I'm going to miss this run and you should too. It was unique, something that only a writer like Zeb could bring to the table and we always need to see our favorite heroes from new perspectives. Read Full Review

There's a lot to like in Amazing Spider-Man #60, so it's an easy recommendation for longtime fans. Not only does this issue serve as the bridge to the next era, or at least the interim era before the next era, but it also captures different corners of Spider-Man's life well. Read Full Review

The Marvel standard of "putting the toys back in the box" sometimes works against the narrative, making for some awkward moments, despite some really incredible art. Read Full Review

Romita Jr. delivers some good art for the story. There isnt a lot happening within it except for the Sandman fight, but the visuals work for the story itself. Read Full Review

Amazing Spider-Man #60 ends the series and Zeb Wells's tenure the only way it could, by accomplishing nothing and proving that all sixty issues were a waste of time and money. If you throw out Wells's run, you won't remember it as anything more than a bad dream, and your appreciation of comics will only improve. Goodbye, Zeb Wells. You won't be missed. Read Full Review

The main story was well written, well drawn (he keeps this up, JRJR is going to convert me into a minor fan, after decades of HATING his art) and a good ending to the run. Tombstone getting off was a frustrating, but expected, outcome that serves the purposes of the story well. Usually when I grab a thick book like this one, I know I'm not going to like most of what happens after the main story is over and usually I skip them after skimming to confirm my expectation. Happily, that wasn't the case this time. I actually enjoyed all of the mini stories. The Wolverine and Rek-Rap stories were my favorites, but all of them were good and worthwhile character insights into Spiderman. I'm not much of a Spiderman fan, but I'll probably give Joe Kelly's run a shot too, he's an incredible writer. more

Issue was enjoyable enough. I like the ending to the main story, that convo with May. Figured Tombstone was either going to get off or confess. Mays presence was i think definitely missed this run. He handled Sandman pretty handily which is good.

The Jackpot story was just kinda there. But the moment between him and MJ was nice.

Im not a Ben Reilly die hard so I'm not very bothered by Chasm existing. I enjoyed the short dialogue between them but felt like they trased some growth for Ben but then didn't really commit. Itd be interesting to see him actually move on from what he's lost. Maybe they see Ben is supposed to be a lot of stand ins for many spodey readers and thats the angle they are going with? Time will tell.

The rek rap story was just there. Great art as usual and the editors note gag was fun.

I really liked the art in the last sorry and Peter beating Overdrive in the doom bit, working out a high level machine. I'll give the story a shot.

After everything I still love how Zeb writes Peter as a character. The Wolverine story was a great insight into it. I can root for Zeb wells Peter very easily. Hes a good, decent guy. Ill miss that overall, but I think a new writer is welcome too.
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I’d give this a higher score if it wasn’t an $8 comic with a whole bunch of short stories to round out the back. I did appreciate that it was the same writer and some of them tied together, but the extra money books with multiple stories rarely sit well with me.

The main story turned the entire previous arc into a nothing burger. The section with aunt May later was nice, but all the Tombstone court stuff means nothing now. Other than being genuinely disappointed with how the story worked, this was some of Wells better work on ASM. It seems like he’s been able to run free some in the later issues and before in the behind book, and that’s when he was at his best.

As a whole run goes, I think this was a failure. I like Zeb Wells as a writer, but this whole run was just not for me. I still think the creation of Jackpot shows Wells/Lowe don’t understand what makes MJ special as a character. I don’t care for Rek-Rap, of the Miles equivalent for that matter. And I’m not going to get started on MJ and the guy who I honestly cannot remember the name of that she’s with now.

There was a letter in the back where someone wrote in basically calling out Lowe on how stagnant ASM has been as a whole, and I agreed with damn near every word. Thank you Dapper Dan from MD, I hope somehow you see this.

I’d say I’m looking forward to the fresh start, but I honestly don’t know. If I wasn’t trying to collect the entirety of the run I would’ve dropped this 50 issues ago. more

This is most definitely on the anticlimactic side, not even like the ending to Immortal Iron Fist for example was anticlimactic, where the anticlimactic was the contrast to a run with was full of big moments. This just feels like a Saturday afternoon type of issue, not even in this charming type of way in the way that it does not manage to tie the web of themes of run. but it does deliver you the essence with it being so disjointed, reflecting the different story of it, constating where all the characters from it are clearly. it just kinda gives you the worst version of it all. but as far as the main story goes It's just another issue with a little more appreciation towards Peter.

