Amazing Spider-Man #578-579 Review

Creative Team
Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: Marcos Martin
Colorist: Javier Rodriguez

Story - Unscheduled Stop: Part 1 & 2

Review
Before I review these two issues of I have to admit that I have not picked up Amazing Spider-Man or any of the core Universe Spider-Man titles since "The Other." Spider-Man, specifically the Amazing Spider-Man title, is the character that got me into comics, along with Batman and X-Men, but after reading "The Other" and all some of the stories before that I just decided my loyalties to Amazing Spider-Man was not enough for me to continue to read the core universe Spider-Man titles. So instead I have stuck to just reading Ultimate Spider-Man, which I have been reading since issue #1, in order to get my Spider-Man fix.

Now with that said I have to say that I really enjoyed this two part Shocker story. This felt like some of the Spider-Man stories I read as a kid and in the Master Work reprints of the old Spider-Man stories. I am still mad to find that Peter and MJ are not married anymore but I have to say that my anger for that has cooled off since it happend. And because of that I think I enjoyed this issue much more if I would have been reading since the beginning of OMD.

It is nothing new to see Spider-Man stuck in a disaster since it has been done to death already. So the challenge of making Spider-Man stuck in a disaster feel new is the writing of both Spider-Man and the supporting cast that is stuck in the disaster with Spider-Man.This is what Mark Waid was able to do. Waid knows how to write a smart and funny Spider-Man that one would expect from a Spider-Man comic. And the addition of of Shocker, one of the most underused Spider-Man villains, as the villain for these two issues and hope he shows up as a threat to Spider-Man again in the future.

Also I like the addition of JJJ Senior, the never seen father of JJJ (Jr.). I hope we see JJJ's father again when Waid comes back for another go on Amazing Spider-Man and we see the two JJJ's have a face-to-face confrontation.

While I enjoyed Waid's dialogue what really made these two issues of Amazing Spider-Man enjoyable is Marco Matin's artwork. Martin just draws a great Spider-Man comic and the art reminds me of how Jack Kirby used to draw Spider-Man. I hope we see Martin work on Amazing Spider-Man more since his artwork is worth the price of admission.

Issue Rating
Story: 8.3/10 - Waid turned in a very good Spider-Man story with some nice witty banter.
Art: 10/10 - Marcos Martin was born to draw Amazing Spider-Man and his artwork really added to the disaster setting Waid put Spider-Man and company in.
Overall: 9.15/10 - While this two part storyline did not make put Amazing Spider-Man on my pull list I will pick up the occasional Amazing Spider-Man issue.