In the Aftermath: Apathy
Whew, ok. Let’s…let’s just take a second with this one.
To start, this is a massive issue. The $7.99 price tag might have tipped you off, or maybe you realized as soon as you picked it up. Either way, this is a big book. To credit that, most of the book is actual story which is surprising for a milestone issue. Too often we see an oversized book filled with one standard story and a fair amount of sub-par backups. Kudos to Slott and Ramos for completing a full 48 page story that wraps up the latest arc. For those who haven’t been following, Doc Ock (in his last moments of life) swaps bodies with Peter Parker, leaving our hero trapped in a feeble dying frame while his arch-nemesis runs around as Spider-Man. We have known this would be the last issue of Amazing Spider-Man, leading into a new series in January. It has been hinted that Peter Parker might no longer be under the mask. These are things we knew.
I will say, however, that the ending that followed was the LAST thing that I honestly believed would happen. They promised a massive plot twist at the end, and the biggest plot twist is that there really wasn’t one. The book led you down a path, telling you all along that “Thing A” was going to happen, and the big plot twist was that it actually did. In that regard, Slott wrote this issue has he has almost all the others since his run on the title started, very well. He’s really tapped into an emotional connection with the character that I don’t often feel under the pen of other writers. I honestly, at more than a few points during his run, felt a sense of danger for Peter Parker, and that’s an act that’s commendable in this day in age. Slott’s work on this book has been at a consistently high level since he took over, and though his dialog might often fall a little flat, I think he feels a strong connection to Spider-Man and that translates very well into his writing.
Ramos continues his meteoric rise on a title I feel he was born to draw. His style can perfectly blend elements of cartooning, kinetic energy, and serious emotion without ever feeling like it’s trying. His action sequences are packed with excitement, and the quiet moments reveal characters with true emotion and depth. This is a skill that all buries itself under a visual style he has made truly his own. He had every moment to shine in this issue, and handled it with such fervor that you couldn’t help but be emotionally drawn in. In short, he played your heartstrings like a fiddle. He’s assisted by the wonderful Edgar Delgado on colors, who knows how to equally blend a cartoon flatness with a modern age depth that keeps Ramos’ pencils alive and breathing.
Overall, this was a very well executed book. There was action, suspense, and more than a fair share of heartache throughout. What’s more impressive is that the tension really spiked after the big reveal. You realized what was happening and it honestly made my heart race. You realize there’s only a select few pages left and they’re not derailing. This is actually happening. It was a panicking moment for me, and most likely others as well. Drawing that level of emotion from readers can only come from a finely crafted and delivered issue, which is exactly what we have here.
(These reviews actually go up on my Tumblr account first, where you can also find an extended cut of this issue with a personal editorial on the ending. If you like what you read, or want to chat about comics, follow me there!)
