ICYMI! The Amazing Spider-Man #29: Fungi Fiasco

Since Death Spiral ended, The Amazing Spider-Man title has slowly rebounded off the back of Torment’s murderous rampage, taking its time to push Peter back into a more street-level direction after twenty issues of experimental plotting that took the character out of his friendly neighborhood, launching him deep into space. Issue #29 is a solid return to form for the title, taking its time to continue meticulously building out Peter’s life in the wake of his disappearance, the consequences rearing their heads in deeply personal ways.

From the rip, Pete Woods is the star of this show. His visuals are unlike anything we’ve graced the pages of this title with, which has relied on legacy acts and major heavy hitters for nearly a decade now. Not unlike Michael Dowling’s work on the title, Woods shocks new life into the character with a visual identity that is inherently fresh, yet still takes the time to capture the iconography of Spider-Man we’ve all come to love. His compositions lack any sense of repetition, but maintain a sense of consistency as we descend further into chaos at the hands of Spore, the new villain introduced in the pages of this issue. Staple onto it some creative perspective work within the panels, and the visual language of the title has changed for the better. Now, he is only on the title for a few issues, but the work here was so effective that I was left hungry and hoping for Woods to illustrate more of this character’s world in the future.

Kelly’s script matches this renewed sense of energy quite well, moving at a brisk yet dense pace that packs a lot of punch and builds upon storylines that have been brewing under the table for quite some time. Peter is still chasing an evolution in his strength, the scars of Hellgate still pushing him in small ways to continue elevating his abilities as a superhuman, while his responsibilities as Peter Parker continue to fall by the wayside. Brian’s development into Spore is reflective of this, but we see it in small ways too. He’s seemingly unaffected by the fact that his core supporting cast lacks time for him, turning to the likes of Daredevil to spend time with in a less-than-social manner.

As for Brian, his villainous debut is pretty dang engaging. Woods brings a horror-adjacent inspiration to the visual language of a man who’s been replaced by a sentient fungus, both mentally and physically. His connection to Peter makes him a threat in a manner more tense than most villains have been throughout this run, building a new theme of antagonists that are more enemies of Peter Parker than they are of Spider-Man. It’s an interesting flip on the idea of “Spider-Man’s enemies hurting Peter’s life,” especially seeing Peter retreat more into his superhero identity in a way that is mostly played for high-octane thrills, but carries with it the thematic weight of something that could grow emotionally heavy as the run continues.