But I get it, this run as a whole was kinda Mickey Mouse/Donald Duck type of pulpy, it was not concise at all, disjointed, chaotic for a big chunk of it, overly long,, had a lot of inconsequential side sto,ries, and for the most part sort of directionless without much moving done, like kinda being in a limbo of sorts(at least for the most part). Still, there is a lot I enjoy and as a whole, I don't really mind it and honestly, I kinda enjoy those elements of it. There were also some high moments. But i mean the whole run is tainted like i truly believe that the backlash played a huge role in the whole way we all experienced it, it probably played a part of how it was being written too. I do get some of it, but largely i don't think it was all that justified and honestly i think the run got worse because of it, because it never really managed to truly take the best of the situations it created, because those situations were so very much hated( looking at you relationship with black cat). So a lot of my complains of being safe and being a limbo is kinda related to this i think. But i again we could never know for sure. Just a lot of the answers this run gave me personally, did not saddisfy me and came too abruptly.

Back to this issue, for starters, i like how it starts with the duality between Peter and Spider-man and just uses the idea of how useless spiderman could be as an antithesis with Tombstone saying that Spider-man won, just that his winning does not matter when it comes to the world. Then we get the moment between Spidey and May in which May says to him, that Spidey hurts Peter's life, which moves this antithesis even further. So all those ideas are pretty old,they are not presented in any creative way, they could be applied to this run, but honestly not much more than they could be applied to any other Spider-Man run IMO, but the framing is good. It's a little bit on the nose tho, honestly, the whole issue is, there is really not much beyond the surface of the dialogue. Sadly this idea does not go to any interesting places and kinda ends up rushed on a very predictable place. I don't think Pete should have told May about being Spider-Man, because this would have been even worse, especially since May here was inserted here so abruptly and her dialogue was very wooden. This is why i say this issue lacks charm because the relationship between pete and may feels very stilted, especially because of JR jr is so easy to compare to JMS's run.

The other stories while varied in tone were really not necessary again, they just clear the air really. There is not much for me to appreciate with them for sure, because they serve a pretty straight forward purpose without doing anything much outside of delivering just this in a form of story.

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Certainly the best thing about Wells's finale is the same thing as what was best about his run: the small character moments, like Tombstone's chat with Peter outside the courthouse that emphasizes the weaknesses of being a good man in a bad world. But the worst thing is what was worst about his run: the general lack of direction. The scenes with May are touching and well-wrought and could be a great capstone to a run that focused heavily on Aunt May — except that this isn't that run, it's been over a year since she's shown up in the pages of this book at all and she was hardly a regular before that.

Ultimately, Wells & JRJR simply tried to do more than they could handle with this series, and Nick Lowe failed to exercise the editorial wisdom to force them to kill a few darlings and focus their attention on the best stuff — with the result being a tangle of characters, plots and subplots that appear and disappear at random, rarely getting any meaningful resolution. As everyone else has already mentioned, most of the plots end in no identifiable change to the characters or their place in the world, with the only real movement forward in this issue is for Aunt May, a character who's barely been in the book. [EDIT: Also I misunderstood the ending and it doesn't even really move May forward, so I'm not sure why we're doing this story for a finale at all now.]

I won't damn this run outright. I think hate-reading comics is a waste of your one wild and precious life, and that reading a favorite character out of addiction alone is no better, so if I thought this run was irredeemable I'd have walked away long ago. I read it to the end because it kept drawing me back in every time I gave up on it, it was full of promise in its best moments: the Judgment Day and Blood Hunt issues or the best parts of the Tombstone plot, for instance. I absolutely believe there was a great run in there somewhere, if only they could have focused on it.

(As regards the prelude to 8 Deaths, obviously I can't judge a run on a three-page teaser but my first impression is that I'm going to have the opposite problem with the art that I had with this run: while JRJR's unreliable pencils were beautifully propped up by Menyz's gorgeous color work, it looks like next Mark Buckingham's wonderful draftsmanship will be muddied by murky-yet-overlit coloring that looks like it rose from the grave of the early oughts.) more

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Psycamorean - Oct 30, 2024

That Aunt May segment really rubbed me the wrong way. It felt like everything was leading to Peter telling May he's Spider-Man, and then it just never happens. In my mind, that piece of character development and growth would've justified just how quickly the Tombstone stuff wrapped up. Instead, we just get something fundamentally uninteresting, a complete lack of change.

