Okay, i normally don't write long texts in my reviews, but i have a lot to say about this issue and this run as a whole. First things first: i'm a massive Nick Spencer fan, i absolutely ADORE Superior Foes, Morning Glories is amazing, The Fix is one of the funniest comics i have ever read, His Captain America run was really good(even though Secret Empire ended the way it did) and everything he did with Ant Man was awesome, i just love how much he takes advantage of canon to create his stories and i think he has a really unique sense of humor, and up until Last Remains i was REALLY enjoying this run, you can see my scores for this ASM volume to confirm that. I loved Back to Basics and it's simple but effective story, i loved how he handled characters like Black Cat and Jameson, i had tons of fun with Hunted and the nods to Kraven's Last Hunt, i loved the character arc for Boomerang and Janice from the original Superior Foes team, i thought the Absolute Carnage tie ins were Amazing, he and Ryan Ottley delivered what is probably my favorite fight between Spidey and Carnage(even thought it's Norman). I wasn't a huge fan of the 2099 story line but i quickly forgave that after the podcast story with JJ and the little arc with Gog. Sins Rising was awesome and Last Remains would be a perfect story if it wasn't for the lack of an ending. Up until this point i was absolutely in love with this run, i didn't care if the pacing was slow because every story beat was working for me, and i understand that a lot o people had problems with the pacing in specific even before Last Remains, but at least until that point i could feel that Spencer was telling the story he wanted to tell, whether we like it or not.
Having said that, i can't express how disappointed i'm with everything since the Mister Negative story. There were some VERY good character moments after it of course(Peter and MJ focused story on #60 for example), but that was just it, the big moments that we where supposed to get after years of seeds being planted for 50+ issues just weren't worth it, everything started to feel so rushed and everything Spencer was aiming for fell short of what it should've been the peak of his run. King's Ransom had the Boomerang twist, but it also had the Robbie and Tombstone rivalry, Randy and Janice relationship, Kingpin's pursuit of the tablet, Gog, Peter's new job as a streamer working with JJ and Norah Winters, the Defenders little reunion....oof. The arc felt so packed and convoluted that every payoff was deluded. It was also where the artist rotation started to become a problem, it doesn't matter if you have many good artists on a book if you can't keep everything consistent, 2 issues with Patrick Gleason(him and Ottley delivered the BEST visuals of this book), 3 issues with Federico Vicentini(a revelation, i loved his style) along with Sabattini helping him, we also had Neves, Antonio and Gomez doing the Giant-Sized conclusion, great artists, but it doesn't matter because everything felt rushed so the art(except from Gleason and Vicentini) was just okay. The Chameleon Conspiracy was even worse, 3 to 4 artists rotating in EVERY issue between 67-69 and the Giant Sized issue, not even Spencer was managing to write on his own and they had to bring Ed Brisson to help with the tight schedule, it was pretty clear that the Editorial was starting to compromise whatever direction the book was going and everything started to completely fall apart. But the absolute worst happened during Sinister War, it was so rushed that even Bagley who is know for being really fast didn't manage to pencil every page of every issue, and Spencer just wrote the 1st issue of the main event and went on to write the tie ins, which guess what? were also rushed and convoluted with 3 to 4 rotating artists. The big finale of this run, the big moment in the making for years, couldn't even have a consistent art team. I'm not even going to talk about the retcons, which although were VERY appreciated(Sins Past, not the Green Goblin one, that was a complete misfire) felt very convoluted, i felt very sorry for new readers of this book and the readers who haven't read every single one of the story's that were referenced between 72-73, it must have been a complete nightmare, i have read every issue of ASM, Spectacular, Friendly Neighborhood, Web Of Spider-Man, Spider-Man and every obscure miniseries you can imagine and i still had to re-read that issue at least 6 times to completely get every single change, and i probably still missed some very big details. And them we get to this issue, and not only we have all of the problems we had for the past 15+ issues but we also have rushed dialogue, lackluster conclusions, and questions that won't even get answered. What the hell did Kindred wanted Peter to Confess? What Happened with the Villains at the Graveyard after Sinister War #4? What about the Rose? Teresa? Did Boomerang even had a proper sendoff? Kindred literally killed Peter i don't know how many times during Last Remains for NOTHING? So Harry died(again) and we don't even get to see Peter Mourn for his best friend? If kindred died, wasn't Norman's Sins supposed to go back to him? What the hell happened with all of these plot points, did they simply forget or did i missed something? Wasn't it also implied that MJ knew what kindred wanted? So they referenced OMD, Had Mephisto and Dr. Strange on the sideline playing a game and they didn't have the courage to address that mess of a story directly? What all of the flashbacks of BND during Last Remains were for? I just can't believe all of this stuff was simply forgotten so that they could finish this run as fast as possible, every single person on the spidey office should be embarrassed by this, Spencer deserved better, WE DESERVED BETTER, this is NOT how you deliver a satisfying payoff to a long story. And last but not least, the book is called Amazing Spider-Man and i don't know if it's just me, but Peter felt like a side character on his own book since even before Last Remains, almost everything interesting that happened during this run came from the characters around Peter, but not him, and up until a certain point it was okay, but after King's Ransom it was starting to bother me A LOT.
So, do i absolutely despise this run like I've seen so many people say? no, is it the worst ASM run of all time? hell no, not even close, is it one of the most disappointing eras of Spider-Man and one of the worst long format storytelling of this book since the Clone Saga? unfortunately, yes. It started with so many promises, and it didn't deliver to many of them. And what's even worse is that I'm not even excited for what is to come, it doesn't matter if you have some of the best writers and artists in the business teaming up to tell a bold story if the people in charge of the editorial continue to mess everything up. If you enjoyed every single thing about this run, i envy you, cause i really wanted to like this finale. Having said all that, i will stop reading ASM for the first time in my life for a little while, at least until the book gets to the half of Beyond, hopefully i will be excited when i come back. more
By: Nick Spencer, Patrick Gleason
Released: Sep 29, 2021
• It's AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #875, and the whole ASM team is coming together to bring you a massive issue that is the culmination of three years of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN!
• It's all lead to this... "Hunted," "Sins Rising," "Last Remains," "King's Ransom," "Chameleon Conspiracy," "Sinister War"...and so much more all led to this climax and con...