Amazing Spider-Man #28: Aftermath

Some of the best eras of Spider-Man are those that were able to back up their craziest stories with small, day-in-the-life moments. Those eras often had a satellite title in which those stories were able to run freely alongside the core events in The Amazing Spider-Man. We don’t have that luxury these days, so when an issue like ASM #28 comes around, it’s important to cherish it for how intimate, light, and impactful it is without having to be the next biggest thing.

Lying in the ruins of Torment’s onslaught, Peter finds himself running through an average day, tying up loose ends that have been around since Joe Kelly’s first story with the character in this new era, Eight Deaths of Spider-Man. His main responsibility here is to close the time loop he established in that story to defeat the Scions of Cyttorak, but he is derailed by constant interruptions that range from fun villain fights, to the aftermath of Ben Reilly’s time at Rand Enterprises, to his new relationships with his cosmic teammates from his time in space.

It was a treat to see him handle all of these different interruptions with grace, accepting his successes and failures as they arrive, closing out leftover questions before barreling forward toward the title’s one-thousandth issue. His character, and the relationships he has with others, take center stage in a way that is pretty endearing. The banter with lesser-tier villains, the Fantastic Four, and the mysterious Kintsugi effortlessly frames his ability to get backup and keep moving forward as such a central part of the character in this run that it becomes joyous for him to enjoy the good in his life, even as other parts of it are crumbling.

That balance is very important to keeping this hero, whose bedrock is relatability, someone anyone can see themselves in. Being suspended from Rand and knowing his (current) best friend is laid up in the hospital as a result of that clearly haunt Peter, but he still manages to find solace in the future always being brighter. Even as he closes the time loop, inspiring his past self to keep fighting forward, he laments the struggle to keep himself together, only to find a way forward and step toward a future that seems brighter. It’s the inspiring breakthrough at rock bottom that has allowed this character to remain one of Marvel’s best over the last six decades, and this issue was one of those that reminded me why I love Spider-Man.

On top of that, the art was fantastic. Cory Smith and Francesco Manna deliver an issue that never lets up artistically, feeling just as frantic as Peter does while managing to keep the momentum up in the scenes focused on dialogue. It’s not just pretty images with dazzling colors, but a great example of how to pace out a superhero story visually that isn’t hooking the reader with spectacle alone. Yes, the pages where Peter dukes it out with a couple of C-tier villains are pure eye candy, but the compositions, layouts, and panel flow are where the real visual meat of this issue lies.