Amazing Spider-Man #41: In a Loop

A brand new story starts this issue, and if the first chapter is any clue to what the rest of the arc is going to be like, then I’ll go on record as saying that’s it’s going to be one of my favorites. Simply put, it’s Boomerang and Spider-Man against a ton of bad guys. The team-up of heroes is really awesome, but it’s gonna take me a while to get used to Spider-Man being the straight man in any team. To the surprise of absolutely nobody, Spencer’s Boomerang is fantastic. Sleazy, greedy, bordering on used car salesman, and yet somehow lovable and helpful. The dynamic between him and Spidey is great, but for most of the issue Spidey kind of comes off as the grumpy old guy in this, and I think that’s way too out of character for him. The other stuff is pretty great also. The story is really interesting and I think it’s fantastic how Spencer is able to take relics from Spider-Man stories past and use them today without having them seem the least bit rehashed or tired and the same goes with his rogue’s gallery. Truly everything old is new again when it comes to this book.

And we get Ryan Ottley back on art, which is always a treat. Listen, I don’t want to come off as rude, but if I have ONE complaint about the art of Amazing Spider-Man is that it’s at most two issues in a row by the same artist. Maybe three in some cases. I think a lot of people don’t give artists enough credit as far as monthly comics go. Why do you think that there are countless print runs of books that collects a particular artist’s run on a book? It’s because consistency still matters when it comes to comics. Sorry about that, my point is that Ottely’s art is phenomenal and I can’t wait for him to do more issues.