Read All the Comics!: Amazing Spider-Man

Amazing Spider-Man 30-51

JM Straczynski’s run. This was damn good, much better than my memory of it. (Which remembered it as Nice.) This might very well be my favorite depiction of Peter Parker/Spidey. Straczynski writes him so well, and nails every aspect of who he is. I’ll touch on each of them as I go through the issues.

Issue 30-32: Straczynski’s Spidey banter is spot on. And he’s just generally good at creating funny beats. This early one as Spider-Man takes his frustrations out on a building slated for demolition told me what I had to look forward to for the rest of the run.

This isn’t the last time Straczynski depicts New Yorkers as unflappable residents well accustomed to the presence of superheroes in their city. I like it.

I’m not as much of a fan of Ezekiel, both the character and the story arc. He’s smug and thinks too highly of himself. Cryptic “I know more than you, but I’m only going to hint at it instead of giving it to you straight” talk works if you’re Morpheus or Obi-Wan, but they back it up by being freaking awesome. Ezekiel is decidedly not.

Storywise, the whole totemic animal thing is a stupid recon that strays too far from the Spider-Man origin that I know and love. It’s the same problem that I have with Jason Aaron’s new run on Avengers. Some heroes don’t need to be part of a legacy, and Peter’s one of them. It’s perfectly acceptable for him to be the start of one, but he’s the OG. The last successful major origin retcon that comes to mind is Swamp Thing’s Anatomy Lesson by Alan Moore.

Issue 33-34: Spider-Man gets absolutely worked by Morlun. He takes a thrashing I haven’t seen since Typhoid Mary originally put Daredevil through her gauntlet. Coincidentally also drawn by John Romita Jr, the brutality of this fight almost reached the level of “uncomfortable to watch.” JRJR has a disturbing knack for drawing exhausted, suffering heroes pounded to the edge of death.

But at the same time, Straczynski makes this one of Peter’s finest moments. His unrelenting drive to win, not for himself, but for the safety of the innocents around him, shines through in every captioned thought. There’s no hero that pushes through pain and insurmountable odds the way Spider-Man does, and this fight is one of my favorite examples of it. (Another is Romita Jr's homage to his dad's “lifting up a building that’s fallen on him” scene in issue 45. By the way, this entire run may also be my favorite John Romita Jr work. It’s so apt that father and son did their finest art on the same iconic character.)

Like father, like son.

Issue 35: Aunt May discovers that Peter’s Spider-Man. Unfortunately, the reveal is utterly spoiled by an art fail:

How in the world does that door open and close? There’s no way.

Issue 36: The 9/11 issue. Not a fan. The sentiment is noble, the intent is good, and I forgive the overwrought nature of the patriotic narration given the emotions flying around during the immediate aftermath of the attacks. But it just doesn’t work to place the destruction of the World Trade Towers in the context of the Marvel universe. Far too many worse events have taken place in that world for the heroes to be as emotionally affected as Romita Jr shows them to be. Two buildings would hardly register as a blip on their radar. It’s sad, but it’s true. It’s too much for me to swallow, and then Straczynski completely wrecks any semblance of gravitas when he suggests that Doctor Doom would shed tears at this senseless act of terrorism. Moment ruined.

Doom does not cry.

Issue 38: May and Peter have the Talk. It’s about as perfectly written as I could have expected after forty years of buildup. There are no surprises, but I wasn’t looking for any. It’s just a genuine conversation between two people who love each other, and it’s a damn good issue.

Also, I’ve never seen any nail that “Wellll……” look as finely as Romita Jr in this second panel.

Issue 39: The silent issue. This was the month where Marvel mandated that all their issues have no dialog balloons. JRJR has a field day with this one, and I’m a big fan. It’s a day in the lives of MJ, May, and Peter, and it’s gently wonderful.

Issue 42 - Spider-Man saves a bunch of school kids and misses picking up MJ at the airport with a possibly reconciliation at stake. A perfect example of the infamous Parker luck that’s just frustrating enough for me to sympathize with Peter, but not mean enough for me to find it unfairly harsh. It’s an incredibly fine line to tiptoe, and Straczynski walks it beautifully.

That’s about it for the recaps. The rest of the run is just as entertaining. I stopped buying it for some reason, and I’m strongly considering buying more. On the other hand, I know this ends with One More Day, and I have zero desire to own that piece of crap. These issues perfectly illustrate how Peter and MJ can have a meaningful relationship that did not need to be erased from existence. Still so mad about it.

Some more funny pages:

Batman says it with a lot more pride. You've got to own it, Spidey.

Not leaving without showing some of J Scott Campbell’s gorgeous covers. Not all of these are from this run, but I won’t have another place to showcase them.