It is what it is. Good moments for the characters lost in sea of a directionless mess where Peter Parker and Spider-Man go nowhere and Chasm is back to the same BS he was in earlier. One dumb decision after another. Nick Lowe failed to guide or direct Zeb Wells here and to shove that Ms. Marvel stupid death while explaining that dumb Paul debacle through a painful arc to read was just idiotic. Nobody is allowed to advance. We're in a circular game board where sometimes we end up in jail losing everything we own including MJ with a tease just around the corner that things will be fixed only to be broken again and again. Amazing Spider-Man is broken under the weight of its own 60 years of continuity and success that no writer can honestly write him in 616 within the limitations the Marvel editors have imposed on him.
John Romita Jr. did well as his usual self. Kudos to Scott Hanna inking him well and Marcio Menyz coloring it nicely. more

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

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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It's been done before but it's done well.

This issue was intense af.

Turns out my prediction was the same one the characters made... and the wrong one. This is one of the strengths wells has that gets overlooked I feel. Our expectations are "Lonnie would never hurt Janice directly, hed just kill someone close" and at the beginning of this run he wouldn't have. Thats something Tombstone practically laid out himself over the course of the run, between gang war and even the planned wedding. He has for the entire run put Janice's wants over his own. Except for two times, the end of gang war and now. This calls all the way back to tombstones flashbacks early in the run, where he was powerless to protect himself. Now with that power in his sight and in his grasp, he isn't willing to let ANYONE get in the way of it. He's become just like Fisk. Its a character shift; and a subversion but one thats been baked into the writing of the character from the beginning.

Hes still the kid being taken on as a child, but now he sees Janice and spider man as the ones doing the harassing, and so the lion comes out.

Also the train thing was a pretty clever and cool ambush both visually and concept wise. It made it seem authentic, something extreme Lonnie would do knowing what he's up against. So it being a ruse is harder to expect.

Wells is going out with maybe his strongest arc. I wish it'd been this consistently great the whole time; but if he sticks the landing ill still give him props for this. more

If only the quality was like this the whole time. This has been a good arc so far.

This should have been the first year or year and a half then you do the nonsense after you get credit in the bank. Oh well better late than never.

This all should've happened by the end of year 1 and we should have not done that nonsense of 6 months later BS. I understand we have to have crossovers and events and there will be fillers but man that diluted year 2 and the punch this would have had 12 to 15 issues in but I still enjoyed this so much when I recall those first few issues. Zeb Wells has that in his locker to play with perpetual losers and a rogue of nemeses that will bring their abilities into focus and drop twists that keep you entertained. Romita Jr. and company are very good on art and It's nice that the art team from the first confrontation with Tombstone is the same. I don't have time to do it but I want to go back and re-read those early Tombstone issues. more

I think this issue is the perfect showcase on why Spidey editorial needs massive changes.

I'm not sure if it's Nick Lowe, or who/whom, but something needs to happen.

But back to the issue itself.

The first story was wonderful. Like amazing, truly deserving the title. Having re-read World Without Love yesterday in preparation to this, the parallels to that are very well done.
I love how we see it in Peter. In #1, he is directionless, not knowing where to go, or what to do. Just aimlessly wondering about, not even talking to Randy. He is rusty, takes a beating and wants to do everything alone.

Here, it's the opposite. Peter is active. He knows what to do, he supports his friend and even wonders how to do it. He has a plan, he executes it well and relies on his friends to do so.
His smile during the court session was just wonderful. That is Peter.

And his inner monologue. And reflecting on what happened with Norman! Like, that is what I wanted in this run! Peter's monologue and making it feel like these stories do have some sense of order. After Easy Being Green, Peter decides to actively go after Tombstone. It only needed like two boxes! Like how hard was this!?

I'll save my rant for later, since I still want to praise this first story. It has great twists and definitely leaves me wanting more. JRJR was on fire with his art and I can't wait for the next chapter. Just cook Wells. Just cook.

