The Amazing Spider-Man #9
Ummm, wait what?!!? Did we just say goodbye to the world’s favorite hero?? At the end of ASM #8, Spider-Man looked to meet his demise.
Say it ain’t so Marvel!! Well, more than likely he’ll be back to swing another day, but man oh man did he get a beatdown. Now let’s see how Peter can pick up the pieces and move on … or maybe not??
Creative Team:
Writer: Joe Kelly
Artist: Michael Dowling
Color Artist: Marte Gracia
Letters: Joe Caramagna
Publisher: Marvel Comics
The Art:
With Dowling as a guest artist, he really brings this emotional issue to life. Spider-Man did in fact live, but he’s still recovering and the city is in full anarchy mode.
Criminals running around causing chaos, even good old JJ Jameson is asking on his podcast for Spidey’s help.
None of this would pull at our heartstrings if the art didn’t reflect and elevate this special issue. Without Spider-Man in his life, Peter is killing it at work, his life now normal and focused on science.
The nuances of the art, the faces, the conversations, it all matters when a hero the caliber of Spider-Man hangs it up and wants to live a normal life.
The Amazing Spider-Man #8 – Giving It His All
The Writing:
As it has throughout the entire series thus far, Kelly captures Spider-Man and Peter Parker as well as any of his predecessors before him.
The surprises and the emotion are all things we’ve come to know and love from Kelly’s work on the series. Even Norman Osborn adds emotion to this issue, that’s not an easy task, considering his heel turn.
Even the back dealings of a few certain super villains are exposed and shown to the reader, giving them so much amazing context behind the story in such a powerful way.
Peter is so muted in this issue, it’s something we’ve seen before, but the fight really took away the superhero within him and only Kelly could tell this story the way fans want to see it play out, whether they know it or not!
Overall Grade: 10/10
One word – PERFECTION! Every … single … page. All leading up to the shocking final panel. My God, as comeback stories go, this is one that will stand the test of time and be talked about for years to come. Just WOW!
