With Dan Slott's historic run on ASM officially ended, I thought it might be good to look back over his decade on the title and briefly rank each year as an overview:
2008: This is where it all began with Dan a member of a writing team; he only had 3 story arcs that year but, boy, were they good! "Brand New Day", "Peter Parker:Paparazzi" and "New Ways To Die" are all early highlights of the BND era as a whole. And, as a sidebar, with art by Steve McNiven, Marcos Martin and John Romita Jr, you could hardly ask for more!
2009: Not a great year for Dan IMO; both "Mind on Fire" explaining Harry's resurrection and "Face Front" explaining Spidey's secret ID being back in the box were both weak. He ended the year strong with ASM #600 ("Last Legs"), his first anniversary issue and the beginning of his mega-arc plans for Doc Ock.
2010: Only 2 Dan Slott stories this year, his last before taking over solo and they were both pretty good ones: "Mysterioso" with art by the amazing Marcos Martin (they work together so well!) and "Out For Blood", a lesser but decent issue featuring Morbius and Black Cat.
2011: Possibly Dan's best year on the title as he took over as full-time writer and really came out swinging (no pun intended). "Big Time", the Spider-Slayer arc, "No One Dies", "Torch Song" and "Spider-Island" are among my favorite Spidey stories of the past few decades. Only the "Face Front" story didn't work as well for me in 2011, not a bad record for a full year of Spidey tales. And, boy, the artwork was stellar throughout all these issues!
2012: Dan kept the pedal to the metal in 2012 with slightly mixed results but some real highlights too. I thought the Vulture and Daredevil/Black Cat stories that started the year were really strong. The time travel into the future and Spidey in Space stories didn't work as well for me; then, "Ends of the Earth" was of course entertaining but was the first time that I felt Dan went for the big, widescreen action movie feel over actual plot (something he would do a few more times during his run). "No Turning Back" was solid but then "Alpha" was a dud, something Dan himself has admitted. But then "Danger Zone" was fantastic and lead into the story Dan will forever be remembered for: "Dying Wish"!
2013: Of course this year is dominated by arguably the boldest move by any Spidey creator: Superior Spider-Man----whether you loved it or hated it, it's safe to say that it got everyone talking and the art, especially in the early issues, was absolutely fantastic! The first 9-10 issues are just wonderful IMO and hold up very well even today.
2014: Superior's second year wasn't as notable; like most good ideas, it probably went on a bit long. I feel "Darkest Hours" should've been better and "Goblin Nation" started promisingly but then felt rushed at the end, as did Peter's return.....I can't shake the feeling that the ending was accelerated to clear the way for yet another #1 to coincide with that year's Spidey movie. And then I just didn't care for Volume 3's early stories much at all; the Electro and Black Cat stories were pretty weak and Peter's return and wrap-up from the Superior arc felt oddly anti-climactic.
2015: This is the period where I felt the wheels starting to come off Slott's run for me; "Spider-Verse" fit the pattern for the majority of his longer arcs in that it had a really promising and gripping setup but then floundered at the end. It was also a pretty dark story for the title which I wouldn't mind if the execution/payoff was better (like in KLH) but it didn't feel uplifting at the end. And the whole Parker Industries setup never worked for me and that Ghost story was kinda lame. Not my favorite year of Spidey tales.
2016: Not much better here either; yet another relaunch and the whole "Worldwide" thing never sat right with me. I applaud Dan for having the guts to move Spidey out of his comfort zone and wheelhouse but the whole Tony Stark-light thing just didn't work for me. And Zodiac/Scorpio was probably the most boring "villain" and overarching plot of his run. "Power Play" was a bit better but not a good year overall IMO.
2017: "Clone Conspiracy" was sadly another mega-arc that failed to deliver at the end but signs of life returned to my beloved ASM title later in the year with the "Osborn Identity" and "Secret Empire" arcs----both of these worked well for me and it helped that the latter brought about the end of Parker Industries and pointed the way to Slott's grand finale for the following year....
2018: Finally, a grand return to form for Dan and the ASM title! The ramp-up to #800 was slow and steady with the later "Fall of Parker" stories and preludes to "Go Down Swinging" but #797 through #800 were absolutely wonderful and #801 served as a fitting coda to a long and mostly very satisfying run on my favorite comic title by Mr. Slott. Bravo!!
Your thoughts?