Psycamorean - Oct 30, 2024

Oh, and it hasn't been announced anywhere yet, but I've heard through the grapevine that Buckingham will be picking up with Kelly post-8 Deaths.Maybe they'll have figured out the coloring by then.

KittyNone - Oct 30, 2024

Oof, I had misread it and thought the ending was her putting the pieces together and realizing he's Spider-Man. Now that I see that it doesn't even give us that, that takes my opinion down considerably. And I hope that's true! I am definitely excited for Kelly/Buckingham

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Part of me liked some of the things we got, another part of me was absolutely frustrated at the end of this read. It just felt like it ended with a dud. Can't wait to move on.

Womp womp. There is something fitting with this being my 1000th review. The wet fart of an ending to Wells' run leads into giving me more reason to review another thousand. Hopefully some stronger Spider-Man runs.

It's as acceptable as the rest of run I guess.

This issue bothers me.

I don't hate this run. I don't fundamentally dislike the plot points, either. I just wanted something more from this conclusion. The scene where Tombstone talks to Peter is great by itself. How quickly the entire plotline wrapped up is so odd to me. We just got two issues of a giant fight. Where is the editor?? I read Wells' letter in the back, and he claims that Nick Lowe was there for him constantly, and I just don't see it on the page. Editing mistakes are rampant in Lowe's tenure, and that's one thing. Fix it in the trade (As someone with the trades, they don't). I can abide by bad lettering and color mismatches. I can't abide by the fundamentals, as I see them, being thrown out or disregarded. Pacing is important, especially in this medium. You have to do a juggling act of making each issue satisfying on its own and as part of a larger arc. Lowe sometimes fails to do either. It's baffling. The plot line for an arc should justify its length. If you have to stretch it out with filler content, like a giant fight, maybe lower the issue count. If you are scrambling to exposit-vomit at the end of a book, maybe give it an extra issue. This arc and the final arc of Spencer's run are like complete opposites, it's insane. This arc is barely able to fill its pages, apparently, while hurrying through what plot it has, while that last Spencer arc spent every. single. page. trying to explain the cacophonous nightmare of retcons upon retcons. Where is the editor?? The same guy was ultimately in charge of producing both of these things and the only similarity is the rough, amateur pacing and structure. Nick Lowe is a senior editor. He should do better. I don't see this sort of roughness from editors until they're unceremoniously ripped from their books like Jordan White on X-Men, but Nick Lowe has sewn himself into the Spider-Man tapestry at this point, so what's the fucking deal?

I have other issues.

The Aunt May segment is almost good. The characterizations are there. Wells is competent. But for the love of god, would it have killed them to just have Peter tell her his identity? Every single moment felt as though it was leading there, only to have them pull back in the end. I just want to see real growth from these characters. Technically, Aunt May was worried and upset at Peter at the start of the run and now she's accepted him. Cool. That's technical growth. I'm real happy Pete gets to live in his lies more comfortably now. Whatever.

The Rek-Rap segment. I have nothing to say aside from this: Where is Gog? I don't recall Peter ever setting him free or giving him away. Gog is Peter's actual pet still? We haven't seen him since Spencer's run though. Where has he been all this time? Did Nick Lowe forget about Gog? That's much more interesting than keeping Rek-Rap in play.

The MJ segment was good. Again, Wells is a good writer. He's good with characters. As someone who is an adult, who has had relationships sour and change and morph, I found a lot of MJ and Peter's friendshipping here relatable. People grow and change, and it's really odd to say that here but it does work. Maybe now that MJ has explicitly told Peter thank you, those weirdos online will stop calling for people's heads. I doubt it though.

The Chasm story is meaningless to me. I don't really care that Ben was changed, or that he's a villain now. Maybe he'll show up and do something interesting next time.

The tease for Joe Kelly's run was mostly good. As noted in KittyNone's review, the coloring could use a lot of work. However, from the writing side of things, I actually really enjoyed Peter's monologue and how it showcased Peter's capability, something writers will often ignore or forget about. I like when Pete is treated like the science geek he is. I really didn't like his story in issue 50, but if Kelly is giving us something more like this with 8 Deaths, I'm glad for it. more

Was it the worst Spider-Man arc? Probably not. Gang War was cool and I like Romita. But it will likely remain the one with the most poor choices, mischaracterizations, and gave us Paul—one of the most hated Marvel characters in recent years, which, in a way, is quite an achievement.

