When we last left Spider-Man in ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ #678, he was racing against time to prevent the destruction of NYC. The problem? He wasn’t sure what was going to cause the impending doomsday. At his job at Horizon Labs, Peter Parker stepped through a time-door that his partner Grady had invented. Since the door opens a portal to 24 hours into the future, what Peter found on the other side was a future where he’d been away for 24 hours… and NYC was a smoking pile of rubble! Now it’s up to Peter (with Grady’s assistance) to figure out exactly what was supposed to have happened in the missing time so that NYC can be returned to normal.
As this issue opens, Spider-Man is communicating with Grady who is using a newspaper that he brought back from the “good” future before Peter stepped through the door. Grady is walking Spider-Man through all of the news reports so that he can do everything that he was supposed to have done to see if that will fix the future. The duo discovers kinks in their plan when they realize that not everything Spider-Man did was printed in the paper. With time ticking away and only minutes to spare, Peter comes to a realization that might just save the city.
I said in my review for the previous issue that writer Dan Slott must have been watching some ‘Doctor Who’ episodes for the inspiration for this story arc. After seeing the awesome twists this issue, I’d give Slott the thumbs up to write a Who episode of his own. This was brilliant! And better yet, it was pure Spider-Man. The hero is racing against the clock to save the city, all the while attempting to balance out things in his life as Peter Parker. These past two issues have been one of the best Spider-Man stories I’ve read in a long while… and that includes the awesomeness that was ‘Spider-Island’!
With the story being back on the fun side of Spidey’s adventures, I’m glad that Humberto Ramos is on board for the art for this one. Ramos’ style is a wonderful fit for the fun Spidey stories like this and I hope to see him and Slott stick around this title for a long and action-packed future.
Stay tuned for the next issue when Marvel delivers one of their “point one” jump off issues for new readers in ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ #679.1. See you then!
Verdict: Buy
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #679
Written by DAN SLOTT
Art by HUMBERTO RAMOS
Cover by MIKE DEL MUNDO