Right in time for the changing of the guard on Amazing Spider-Man is Vol. 12: Dead Wrong, the final story arc by series writer Zeb Wells. The six-issue story arc is all about Tombstone’s final move to gain control of New York City and that includes killing his own daughter. Lucky for her, Spider-Man won’t allow it in a thrilling, albeit simple finale.
The story opens with Amazing Spider-Man #55 as Spider-Man rushes to get to a date. Soon, he’s at the dinner table with a very angry Shay across from him. The story slows down from here, utilizing eight-panel grids to show Peter’s responses and reactions to Shay’s totally honest and reasonable anger.
The character acting and blocking are great in this scene, with the waiter coming over a few times to ruin each moment. Meanwhile, Peter can’t tell Shay why he’s always late, and we, the reader, know it’s because he’s so darn responsible as Spider-Man.
Cut to another supervillain showdown outside the window, and Peter has to decide whether to disappoint Shay or let the villains endanger lives. The setup is certainly one we’ve seen before, but the pacing of this interaction is strong, with a surprise twist in how Peter resolves the chaos outside.
Art by Emilio Laiso is super clean and appealing, especially the renderings of Spider-Man. Bryan Valenza adds nice lighting on Spidey jumping through the city at night. The supervillains also look great. The character acting for Peter works, although he does look a little basic.
Most of the rest of this collection is drawn by John Romita Jr, who brings his dynamic art style to some brutal battles between Tombstone and Spider-Man. This is the main feature of the book, starting with Spider-Man convincing criminals that he’s working with Tombstone. It’s not true, but it’s seriously messing up Tombstone’s ability to lead as crime boss. This leads to a direct conflict between Peter and Tombstone that you won’t want to miss. Capping off the issue is a good courtroom scene.
John Romita Jr.’s art dazzles at times, with some awesome shots of Spider-Man and generally good acting throughout. The spider-web smashed car windows add a lot of drama in one scene, and the closeups draw you in. His art can look pretty stiff at times, and faces can get awkward at different angles, but the master is still present throughout. Another detriment is most of the Tombstone fight is featured in pages with three or four panels tops. It makes for a quick read.
The main story serves as an epilogue to Tombstone and a fight with Sandman.
Credit: Marvel
The collection closes out with Amazing Spider-Man #60 in an extra-sized issue featuring a main story with art by John Romita Jr., four short stories by Wells and a bevy of artists, and a preview of the next writer, Joe Kelly, with art by Mark Buckingham. All told, it’s about 60 pages of entertainment that is enjoyable, though your enjoyment may vary if you were hoping for any last-minute changes to reset the status quo.
The main story wraps up the Tombstone tale, with Peter Parker, She-Hulk, and Tombstone convening in court. Wells wraps up the Tombstone story, essentially bringing the mobster back to where he began, although he’s without a daughter now, thanks to Spider-Man. The opening of this story is more like an epilogue to the multi-issue fight Spider-Man and Tombstone had.
Much of the main story is about Spider-Man and Aunt May, who are separated after Sandman attacks people in the street. Romita Jr. does a fantastic job with the Sandman action, with a dynamic look that is unmistakably his.
The short tales that pad out this finale are good starting with “Doctor’s Orders” with art by Ed McGuinness. The comedic element is on point in this three-page story, reminding us one of McGuinness and Wells’ contributions to Spider-Man is Rek-Rap.
Next is “Team-Up: Part Two,” with art by Todd Nauck, focuses on Jackpot and Spider-Man fighting Chromator. “Bubs,” with art by Paolo Rivera, reminds of Spider-Man and Wolverine’s tradition on Logan’s birthday. The art is great, and in three pages, the creators remind us these two are good friends and almost like brothers in their tradition.
The penultimate tale is “Same Spider-Channel” with art by Patrick Gleason, serving as a reminder of where Ben Reilly is in all of this. Given their history in the Beyond era and how Ben has become Chasm, it feels like an important scene. Finally, “Ride’s Over” closes out the issue with a preview of what’s to come by Joe Kelly and Mark Buckingham.
There’s a lot to like in this collection, thanks in part to a final milestone issue with plenty of extra tales. Since this is marking Wells’ time on the series it’s also a decent place to start reading before Joe Kelly’s “8 Deaths of Spider-Man” begins. Not only does this collection serve as the bridge to the next era, or at least the interim era before the next era, but it also captures different corners of Spider-Man’s life well.
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