Is It Good? Amazing Spider-Man #11 Review

Spider-Verse, the most epic of stories has reached part 3 this week…is it good?

Amazing Spider-Man #11 (Marvel Comics)

Holy hell this issue is nuts! There is so much to love, from Miles Morales and another Spidey entering a cartoon dimension, to a major battle between Cosmic Spidey and a very important Inheritor. The last issue saw a tussle between the Inheritors, Spider-Totem eating, victorian dressed god like creatures, and a victory by killing one. Then he cloned himself. Dang it. The Spider characters split up which created the tie-ins of the last month, but ended with Superior Spider-Man claiming he was in charge. Rut row, Peter vs. Peter and it’s not a clone thing!

Shhh, don’t tell him he’s future him!

This issue opens with Spider-Man telling Superior Spider-Man (Doc Ock controlled Spider-Man from the past and 616) he’ll be doing the leadership thing because he has more experience with totems. This tussle lasts a good bit of time before the plot progresses and orders are given out to another team up of Spider men. The issue does a great job recapping where the tie-ins are, with some of them being a bit behind in regards to the progression in the tie-in books. Regardless, it’s pretty clear you won’t need to read the tie-ins to follow along. A huge relief to those who are low on cash or sick of tie-in money grabs.

Touché!

Writer Dan Slott writes a pretty sweet issue here, and while the recap of the tie-in characters and where they are might be a bit boring for those like me who have read them, they are done with nice nice cutaways or brief moments of Spider-Man checking in. What makes this issue so great though is Slott creating a sense of security. Cosmic Spider-Man seems to think he’s unbeatable in his pocket dimension, Spider-Man is coming up with plans and we even cut away to a cartoon dimension for a brief stint. Then all hell breaks loose. It’s a rather epic and upsetting sequence of events. Spider totems die and a big reveal happens too. This issue starts as if it’s a transition piece but quickly turns into a major mover and a shaker. Great stuff.

Art by Olivier Coipel is pretty spectacular. The first few pages of Superior vs. Spider-Man are a bit claustrophobic, but the issue really opens up with some beautiful double page spreads intermixed with panels. His rendering of the cartoon dimension is flat out spot on and is really weird to see coming from the usual hyper detail he employs. When the final showdown hits though, dear god is it beautiful. He makes Cosmic Spider-Man look biblical in his epic purity, while the inheritors are horrific and domineeringly scary. All around his work makes this comic seem as vivid as a news broadcast.

I wanna learn more about the werewolf Spider-Man!

Is It Good?

This issue starts off slow but delivers impeccably for a variety of audiences. It ends with an amazing action sequence and major ramifications on the event. Great stuff.