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The Amazing Spider-Man #664 - The Return of Anti-Venom, Part 2: Revelation Day; Infested, Stage 5: Wall-to-Wall

4

With Spider-Island two issues away, will Spidey leave his interactions with Antivenom on a high note?

Spidey's finally been convinced that Mr. Negative isn't who he says he is, and a number of plot points are resolved! Also, he looks to make a bit of an upgrade before Spider Island.

The Good

For a regular-sized issue, this story managed to pack a lot of things into it without becoming overwhelmingly complicated. In it, we get a resolution to the Mr. Negative/Antivenom storyline, the Wraith storyline, a mini-identity reveal from Spider-Man, ninja fights, resolution from the villain and set-up for Spider Island: like I said, a lot to handle, but it isn't a train wreck. Slott manages to keep this story on track and - most importantly - logical.

While I've never been a fan of the Venom character, I think Antivenom works well for Eddie Brock. This storyline definitely showed the character's strengths as an antihero.

The small section where the Hobgoblin's human alias confronts his girlfriend is great, as the artists did the classic "half Spider-Man, half Peter Parker" face, only with a hobgoblin twist. It was a great throwback.

Spider-Man being trained by Shang-Chi in the back two pages were amazing (no pun intended).

The Bad

The reveal of Wraith's identity seems to be a little far-fetched; however, I like the inclusion of Mysterio's old gadgets to make it seem a little bit plausible in the meantime. I mean, it's unfair to unmask a character and waste that "shock" when it turns out to be someone else altogether.

This moment was one of the few places in the book that logic seemed to slip, and it came off as a bit of a cheap reveal. It wasn't the foremost storyline in this arc, but that shouldn't be an excuse.

The Verdict

If you're looking for a good jumping-on point for Amazing Spider-Man, next issue would be the time to do it. However, if you're looking for the last "normal" series of issues for Spider-Man before Spider Island kicks into effect, this storyline is the place to do it. It's a great Spider-Man story without becoming formulaic; numerous "easy way outs" could have been taken that would have diminished the quality of this story greatly.