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COMIC REVIEW: FTN reviews The Amazing Spider-Man #1

May 1st, 2014 by Irwin Fletcher Comments

“Lucky to be Alive”

Written by Dan Slott

Art by Humberto Ramos

The moment I’ve been waiting for since it was announced months ago is finally upon us…The Amazing Spider-Man has returned! After a dark, albeit fantastic run on the Superior Spider-Man; Dan Slott has literally brought Peter Parker back from the dead in a triumphant return to his own solo series. Not everything is sunshine and rainbows for Mr. Parker though. He’s been left with a mountain of a mess compiled from the man that was pretending to be Peter…Doc Ock! He’s now a hero to a city that hates him, he’s in a relationship with a woman he doesn’t even know, he’s alienated friends and former allies, he’s the CEO of  his own business, he’s earned a doctorate along the way too, and he’s…naked? While it’s true that some of these things don’t seem all that bad, there’s an awful lot of Peter’s plate after being gone for a few months. Will he be able to handle it all? Of course! It’s all in a day’s work for your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man!

I absolutely love Dan Slott’s work on anything Spider-Man; that includes this issue. It’s absolutely amazing to me how easily Slott flipped the dark tone of SSM back into the fun, wise-cracking ASM with absolutely no effort. It was a completely smooth transition too. Don’t get me wrong…I absolutely loved SSM and I was nowhere near ready for it to end, but this issue was as perfect as a comic can get for me. It was fun, adventurous, and easy for anyone who didn’t read SSM to jump into; and let’s not forget that Peter’s cheesy, hilarious, wise-cracking sense of humor is back! In just one issue of being back to Amazing…Dan Slott has made this a top 5 monthly book for me easily!

What can I say about Humberto Ramos’s art that hasn’t been beaten to death with all the reviews of it? It was absolutely spot on! As with Slott’s writing, it seems like Ramos just flipped a light switch to change the tone from dark to the lighter, fun loving book that ASM is. The dream team of Slott and Ramos go hand-in-hand with Peter Parker not just being the Amazing Spider-Man, but the Superior one as well!

5 out of 5 nerds

“Recapturing that Old Spark”

Written by Dan Slott and Christos Gage

Art by Javier Rodriguez

After the main story in this book, there is a series of back-ups that tell portions of the story from the main plot but in greater detail. The first story to do this is one of Electro and his quest to become a relevant villain once again. In doing so he ends up burning Conway Penitentiary to the ground.

I really like the idea of including all of these back-ups to flesh out and build a bigger story in a number one issue. I’d imagine that Electro getting his own story is in part to ASM 2 coming out, but that didn’t make it any less enjoyable. I like the idea of there being an antagonist roaming around that blames the hero for literally every problem he has. As long as Electro is out there causing trouble and devastation, there’s an interesting sub-plot to this book!

With great power comes great responsibility and with every classic villain should come a classic art style. It’s a bold move to not use the hyper-stylized character models that are so common in today’s world of comics, but for Javier Rodriguez it pays off beautifully. His classic style works in tandem with the plot of an old-school baddy in a way that makes the art set the tone of the story as much as any of the dialogue. It was absolutely wonderful!

4 out of 5 nerds

“Crossed Paths”

Written by Dan Slott and Christos Gage

Art by Giuseppe Camuncoli

The last time we saw Black Cat, Spidey-Ock had delivered her a righteous ass kicking and left her tied up for the police. Obviously that left her with a huge chip on her shoulder and a brain fixated on exacting her revenge. As I said before all of these plots work together one way or another, and this one ties directly into Electro’s story. You see, when Otto left BC for the authorities, she was sent to Conway. Ready to end her life by way of poisonous spider, she has an epiphany. I won’t spoil what that is, but I’m positive Peter is going to have a huge target on his back for the foreseeable future!

I love the use of symbolism that Slott and Gage use to show us just what BC has planned. While I don’t see her as a threat on the level of Electro or any of the other famous ASM villains, it’s definitely going to make for an interesting story when it all finally plays out.

The art in this story wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t my favorite in the book either. It came off as a little flat to me at times and the colors did more to convey the story than the pencils and inks did.

3 out of 5 nerds

“How my Stuff Works”

Written by Joe Caramagna

Art by Chris Eliopolous

I won’t say much about this short. It’s something that was added into the issue for fans that aren’t too familiar with Spidey and his power set. These few pages do exactly what they’re meant to do though and you have more fun than you’d expect from it! Some people might consider these few pages as a waste of time, but I got a few good chuckles from it and I’m completely ok with anything that will introduce new readers to the character in a fun, non-intimidating way! Kudos for taking the risk and making it work so well guys!

4 out of 5 nerds

“Homecoming, Sort of”

Written by Peter David

Art by Will Sliney

There was about a 50% chance that I was going to read the upcoming Spider-Man 2099 series. After this story though, I’m definitely giving it a chance. This short is just a tale about Spidey 2099 on patrol in a familiar area that’s not so familiar to him anymore. You see, in his time this place is filled with ritzy, upper class homes and people. In Peter’s time it’s a total slum filled with crime and vagrants. What ensues is a light-hearted, fun story of Miguel stopping an everyday mugging, and how people are reacting to him in Peter’s time.

While this has Peter David’s classic light-hearted tone in a heavy situation, the real star here is Will Sliney’s art. Literally each and every panel looks like he modeled them after real people that he drew as they posed in front of him. This style adds a realism to Miguel’s story and already has me invested in what’s going to happen to him as a character and where his story’s going.

5 out of 5 nerds

“Kaine”

Written by Chris Yost

Art by David Baldeon

Peter Parker has a clone named Kaine. At one time Kaine was a villain hell-bent on wreaking havoc and destroying Spider-Man. After numerous battles, Kaine finally saw the error in his ways and moved on to become a hero too known as the Scarlet Spider. This is the one story I really could’ve done without as it doesn’t really tie in to ASM like the other stories do. It at least has me a little bit interested in checking out the New Warriors though!

2.5 out of 5 nerds

“Learning to Crawl: Amazing Reality”

Written by Dan Slott

Art by Ramon Perez

This is the only story in this book told from the perspective of someone without superpowers. Clayton Cole is Spider-Man’s biggest fan and aspires to do great things in his life…just like Spidey. This is another story that I could’ve done without, but apparently it’s going to feed into ASM #1.1. It was by no means bad, but it just felt a little tacked on to me, but I’ll definitely be reading the 1.1 issue just to see what the purpose behind introducing us to Clayton was!

3 out of 5 nerds

This was a $6 issue and to most, including me, that’s a pretty hefty price tag for a comic. By the time I was finished though, I felt like I had underpaid for it which hasn’t ever happened to me with one of these beefy, expensive books before. This book has a ton of hype surrounding it and it not only meets the challenge head on, it completely knocks it out of the park. Tying in so many stories into the main plot and planting the seeds for future arcs was an absolutely brilliant idea that I think we’ll see more of in future #1’s after this book has done so well! I’m going to make a bold statement that I may catch some flak for here…this is the perfect #1 issue!

5 out of 5 nerds

 

I'm an LA journalist who really lives for his profession. I have also published work as Jane Doe in various mags and newspapers across the globe. I normally write articles that can cause trouble but now I write for FTN because Nerds are never angry, so I feel safe.