The Amazing Spider-man #605

Marvel Comics
The Amazing Spider-man #605
By Hervé St-Louis
September 22, 2009 - 06:39

Marvel Comics
Writer(s): Brian Reed, Fred Van Lente
Penciller(s): Javier Pulido, Luke Ross, Yanick Paquette
Inker(s): Mark Farmer, Rick Magyar, Javier Pulido
Colourist(s): Nathan Fairbairn, Javier Rodriguez, Rob Schwager
Letterer(s): Joe Caramagna
Cover Artist(s): Mike Mayhew
$3.99 US

This issue is about love, or Peter Parker’s lack of. Just as the cover implies, it’s about all the people in Parker’s life and their “it’s complicated” love lives. It includes Mary Jane Watson, Harry Osborn and a few other love possibilities for Spider-man. Will Peter Parker and alter ego Spider-man ever find love?

This is one of the weakest Spider-man stories I’ve read in a while because the writers put so much backstory into what Mary Jane Watson has been doing that they’ve confused this reader. In addition, there is an implied fight with Watson and Peter Parker’s aunt May, but since the “a brand new day” storyline, it’s hard to figure out what really happened in the rewritten life of Spider-man. It’s implied that Watson knows that Peter Parker is Spider-man and I don’t understand that part. It’s also implied that Watson and Parker really were an item for quite a while, but again, I don’t get where the writer pulled that one. Ultimately, it’s just a soap opera and I’m not sure if the writer knows how to write them.

So many artists work on this issue that it’s jarring and shows the weakness of the story. It’s not good. Pulido’s work fits better a crime noir or period piece. It looks out of place in Spider-man. I felt his work was weak, but upon looking at it again, it was enjoyable. It just isn’t Spider-man material. Ross’ work looks frozen The characters don’t feel like they are moving. It’s not even that they are showing up to take still poses. They just feel out of whack. Paquette’s work is the best here and actually makes this issue salvageable visually. But he can only hide the weakness of the script so much.

Rating: 6/10