The first backup is also great. At first I was wondering when did Peter interact with She-Hulk and was pleasantly surprised by the backup story. Even saying "to be continued... in a story you just read" was really funny.

Second backup... not really. Don't get me wrong, it's pretty well written, but it's way too late for this. We saw hints of this 30 issues ago (over a year) and after that... nothing. Paul desperately needed this way before and the first page still doesn't feel earned. We did not see how Peter and Paul got this friendly. We needed this story back in #25 to make this work. But the editorial got scared and decided to just keep Paul... there. As a nothing character.

But overall, this is a great landmark issue. One of the best in a long time.

And that gets me back to my rant on editorial. Like why on earth is this book so poorly managed. Zeb clearly had a vision and I think this and issue #1 showcase perfectly what he wanted to do. But editorial clearly stopped him from doing what he wanted and it has lead to a run that is really hard to recommend.

In my honest opinion, they definitely ruined this run. It did not start well, with a sudden break-up, no explanation and another mystery just after Kindred that made the first year of Zeb's ASM bad in hindsight. First 13 issues are good, but the following 13 issues just kinda ruin it.

The second year was not any better due to lack of focus on Peter that also definitely hurt the experience. There was no continuity between stories and Peter was rarely the star in his own book. It made it seem like Zeb did not care to write about Peter, when this issue specifically showcases he really does.

Paul is also a nothing character that the editorial (or higherups) clearly wanted to use to explain the breakup, but then also got scared of backclash and decided not to do anything with him. Showing once again they are not confident in their plans, if there even are any.

There are 8 landmark issues during the course of this run and I think this is the only one that actually deserves it and utilizes it well. Another mismanagement from editorial.

So all this book made me think was to ask "why isn't the whole run like this when you clearly have the capacity, skills and want to make it so???" Like I'm just angry. Because there is potential and this book is perfect showcase of it. But you just don't do it.

And this editorial mismanagement annoys me so much, because this run can have so many good stories. But they don't seen to use the potential what they have. If I thought Zeb was a hack fraud who could not write, I would not care this much. But I do not think so, I think he is a great writer who was given a really bad hand. more

The back ups were nothing special, but the main story here was probably one of the best, if not the best of Wells run so far. Where was this quality the whole time?

It's a little too late for these kinda of issues but I'll take it even if it makes no sense how we got here when you step back 2 years ago and we have to keep breaking Peter Parker over and over again with almost no real reason except for delivering a necessary exploration of the bad guys. Nick Spencer at least tried to keep MJ even as a background character but his run focused so much on the bad guys that Peter Parker became a secondary character in his own book. Zeb Wells has done the same thing that this has become a Gangs of New York book with Spidey appearing to tie it up together. Don't get me wrong we need good nemeses and Spidey has the best ones in the Biz but not like this. Anyway It was nice but hollow. more

I know this reaction can sound very off to a lot of the praise this comic has gotten. I try to explain my thoughts in this long ramble:

We can start with Shay. It's her fifth appearance and gotta say, I like her. I don't get why MJ and Peter can't be a thing and how them being together makes Peter seem old and unrelatable and then have Peter date someone else. It just showcases that the problem editorial has is not Peter in a relationship, it's just Peter with MJ that is still a very annoying status quo to have.

But, this comic is not about MJ. And as much as I love her and want her to be with Peter, her being on the date with Peter right now would not fit with themes and ideas Wells tries to convey in this run.

And like I said, I really like Shay. I appreciate a lot her speech on "responsibility to yourself" and she seems like a character that would work with Peter. I hope to see more of her. I am just worried we will get the same old tired story with Shay inevitably learning Peter's identity.

So why am I so annoyed by this comic? Isn't it a charming date that many of us have wanted to see Peter have? And isn't it a comic where we finally see Peter being himself and not just swinging as Spider-Man? Answer to both of those questions is yes, but it just makes me annoyed more, because while this works really well as a one-off comic mostly, it really is hard to like as sixth-before-last issue.

