The last time I read Spider-Man book from the main Marvel Universe was Superior Spider-Man #1. As much as I enjoyed Dan Slott’s Amazing Spider-Man his work on Superior Spider-Man never grabbed my attention. I was just never interested in seeing Otto Octavius running around as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and voted with my wallet by not buying the series. But now after being around for over a year Superior Spider-Man and Otto-Peter the one and only Peter Parker is back. With the return of the character I’ve decided to give Amazing Spider-Man #1 a shot. Does Dan Slott win back a winner with this first issue? Find out in this spoiler filled review.
Creative Team
Writers: Dan Slott (“Lucky To Be Alive,” “Recapture That Old Spark,” “Crossed Path”, “Learning to Crawl: Amazing Reality”), Christos Gage (“Crossed Path”), Joe Caramagna (“How My Stuff Works”), Peter David (“Homecoming, Sort Of”), Chris Yost (“Kaine”),
Artists: Humberto Ramos (“Lucky To Be Alive”), Javier Rodriguez (“Recapture That Old Spark”), Giuseppe Camuncoli (“Crossed Path”), Chris Eliopoulos (“How My Stuff Works”), Will Sliney (“Homecoming, Sort Of”), David Baldeon (“Kaine”), Ramon Perez (“Learning to Crawl: Amazing Reality”)
Inkers: Victor Olazaba (“Lucky To Be Alive”), Alvaro Lopez (“Recapture That Old Spark”), John Dell and Cam Smith (“Crossed Path”), Jordi Tarragona (“Kaine”)
Colorists: Edgar Delgado (“Lucky To Be Alive”), Javier Rodriguez (“Recapture That Old Spark”), Antonio Fabela (“Crossed Path,” “Homecoming, Sort of”), Jim Charalapidis (“How My Stuff Works”), Rachelle Rosenberg (“Kaine”), Ian Herring (“Learning to Crawl: Amazing Reality”)
Story Rating: 8 out of 10 Night Girls
Art Rating: 8 out of 10 Night Girls
Overall Rating: 8 out of 10 Night Girls
Synopsis: 13 years ago Peter Parker is bitten by a radioactive spider. The spider continues to walk around the room and bite an unknown woman in the foot before dying.
In the present White Rabbit and the Menagerie’s are running through the city after their latest heist. White Rabbit is pissed because Spider-Man ruined her months of planning the heist. Just as she says that Spider-Man appears and webs White Rabbit up, while also saving a dad from falling on top of his baby. Hippo throws a car at Spider-Man, which he easily dodges and sticks to a nearby building. People are horrified to see that Spider-Man is wearing only his mask and underwear made out of his webs (which looks like he is wearing adult diapers).
Four hours earlier Peter Parker is holding a press conference to reassure the press that he is alive and that Parker Industries did not suffer real damage from the recent attack (well outside part of the building being destroyed and missing the ‘P’ in Parker Industries). Natalie Long from The Fact Channel (I see what you did there Mr. Slott) asks Peter about his continued connection to Spider-Man. Peter says that he has designed Spider-Man’s equipment for years but due to recent events he and his company won’t be doing that for Spider-Man anymore, much to Aunt May’s joy.
The press decides to leave and Sajani says she is happy that Jay and May are there to show the company is united. Jay agrees and says that he wants to make sure Peter is taking things seriously, especially since he is known to disappear for weeks at a time. Even though Peter is still sketchy on everything Otto did while he controlled his body Peter assures Jay that he will make Parker Industries his top priority.
While seeing Jay and May walk away Peter thinks about how the one good thing that he is thankful for Otto doing is developing the technology that allowed his Aunt May to walk again without the need of a cane. He then hopes that is the last surprise Otto left for him.
At Peter’s apartment Anna Marie Marconi (Peter’s new girlfriend that Otto hooked up with while in his body) arrives and Peter isn’t there. As she says aloud to herself that she lost her purse and everything in it she gets a call from Jeneil, who tells her that Peter is at Parker Industries. While looking for the spare car keys Anna finds a ring and a letter with Peter’s (Otto at the time) plan to propose to her.
The Fact Channel is reporting from the Conway Penitentiary, which was destroyed during the Goblin attack the night before. The reporter on the scene says that cameras caught Electro being the cause of much of the destruction that helped all of the inmates escape. While the Avengers have rounded up most of the inmates, with Iron Man commenting that the city is safe under the protection of Mayor J. Jonah Jameson. The report quickly cuts to Mayor Jameson announcing his resignation after all the pressure he was getting from the citizens and angrily says he regrets nothing about his time in office.
Jameson watches a replay of the press conference in his house and throws his drink at the TV right before he says he quits. Jameson perks up and says that he is ready to get back to work at The Bugle. Right when he opens his front door Jameson finds a copy of the latest Daily Bugle on his door step. The front page headline is “Mayor No More” (nice use of the classic “…..No More” tagline Spider-Man comics are known for using) with a big picture Jameson next to it. This pisses him off.
