THE BASICS
Peter continues his recounting of the tale of his first love. Plenty of "Aww, how sweet" moments ensue. There's a few "Holy Crap!" and "Oh Snap!" moments too.
MY COMPLIMENTS TO THE CHEF
- I'm impressed with how well the story is being handled. Peter's narration gives a fresh spin on already familiar (or perhaps not, depending on your history with Spidey) stories. Speaking as someone who's very recently read the original tales being recounted here as they were presented in Amazing Spider-Man, Loeb has done a great job of pumping new life into them. Even those who know this story by heart will find something new here.
- Tim Sale's art doesn't disappoint here. We get to see one of Spider-Man's first encounters with Rhino, and the art does a great job of adding an extra layer of excitement to the encounter. There's one panel in particular where Spidey swings into Rhino from behind. It really looks like there's a lot of force behind the blow, to the point where I didn't have to try hard to imagine what the impact might have felt like.
- We get the setup to a lot of potentially exciting stories-to-come in this issue. One character is revealed at the end of the issue and a villain who may make an appearance is hinted at. The character revealed at the end of the issue probably won't surprise anyone, but it was still nice to see a different visual interpretation of them. The hinted at villain also has me excited to read the next issue.
FEEL THE STING OF MY DISCONTENT!
- I'm not to crazy about the cover. I like the style of the artwork, but since Gwen's face dominates the cover without her jaw, neck and shoulders defined, it makes it look weird. It kind of looks like the bottom of her face is being stretched out. That's just a minor complaint though, and if that's the only thing I can find to complain about, then obviously a good job has been done here.
WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE.
A couple major players have been introduced into the series in this issue and it sets up the next one well without sacrificing any of the story. Even without the introductions, this would have been a great entry. They just make it all the sweeter.
