the best story of the whole issue. For his first-ever Spider-Man story, veteran TV writer Noah Hawley imagines a future where Peter Parker has actually managed to grow old, have a family and even settle into an old folks' home in Forest Hills, near where he grew up. Now widowed, he gets visited by his son Miles, his daughter-in-law and his grandson. Things are okay, if a little empty, but suddenly, Peter gets a visit from the last person he would ever have expected to see. Or...does he?
This story feels like a breath of fresh air because it dares to imagine the one thing Spider-Man editorial seems determined to deny Peter: a happy ending, or at least a future in which he lives to a ripe old age, and gets to see his son grow and have his own family. If I'm not mistaken, this is the first time we've ever seen a grandson for future Peter, and while I'm not entirely sold on his appearance, I am intrigued. Interestingly, while his red hair, green eyes and jacket with a tiger on the back all scream "MJ's grandson" he's never actually named, except as Spider-Man. Veteran Spider-Man artist Patrick Gleason, who's been working on the character on and off since the Nick Spencer days, provides some pretty wonderful art for this story, which is just as long as the main story and justifiably so.
10/10
"Requiem for a Goblin" by DeMatteis, Ramos, Olazaba and Delgado
The first of the short stories in this issue, this is a touching footnote to the Harry Osborn saga, set right after his death in Spectacular Spider-Man #200. It was nice of writer J.M. DeMatteis to revisit that story and add a touching little addendum to it, accompanied by Humberto Ramos to give it a slightly modern flavor.
8.5/10
"Tears of the Spider-Queen" by Miller and Momoko
This one's...a bit bizarre, but it features some fun art from Peach Momoko, which accounts for most of the score I'm giving it.
8/10
"The Big Night" by Levesque, McGuinness, Farmer and Wilson
Former WWE Superstar Triple H writers (or co-writes) a story in which a very young Peter Parker goes with his Uncle Ben to watch--what else?--a wrestling match. This one's especially short but sports some really great art by McGuinness, Farmer and Wilson.
8/10
"The Gesture" by Bendis, Immonen and Gracia
This was a nice little confection. After getting in a fight with some c-list villains, Spider-Man heads over to the Avengers Mansion, where he has been summoned, to find something surprising waiting for him. It was nice to see Stuart Immonen back on these pages after his exceptional run with Dan Slott nearly ten years ago, and while I would have preferred a Slott script to a Bendis one, this story was just fine.
8.5/10
"Of Webs and Six-Guns" by Lieber, Camuncoli, Janson and Rosenberg
This is another bizarre piece, written by Larry Lieber, the late Stan Lee's brother and featuring a team-up between Spider-Man and, of all people the Rawhide Kid. Quite frankly, I don't really get why it's even in this landmark issue; it's eight pages I would have given to another creative team, or at least, to a different writer.
6/10
"I Can Never Rest" by Slott, Martin and Vicente
This tells the story of an aging, retired cop who has a very specific link to the very beginnings of Spider-Man. Dan Slott specializes in stories like this, especially when paired with Marcos Martin, and they knock this one right out of the park.
10/10
As much as I enjoyed this issue, I would preferred a bit more fanfare for such a landmark occasion. 1000 isn't just another number, after all. It would have been nice to have Steve McNiven or Joe Quesada contribute some pages, and I'm pretty sure I would have enjoyed a short story by J. Michael Straczynzki a lot more than I did Larry Lieber's weird little "cowboys and injuns" story. Given what Marvel was charging from this, I feel we could have gotten more bang for our TEN bucks.
8/10
