Another week, another middle-of-the-road Amazing Spider-Man issue. Nothing terrible as such but certainly nothing “amazing” either. At least there’s some progress in this issue but it’s nowhere near as exciting to justify a weekly purchase. If this book doesn’t vastly improve in the next two or three issues, it’s a drop.

This is the book I’ve been holding out for since the Beyond arc started. It’s the first time I’ve actually felt invested in Ben Reilly this entire time and genuinely forgotten about Peter Parker´s situation. Great character work from Ben and the art is fantastic - perfectly capturing the emotions and uncertainty in the main characters. Wells just knows how to write compelling dialogue without it sounding too ‘comic book´y. If this is a taste of what Wells´ continued run will feel like I am 100% on board. And to think I was about to drop this title completely.

This was a fun issue and a welcome return for Peter to the story. Ben’s story is also the most engaging it’s been for weeks. Keen to see how this bloated Beyond arc wraps up in the coming issues.

*sigh* Just a few more issues until Wells takes over and this Beyond arc can be nothing but a bad, distant, expensive memory.

This is a bit more like it. My biggest gripe with this Beyond Spider-Man “run” is how inconsistent and full of filler it has. But when it does something right, it does it VERY right. This issue is a prime example of that. Gleason has a great ability to make his characters all bounce off each other naturally and elevate the stakes so that every panel feels important. It’s a surprisingly dark issue that doesn’t seem to shy away from pushing the heroes into very uncomfortable corners - enhanced only by Bagley’s ever-wonderful art. Queen Goblin, while still fresh to the scene, has potential to be a pretty sinister Big Bad if she continues her villainy after this arc is over. All in all this was a great entry in an otherwise hit-or-miss series.

Outstanding issue both in the main story and the backup story. Been out of the loop with Batman for a while but when I heard Zdarsky was picking it up I just had to check it out. Definitely the Bat title to follow if you’re only going to pick one up.

King Spawn is a consistently great story let down only by inconsistent editing and proofreading. Maybe it’s a personal pet peeve but I get really distracted by spelling and grammatical errors and this series is littered with them. It wouldn’t hurt for Todd to appoint a couple proofreaders to check these books before they go to print. But aside from that, the King Spawn series is easily the most exciting the series has been in a very long time. The stakes are really ramping up in this issue so I can’t wait how dicey things get once it reaches the boiling point in the next issue.

Surprised more reviews haven’t been written up for this issue yet. All in all it was a satisfying, albeit predictable, end to a heartfelt story with a powerful final message written in a way only Jeff Lemire can articulate.

Another fantastic and surprisingly gruesome issue in McKay’s Moon Knight run. Zodiac is really being set up to be one of Marc’s most brutal adversaries yet. But as a stand-alone book, it had great pacing and excellent interactions between the characters. Everyone continues to feel natural and snappy enough to feel right at home in some darker version of the MCU.

I’m already upset this is only going to be a three issue miniseries. Great dialogue and characterisations typical of Jeff Lemire and absolutely fantastic art by Doug Mahnke really capturing the violence and horror of this new avatar of the green. Next issue can’t come soon enough.

You saw it coming but it was great to see it unfold. The art absolutely carried this series but Young’s ability to capture fear and suspense til the very end is unparalleled. Do yourself a favour and pick up the trade when it comes out.

This is a book that suffers greatly from having two writers who don’t seem to be on the same page. On their own, Ram V and Ewing are excellent writers and their ideas work best when they’re the sole writers of their book. But here we have a messy clash of ideas and presentation that feels disjointed and jarring to read through. There’s no denying the talent of both writers but unless they come together and present a cohesive story soon, this title will not grab their readers’ attentions for much longer.