By Marc Guggenheim (writer), Salvador Larroca (art), Jason Keith (colors)
The opening of Amazing Spider-Man #549 falters a bit. There’s a sequence involving Spidey saving some construction workers that is just told badly. First, they’re free falling, the next thing you know they’re all on the ground and Spidey’s tossing up a net to catch falling debris. I looked over this page a couple of times, scratching my head as to how they went from Point A to Point C with no Point B. What happened here?
Carrying on the torch lit by Dan Slott, Marc Guggenheim delivers clever and witty dialogue. His reference to the Distinguished Competition is a nice pun, and he seems to be in tune with Spidey’s humor. Spidey’s mouth runs throughout the book and yes, some of it’s hammy, but this is Spidey we’re talking about here. This issue marks the emergence of a new villain, The Menace. He’s designed very much in the vein of the Green Goblin, except he’s gray and seemingly more vicious. The Daily Bugle (or The DB as they now call it), has put out a bounty for the first person who delivers a photo of this new villain, so Peter rushes out to be the first. In true Spider-Man fashion, he bumps heads with his new rival, Jackpot.
Salvador Larroca is no Steve McNiven, but he delivers good work here (storytelling problems aside). His character line art is just so simplified now that it almost feels lazy. Larroca also seems to rely more on his colorist, Jason Keith, to get the work done. Keith does a nice job giving the characters more depth.
For months we’ve all been questioning if whether Jackpot is Mary Jane. I’m glad Peter sees and hears the resemblances as well. Do we get an answer? Not quite, but the fact that it’s already being addressed is good. Oh yeah, and the ending made me chuckle. Slott’s story arc may be over, but the humorous tone and good writing continue. (Grade: B+)
– J.Montes
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Conclusion