Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends!
Spidey's always had a posse. Whether he was part of a team, doing Marvel Team-Up, or was just on one of his amazingly "normal excursions, the wall-crawler is rarely away from some form of super-being. That's lucky for him, because as Spider-Man finds himself in some deep doo-doo with Alistair Smythe and his Spider-Slaying cohorts, his buddies at the Avengers have his back.
It's EXTERMINATIN' Time!
Alistair Smythe has been a busy boy, and issue #653 starts with Spider-Man in a pickle as spider-slayers are dispatched to scour New York for J. Jonah Jameson's loved ones (and eliminate them). This issue has Spider-Man finally taking advantage of his Avengers status and getting some help from Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Jewel, Mockingbird, Ms. Marvel, and even The Thing. Unfortunately, even this help only goes so far as Smythe's new slayers have built-in Spider-sense of their own, making the buggers nearly impossible to hit, let alone defeat.Once again, the highlight in this issue is Dan Slott's writing. He makes reading this series genuinely fun to read, and where other series would loose themselves from such a tight vicinity of their main character by now in order to more effectively tell a story with meaning or weight, Slott perfectly weaves in this stuff with the non-stop stream of comedy that spouts from each character's respective mouth. While a team-up could also cause each character to suffer from "lame cameo" syndrome, the way they're integrated here actually does feel quite natural and respectable (as far as team-ups go, that is).
An Issue with Few Issues...
Stefano Caselli, whom last issue I was... less than kind to, I actually really enjoyed here. Maybe it's because this issue really focuses on the super-fights and action, but altogether the artwork just looked better. Where he may not be my favorite with talking heads, Caselli seems to really excel with chaos and coordinated action.If there be any negatives in this issue, it'd simply be a matter of context and relevance. The story is exciting enough, sure, and it deals a lot with Spidey's new social and personal dynamics, it does seem just a tad less compelling because of the villains involved and their motivations. Sure, it's cool to see Gargan back as Scorpion, but the rest of Smythe's crew isn't very interesting. Lastly , as this issue begins, things are fairly chaotic and, although this is a series that comes out twice a month, it might take some light review of last issue to recall just what the heck is going on.
Sensational.
But even that tiny nitpick is nowhere near enough to stop this from being a really fun and engaging issue of Amazing Spider-Man. It seems that Slott came to the Spidey book just when he was needed, because this is the most genuinely solid title starring the wall-crawler in some time.The Amazing Spider-Man #653 gets 5 stars out of 5.
