It doesn’t take a genius to realise about whom Mark Waid was (somewhat snarkily) talking when he recently said “[Spider-Man]’s dialogue is a joy to write, and if you don’t have your readers chuckling or even laughing out loud a few times per issue, you should go write Thor or something”. But either way, it’s certainly not an accusation that can be levelled at Brian Michael Bendis. One of the absolute cornerstones of his run on Ultimate Spider-Man has been in providing character-driven moments and dialogue that can, on occasion cause you to laugh out loud. It’s one of the reasons why it’s managed to remain so (almost entirely) consistently great for 120 issues and counting, and why it can still on occasion feel fresh.

It’s also the case that some of the very best issues of the series so far have been individual, done-in-one vignettes (it means Bendis can’t have a fight scene last three issues, or whatever), and ones that focus on Peter’s life away from the mask. And what we’ve got this month is an excellent example of that formula. In class, Peter is asked to explain why the dummy baby he and Kitty had been looking after as part of a project has turned up charred and destroyed - it was, of course, because of a supervillain attack, although ironically enough this occurred at the Daily Bugle, and so he’s able to tell the story “as” Peter as if he’d been there watching.

It’s a neat little trick (although more than a bit “Hey, where did Clark Kent disappear to?”), and as Peter’s talking about himself, we’re able to view a fairly by-the-numbers fight sequence (with the faintly ludicrous-looking Omega Red) from something of an outsider’s perspective. If anything, it’s just a shame that Peter’s narration only pops up in a couple of panels - I would have really liked to have seen a bit more of his “describing” Spidey and the battle.

But this shines, as most of Bendis’ best USM stories tend to, primarily because it’s funny. Something about featuring Peter either at high school or the Bugle (or, in this case, both) just brings out the best in him, and after 120 issues of this stuff he can still pull out the trademark Spidey wisecracks (the opening one about personal ads is a classic). Flash Thompson, meanwhile, gets some amusing exasperation at the continued suggestion that he might be Spidey. It’s also neat to see Ultimate versions of Betty Brant and Ned Leeds show up - I honestly can’t remember if they’ve been around before, nor indeed if we already knew that Betty was a reporter rather than a secretary; but it’s good to see, and I wonder if it’s sewing seeds for something.

Immonen continues to bring a vibrancy to his art that has been a major factor in rejuvenating the series lately, and he’s really getting a handle on some consistent character designs - they differ from Bagley’s in places, but they are all recognisable individuals (in fact, when it comes to the high-school kids, they’re arguably more distinct than Bags’ versions). Overall, the feel is still of a team running high on confidence, and continuing to turn out solid, consistent, entertaining superhero work. Despite the early optimism of the Slott/McNiven Brand New Day arc, I’d still put my cross next to Ultimate as the best Spidey book going.

First off, this issue is something of a landmark as Amazing Spider-Man reaches the same number as Marvel’s longest published-title, Fantastic Four. Later this week, Spidey will storm into the lead. That’s a side-effect of going thrice-monthly that one imagines is neither unwelcome nor unexpected. After all, Spider-Man, while not the first, is the very template that Marvel’s heroes are built on, so it’s fitting he should have the highest numbering, I suppose.

More’s the pity that this issue doesn’t really set the world alight. While those who read the review on CBR will know that I enjoyed Wells’ first issue, I found this one far more generic and uninteresting. The villain of the piece is a little too cartoonish to be threatening, and the Mayans, used as a fake-out, were barely at the level of background characters before their untimely sacrifice.

The really interesting part of the episode is the snowstorm that’s afflicting the city as a result, and Spidey’s attempts to work despite that. Unfortunately, due to more of the timing problems that afflicted Strange’s appearance last issue, this is the most wintery issue of Spider-Man ever to be published in April (not that the UK isn’t have its own jokes with hailstorms this spring, but still.) Another glaring omission is last issue’s guest star, Wolverine, who has disappeared from the story without much of a send-off. Looking back at last issue, he’s gone to check on Dr. Strange, but I have to admit I expected some follow-up to that thread. There’s still one issue to go, I suppose, but it doesn’t look like he’ll be back now, and it’ll seem like a really odd way to structure a story if he doesn’t come back at some point.

Bachalo’s art is still the strongest thing about the title, and the opening scene with Jameson attempting to escape from hospital showcases Bachalo’s gift for comic timing that hasn’t been seen in god knows how long. The minimalist cover is fantastic, and one of the many things the Brand New Day team has done right is bring the iconic nature of covers back into focus - it’s been years since Bill Jemas and his ”Single Character Cover” policy ended, but things never really snapped back after that. Things are still a little generic - it’s fairly damning that the majority of Marvel Zombies cover homage/parodies didn’t come from recent issues, that’s for sure.

