I’m a fan of Dan Slott’s Amazing Spider-Man run, both as a whole, and in parts. I think he writes a very good Peter Parker and wrote more than one definitive story with, for, and about him. And I’m not really even opposed to him returning to the wall-crawler. Slott still has bills to pay, let him write the guy, whatever. That being said, wow was this trade poorly timed, inconsequential, and inessential.
The timing is almost funny in how bad it is. This drops a week after Nick Lowe, Zeb Wells, and John Romita, Jr. murdered Kamala Khan in Amazing Spider-Man #26, so it’s hard to expect anyone wanting to talk about a different Spider-Man book. It also happens to drop the Wednesday after Across the Spider-Verse which might be really clever, except it chips away at credibility of the whole “End of” bit which was never really believable, but it’s made much less so in direct proximity to the best Marvel film ever made. Then of course, why would you aim people toward this trade when the perfect Spider-Men: Double Trouble came out two weeks ago. No matter what way you cut it, this book was released at the weirdest possible time.
It really is crazy to think they even pretended to end the cash cow that is Spider-Verse as a concept, and it’s pretty funny how none of what happened mattered even a little bit. Every “shocking” moment was so telegraphed that it was almost impossible to take seriously. No, Spider-Woman is not going to actually die forever in a Spider-Man comic; yes, Peter Parker will be Spider-Man again at the end of this; no, Uncle Ben will not. We all know this, except for this comic, seemingly, as it spends so much time with things such as these for no reason at all. Slott generally has the habit of putting the toys back into the box as neatly as possible, and that quality is on perfect display here.
This last complaint has a little to do with both the last two, but it feels distinct enough that I’ll say it here too: there is better Spider-Man stuff out there to read than this, including stuff focused on multiverse nonsense. Across the Spider-Verse just came out – go see that with a friend, you’ll have a better time. No Way Home is still around, rewatch it, it’s got those good juices. Do we even really need to keep bringing the comic version of Spider-Verse back around? Why aren’t we just aping whatever leftovers there are from the films art books and not looking back?
It isn’t all bad, though. Bagley is at his most presentable here, which is good, because he had to draw roughly 1,000 Spider-People. His action is great all throughout, and the number of characters here is quite a feat. It would have been nice if those characters got to do anything meaningful, of course, but whatever. They looked nice!
I also will say, Slott did get to write another good Peter Parker story that highlighted his innate heroism, and gave us a look at a different and fun version of him. Is it as good as his top ten times he did that? Probably not. Did he really need this opportunity to do it again? Also no. Was it worth it? Maybe.
I’ll also praise him for finally finding a way to use Silk well. It only took a decade, and it wasn’t as good as others have written her, but hey, new personal best is new personal best.
Marvel Comics
This was a perfectly serviceable Spider-Man comic amidst far better Spider-Man stories. There is little reason to spend time on this, unless you’re the world’s biggest Mark Bagley fan. Even if you love Slott’s take on Peter, you’re probably better off rereading Spider-Island, or waiting for the Superior Spider-Man revival.
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