Truthfully, a Zeb Wells and Ed McGuinness joint on Amazing Spider-Man is always worrying. I don’t like #6/900, I kind of hate “Dark Web”, I don’t like the Doc Ock arc that was just a way to launch the Superior Spider-Man book, and I didn’t like “Gang War”. They’re very fun, but it’s not fun in a way that works for me, so it’s a collaboration that I’m not interested in.
Stack that on top of a premise that just sounds funny on paper: the introduction of the “Spider-Goblin” (something I made fun of when it got announced), and you can see where it’s going. In my head it’s just something that is primed to fail. I don’t tend to go into stories with preconceived expectations, but when there’s a track record (of 12 issues!), I think it’s safe to assume that it wouldn’t work. Yet, as I keep reading, I thought I’d give it a fair shot.
And let me tell you, I’m glad I did. But before I get into that, let’s do some catching up:
The last time I reviewed this book, it was issue #31, where I said, “I’m at the stage where I have faith in this book being good, but I don’t know if I can give it my heart, because it might just crush it and break it all over again, like it usually does.”
Did it?
Well – I’m stuck in the same boat of “I like some of this, I don’t like the rest.” I thought “Spider-Man’s First Hunt” was very entertaining, sometimes a little cynical in (what I can only assume to be) what it’s trying to metaphorically allude to. “Gang War” was… not good. I was actually planning on reviewing it, but after Ultimate Spider-Man, it just felt like punching down. The two-issue arc drawn by Carmen Carnero was really good, some of my favourite stuff in this book so far! That arc was followed up by another two issue arc that was unfortunately uninteresting to me initially, drawn by Todd Nauck that focused on Ben Reilly, Hallows’ Eve and Goblin Queen, but with the context of this issue I like it more.
Actually, in general, the way this issue handles reveals and pulling on threads that it set up made me think about the run a lot in retrospect and how it’s really playing the long game really well.
Before I get into the story of this issue, I think it’s absolutely important to talk about the art. Earlier, I talked about how the issues McGuinness drew weren’t for me, but that wasn’t at all due to his art style. In fact, his art is really good, especially for Spider-Man, and especially in a title like this where his peers include one of the all time Spidey greats: John Romita Jr. To that end…
This is McGuinness at his most Ryan Ottley (sans the blood). It’s dramatic, it’s kinetic, but it’s also utilizing form and structure that’s tickling my brain in a way that’s simply amazing. Marcio Menyz is a fantastic colour artist whose work I don’t think works with Romita Jr’s art, but it absolutely excels with McGuinness’ (alongside Erick Arciniega also). Couple that with Joe Caramagna’s lettering on this issue (and the run overall, underrated hero!), one that is committed to doing interesting things to really enhance the storytelling, where you feel like that the letterer is integral to what makes this whole issue work.
There’s a beauty to it all, the way everything supplements McGuinness’ really great panel to panel movement, the way every single expression pops and truly draws you into how they’re feeling in every moment, big two-page spreads that will leave you in awe, and just the structure of pages where you can tell this is Wells and McGuiness’ working together like a well oiled machine that is playing to each other’s strengths and truly telling a story worth talking about.
This issue picks up on a lot of threads that were set up, from the Living Brain, to everything surrounding Peter and Norman, to “Peter’s First Hunt”, to the two-issue arc with Ben. The first page opens with that familiar-feeling Wells/McGuinness’ energy of it being more fun, before immediately twisting into a darker, more dramatic tale.
Wells nails Peter and Norman’s voices. There’s moments throughout the run where I don’t think it fully works, but there are also issues where I feel like Wells’ truly shows how much he gets Peter. This issue is that pushed to its fullest, on top of a fantastic Norman Osborn that builds on a lot of the work Christopher Cantwell did with Norman’s characterization on Gold Goblin. This is what those characters should sound like, this is how they should act.
But more so than that, it’s this issue’s pacing that really sets the stage and ups the stakes. This book may have failed so many of us, me included, on whatever the Rabin plot was from the first year on the title, but it absolutely earns its keep with the Peter and Norman conflict. As it builds up to the big fight, you can feel the tension creeping up to you, like a volcano ready to erupt, until the big moment happens and it absolutely explodes, going from a standard pace to a break-neck, but in a way that absolutely suits the story they’re telling here. The way the fight plays out to how they set up Spider-Goblin is nothing short of spectacular, and is what leads this to being one of my favourite issues from the run so far!
The ending/epilogue to this story is illustrated by Todd Nauck, and even that has me excited for the rest of this story arc!
Other stories in this special include a Spider-Man and Black Cat one by Marv Wolfman, the Dodsons’ and Caramagna that I thought was really sweet, a story about Peter delivering medicine to a food vendor’s mom by Nikesh Shukla, Chriscross, Andrew Dalhouse and Caramagna that was very heartwarming, a fun little Spidey and The Thing story by Lee Gatlin, and finally, a Joe Kelly, Juan Ferreyra, and Joe Carmagna Spidey and Doctor Strange story that seems like set up for something, but until we know what that is, it’s a little confusing.
Yet, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #50 is a TRIUMPH. I’m genuinely impressed by everyone involved, but also by how much I loved this issue. If you were into the run originally but a little soured or if you weren’t fully vibing with what they’re doing, this might be the one that gets you back in. Check it out!
