Amazing Spider-Man #27: Seeing Red

Having reviewed most of Death Spiral throughout its run, I’ve found myself more conflicted than anything about this crossover. It has swung pretty high on spectacle, delivering issue after issue of fantastic action and entertaining character dynamics, whilst struggling to make its more intimate character moments hit. As soon as the team began knocking on the door of something emotionally resonant, it seems that their priorities shifted either into comedy or pulse-pounding action. As a result, many of its more interesting story threads have been left brewing on the back burner, waiting for their moment to come together and shine.

As a finale, The Amazing Spider-Man #27 doesn’t quite make good on the conflicts it had set up all of nine issues ago. For a story this long, it’s quite disappointing that it couldn’t bring itself together in the end with anything all that conclusive. Torment still remains a mystery, Peter and MJ’s relationship saw no real development with its conflict, and Carnage continues to live on as a threat in the current world of Spider-Man. Yes, there are multiple epilogue issues coming out for this story following its conclusion, but the core of any comic book narrative should be able to be emotionally satisfying all on its own.

That being said, the bombastic events of this issue stand tall on their own. There are some excellent developments for MJ that promise a darker, more psychologically fraught direction for her and Venom, given where Torment drove them towards the book’s end. Peter takes on Carnage in a game of willpower that was pretty satisfying to see play out, and it subverts many of the reactionary cries online when the cover for this issue was first solicited. Eddie, who had the most compelling arc in the first half of this crossover, gets a great hero moment that (hopefully) leads him down a new path of redemption.

The first half of the issue, which is primarily focused on Peter, is illustrated by Ed McGuinness. His work on this title continues to be great, with his paneling and shot composition elevating the big moment of triumph in this issue to heights the script alone wouldn’t have been able to reach. The latter half of the book is illustrated by Carlos Gomez and Francesco Manna, which focuses on MJ’s confrontation with Torment and the moments after his threat is dealt with. This is good placement for his pencils, as his static style lends itself more to dialogue-focused moments than the tight-quarters combat of the issue’s first half. The whole thing wraps up with a single, unaccredited page that hints at further familial drama for Peter and the introduction of a new cousin, Mr. Crane.

There is a lot of promise in this ending to “spiral” out into some new storytelling directions for all the characters involved. I am very excited for the future of these books, even if this story didn’t quite nail its pacing or its emotional arcs all that well. This is a necessary piece of the journey towards ASM #1000, which comes out later this year.