Review: ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ #1 Actually Gets It Right
by Tony Thornley
Marvel Comics has rebooted its greatest heroes many times over their lifetimes. That does mean the Amazing Spider-Man has seen its fair share of #1’s. So what sets this one apart?
Joe Kelly, Pepe Larraz, Marte Gracia, John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna, Marcio Menyz and Joe Caramagna team for this new volume.
Peter Parker’s life is finally looking up. He’s found a new job, his relationship is going well, hell, even Aunt May is healthy. But on the Spider-Man front, Roderick Kingsley has returned, and the Hobgoblin has allied himself with a mysterious new force that is manipulating Peter’s foes. It’s a dark force that may be the thing to finally destroy Spider-Man!
Frankly, I’m sick of reboots. The #1 crutch is something Marvel uses too often. With Amazing Spider-Man, now we’ve also see the relaunch bring back a writer who’s worked on Spider-Man before. In Kelly’s case it’s been multiple times at that, with a brief run during the Brand New Day era, the Non-Stop Spider-Man series, and fill-ins in the preceding volume. Some of it has been good, some of it not so much.
But here, Kelly gets it right. Peter isn’t down on his luck in his job. His love life is actually doing okay. Even Aunt May is doing well. The set up gives us a Peter Parker that’s finally grown up, and Kelly writes it extremely well. The mysterious new threat to Spider-Man is already genuinely scary too. I really liked it.
Larraz does incredible work here. It took a few pages to get the hang of things but after the job interview opening ends, it immediately clicks. His Spider-Man is dynamic, his Rhino is incredibly threatening and the quieter moments are incredibly human. Gracia’s colors enhance it, but does have some moments of over-rendering (such as giving too much texture to Spider-Man’s mask).
Romita’s back-ups are solid. Kelly wrote to his strengths, and that makes the scenes he draws stronger than a lot of his work. Hanna gives the pencils strong embellishments and Menyz’s colors deepen the world.
Amazing Spider-Man #1 is available now from Marvel Comics.
Overview
I really enjoyed this issue. It felt like a fresh start that wasn’t just doing it for the sales boost of a new #1. I’m not completely ready to buy in, but it’s the sort of start that makes me incredibly optimistic for what’s to come.