The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #38

Spider-Man, Deadpool, and Hulk end up in another dimension.

The Good

First, I'm a big John Layman fan, and I love Chew, and his humorous dialogue style continues over into this book, minus all the cussing and cannibalism. I had big doubts about this book because I'm always leery about annual issues, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that this annual was a lot of fun and involved one of my favorite elements of science fiction, parallel dimensional travel. This is a bit of a "what if" issue as well as we get to see a darker version of Uncle Ben and Peter, even though the alternate reality Spidey has a lame cape. It's a fun story, and the dialogue is probably the funnest part of the story. The kicker on this book is that this is a three part story that continues in the newest Deadpool and Hulk annuals.

The Bad

The artwork feels a bit dated. It has an 80s look to it with updated coloring. But more so than anything, if you're a big Spider-Man fan and pick up all of his books, you'll still have to pick up Hulk and Deadpool annuals to finish the story. It reminds me of the Citizen Kang annuals from the early 90s where you had to buy Fantastic Four, Thor, Captain America, and the Avengers annuals to finish the storyline, but at least, so far, this storyline is much better.

The Verdict

I usually hate... HATE... annual issues because they're one shot stories which very rarely change anything in the character or book's continuity. They're usually throw away issues from creative teams that are so-so at best. That being said, Amazing Spider-Man Annual 38 isn't your typical annual book, and while the events of this book may not change the landscape of Spidey's 616 universe, overall, the book is certainly worth your time. It's even worth more of your time if you don't mind picking up Hulk and Deadpool's annuals. I recommend the issue and the story, especially if the other two issues are written by Layman.