The Amazing Spider-man Comic Review

Ever since I was a kid I've loved Spider-man, i thought he and Batman were the best. As time went on though i grew more disenchanted with Spider-man, not with the character so much but the way he was written. Spider-man is smart, caring, intense, bold, goofy yet suave, and the most sarcastic/witty Marvel character usually just ahead of The Human Torch. That's what i loved about him, but as time went on different comic series' starring our favorite Web Head appeared, as did different writers and Spider-man begin to lose it. He wasn't corny funny anymore he became more corny annoying, he would occasionally have drastically bipolar mood swings, and the witty sarcasm became dull, flat and trying too hard so i drifted away from Spider-man, especially with the release of the Tobey Maguire movies, but I'll get to those in another review. However within the past few months i have picked up Spider-man comics again and my hope and joy in the Wall Crawlers adventures have been restored. But what mad Doctor has brought this hero back from the dead, well lets find out in my review of all the Spider-man comics as a whole and my opinion of the best.




I have read many of the different Spider-man Series' such as The Spectacular Spider-man, The Web Of Spider-man, and Ultimate Spider-man and have found that the absolute best and most Spidey like is the Amazing Spider-man. Not only was this original series starring Spider-man(not counting Amazing Fantasy #15 where Spidey makes his 1st appearance to the world ever) but it has by far been the best and most representative. This series I've found has had not only the most interesting story lines but it adds the most depth to it's characters, heroes and villains as well as supporting cast with great credit to its writers. Now there have been many writers of this series over the years but none has more revolutionized the Spidey world then J. Michael Straczynski.

Upon picking up his works I laughed cried raged and feared over Spider-mans antics. Why is this man so good? Well its the way he gives his world meaning. In some of the early Straczynski's Spider-man meets a man named Ezekiel with abilities strikingly similar to his. He also knows a great deal about him, therefore they begin to chat. Ezekiel explains that Spider-man gaining his abilities from the spider was not a freak accident added by radioactivity but that the spider bit him of its own free will to transfer its abilities to Peter before dying of radiation, that it was destiny. This really gives the Spider-man origin story a interesting totem-like depth to it. It gains even more interest when he explains that that is why he has so many animal themed villains such as Dr. Octopus, the Rhino, The Vulture and the Scorpion. He says that these artificial animal human hybrids seek to destroy Spider-man on a subconscious level because he is a pure totem. Peter then begins to see his abilities differently. See he already has given this story more depth.

But what about the villains and supporting cast, well he gives them complexities. Especially the villains. They no longer become mindless animals but real people with issues. For example in Spider-man: Back In Black(the best Straczynski written Spidey series) Sandman comes to spider-man for help in finding the man who framed his father for murder. We hear the story that Sandmans father would be in and out of prison and that that was one of the reasons Sandman/Flint would go to jail. He kept the alias of Flint Marcoh while in prison and never told his father who he was but he would spend his jail time just talking to his father and getting to know him and live the life they never had, how touching. He also talks about the fact that he doesn't wear a mask like Spider-man because Flint knows hes a criminal and that's who he is and he refuses to hide who he is under a mask. Also he and Spider-man have several more moments mostly relating to the loss of loved ones and the toughness of life and they have great comedic scenes and awesome team fighting. As far as supporting cast, when Aunt May finds out about Peter being Spider-man she becomes depressed but then becomes very supportive of Peter. She writes to the newspapers whom trash Spider-man an says she is cancelling her subscription and subscribes to those who support him, on her to-do list it's written as "Unsubscribe to papers who are mean to Peter" haha adorable. However she still fears for him leaving her conflicted.

Now before i get into the way he has written Peter, i want to touch on Spider-man: Tribute to 9/11. After the trade center attacks the comic industry, especially those with New York based heroes, wrote tribute issues to the tragedy. I feel that there was none more passionate, heartbreaking, and triumphant as The Amazing Spider-mans's tribute written by Straczynski. He not only brings in Spider-man's emotions but other heroes as well as villains. I must admit i cried. Here is a link for a video where someone posted the pages of that comic set with music as a tribute to 9/11 watch if you want to see the emotion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcSlJqlq2yA

Now on to Peter. Straczynski gives Peter real struggle. In Spider-man:Back In Black, Peter has donned the black spider suit again, this time with the mission of finding the assassin who had shot Aunt May and put her in the hospital in critical condition. Throughout the comic Peter is pissed, he's no longer cracking casual jokes, he means business. He is constantly in a battle with his own ethics and morals and doing things like breaking bones to get information or theft. It especially hits its amazing apex when Peter enters the prison leading to a showdown with the Kingpin, this time with his mask off. Peter thoroughly thrashes the Kingpin in front of all the prisoners in a few awesome scenes, but Peter doesn't kill Kingpin, he does something much worse. He tells the Kingpin that he was beaten by a kid who didn't even get a scratch, in front of a whole prison of baddies and now that Kingpins lost the criminals respect he's also lost their fear and his power and then he leaves. Badass. He also brings the comedy back to Spider-man, especially in encounters with Aunt May.

Now Ultimate Spider-man is alright but it's very moody and cheesy, i do give credit to Web of Spider-man thought, it is hilarious and action packed but only during The Gauntlet series.

So in conclusion, if you are a fan of Spider-man or used to be one let this friendly neighborhood arachnid back into your heart by picking up The Amazing Spider-man.

Thanks for reading! Oh and by the way this and my next post were supposed to be added awhile ago but i have been busy with my own comic, sorry for the delay.