It's fitting that for a run that has been mixed for me ends with a book that is mixed for me. It's better than that garbage fire ending that Spencer made, but... yeah it's not that good either.

But must say, for a final arc that from start was all about loose ends, it did leave nothing but loose ends.

The resolution to Tombstone was very poor for me. It's basically the same ending as Gang War, except he is not as angry to Spider-Man anymore. Janice is gone, Tombstone is still Kingpin and the only change to his operation was losing White Rabbit. So... felt bit like a waste?

May's role here feels random. We haven't seen her in pages of ASM in over a year, so it was just odd. It was nice, and a nice symmetry to WWL, but it feels like a resolution to a story that we never read. May wasn't really a character here, so the sudden focus on her feels odd.

Jackpot as an idea still doesn't work for me. Them being fine with each other would work very well, if their breakup was more natural. But since they wanted to break them without any argument, bad feelings, still caring for each other but also having a reason not to be together, it just doesn't work. This whole setting doesn't work for me.

I'm glad Shay isn't ditched.

And Chasm was a huge headache. It's the same ending basically as Beyond. All the stories between DW and this were just lies? I get, supervillain lying? Unheard of. But like why do all this? I don't think anyone cares for Dark Web 2. And what was the point of that mini-arc between #47-48?

Rek-Rap was nice. Same as Bubs and art in all stories. But overall, it's really hard to say this landed in any capacity for me. It's hard to recommend Wells' run in any way because there aren't really any good changes for Peter in hindsight, only bad ones, stuff that doesn't stick, or just forced changes that are reverted.

I hope Shay stays. more

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daspidaboy - Oct 30, 2024 (edited)

people may be annoyed or hating this run because of the whole Paul Mary Jane debacle. But I like to look at this fairly. If I were to describe this run, it will be a waste of time. If you end a run, at least have it be satisfying and tie up loose ends. This story could have been deleted and ended at Gang War, and nothing would have changed a thing. I wonder which run is worse, Nick Spencer or Zeb wells.

DDJamesB - Oct 30, 2024

Zeb Wells was overall worse I think. Spencer at least had some arcs that were entertaining, I feel like most of this run was pretty uneventful.

Afre - Oct 30, 2024

Spencer was clearly worse. You can't enjoy that run without mention of Kindred who is one of the worst and most convoluted characters ever introduced in world of Spider-Man. The conclusion is a trash fire with worst artwork and editing I've ever seen. Plot points were introduced and then forgotten. Peter's life is only being Spider-Man halfway point. MJ just disappears.

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I am probably going to get a lot of hate for this, but I think this ending was just as bad, if not worse than Nick Spencer's Spider-Man run. This run for me feels like watching the atrocious Joker sequel to me where its a big punchline.

We think there will be a satisfying conclusion to the Tombstone story, it wasn't. Literally nothing happens, Tombstone doesn't get punished. He literally wins while Spider-Man suffers. The only thing that does improve is Aunt May accepting Peter Parker has to ask for Spider-Man for help, which makes him be in danger. At the end, Aunt May and Peter are close again... but again it was not built up.

Chasm is evil again, which makes the Winkler arc uselses, the art is generally ugly, the only thing I like was the Wolverine story. I do not care if Peter Parker and Mary Jane are never getting back together. I think as long as Nick Lowe and the Marvel Editorial are around, it's never going to happen. But there has to be a good and engaging story for this, and it sucks seeing Ultimate Spider-Man and other series get good satisfying character writing but not Main Earth 616 Peter Parker.

Overall, for real. I am done with this series. I have gone to accept that this series is not for me, and I am never going to be reading this series again. I only read the last arc just for me to actually critique it fairly to the best of my ability and not be a mindless hater. I felt that this series was bad because Spider-Man loses a lot, inconsistent art, the bad writing/story, and the action leaves to be desired. Even if Joe Kelly will do well in Spider-Man series, I probably wont read it. I hope people have fun and enjoy this series. more

Uff! So long Wells, you will NOT be missed, I wished you could take Paul with you!! And this run is 10x worse than Nick Spencer's, at least Nick had the balls to put Pete and MJ together.