Amazing Spider-Man #33: Urgent!

I have to hand it to scribe Nick Spencer and editor of the Spider-books Nick Lowe, they really have their stuff together. I’m aware that the stories are planned out way ahead of time, but still, it’s awesome when multiple storylines that you’ve been following in different books all converge and hit one epic, colossal storyline beat. Or, as my all-time favorite fictional character would say “I love it when a plan comes together”.

This issue, we’ve got a few things going on. There’s Spider-Man 2099 being chased all over New York City by some kind of creatures that look like Frankenstein’s monster and a gorilla had a baby. To give him even more trouble, he’s lost something that he needs very much when he needs it really bad. Meanwhile, there’s also the follow-up to Silver Sable’s surprise appearance from last issue as Spidey & his sister Teresa’s fight with the Foreigner reached its climax and now there’s a ton of explaining to be done.  There are also a couple more threads going on that I’m not going to spoil. Somehow, with all this going on, Spencer is still able to fit in just enough hallmarks of Spidey to make this book great, but he never overcrowds it or throws things in just to have them there. Yeah, I’m talking about another guy who used to write Spider-Man. No, he’s not reading this and even if he was, he wouldn’t know I was talking about him. Back to this issue, it may seem like I’m kissing Spencer’s butt every two weeks, but I’m just really enjoying his work. I guess after years and years and years of Dan Slott, it’s nice to have a change of pace. One of the big things I really liked here is that this was written like a classic Marvel Comic. There were references to more than one stories going on in other Marvel books, which took me right back to reading comics from any time since the past 15 years when titles would actually acknowledge other books without it being a company-wide crossover. Again, great work by Nick Spencer.

I guess I should talk about Patrick Gleason’s art. Last month it was stunning because it was new to me. This month, I have to admit it was a little distracting. Seeing Spidey drawn in the style I’m used to seeing Superman, Batman and Green Lantern in was a bit strange this month. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not BAD-strange, just weird-strange. Like the first time you had a Reese’s Cup. You’re kind of amazed that chocolate and peanut butter could even BE in the same place, let alone taste so good. That set aside, it’s really nice seeing Gleason’s take on the Spider-Man family and the Marvel Universe in general. I don’t want him leaving this book anytime soon, but I am looking forward to the day when he draws a great big Avengers book or something else with a ton of Marvel characters in it.