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.

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

Phenomenal. Fantastic even.

I'm not even trying to dunk on Penders but the stories he has written these past two issues are really not exciting, "cool" or funny in the way Sonic has been in the first 10 issues. Thankfully there are some other writers doing smaller stories in these books and those help keep that typical Sonic flair to it. Just hardly the main arc.

Wow.

Superb. A fascinating and unsettling look into Doom Reed.

when I first heard Dan Scott was going to be back as Superior Spider-Man, I was hyped. Now though..... it's just forgettable. This series was fun, but it didnt need to exist. Sometimes it is bad to milk a product to the point where fans get bored of it.

This was... really bad. Besides Bagley's art, there was nothing enjoyable about this. Ock is right back where he was before this started, so... what was the point? Except now he doesn't even remember Superior, again???

Like what's next? 3 years go by and Otto is back remembering he was Superior Spider-Man and trying to ge tthose memories?

Even besides Otto's new terrible status quo, there was nothing new in this. Just rehashing old Slott stories, except they were rushed, poorly done and just reminders of "remember when I did this?" Only Spider-Boy was the new addition and even that was lame, I don't really care about him.

I liked the early parts, but this conclusion ruins this whole story. We get no new info about Spider-Boy, so... truly what was the point?

more

I’ve hated this run, but honestly this was one of the best issues from it. I very much dislike JRJRs art but even he did really well here. I wish everyone in the story wore a mask, that’s help a lot.

As the others have said, this was really, really strong. Wells on Tombstone has been a tier spidey content snd i wish the rest of the run was on the same level even as someone who hasn't hated this run.

The backups are all pretty solid as well.

I originally had this whole thing written about how frustrated I was after just the first 3 pages after the Kingpin/Tombstone flashback. I was disappointed in the art and hanging plot threads but honestly, those aren't enough to make this a bad issue at all. What I felt in the first arc is back here. Everything I praised Wells for, his ability to channel that JMS era of Peter relying on others to help him, expanding his supporting cast and making him feel a little more down to earth is very present. That's what I and I feel most people want from Peter Parker. I think that's why people want him to be married or at least in a committed long term relationship. It makes him feel more relatable, realistic. Someone having real world problems. Not fantastic superhero problems that make his personal life harder. He's supposed to be an insert for the reader. Escapism through his heroics but similar in his personal problems. It's what makes him so endearing and Wells channels that here. He makes Spider-Man feel like Spider-Man, messing with his enemies, being a nuisance and it comes back to bite him but Peter being Peter, he has a good support system, this time in the form of Luke Cage and She-Hulk. I wish we had been able to see more of them outside of a Dark Web epilogue and Gang War but it's still nice to see heroes coming to Peter/Spider-Man's aid. Shows the readers why he's so well loved.

I've not been the biggest fan of this run but I would always give issues their due when they deserved it and there were a lot of hits. A lot of misses too but as long as this final arc actually finishes off well, I wouldn't rate this overall as bad as a lot of people around the internet have said it is. It's just not. I will however say that most of the missteps here were likely the fault of editorial and their awful event mandates. I don't fault Wells entirely for Dark Web or Gang War. We have to have them because Marvel wants to sell more books. Take those out and this run becomes much better and more cohesive. It will flow a bit better and maybe some of those hanging plot threads aren't left as hanging. Keep up the work Spider-Team. End on a bang.

Oh yeah and I even enjoyed the Paul backup. I think that they really chickened out catering to that part of the "fanbase" that was complaining about him. Abandoning him entirely when all of the Paul haters had already dropped off the book. It still sold well even when he was in it. Should have just kept him in. It was a chance to flesh out his character more and make him less hated or just kill/send him off if you were actually done with him. It feels like a waste in hindsight and I never hated him. It was a really interesting position for Peter to be in. We've seen MJ in relationships away from Peter before but this was different. It's still different. They have a bond, they've never really been lovers. And there is security for both of them in that bond. Paul has a home and someone to trust in a dimension he doesn't know and MJ has someone who isn't constantly in danger. It honestly has always made sense. Either commit to Paul or don't. 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

Best Wolverine comic in years.

Critics are way off on this one.

The writing quality took a nose dive. Sally all of a sudden is just madly in love with Sonic when it was a lot more of a playful back and forth between the two, hiding feelings for one another. The jokes are worse and constant.