Amazing Spider-Man #548
This review written by James Hunt on Jan.25, 2008.
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Slott’s first arc on the character comes to an end, and it’s almost hard to know what to say. It’s been good. Really good. Whether or not you liked One More Day, it’s very hard not to argue that these last three issues comprise a really classic Spider-Man story. Or perhaps it’s more accurate to call it “classical.” In just about every way possible, it’s sticking fairly close to the accepted Spider-Man formula. He’s down on his luck, having trouble with the Bugle, trouble with his web-shooters, trouble with the police and he’s wisecracking hard despite his responsibilities as Spider-Man getting in the way of his welfare once again. If anything, they’re almost trying too hard to cram it all in, and the final issue especially comes over a bit jumbled at the finish.
It’s especially good to see Spidey tackling something street-level. Mr. Negative, a mobster with some vaguely-defined, apparently low-level powers, is exactly the sort of character that heroes like Spider-Man and Daredevil should be tackling – not vampires and mystics and, god help us, Mephisto. Sure, it makes a nice change on occasion, but it’s nice to see that for all the recent screwups, Marvel are finally proving that they know what makes a good Spider-Man story, and that’s a good Spider-Man villain.
Sure, some people are saying that the character’s been taken back to the 70s, but that’s an over-simplification. What they’ve done is taken the character back to formula, so to speak, and if that feels like the 70s – well, Slott, Wacker and the other members of the Braintrust could’ve done far worse than create work that’s accused of resembling one of the most iconic and creative periods in Spider-Man history.
Still, as good as these last few issues have been, it’ll be interesting to see how close they stick to the basics in future issue. 3 issues of web-shooter problems are entertaining, but how will we take it if we get 6, or 12, or 24? This story, quite rightly, goes back to the core of the character, but if that’s all the new Spider-Man’s ever going to do, well, it might start to wear. For now, there’s plenty in the works to bring people back. The much-hyped Jackpot has barely appeared so far, and the ongoing plot threads regarding the new supporting cast and the new villains are weaving nicely in and out of the story without feeling intrusive. I’m anxious to see how Guggenheim – the next writer in the rota, and one with a fairly inconsistent history – performs in his issues. If nothing else, this arc has convinced me that Slott’s issues are going to be worth it.
January 28th, 2008 on 12:17 pm
yeah agreed. I wonder why they couldn’t just have left it monthly and given Slott and McNiven the gig full-time. They seem a perfect fit for the book to me.
January 28th, 2008 on 3:03 pm
3 times a month = 3 times as much income and 3 times quicker to get the trades into stores. I think they are trying to match the frequency that manga can get into shops.
January 28th, 2008 on 4:28 pm
It’ll be really interesting to see if the sales figures fluctuate as the writers rotate in and out, though… say, if Guggenheim’s first run is crap, will Slott’s issues start to sell better? And hey, isn’t this what multiple titles were invented for?
January 28th, 2008 on 5:13 pm
The other titles never sold as well as Amazing. In theory, folding it all into one book raises the sales overall.
July 8th, 2009 on 10:37 pm
i really preferd the old spiderman but what i like now is that he doesnt use thos spider trakers when in this he does.there just to good to be true,like most of the things about spiderman are…