Dumb and Dumber
Writer: Nick Spencer
Art Team: Ryan Ottley, Cliff Rathburn, Laura Martin
Marvel Comics
Release Date: September 12, 2017
Cover Price: $3.99
The first arc of the Amazing Spider-Man comes to a close this issue, wrapping up the Spider-Man split in two story, and hopefully moving onto bigger and better things from here, because for the most part, this storyline was a dud. So let us see if there is any light at the end of the tunnel of this predictable conclusion.
Things start this issue with Peter coming clean to Mary Jane about what's been going on. Peter quickly realizes M.J. prefers when he takes on the dual roles, and the responsibility that comes with it, so he attempts to come up with a plan to gain access to the accelerator device again. The best plan Peter can come up with, being a dummy now, is speaking way too loudly in his kitchen so Boomerang overhears him, who then thinks it would be a good idea to steal it himself and sell for some quick cash. It's all a very sitcom-esque solution to Peter's current problem and this has been part of my continuing main beef with the series so far. Everything is treated as a joke, leading to the stories feeling like they have next to no stakes, and on top of that the constant barrage of 'jokes' are just flat awful. Very rarely do I find myself chuckling at any point in this title. I actually have eye rolled or cringed out of embarrassment for Nick Spencer after reading his jokes more than laughed at them five issues into this series. His humor is just way off the mark for this character, if you even want to call it humor at this point.
The rest of the story is Peter attempting to chase down Spider-Man trying to convince him to join back together, while he's running away from a Tri-Sentenial invasion continuing to avoid any responsibility. People were loving Spidey the last issue why again exactly? Eventually, Peter saves Spider-Man from being blown away, getting himself caught in the blast in the process. With Peter seemingly on death's door, and Spider-Man still not willing to accept any responsibility, a sneaky shot from a web shooter by Peter hits the accelerator, rejoining them in a moment that lingers on for entirely too long, and again is never funny while also not coming off heartfelt in any way either.
The issue ends with Mendel's plans for Tri-Sentinal domination put to rest by Spider-Man, who's able to hack into the signal of all of the robots at once. Mendel is also betrayed by the 'mystery voice' who he made a deal with the last issue, the same one haunting Mysterio from issue one, that we'll still have to wait to find out more about in the future. There is then a minor tease for the next villain who will be featured eventually from the teases at the beginning of the last couple issues. Obviously, if you have any sense of Spider-Man history it was fairly obvious who this was, so really no big surprise there, but they look great at least.
Overall, Amazing Spider-Man #5 is another mostly dud of an issue in a run that has been a huge let down thus far since Nick Spencer took over writing duties. All the story beats come to very very predictable conclusions, I saw coming several issues back, all while the awful jokes and overwritten dialogue continue to be a trend this series cant break. The only saving grace currently is Ryan Ottley's art, but that won't keep me buying this book forever, which for me is teetering very close to the edge of being dropped and revisited when creative teams change.
Bits and Pieces:
Amazing Spider-Man's first arc of the fresh start relaunch comes to a very predictable and tired close. Nick Spencer's by the numbers writing style and attempts at comedy this arc has really dragged this series down after a positive launch issue. With the only saving grace right now coming in form of art I'm not sure I'll be sticking with this childish version of the Amazing Spider-Man very much longer.
4.0/10
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