I need to start this review by saying that I am nowhere near Marvel’s #1 Spider-Man fans. I love Peter as a character and thoroughly enjoy reading stories focused on Spider-Man, Venom, Miles Morales, and even the Ghost Spider. That being said, I understand some of the complaints filed with the astonishing Spider-Man, but the deaths of eight Spider-Man (yes, with heavy filler and unnecessary adultery!) have found the story with a powerful message about maintaining hope in dark times and maintaining hope when everything seems lost.
Written by Joe Kelly and Justina Ireland and one-shot by Derek Randy and Christos Gage, Spider-Man’s eight deaths are beautifully portrayed by an exciting group of talented artists, Ed McGuinness, Andrea Brockard, Mark Buckingham, Gleb Melnikov, Kev Walker and Cuff. He is “talented” by the Operation PhD, featuring an epic new magical outfit for Peter, and the deaths of the eight Spider-Man see him being forced to rule the brutal battle rule for the fate of the Earth. Peter, who has been replaced by Doctor Strange in this dangerous “contract,” is attacked by fighting each of the terrifying children every time, just to be resurrected through magical means. It’s been badly ruined and Spider-Man forces him to stand up to his own mortality rate and that of his friends and family.
Amazing
As expected, the trade paperback itself is fantastic. With shocking 34 variant covers on the back of the trade, it’s certainly true that the eight Spider-Man have won the most variants in Marvel Paperback. Some fans may flinch at the $35 price tag, but I have checked other deals on my comic shelf, and this price for over 300 pages of content is apparently reasonable. It costs more than an epic collection, but some of it is a little longer and $15 cheaper than the sin of evil trade. Overall, if you’re interested in collecting longer deals and are a Spidey fan, this paperback is worth your money.
Before I talk about anything I didn’t like about this arc, I just want to highlight Amazing Spider-Man #61 how much I loved art in the first issue. Monkey aggged! Ed McGuinness’ art was particularly impressive in Peter’s first battle with Sintros and his horrifying resurrection after his first death. The “X-ray” vision of his death was fuzzy and unique, and a very cool visual that showed just how cruel his death was. But what I really want to emphasize is Niko Henrichon’s four-page watercolor painting. Unforgettable, this sequence really highlighted this issue and invested in the plot of the whole Cyttorak.
Amazing
Now, this amazing Spider-Man arc features a lot of fillers. That cannot be denied. But I think it’s important to understand that this arc is literally a filler and that Joe Kelly has put together an astonishing volume 6 before taking on the permanent author role in the rebooted amazing Spider-Man #0. That being said, I think the loads of content like filler, in my opinion, reduced the impact of the first and final issues of the eight deaths of Spider-Man. I also fully understand why Spider-Man fans remained confused and Peter was a bit mad at how casually he was cheating on Felicia and Shay. I don’t know, Peter and Shay may have been exclusive or nothing, but it certainly looked like they were dating, and it’s not Spidey’s very heroic!
I’m not a dedicated Spidy Superfan, so maybe I liked this arc of this amazing Spider-Man. So, unless the story is fun and the character is rough, I don’t really care about Marvel’s handling of Peter Parker. Sorry, sorry! I get it, I care a lot about the X-Men and feel a great feeling when my favorite mutants are written in ways that undermine personality, lore and history, but I don’t have the same concern about Peter! This was fun and there was a great crossover with heroes like Dr. Strange and the X-Men, giving Spider-Man the opportunity to confront the brutal reality of his life as a superhero, and ultimately overcame the indifference and fear that plagued him.
Amazing
Also, hmm, I really love the X-Men. sorry! I think Marvel’s story is literally better when the X-Men is in it. That’s my cross, but my most iconic connection with Cyttorak in Marvel was incredibly fun, so I felt like Cain added it to the story. Instead of killing all his brothers before Callix has the opportunity to fight, we hope that X-Men will fight more scion in Cyttorak! I think Spidernaut was a fun addition to the story, especially the teaming up with Juggernaut. And it was intense to see Magik Attack Cain, who is now one of her best friends in the comics.
After all, have I been very invested in the story between Cyra, Cellix and Cyttorak? No, it’s not. Also, Cyttorak thought he would eventually feel one emotional iota after finishing the story thousands of years later. Buuuuut, I really enjoy most of the art and actually thought that “emo” Peter dealing with the nihilism of his loved ones, and that the ultimate death was an interesting point of reflection for Spider-Man. It was powerful and important for Peter to eventually overcome this despair and witness it. I think the ending of this arc set up Joe Kelly well to reboot the series in the astonishing Spider-Man #1. I liked it, but I didn’t like this trade paperback.
“The Amazing Spider-Man: The Deaths of Eight Spider-Man” is a paper on hope and resilience
The Amazing Spider-Man: The Eight Deaths of Spider-Man
After all, have I been very invested in the story between Cyra, Cellix and Cyttorak? No, it’s not. Also, Cyttorak thought he would eventually feel one emotional iota after finishing the story thousands of years later. Buuuuut, I really enjoy most of the art and actually dealing with “emo” Peter dealing with the nihilism of his loved ones, and I thought the ultimate death was an interesting point of reflection for Spider-Man. It was powerful and important for Peter to eventually overcome this despair and witness it. I think the ending of this arc set up Joe Kelly well to reboot the series in the astonishing Spider-Man #1. I liked it, but I didn’t like this trade paperback.
The art in issue 61 is actually insanely cool
I like how Juggernaut fits into the story
Many variant covers!
There are many fillers (but this is a filler arc…)
Peter is cute, cheating on Shay
I wanted to see other Scion fight
