A Date Night From Hell: Reviewing ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ #19

Peter Parker and Felicia Hardy have done the “will-they, won’t they” dance before, as they try to figure things out. In all the chaos of the last year of Peter’s life, it seems more like a “will” but thanks to Amazing Spider-Man #19, the duo need to survive first.

With Dark Web over, guest team Joe Kelly, Terry Dodson, Rachel Dodson, and Joe Caramagna take our heroes on their worst date ever.

After a few rough weeks, Felicia takes Peter on a weekend getaway. Unfortunately, MJ and her new husband have the same coupon. Lucky for the two heroes, the White Rabbit is nearby, testing her new supervillain cosplay weekends, requiring their oversight. Naturally, nothing could go wrong with giving civilians supervillain gear… could it?

Kelly doesn’t have the best recent track record with Spidey, so I was skeptical about this issue. Though some of the humor was overly juvenile, this was a very fun issue, especially after the wringer Peter has gone through for the last year. It was nice to take a step back from all that and see Peter and Felicia grow as a couple, a fun new threat emerge with the White Rabbit’s new gig, and a twist in the trajectory of the story point to a tonal change for the next issue.

The Dodson’s are known for highly polished, high energy art. In this issue, they switch it up a little, and I like that. The lines are a little more loose, with the inks only tightening up the pencils a bit. Their high energy is still there, but the looser lines makes the action flow quicker, making it feel breezy and light. Terry’s colors are lighter, evoking watercolors, and fitting with the wintery setting better.

I miss the days of fill-ins like this. It’s fun, but also relevant to the main story. It’s good comics, and I’m excited to see it wrap up.

Amazing Spider-Man #19 is available now from Marvel Comics.