Amazing Spider-Man #5 Comic Book Review

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The most recent issue of Dan Slott’s return to Amazing Spider-Man serves as a “payout” for readers’ having had to read through the previous three issues of plot build-up. In this issue, we begin to explore the hyper-sexualized relationship between Peter Parker and recently introduced Cindy Moon (A.K.A. Silk), and watch as Black Cat and Electro finally team up against Spidey.

The last several issues have surrounded Black Cat’s anger in regard to Superior Spider-Man’s actions and how she crawled into the depths of the crime underworld to make new connections, but upon reading this issue, I’m starting to wonder if it was all for naught. Sure, the brawl between Black Cat, Spider-Man, Electro, and Silk is pretty satisfying in a somewhat shallow, ooh-look-at-all-the-colors kind of way, but overall, the entire issue seems rushed and half-heartedly conceived.

While, there are a few noteworthy scenes in this issue, including a really awkward encounter between Cindy Moon and “Doc Ock” Peter’s ex-girlfriend, Anna Maria Marconi, at the end of the day, the entire issue simply adds more wood to the fire that Slott is supposedly igniting to prepare for the Spider-Verse event.

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Now, if I were a betting man, I’d say that this hurried feeling is most likely due to Slott’s attempting to cover as many bases as he can before entering into the Spider-Verse, as dates for the event have already been laid out. On one hand, I respect that: He’s probably trying really hard to stitch every potential plot hole before the spotlight really shines on his series for a few months. Unfortunately, I don’t think I can get behind his sacrificing current story and plot for prospective awesomeness, because even if the Spider-Verse is a great storyline, great storylines don’t mean much once a character has lost all of his or her fan-base’s attention.

After the pseudo-completion of the Superior Spider-Man and reintroduction of Amazing Spider-Man #1, the intended goal of this run was, to some degree, to bring in new Spider-Man readers: There is certainly no better time to start reading a new series than when the first issue of that series is introduced. However, if I were a new reader, and these were the first five parts to which I were introduced, I don’t know that I would keep going back. The main problem is not necessarily that the plot is bad, simply that it feels as if the sense of wonder if gone from it.

I was a huge fan of Superior Spider-Man, mostly because I wondered with him: When I finished an issue of that series, my thoughts would weave in and out of all of the possible outcomes for what I had just observed. At this point in the series, Amazing Spider-Man does not leave me with that kind of open-minded intrigue; rather, I’m watching Peter Parker charmingly stumble through the social debris that Doc Ock left behind, and I know that everything will be okay. Whereas knowledge of such a thing is hopeful and fulfilling in real life, in fiction, that feeling leads to a kind of apathy, as there’s no point in reading about the trip if the destination is always going to be the same.

While Amazing Spider-Man is not perfect, it does offer many trademarked Spidey-isms: For example, there were a couple moments when I laughed out loud at his jokes, and Black Cat’s dialogue is top-notch. I’m only slightly exaggerating when I say I wouldn’t have been surprised if some of her statements had been pulled directly out of a pun-tastic Austin Powers flick.

Artistically, Ramos nails it with his genuinely unique style that generates the perfect blend of a 90’s campy MTV cartoon and a live action drama.

Bottom line: Dan Slott is a great writer, and I/you should be willing to push through this rough patch in his storytelling. I presume he’s got a lot on his plate right now, and once the Spider-Verse event occurs, he’ll have gotten through all of the chaos that is Peter Parker’s current life.

Rating: 6.9/10

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