Last month, Spider-Man teamed up with Hawkeye to take down Sidewinder from a terrorist attack on Grand Central Station. This issue, Spidey teams up with the rest of the Avengers with a focus on Captain America to track down the source of the gas that Sidewinder used in his attack.

As the issue opens, we are given a glimpse at an old 1940’s comic about a strapping young lad named Roger Stevens who battles criminals and promotes liberty bonds under the guise of his superhero identity of Sir Spangled, the Human Tank! It’s quickly revealed that this comic was drawn by a young pre-super serum Steve Rogers aka Captain America. Upon reading it, Peter Parker gets it in his head that Captain America is a comic geek and, being as Peter is a geek himself, decides that he should get to know Cap better.

For the rest of the issue, Spider-Man hangs around Captain America like a gawking nerd trying to make a new friend, even going so far as to “call” Captain America as his partner during the attack on the Serpent Society’s hideout when the Avengers go after the source of the Sidewinder’s gas. In the end, Spider-Man has a touching scene with Captain America that will put a smile on any geek’s face.

The story is what I’ve come to expect from writer Zeb Wells. It’s got a lot of action but, more over than that, it’s a ton of fun to read! From the start of the ‘Avenging Spider-Man’ series, I commented on it being an updated ‘Marvel Team-Up’ and Wells has done a wonderful job so far in recreating that fun lets-put-Spidey-with-a-fellow-superhero-and-see-what-happens feel that I so enjoyed in the original Team-Up title. This issue and last issue with Hawkeye were wonderful examples of done-in-one issues with great humor and introductions to the various Avengers lineup. That makes this one of the titles that I find myself recommending to people just getting into Marvel Comics.

The art from Leinil Yu is great for this title. Yu bounces back and forth between the mundane fun of the Avengers sitting around the Mansion ribbing up Cap for drawing bad comics and the team taking down villains with ease. If there’s any qualms I have about the art, it’s that there are several panels where it seems like Yu was going out of his way to make Peter Parker look like Andrew Garfield (from the upcoming ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ movie) but it’s not overly distracting and it’s to be expected around movie release times in these books.

Verdict: Buy

AVENGING SPIDER-MAN #5
Written by ZEB WELLS
Art by LEINIL YU and GERRY ALANGUILAN
Cover by LEINIL YU