David Gable has taken over with reviews for both of the Spidey titles. This week, David delivers once again with reviews of Peter Parker: Spider-Man #11 and Amazing Spider-Man #11. Drop me a line and let me know what you think!
The Amazing Spider-Man #11
Written by: Howard Mackie
Artist: John Byrne
Inked by: Scott Hanna
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Summary/Review:
First of all, the bit in the first three pages, how Mary Jane and Peter are so different but "they love each other deeply" was great, really touching. Although I’m glad that they have marital problems because it’s realistic (no marriage in real life is totally without problems, trust me), I’m rooting for their marriage to continue. Come on, Mackie and Byrne! Show us that marriages do survive in the Marvel Universe! On the other hand, this issue contains the worst art I’ve seen by Byrne outside of Chapter One. Actually, the second half of the book (starting with the Blob’s appearance) looks okay, it’s just the first half that looks terrible. Jill looks especially bad on page 4. The part where Peter is assigned to get an exclusive interview with his super-model wife for the Daily Bugle, thereby giving him a desperately needed excuse to go see Mary Jane, and then ending up not being able to get near her (one security guard to another: "What’s this, Ed, the third or fourth husband today?") is priceless. The fight between the Blob and Spidey is a nice little action sequence. Naturally, Spider-Man should be out-classed, but being the resourceful little super-hero he is, well, I won’t give it away. Overall, the best writing by Mackie in this title yet, but the worst art by Byrne. Then again, the art isn’t so bad it ruins story, so as usual good writing trumps bad art. Actually, it isn’t A stuff, but this is the first time I’ve completely enjoyed this title in quite a while. My grade: a solid B.
Peter Parker: Spider-Man #11 Written by: Howard Mackie Artist: John Romita Jr. Inked by: Scott Hanna Editor: Ralph Macchio Summary/Review: This is a rather interesting issue simply for the array of other issues it continues the story from. First of all, it continues the action from ASM #11. But this is also "The Eighth Day, Part 3" so it continues the story from Thor #17 and Iron-Man #22. Of course, there’s also the "Eighth Day" prelude issue in Iron-Man #21. So there are about four issues of stuff that need to be continued in this title. I’m sure Mackie loved that. But you know, he actually pulled it off. Both storylines are followed in this book, and although the "Eighth Day" story takes up most of the pages, the regular Spider-Man stuff is given proper treatment (unlike in Thor and Iron-Man where it seemed like the continuing story in each title was an afterthought). Even when we do get immersed in the "Eighth Day," the story is still exclusively from Spider-Man’s perspective, so it still feels like Spidey’s book, as well it should. Of course, this issue does have the same problem that any issue of any crossover has: if you haven’t picked up the other parts of the crossover, you’re left either not caring or getting caught up in the story only to be left out. I do have one little annoyance, however. In the preview, we were promised that the secret of MJ’s stalker would be revealed, but when we read it, nothing. I don’t know about you, but I’m getting rather tired of these broken promises in the core titles since the reboot. Now that these two titles have gotten out of their earlier rut and Mackie’s starting to write good stories, the Spider-Man titles should be top-notch, but these little broken promises and continuity glitches are still getting in the way. So for the second month in a row, I have to take the final grade down a bit because of a little glitch. Okay, I’m off my soapbox now. My grade: B- 
