Amazing Spider-Man #1-8
Originally released in 2022
Written by Zeb Wells
Art by John Romita Jr. (#1-5, 7-8), Ed McGuinness (#6)
I'd heard bad things about the latest Amazing Spider-Man run, but I hadn't read it for myself, and I wanted to give it a fair chance. It doesn't start off great - Peter's life is in ruins after a mysterious event that happened six months ago, which is usually par for the course, but it seems almost excessive this time. He's alienated all of his friends both in and out of costume, he's deep in medical debt, he has no job, and even Aunt May of all people seems to be getting sick of putting up with him, or at least reaching the limits of her patience.
He can't even confide in Mary Jane, as she's in a relationship with some guy named Paul. Once Paul was introduced, I felt the need to Google the writer, artist, and editor of the book to see if this was a self-insert - by my understanding, the previous run (Nick Spencer's) ended with Peter and Mary Jane working towards restoring their relationship after the much-hated One More Day story where Peter sold his marriage to the devil, and then the next run starts and Mary Jane is in a relationship with Paul and has two kids. (by my understanding, they're adopted) It felt more than a little creepy, like Terry Long did in the Teen Titans comics.
Beyond that, the first few issues aren't too bad, with Tombstone trying to reestablish himself as a major player among New York's crime bosses. My main problem at this point is the art. Far be it from me to criticize how anyone draws faces (faces and hands are two things that I never really got the knack for), but every single character looks bored, whether they're supposed to look shocked, sad, or angry.
My main problem with this first storyline is when Tombstone explains his plan to kill Spider-Man and blame it on his rival, Spider-Man's first instinct is... to beg Tombstone to let him go, while making no effort to free himself or escape the situation. Combine that with the sheer amount of problems in Peter's personal life, and it comes across as the writer and/or editor enjoying the idea of Peter being humiliated, and not in a "comedic butt of a joke" way, but a "his life is horrible and it's just going to get worse" way.
Even when Spider-Man is freed by a henchman that he saved from a burning truck, his humiliation continues as Tombstone effortlessly tricks him into defeating a rival gangster, the Rose. (a.k.a. Richard Fisk, the Kingpin's son) While he manages to regain some dignity after that and turn the situation into something a bit more favourable, it's not a great start.
Issue 6 has a different artist, Ed McGuinness, who does a better job at making the characters more expressive. It also doubles as the 900th issue of Amazing Spider-Man, so it serves as a birthday celebration for Peter - a celebration that is interrupted by J. Jonah Jameson wearing Doctor Octopus's mechanical arms, which he has no control over. Jameson seems to be aware of Spider-Man's identity at this point, and is on better terms with him, though his attempts at covering for Peter aren't the best.
This takes him on a trip down memory lane, as Doc Ock's arms want Peter to save Doctor Octopus from the Living Brain, a lesser-known Lee-Ditko era villain who wants to know who Spider-Man is and kidnapped several of the guests at Peter's birthday party to do it. He also took control of the Super-Adaptoid, a robot that mimics others; in this case, the Super-Adaptoid has all of the powers of the Sinister Six, and speaks exclusively in quotes from back when that group first came together all the way back in the Silver Age.
Spider-Man can't beat the Super-Adaptoid on his own, so he's forced to free Doctor Octopus, along with the rest of the original Sinister Six who were captured as well. While it would have been nice to see Spider-Man win on his own, it's handled better here than it was with Tombstone; seeing Spider-Man teamed up with the Sinister Six to take on an opponent is a cool image.
Peter's birthday doesn't go great for the most part, but it does end with him seeming to rekindle his relationship with the Black Cat, so that's a plus for him. Issues 7 and 8 focus on the Vulture, whose granddaughter (the last family member that he has who will speak to him) cutting off all ties upon finding out that he's a murderer. He believes that Spider-Man told her that to turn her against him, so now he's out for blood.
The Vulture proves to be so vicious that Peter has to beg Norman Osborn, who's turned good after having his sins wiped away, for help. (during the six month time-skip where Peter alienated a lot of people and Mary Jane met Paul, they worked on a Spider-Man suit together that Peter needed in order to solve a problem) This was where I decided to stop reading this series - this is the third time in less than ten issues that Spider-Man's needed to beg a villain for help or mercy, and it's just getting sad at this point.
I tried to go into this with an open mind, and I usually try to keep a positive mindset, but the best that I can say about this is "it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be." It's still bad - Peter comes across as completely ineffective and incompetent, and the art (at least when John Romita Jr. is drawing it) makes the characters feel stiff and wooden. What makes Spider-Man such an effective character, at least in my eyes, is that no matter how dark things get for him, there's still some light - some good points in his life. We don't really get that here.
Also, Kamala Khan is an intern at Norman Osborn's company despite only being a high school student. If that feels thrown in here at the last possible minute with no real reason for it to be included, that's because that's how it felt in the comic.
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