Peter Parker Tries To Keep Up In Amazing Spider-Man #35

Doctor Doom has New York City on lockdown after Hitman tried to assassinate him at the United Nations. Spider-Man and his sister Teresa are tracking down Chameleon who has been pulling strings for the Countess Karkov. What does all this have to do with Miguel O’Hara, the Spider-Man of 2099?

Amazing Spider-Man is firmly entrenched with the current 2099 event (which I’m not even sure has a name. Is it just 2099?) The actions in this arc have some kind of ripple effect that could be destroying the future of the Marvel Universe. This should be a lot cooler than it is. As it stands, we’re dealing with a low rent spy thriller with the wall-crawler trying to keep up.
Peter Parker has the pieces in front of him but can’t seem to put them together. Miguel disappeared in a burst of light and Peter basically shrugged it off and went on tracking Doom. Granted, the Latverian despot did take over Manhattan so he does have a certain level of priority. This arc flows like a different storyline that Spider-Man just happens to star in. He’s not the main character in his own book right now. I expressed this concern in my review for the previous issue. I don’t understand why this wasn’t set up as its own book instead of seemingly shoehorning it into Amazing Spider-Man.

It doesn’t help that the artwork looks radically different. Patrick Gleason has been replaced by Oscar Bazuldua. I’m not a fan of changing artists during an arc as it creates a jarring reading experience. That’s definitely what we get here. Bazuldua gets the basic forms fine but his pencils are a little too loose for my taste. They could be tightened up to provide more detail. As it stands, the characters lack some emotion, acting more like action figures moved into certain positions.
Colorist Steve Firchow casts a dark cloud over New York City. Yes, it’s night time, but there’s a huge Doctor Doom hologram standing tall over the cityscape creating a rather ominous tone. This coincides with the foreboding aspects of the story since the fate of the future looks rather bleak. That giant Doom certainly sounds the part too. Letterer Joe Caramagna uses a large, bold font for him, showing how booming his voice is as he demands justice.

This changes when Spidey taps into the Clairvoyant, a device that scans the multiverse to predict possible outcomes. He’s thrown through time and space to see all these different alternate realities, presented in a faded light behind him. The web-head stands out here, like he’s the only rock solid thing on the page. Hope springs from him.

We’ve got one more issue of this arc and I have no idea how writer Nick Spencer is going to wrap this up. It will probably lean heavily on the 2099 one-shots to flesh out the story. Right now it feels like we’re treading water in an awkward spy movie.
Amazing Spider-Man #35 from Marvel Comics is currently available at your local comic shop and digitally through ComiXology and Amazon Kindle.