At this year’s New York Comic Con, Marvel editor Tom Brennan announced that the Amazing Spider-Man would be returning to the pages of Marvel Comics! While the real Peter Parker is still dead, fans clamoring for the return of the original web-slinger should be appeased by the brand new stories featuring the hero in ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ #700.1-#700.5.

Earlier this month, we got the first part of the first story featuring Parker’s return. During the biggest storm New York has ever seen, the city is at a standstill. Yet, as it tends to do, danger ever lingers and calls to Spider-Man to save the day. However, just like most of the citizens, Peter is worried about getting home to his family to make sure that Aunt May is safe.

This week, we saw the conclusion of this story in ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ #700.2. While venturing out to Forrest Hills, Peter encounters a series of disasters that he contemplates skipping in order to get to Aunt May faster. But of course, being the hero that he is, he has a little trouble doing that.

First of all, I was under the impression that each new issue featuring the Amazing Spider-Man would be a self-contained story from Peter Parker’s past. That’s what I got out of the news, but I guess I was wrong considering that this story has taken up two issues.

Second of all, this story did not need to take up two issues! I understand the desire to show as much of legendary artist Klaus Janson as possible, but #700.2 could have happened over the course of a couple of pages as opposed to an entire issue. It was simply unnecessary, and because of all the extra space, there was some weird stuff going on here. For instance, while Peter was making his way to Aunt May’s house, he was hallucinating and imagined that some of his greatest villains were throwing snowballs at him. Really? REALLY?! I wonder what Janson thought when he had to draw this battle. This had to be the one of the weirdest sequences to come across his desk.

Now, don’t get me wrong. The story was cute. I was into the whole man vs. nature plot and Peter caring so much about Aunt May, but the whole thing was dragged out entirely too much. This story felt like it could have been one of those supplementary stories that some titles put at the end book as an extra treat or something. But instead, David Morrell was just given too much room to play in so he pulled a George R.R. Martin and described every little thing that was happening and it all appeared on the page.

Overall, these two issues reminded me of college when I had a certain number of pages to write for my scripts so I’d be extra descriptive in my stage directions so that I’d meet the page count and appease my professor. This didn’t happen a whole lot, but it totally happened from time to time. But the worst part about this is that we’re not getting five all-new stories with Peter Parker in the Marvel Universe again. We’re probably only getting 2 or 3 and that is a huge bummer. I love ‘Superior Spider-Man’, but sometimes I miss the original and in the book that was supposed to give him to me, I’m being deprived of him.

Oh well. ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ #700.3 also came out this week. Hopefully it’s better than this.

Final Score:

atoms_1.5

 
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #700.2
Written by David Morrell
Art by Klaus Janson & Steve Buccellatto
Cover by Pasqual Ferry & Lee Loughridge