Inside Parker Industries Sajani is going over the nano-tech project that the company has been working on with Peter. Peter is a bit confused since cybernetics was Otto Octavius specialty and not his. Peter quickly passes this negative thinking off and believes that he can figure out what to do with the project. He tries to get some of his assistants to help him out and they respond with some fear in their voices. Peter wonders why they are terrified of him. Sajani on the other hand believes it’s a great thing.
Sajani then takes Peter to the room that holds all of the Spider-Man equipment he was developing (it was actually Otto who was developing it while in Peter’s body). Sajani says that his robot assistant will help him in destroying all of the equipment. (Five bucks says that the robot will be the key in the return of Doc Ock if Peter doesn’t disassemble him.) Peter is weirded out over the fact that his robot assistant calls him “Doctor Peter” but then notice the Doctorate degree that Otto got for him while in his body.
Later that day Peter is swinging around the city in his Spider-Man costume. As he swings around the city he hears some hate from the people on the streets. Peter then remembers that Otto didn’t do a good job maintaining his relationships with the citizens, cops or Avengers but thinks that this situation gives him a chance at a new start.
As Spider-Man continues to swing around the city a person watches him from the rooftops. (Spoiler Alert: The person in question is revealed to be Black Cat in one of the “Crossed Paths” back-up contained in this issue.)
Spider-Man soon comes across Menagerie’s latest heist. Skein uses her powers to rip Spider-Man’s costume apart. Spider-Man is able to take Skein out before she can do anything that could kill him. Unfortunately for Spider-Man he isn’t able to do it quick enough and the only piece of his costume he has left is his mask. Spider-Man quickly wraps his private parts in his webs but not before people and a news crew record his whole wardrobe malfunction on their phones and camera.
In the Avengers Mansion Spider-Woman comments that after seeing Spider-Man’s wardrobe malfunction on the news that Peter is back to normal. Captain America asks Spider-Woman how she knows and she says that it could only happen to Peter. (Not sure if that was a burn or she was just stating a fact.)Captain America says he’ll need more proof. Johnny Storm’s reaction to the wardrobe malfunction is just to laugh while at his favorite bar. MJ on the other hand just calls Peter an idiot after seeing it on her computer.
Back at Spider-Man’s fight with Menagerie he has taken care of Skein, Hippo and White Rabbit. Panda-Mania tries to run away but Spider-Man just webs her up. Spider-Man tries to do his usual comedy routine but that is not enough to take people’s attention away from the fact that he is fighting crime in only his mask.
Spider-Man swings away. While getting back to his apartment to put on some clothes he thinks about how while it wasn’t his best day it is good to have his body back. He also thinks about how now that he is back that he has a whole new set of responsibilities that include having employees that depend on his success.
Peter goes into his living room and finds Anna sitting on his couch waiting for him. Peter remembers that she is Otto’s girlfriend while in his body, making her his current girlfriend. He wonders if her being their means that they live together with. Peter tries to explain to Anna how she didn’t know he was in his bedroom but Anna stops him. Anna tells Peter to explain to her how he never told her that he is Spider-Man. Peter wonders how Anna can think that. Anna says she saw that Spider-Man only has three freckles from the footage of his wardrobe malfunction. She then says “So what’ve you got to say for yourself….Spidey?” End of main story.
Commentary
The Good: Amazing Spider-Man #1 does not waste any time getting Peter Parker and the reader back in the swing of things (pun intended). Dan Slott successfully lays out Peter’s new status quo, both in his personal and Spider-Man life, without making it feel like we had to go through half an issue of exposition. The addition of six back-up stories added an anthology feel to the issue, with two of the back-ups providing key plot elements to the immediate future of Amazing Spider-Man.
My biggest concern coming into Amazing Spider-Man #1 is that because it is a continuation of Slott’s Spider-Man run that I would come away feeling like I had to read Superior Spider-Man to understand what was going on in this first issue. Thankfully, Slott alleviated my concern right away by providing enough information in Amazing Spider-Man #1 that I didn’t feel lost at all. What was great about this is that Slott never made it seem like he was spending time on recapping us with what happened during the Superior Spider-Man era. Instead, Slott framed everything that happened in the main story, as well as the Black Cat back-up story, with Peter himself trying to get comfortable in his world again.
This framing device made it easy to understand who Peter is now as he is discovering things as the story progresses. It also made the inner monologue have an added importance to the story because while Peter thinks about how he is in over his head that is not how he is presenting himself as to others. Instead what Peter has to do in order to keep the whole mind swap with Otto secret is to speak confidently. Even when he is asking Sajani about the nano-tech project Slott makes sure to word Peter’s questions in a way that doesn’t completely give away that he has no idea what he is doing.
At the same time, this acting job by Peter is something we already get hints at not being a long-term solution. If Peter is going to keep not only the whole Otto mind-swap situation but also his Spider-Man life a secret he will have to pick up on everything quickly. There won’t be any time for Peter to be distracted. It will be easier said than done and that is the fun of a Spider-Man comic. We want to see how Peter is able to juggle his personal and Spider-Man life at the same time. Slott has just added some interesting new wrinkles to the formula.
