The first issue of ASM I enjoyed.
I have only read a couple random issues of The Amazing Spider-Man, but this was the best one I've read.
The city has been infested with genetically altered bed bugs that are giving citizens spider-powers. Jackal organized a team of spider-powered thugs to wreak havoc around the city. And Peter is trying to get to his girlfriend Carlie (who now has spider-powers) before she gets killed trying to be the "Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Cop."
The Good
" Power may be an abundant resource on Spider-Island, but responsibility is the rarest of commodities." I really liked the interaction between Peter and Carlie. Carlie still doesn't know Peter is Spider-Man so now she is treating him like a helpless civilian while she goes out to try and save the city, which is ironic. Also, I thought it was good that the New Avengers and other teams were brought in to help fight the spider-thugs because if it was just Peter that had to fight them off, I would have felt bad for the poor guy and lets face it, he wouldn't be able to beat them all. Finally, even though the action panels were a little hard to follow, it got across the point that chaos is taking over the city.
The Bad
There was two things about this issue I didn't like. 1. The way Jackal talked to all the gang members and thugs like they were in a class and he was the teacher. He just came off as being kinda cocky and it was annoying. I guess cockiness is a characteristic of many villains anyway so its not that big of a deal.
2. All of the thugs in "Jackal's Crime Syndicate" were wearing various versions of Spider-Man's costume. (The original costume, the FF costume, Iron Spider-Man, Scarlet Spider, etc.) I wish they had original team costumes or something to wear.
