Spider-Man isn't too much help in the super-powered fight against a whole bunch of spider-powered, and angry New Yorkers, so he and his girlfriend Carlie take to the streets and do a bit of detective work.
The Good
First thing is first, I love... LOVE... LOVE Humberto Ramos' art and style. I love the over-exaggeration of facial expressions in the issue. Want to know why everyone in this book is smiling so much? Because it's fun, and even the characters know it.
While the story is centered around Peter Parker, there's also a bit of integration of Venom and Anti-Venom, who both seem like they'll be big pieces of the "fixing the spider-people" problem. And while this is called "Amazing Spider-Man" we get to see Peter Parker in a leadership role, during the issue. I've always seen Peter as a lone-gunman (even though he's been on almost every super-team), but for the first time, in this issue, I could see what would make him a great team leader. Call me crazy, but he'd be the coolest lead for a Spidey-team.
I've had my doubts about this storyline, but Dan Slott made it a lot of fun and interesting. His dialogue is extremely solid. In fact, my favorite line of dialogue surprisingly describes how I felt about the couple of times I went to NYC:
The Bad
While I really liked the issue, especially Ramos' art, I didn't love it. I'm slowly coming around on Spider-Island, but I still think the idea is a tad silly... and frankly, isn't that same concept kind of going on in Fear Itself.... The idea that everyone gets a hammer?
The Verdict
Overall, I did really enjoy the issue. Humberto Ramos' combine with Dan Slott's writing really makes this a fun read. What makes this issue great is the fact that it's more than just Spidey/Peter. We get to see how Anti-Vemon and Venom will play into the larger story arc. The only real problem I have with the issue is that I feel the over-all idea of everyone getting Spider-powers is a bit silly.