The Amazing Spider-Man #25 Review

The Amazing Spider-Man #25

Writer: Dan Slott

Writing Teams (Back-up Stories): Christos Gage, Jacob Chabot, James Asmus, Hannah Blumenreich, Cale Atkinson, Dan Slott

Art Team: Stuart Immnonen, Wade von Grawbadger, Marte Gracia,

Art Teams (Back-up Stories): Todd Nauck, Rachelle Rosenberg, Ray-Anthony Height, Walden Wong, Jim Cambell, Tana Ford, Andres Mossa, Hannah Blumenreich, Jordan Gibson, Jordie Bellaire, Cale Atkinson, Giusepe Camuncoli, Cam Smith, Jason Keith

Marvel Comics

Release Date: March 15, 2017

Cover Price: $9.99

The Amazing Upcharge

Amazing Spider-Man is the latest in a line of “special” Marvel comics that have been blessed/cursed with a $9.99 price tag. Fair or not, when a book carries such a price, fan expectations tend to rise along with it.  However instead of using the 80 pages to truly give the reader something unique for the price tag, a giant story maybe, we often times get one slightly larger than usual story, a back-up or two, and then several throw away stories usually of varying quality.  So if you still care to know what this is all about lets swing inside and see what’s worth our time and what isn’t in this giant sized package shall we.  

 Things start off interesting enough with the first story a direct continuation from the Clone Conspiracy Omega issues ending.  We catch up with Spider-Man, who’s teaming up with Mockingbird, while following several leads on the hunt for Norman Osborne … whatever he may look like at this point in time.

Along this winding path, and following Spider-Man through his varies trials and tribulations he’s undertaking to hunt down Norman, we get glimpse of an assassin, with cloaking technology and some sick skills, seemingly only making things more difficult for Spidey along the way. Long time Spidey fans may be able to spot who this secret assassin is from a hinting silhouette throughout the panels. (I’ll save the spoiler until the end in case you don’t care to know for now.)

Eventually Spidey and Mockingbird work their way towards a gentlemen called the Warthog, who Spidey thinks is the latest disguise of Norman Osborne.  The heroes eventually hunt this ‘Warthog’ fellow down but it only leads to another giant dust-up, and although our good guys do eventually get the villain under control, their leads turn out to be mostly incorrect so far …. Or were they?!?! Hints seem to be pointing towards Spidey being at least partially correct on some of his ‘alternative facts’.

The story continues as Peter visits some of the various side characters he’s been intertwined with throughout this latest volume which include Aunt May, Harry Osborne or Lyman as he likes to go by now, and last but not least Betty Brant.  Peter even, at one point, pokes around the idea of possibly pursuing romantic interests with Bobbi Morse (Mockingbird).  It’s refreshing to me to take a timeout from the super heroics and Parker Industries stuff at times to catch up on the everyday life of Peter Parker, especially after the Clone Conspiracy event, which sidelined almost all this personal interaction.

The information trail eventually leads Spidey and Mockingbird to China in pursuit of Osborne.  However the long time super villain continues to evade his long-time nemesis by continuing to keep his appearance in a constant state of flux.  Eventually the moves everyone makes come to a head towards the conclusion of our first story as Spider-Man, Osborne, and the unnamed assassin all focus on the party of the night. Spidey at the last minute ends up preventing an attack only to later find out it’s the Silver Sable he’s stopped from taking a kill shot at Osborne. The issue concludes as Spider-Man looks on shocked, I assume since we don’t see his reaction only his word bubble, to find out once again someone he thought dead is starring him right in the face.

There are five other stories that vary in length and quality provided after the main course, so to speak.  The two that are the obvious highlights (the Christos Gage story & Slotts 2^nd story) touch on other continuity treats for anybody following Spider-Man and his adventures throughout the last year.  The other three feel completely added in to inflate the price of the issue and would have been better served if provided in some other capacity, like in a free comic book day issue for example or placed somewhere in an actual annual.   

Overall from this issue I enjoyed the extended look at what Dan Slott provided to where the Amazing Spider-Man comic is headed in the near future a lot.  However a large majority of the back-up stories included throughout the issue (except the ones penned by Gage and Slott) could have easily not been included here at all, and probably to the benefit of everyone involved. I for one have bought every Spider-Man issue in the last six or seven years and even had my trepidation

s about such an inflated price tag this week ... even with a light pull list.

The artists involved throughout the issue on all of the stories present all do an excellent job of portraying Spider-Man in different lights and capture the essence of the script their provided perfectly. However the show mostly belongs to Stuart Immnonen and his teammates who take the reins of the Amazing Spider-Man going forward. They did an ‘Amazing’ job off the jump and I can’t wait to continue to see what he can does going forward.  

Bits and Pieces

How much do you love Spider-Man, because Marvel sure is testing that love with a ten dollar price tag for issue twenty-five. Although there are stories to like within the pages of this extended issue only about half of them will truly please even the most hardcore Spidey lover.

6.5/10