It's... hard to explain, but I dislike how little we see what Wells tries to say in this run. This is the first issue in months where we finally see some growth in Peter, some change. And... it's the sixth issue before final one. Like... isn't this a bit too late?

With Wells run, we always get these very tiny small snippets of Peter going forward. We saw it with his A World Without Love, Luke's speech to him in Rek-Rap adventure, Ravencroft adventure, etc... And then we get nothing in bigger and longer stories. It gets tiring, when he really doesn't seem to go forward. Within Wells run, it's really hard to get in the headspace of Peter Parker, mostly because this comic rarely focuses on him as a character.

But like I said, I mostly enjoyed this comic. The date was charming, but what annoys me the most in this one-off story is Peter stopping Rhino and Screwball. Even if we ignore Rhino for a sec (Spidey editorial seems to have no idea what kind of character he is nowadays), that whole speech to them feels... kinda selfish from Peter? And very naive from him to presume they won't just continue that in another part of the city? It's like the only way he can relax on that date now is because Wells broke fourth wall and informed him the villains stopped and did not lie to Peter. I know, lying from super villains? Never seen before.

It's not like I hate the idea of Peter being tired of being Spider-Man. On the contrary, I think that is a very interesting thing to explore and instead of going punching the foes, he tries to talk to them first, maybe even get them to quit. Maybe being sympathetic to them and understanding their struggles?

But... that is not a thing that is explored in this run. Not really. We first see it in the excellent opening arc, then get a little snippet in issue 10 and then... not really anything. I don't really know what is going on with Peter. Why is he now ready to date Shay? What makes her special and why does her work with Peter better than say... Felicia? Whose romance story in here was so awful, and barely a plot even. It was just there until it wasn't. Such a wasted story.

Like I said, I am not opposed to Peter dating Shay. I think it's interesting to see and perfect way to move Peter forward and not just keep him in a stale place (like dating Felicia again as a rebound). But Peter's date life has not been a plot line really, nor do we see how has he gone to this mindset, after his breakup from Felicia. Why is he ready now, or is he just giving life a chance? Is it because GG seems to be gone from his life (once again showing that we have a comic where it has no continuity to previous issue or storyline).

Because this book so rarely focuses on Peter and his mindset, these kind of stories don't feel earned. Like Peter's friendship with Norman and now his date with Shay

And I kinda laughed when Nick Lowe posted he likes doing these kind of stories. Would be nice if we saw more of them.

Instead of "THE BIGGEST BADDEST STORY YOU HAVE EVER SEEN! THE ONE COMIC THAT IS BETTER THAN ANY SINGLE COMIC RELEASED PAST 60 YEARS. A COMIC THAT WILL HAVE MAGNIFICIENT CONSEQUENCES TO PETER PARKER AND SPIDER-MAN AND WILL FEATURE THE LARGEST, BLOODIEST, MOST BRUTAL BATTLE OF SPIDER-MAN EVER!!!"

It's hard for me to be invested in these stories and characters, if Wells acts like they never happened whenever there is a new artist.

TLDR: Shay seems nice. Date mostly charming. Peter leaving Rhino and Screwball alone felt a bit ooc. Art nice. But the whole thing doesn't feel earned. more

I like how Shay doesnt hear Rhino and Screwball tearing up New /york behind her. But overall, this was a nice step up and upgrade from Zeb Wells usual Spidey issues. I wished it was more of this

This is very good, very cute but very frustrating. Peter can grow beyond learning the same lesson he has a thousand times over about taking time for himself. He's not the only hero out there and there are more than ever. He wants to go on a date he can call Miles, or Tony, or anyone else if he has plans. That's being responsible while taking care of yourself.

I liked the sentiment of this issue, even though it's frustrating to see Peter Parker in the same hopeless scenarios over and over again. I liked it, but in all reality nothing really happened.

Well played. Peter felt removed all issue and finally it hits and makes sense. Although Peter and Spidey can use more space to breathe and build their voices among the other characters. MJ got a nice one so did Uncle Ben and JJJ. Checchetto and Wilson at the top of their game.

