After 900 issues, it might be impossible to tell a new Amazing Spider-Man story. The character has had some of the best comic creators in the history of the medium add to his canon, and even some of those luminaries retread old ground. Throw in the countless spin-offs and random minis, the films, cartoons, and video games, and there are just too many Spider-Man stories for any new ones to be wholly original. With “original” being off the table, Wells, McGuinness, and Romita jr. go with an equally good option: thoughtful.
Zeb Wells knows how to find the most emotional and meaningful angle on a character that he’s writing. He did it with Hellions, he did it with New Mutants, hell, he did it with Ant-Man a couple few years ago. In volume 1, Wells and Romita Jr. made a comic where Pete got punched in the face until it was mushy and it was wonderful. This volume still has mushy face, but it’s also getting to the heart of the question: who is Spider-Man? Issue #900 is the bulk of the trade, and that question is its theme.
This run is moving at a glacial pace. By this point (and monthly, really) I have no idea what Peter did to piss everyone off. By the end of the trade, he sort of has a job, but only by implication, and there’s no real answers about Mary Jane’s whole situation either. It’s a book that’s almost infuriating to read monthly, but collected, it clicks into focus.
This is a series that’s reframing who Spider-Man is without fundamentally changing anything. It’s about looking at him and his cast amidst 60 years of stories, and going, “who is Spider-Man?”
It isn’t trying to say, or really even do anything new with the characters, or revert anything back to the status quo. It’s just trying to take all the pieces on the board, and let them interact. So when Norman Osborn shows up, it’s not to be a villain again, it’s to try being a hero (and it creates an opportunity for a very fun Kamala Khan cameo). The Living Brain appears, not to find out the secret identity of Spider-Man, but to more deeply understand Spider-Man. And that’s at the core of this series.
It should also be mentioned that this trade is great where the art is concerned as well. This is the best art I’ve seen from JRJR in years, and I’m very pleased that he’s the main artist on the series. His action and poses are unlike anyone else’s in comics, and while he’s drawn a lot of Spider-Man in the past, he’s gelling with Wells in such a way that just works.
The bulk of this volume, though, is McGuinness, who does similarly great work here. His style is different than it’s been of late, with his character work being particularly noteworthy. I think #900 itself went a little long for my tastes, but getting to see McGuinness show off for 70 pages was completely worth it.
Both these guys know how to draw Peter at his smallest and Spider-Man at his largest. They’re apex superhero artists! Love reading their work.
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