I found this to be a disappointing second issue from Wells, only slightly saved by Bachalo’s best work in some time. As the last of the “brand new day” writers, Wells is the first to hit a really duff note with me (despite Gale’s variable effort last month) and the first not to introduce a genuinely memorable new villain, so I’ll definitely have my eye on his next arc, whenever that turns up.

Every Wednesday we take turns to delve into our trusty longboxes, pluck out a dusty back issue at random, and give you our thoughts. We’ll also try and place it in the context of the time it was originally published.

If you thought that Brand New Day was the first time that Marvel had tried to restore Spider-Man to his “classic” elements and get rid of such niggling details as oh, you know, an entire marriage… well, then you’d be wrong. And you’d never have encountered The Clone Saga. Please, sit down. You’ve got some catching up to do.

It’s not worth going into all the ins-and-outs of that seemingly interminable period in Spider-lore right now – might we suggest you have a read of the excellent Life of Reilly some time, though – but for the sake of examining this particular title, let’s look at the basics. Deciding that Peter Parker had, essentially, become ruined beyond repair by not only his marriage, but a succession of early ‘90s storylines that turned him somewhat grim and angry, Marvel editorial decided to push the “reset” button by revealing that the Parker we’d seen in the previous fifteen years or so of comics (described as “five years” in-universe) was, in fact, the clone version originally created by Professor Miles “The Jackal” Warren – and a man now living under the name Ben Reilly, whom we’d previously believed to be the clone (and, er, dead) was the real Peter all along, and alive and well to boot.

This wasn’t a hoax. It wasn’t like The Death of Superman or Knightfall, where the intention was always to reset the status quo after first making readers appreciate what they’d been taking for granted by yanking it away from them. At various times in the development of the story – although the whole thing went backwards, forwards, up and down on multiple occasions – it was genuinely intended that Ben Reilly, seen as the “true” Peter Parker without all the baggage that the stories of the ‘80s and ‘90s had dumped upon him, would be the man under the mask for evermore.

Amid the general shakeup that the Spider-titles were given once a now-powerless Peter and pregnant Mary Jane were packed off into the sunset, a new book was created (replacing Web of Spider-Man) that would be the centrepiece for the development of Ben’s new setup and supporting cast. And brought in to write and pencil the book was former DC mainstay Dan Jurgens. On the art front, at least, this was something of a coup – Jurgens was in excellent form at the time, and his version of Spidey was nailed-on from day one (it helped, of course, that the new costume - designed by Mark Bagley - was superb); while there was some continuity with the general look of the Spidey books by having Klaus Janson on as inker.

After an issue #0 (hey, it was the nineties), which saw Ben taking over the Spider-mantle and established the basic setup of the series, the series proper began with a three-part storyline “Media Blizzard” (parts two and three of which would appear in Amazing and Adjectiveless (later to become Peter Parker :) Spider-Man). And it’s… well, it’s not particularly special, to be honest. Jurgens has always been a very by-the-numbers kind of writer, and this is fairly decent, unspectacular fare, involving Mysterio hypnotising the city with a new TV channel. Yeah. Jurgens’ unfamiliarity with writing the character shows, in that he never really gets the hang of the trademark internal Spidey monologuing - veering too often into out-and-out to-nobody-in-particular exposition of the sort that really should have died with the Silver Age.

Still, there’s some passable material involving the supporting cast that Jurgens was building - including Jessica, the photographer with whom Ben became involved before discovering that she was the daughter of the burglar that killed Uncle Ben, and blamed Spider-Man for her father’s death - and it’s quite interesting to note, from the perspective of a present-day in which Brand New Day is currently running, that whenever writers get round the table and decide to make Spidey “classic” again, it always comes down to him being skint and running out of web fluid.

For all the countless mistakes made during (and for a while after) the Clone Saga, there were hints of potential here and there - Ben Reilly as a character himself was certainly one, as was the prospect of a long and fruitful run with Jurgens on pencils. Sadly, things never really worked out (less than ten issues had passed before Jurgens, frustrated at not getting the chance to draw the “original” Spidey and unhappy with the general direction, walked; while the “new era” of Ben as Spidey lasted only until December of the same year), and as a consequence it’s quite difficult to really throw yourself into reading the Reilly era, with the knowledge of how quickly it was curtailed and how meaningless all the character setup would become. As far as mid-90s Spider-Man comics go, this certainly isn’t a bad one - but it’s also, sadly, pretty irrelevant.

And so the Amazing merry-go-round continues, with Back To The Future co-scribe Bob Gale the latest to step up and tackle the new! Improved! Single! Webcrawler! for three weeks. Of course, the fact that all four writers are working in tandem as one big Spidey Team means that there’s hardly a jarring shift in tone – but what’s also noticeable as a result is just how one-note it’s already starting to become.