Right away the biggest obstacles for Peter in his personal life will be Sajani at work and Anna Marie at home. Sajani is presented with a character that is seemingly after Peter’s spot in his company. Slott presents her someone that is willing to work with Peter but could very well stab him in the back if he slips up. The fact that Peter will want to build a better working situation between himself and his employees may also build on Sajani’s belief in how an boss-employee relationship should be built on fear.
With Anna Marie it is clear that Peter still does not know how to exactly handle the fact that she is the girlfriend Otto had while he was in Peter’s body. While it is clear that she does not know about Peter regaining his body there are other things she finds out. First there is the fact that Otto, when he was still Peter, was going to propose to her. Not long after that she finds out that Peter is Spider-Man just from personal knowledge. Seeing how Peter gets himself out of this will make things much more interesting since Peter cannot just break-up with Anna Marie over this.
On the Spider-Man side of things, I did like how we are getting Peter back to his wise cracking self. It was good to see Peter not take the fact that Spider-Man is not viewed positively by the Avengers or the public as something to be depressed about. Instead he just sees it as a fresh start and is actually having fun with being Spider-Man. The fact that he tried to act witty in order to not put attention how he was only wearing his Spider-Man mask thanks to Spied was some good physical comedy. The reactions of Captain America, Spider-Woman, Johnny Storm and MJ added to the entertainment of the whole situation.
Now what I will be interested to see out of this is how Peter repairs his relationships with the Avengers. While Spider-Woman is seemingly willing to accept Spider-Man back on the team Captain America is not so sure. With Spider-Man playing a pivotal role in the upcoming Original Sin event his interactions with the Avengers will be something to keep a close eye on.
The other superhero relationship to be on the lookout for will be Spider-Man and Black Cat. The “Crossed Paths” back-up did its job in explaining why Black Cat will now be playing an antagonist in this series moving forward. I like that it is all based on Otto having her get arrested while he was Spider-Man. This adds to the whole concept of a fresh start for Peter as Spider-Man and that he has a lot of bridges to mend.
Speaking of back-ups, I also enjoyed the Electro back-up, titled “Recapture That Old Spark.” It gave us a chance to catch up with Electro and find out where his mind is at. And I liked the fact that Slott played up the fact that because Electro is always losing in his fights with superheroes that he is going to be using that anger as motivation in the latest arc. Hopefully Slott will use this arc as a way to improve Electro’s profile so he isn’t just seen as a superhero punching bag for random story arcs.
On the art side of things, Humberto Ramos did a great job with the artwork for the main story. He only delivered his typical over exaggerated artwork when it was appropriately, mostly with Spider-Man’s wardrobe malfunction and fight with Menagerie’s. Ramos artwork actually added to Peter’s current situation as you could tell that while he was saying one thing Peter was actually thinking something completely different. This was on display during Peter’s conversations with Sajani and Anna Marie.
The artwork from the Javier Rodriguez, Giuseppe Camuncoli , Chris Eliopoulos, Will Sliney, David Baldeon and Ramon Perez for their respective back-up stories was well done as well. Rodriguez, Camuncoli and Eliopoulos where the three stand outs from the pack as they were the artist I would’ve like to have seen given a few more pages to draw. Eliopoulos in particular was great as his art made the short comedic back-up stand out from the rest of the more series back-up stories that were told in this issue.
The Bad: Right away the one thing that may turn off readers, especially impulse comic buyers, is the $5.99 cover price. I would have love to have seen Marvel give the readers a chance to purchase a $3.99 version of Amazing Spider-Man #1 that just contained the main story, it would have especially worked as a special digital version.
And I will say that the back-ups for Kaine and Spider-Man 2099 actually devalued this comic because they didn’t feel like true back-up stories. Instead, they just felt like pure advertisement from Marvel to in order to sell me on the New Warriors and Spider-Man 2099 comics. When I read a comic I should not feel like back-ups are selling me on something that is not part of the Amazing Spider-Man series. I should feel as though the back-ups contained in any comic actually added value to the comic book I purchased. That is not what the Kaine and Spider-Man 2099 stories did and makes me question how if those stories, along with the “Learning to Crawl: Amazing Reality” back-up, were removed then I would’ve actually have felt more satisfied with my purchase.
Overall: Amazing Spider-Man #1 set-up the groundwork for the series moving forward without making it feel like I had to go back and read Superior Spider-Man. Dan Slott clearly has a plan in place for what he wants to do with Spider-Man moving forward. He has already set up numerous obstacles for Peter to overcome both personally and as Spider-Man. At the same time he makes the new status quo as something Peter is actually enjoying, which in turn makes it fun to read as a fan. And while half of the back-up stories did nothing for me the Electro and Black Cat stories did their job in teasing an interesting future for Spider-Man. With that I am back on board for whatever Slott has planned for Amazing Spider-Man next and that is all that can be asked for from a new first issue of a comic book.
