Amazing Spider-Man #10 Review
Amazing Spider-Man #10, written by Dan Slott, with cover illustration by Olivier Coipel, is an action-packed continuation of the Spider-Verse storyline. But before you dive into reading the story any further, there are a few things you should know!
Relatively Spoiler-Free Review
So, let me start by saying that I’ve pretty thoroughly enjoyed the overall Spider-Verse storyline. Dan Slott and his colleagues have done an excellent job of orchestrating the main and peripheral series so that readers have had both a filling, dynamic reading experience and time to digest all of the information that has been presented to us (and there’s been a lot). While this statement is still true for Amazing Spider-Man #10, this issue was the first time reading the Spider-Verse that I had a few “wait, what?” head-scratching moments.
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For example, throughout all of the Edge of the Spider-Verse storyline, we watched as The Superior Spider-Man (Doc Ock) supposedly sent different teams of Spider-People to collect even more recruits for his Superior Spider Army. A few issues ago, we were also introduced to the Safe Zone where Cosmic Spider-Man has provided all of the newly assembled team a place for rest or retreat. This issue, however, kind of turns the way that I think we were supposed to understand what was happening on its head, because the Cosmic Spider-Man team and Superior Spider-Man team are actually two separate groups of Spider-People who been competing in their gathering members. Admittedly, this might be my looking too deeply into the plot, but it seems a little odd to me that, even by coincidence, neither of these teams would have encountered one another in attempting to save and recruit new Spider-People.
There is also the matter of The Inheritors, “immortals” (the quotes will make sense in a minute) who are hunting down the Spider-People to devour them. So far, there’s been a good pace in the gradual offering of information on them, which has really aided in building the tension that Slott wants in the comic universe. In Amazing Spider-Man #10, not only do we find out that these immortals can actually be killed, but that when they are, they can make random clones of themselves. Normally that wouldn’t bother me too much (it’s a Spider-Man comic, after all; OF COURSE there are going to be clones), but the way in which this information is presented is really clunky. In reading it, I thrown off the page so much by the wonky choreography of the scene that I had to go back and reread several pages of the issue, which is never a good thing in narrative.
In the grand scheme of things, these are pretty minor quandaries, especially considering how well the rest of the storyline has been presented to us. The Spider-Verse truly has been a joy and will likely go down as an incredibly important Spider-Event in the general lore: I mostly mention these details in the hopes that by reading this review, I can save you any trouble.
I feel like this is a good place to add that if, by chance, you haven’t started reading any of the Spider-Verse because there is just so much to it, you can totally get by just reading the main Spider-Verse storyline in the Amazing Spider-Man series. If you are feeling a little bit lost, however, it might be helpful to pick up some of the peripheral stuff like Spider-Verse Team-up, Scarlet Spiders, or Spider-Woman.
From an illustration standpoint, apart from a couple of confusing fight scenes, the comic takes on a little bit of a darker, mature tone than the generally cartoony style that Spider-Man has had in recent years. This shift in tone really supports the direction the storytelling is taking, and shows that the illustrative team is on the ball and really in discussion with the plot itself.
Overall, I give Amazing Spider-Man #10 an 9/10 for continued excellence in storytelling, while still acknowledging the occasional inclusion of clunky background info.