Take the jokey editorial notes, for example – in Slott’s run, they were a breath of fresh air. But when you’ve got a note on the first page followed by a note replying to it (courtesy of Joe Quesada muscling his way in), you realise just how annoying they can be. When the footnotes even start narrating the action (“Let’s see what’s going on elsewhere…”), you wish they’d just shut the hell up and let you get on with reading.

And I know that a core tenet of Brand New Day so far has been the return to “traditional” Marvel-style storytelling. But this isn’t 1963, and there’s only so far you can go – so use of the word “thru”, or incessant thought bubbles that fair clog up the pages, are just as much of a problem. The sense of fun, after years of JMS-fuelled gloom, is of course welcome – but there is such a thing as too much, particularly when it’s at the expense of solid storytelling.

And really, there isn’t very much storytelling on show at all here. The consequences of the final issue of Guggenheim’s arc are barely touched on – a shame, as the death of Councilwoman Parfrey was a shocking and well-played moment. Instead, we get the creation of a new villain (that’s three new villains in three short arcs, with the result that none have had anything like enough time to bed in and establish themselves) in an extremely clichéd and hokey way, interspersed with a bit of Daily Bugle, a bit of Peter ‘n’ Harry, and a cadre of gambling costumed villains. The pacing is quite fudged, so that some of the story elements feel like they’re being touched on for the sake of just including them, while others break up the fast-paced nature of the book by hanging around too long (such as two pages of Peter in his bedroom).

Phil Jimenez, meanwhile, is of course one of the more reliably classy portrayers of superheroics in the business. But even his work here feels a bit off – nothing wrong with the clarity of his storytelling, but perhaps it’s a personal reaction to his McFarlaneish Spidey – all spindly limbs and massive eyes (of course, if you like the early ‘90s vintage, you’ll probably enjoy it a lot more). It’s also quite interesting that at one point there’s one of those pesky editorial notes remaking on cutting away from a fight scene “before it gets too gruesome for our all-ages comic”, and yet the last-page splash of the new villain really does push it in terms of the schlock factor. Deliberate, or coincidence? I honestly couldn’t tell.

It’s still fairly entertaining, and the goodwill earned by the strong start of the run hasn’t worn off just yet. But we’re seven issues in, now, and something resembling a major plot would be nice – because there’s only so long you can get by on wisecracking, retro-style “fun” with nothing of substance behind it.

Coverage of Brand New Day continues here! Though let’s not kid ourselves that the marketing slogan really needs to be used anymore because this book sells itself! This month sees Marc Guggenheim and Savador Larocca left holding the baton, and after the Slott/McNiven powerhouse, I have to admit I was slightly concerned to see whether the quality of these two would match up. Guggenheim turned in a mostly excellent Wolverine arc during Civil War, but followed it up with uneven arcs on Blade and Flash. Larocca’s artwork has been consciously evolving styles for several years now, making him something of an unsafe bet - at least as far as my personal taste goes.

However, despite some arguably shaky architects, this issue promises to continue the trend of high quality that’s been set. Perhaps that’s down to the “braintrust” steering the ship - it’ll be interesting to see who makes the first genuine screw up, if nothing else. For now, Guggenheim keeps the wisecracks flowing and the plots moving. He’s also unenviably saddled with introducing two fairly major, and largely derided  plot developments into the “Brand New Day” continuity. Dexter Bennet turns up at the Daily Bugle and begins to remake it in his own image, and far more importantly, Spider-Man meets Jackpot for the first time since the possibly-not-in-continuity-but-now-it-is FCBD special, Swing Shift.

Jackpot is a character I’m not sure about. While I really like the idea of turning the tables on Peter and MJ’s relationship somewhat, there’s not much of a relationship to speak of at the moment. The hints that Jackpot is MJ - right down to Peter almost recognising her even in-costume - are being laid on with a trowel, and I can’t decide if it’s supposed to be misdirection or just an attempt to make sure that the blow, when it comes, is appropriately softened. There has to be a twist, surely? That said, Spidey and Jackpot’s interaction is handled well. As if Guggenheim didn’t have enough to deal with, he also has to use the fact that Jackpot is a “registered” heroine (and thus more legitimate that Spidey) drawing on one of the less-loved parts of Civil War.

Larocca’s artwork is, for me, still the weakest link in the BND chain, though I admit that’s largely personal taste at work. He’s got the storytelling down, he’s experimenting well with the opportunities afforded to people lucky enough to Spidey - crazy camera angles, comedy timing, that sort of thing - and he’s pulling it off. I just wish he’d get an inker in - he’s either inking himself or doing some version of the weird, washed-out greytone, shot from pencils-styling that made his X-Men art look increasingly like it’d been through the washing machine.

Now, all-in-all, it’s a good issue and a worthy successor to the Slott/McNiven arc, though there’s little chance it’ll dethrone it. If nothing else, this issues worth it just because they actually used the “hit the jackpot” joke that everyone on the Internet has been making…

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.