The Avenging Spider-Man series has basically been the modern day take on the classic Marvel Team Up series

with Spider-Man. Each issue has been Spider-Man working with others to take down a common or powerful foe and this follows the same formula but is done with an interesting new twist.

What kind of chaos could be causing Wolverine’s group of X-Men to feel that they have to come to New York? How about a classic giant sized monster attack on the city in the form of a 30 foot spider? Still not enough to get the X-Men involved you’d say? Well what if this spider just also happened to be a mutant somehow. Now it becomes clear why they show up and ask Spider-Man to step aside while they deal with it.

Doc Ock is still behind the wheel of Pater Parker’s body and for the first time ever he has an encounter with the X-Men. Being able to access all of Parker’s old memories will allow for him to easily pass as Spider-Man while working with them. Well you would think that if it weren’t for the Doctor’s own ego as always getting in his way. Before he actually starts talking to them though they give a very interesting look on how he measures up each of the mutants from what he knows about them.

So yes they team up against a giant 30 foot spider that is also a mutant. Through some interesting mixtures of powers and scientific knowledge they are able to knock it unconscious and save the city in the process.

Some of the interaction between Spider-Man and the X-Men almost feels natural, some is completely out of place. One example fits this when Spider-Man and Wolverine get into a bit of a fight. While they’ve always verbally abused one another, it’s never been quite as physical as this one since when Wolverine first showed up. It was very out of character though after it ended he was able to talk his way out of it in a very Parker styled fashion.

The artwork for the city was extremely well done though I felt that the giant Spider was such in the distance in most shots that it didn’t do it justice. Even when fighting the Spider there never felt to be a real sense of urgency in the fight. Visually the fight between Spider-Man and Wolverine stood out as the highlight of the book. Yes, everyone wants to pit the Marvel heavy weights against one another but we had a giant spider in this issue that felt extremely overlooked!

Without giving to much away, I have a feeling we’re going to never get an answer to what exactly happens to this girl we quickly find out where she’s from. She’s a clone. A clone brought forth by a certain Spider-Man villain who has expanded his laboratory from finding a certain X-Men’s villain’s stash. While we will probably not hear again what happens when the woman this is clearly going to be an upcoming plotline in the Superior Spider-Man’s near future.

Writer: Christopher Yost
Penciler: Paco Medina
Cover Artist: Paolo Rivera