What an issue. I like it a lot. But I also have multiple problems.

There is a lot to like here. Art is fantastic and how characters are written is great. I am more invested in MJ now, it feels like the criticism I had for her after #6 is finally being answered. The final pages are fantastic and family dynamic is great.

But what problems do I have with this then?

Titular character.

Normally I wouldn't mind if it was another issue of very little Peter. But it's like every other issue in this series. Hickman seems to like writing every other character besides Peter. Because he is sidelined again and it does hurt the experience.

What hurts it the most is the 12 month structure. Peter has been Spider-Man for almost a year now. And I have seen so little of it. I have no idea how much he has matured, how much experience he now has, because Hickman shows Spider-Man being Spider-Man so little. After reading Gabe's review (that many dislike for the lowscore), I get why he is disappointed. For a book called Spider-Man, it focuses very little on Spider-Man.

So as a standalone issue, this is fantastic and focus on MJ is amazing. You love to see it. But as issue 12 of an ongoing series that spans one issue per month in timeline of the comic as well, it does hurt the experience a lot. There is so little I know about this Peter and it does annoy me while I read it. more

An absolutely crazy ending. I had to go back and re-read to actually notice that Peter had not said a word the entire issue. I know Mary Jane was talking to him and she resolved things on her own, but I just thought that was a funny character moment for her. Good lord, man. Maybe I'm just riding the high of that ending and noticing all of the little hints of build to it (The two quote pages were wonderful, by the way), but this was my second-favorite issue of the book so far, only coming up short behind #1. more

This is what a Spider-Man book should be. Action, quips and thwips and drama building towards MJ realizing how messed up things are, Uncle Ben being there to help inexperienced Peter while we're heading towards disaster and it just works. Messina is a perfect compliment on art and it's well done, detailed foreground and backgrounds.

It feels like this book is finally becoming what I wanted it to be. Spider-Man being Spider-Man stopping bank robberies! Nice character moments between Peter and his supporting cast!

I like how Hickman writes Peter's inexperience and how he doesn't take things seriously yet. Peter has the power and the responsibility, but it still doesn't feel like it clicks for him. And that seems to be the whole point of this comic currently.

Covers are misleading, but otherwise great stuff. more

this was a really good issue that fleshes out Peter Parker on his inexperience, and his relationship with Mary Jane on when Peter will tell MJ to tell her to freak out. I also like the small moments between PEter and Ben.

It was nice. It's great seeing bombastic fights, but sometimes you need time to slow down and breathe a little bit before things pick right back up again.

Nice work and drama building. I'm glad they're letting Hickman do his thing here. David Messina's art is great. It looks like he changed his style a bit to match Checchetto and it looks nice.

Those two are simply amazing. Can't wait for more, although I wish this series had as good writing for Peter as it does for Ben and Jonah.

I’m impressed by and in admiration of Marvel for letting Hickman tell this story in this manner. We’ve had multiple issues without Spider-Man, and those issues have mostly consisted of people sitting around and talking. And they’ve been great.

Everything is measured and has weight, means something and is building towards something. New wrinkles on old characters. Hickman just delivers. We're not fudging around to fill space waiting for something even though we have 18 issues to get to the event but no space feels wasted. Marco Checchetto is on fire and his art never looked this good! Props to all!

One of the best issues in a while. Interesting new developments, a lot of stuff happening, great character moments and amazing art.

What more can you ask for.

It just works very well but that could be because the current ASM-616 book is just bad writing.
All the characters (Kingpin, his crew and the Sinister 6 included) get just enough to shine except for MJ/family who needs more TLC from Hickman but we'll see. Checchetto is outstanding as always and Wilson colors it perfectly. Spidey never looked as good as he does here.

This book just works well! Hickman takes the old and blends with the new to setup what promises to be great. Checchetto on art is fantastic. This would work so well as an animated show better than any Spider-Man movie could. You really need those slow moments where the setup breathes and we develop scaffolding for what will come.