Rereading Nick Spencer's Amazing Spider-Man

[Mister Mets]

I've been interested in reading Nick Spencer's run of Amazing Spider-Man from beginning to end. I've read every issue as they were coming out, but I haven't reread some of the later stuff. The twenty issue Kindred/ Sin-Eater showdown with Sins Rising, Last Remains and all the tie-ins might come across differently if I'm not reading it all in one go.



2018 Free Comic Book Day Special
Spencer and Ottley immediately establish a contemporary vibe for the series, and have a nice set-up for Peter's private life, or at least his housing situation. The battle with supervillains is okay, and leads to a movie style rescue sequence, while setting up some mysteries. It's a decent prologue.
A



Amazing Spider-Man Volume 5#1
The first issue works quite well as a proof of concept. I'm not sure Spencer and company ever surpassed it, although that's more about why this comic is good than a criticism of his later work. It's a great A-plot, and there are fun changes like Kingpin trying to push a rift between Spider-Man and the Marvel heroes, or Boomerang as a roommate. It's an excellent intro to Ottley who ably depicts all other Marvel heroes, and Peter's supporting cast, balancing struggles for Peter with an alien invasion. The intro of Kindred at Mysterio's trial is also creepy, and it's a smart move to have Ramos on that back-up as it fits his wheelhouse and sets him up as part of the initial creative team. I do like how things are going badly for Peter, but one thing goes very well.
I was bothered by Peter losing what's probably the character's ideal job as a science reporter, but the final pages do set up something different that has potential going forward. And I do like how they play around with form with what's kinda like a post-credits sequence, which also gives Peter & MJ"s reconciliation more weight. This is an issue that can be explored in depth as an example of a decent Spider-Man comic, and taking advantage of one shot to impress new readers.
A+

Technically, the first issue is part one of the larger "Back to Basics" story, but it really is more of a standalone, distinct from the A-plot of the next four issues.

[Minerboh]

Not very pleased personally. The first arc was promising but from that moment onwards, it was dull.
TheKindred story was a complete mess. The only good that ended up rom that fiasco was the retcon of the Osborn Brats.

[Matt Rat]

Hands down the best run of core continuity stories in ten years. That includes everything that went wrong with it.

[PCN24454]

Hands down the best run of core continuity stories in ten years. That includes everything that went wrong with it.

But nothing happened in it?

…oh. I see why it’s good now.

[Mister Mets]

Amazing Spider-Man Volume 5 #2-5:

Again, it feels weird that this is labeled "Back to Basics Parts 2-5" as it is very much its own story, about the temporary separation of Peter Parker and Spider-Man. Incidentally, that was based on a suggestion by a former CBR poster. And it's a fun story that says some things about Peter Parker and Spider-Man. This story also finds Spider-Man facing a few villain duos, setting up Nick Spencer as a guy who picks deep cuts for villains. There are some great character details like a failed double date, or Aunt May giving Peter a months-early birthday card so he can pay his rent.
A

[DragonPiece]

I really enjoyed this run as it was happening, especially around the sins rising arc. The ending really soured me on it of course, because of how much the Kindred plot was built up and how it needed to have a solid conclusion for the whole run to work but sadly we all know how that ended. I do think people are being too harsh on the run because of that though, there is a lot of good that tends to get ignored.

[Tendrin]

Way too backwards-looking a run, imo, dedicated to restoring status-quos better left in the past rather than wasting the page space to fix them. Weird to be putting Kraven back in the ground (but with a clone so we can have a 'Kraven' while 'Kraven' is dead, what is even the point of that,. either let him be dead or not) and Harry too, but then ... bringing back Ned Leeds? What?

The entire run winding up being a retcon of Sins Past, and adding Mephisto to Norman's background was just awful stuff all around and completely unnecessary and a waste of years-worth of issues, imo. We might get some fun stories out of supposedly 'sinless' Norman in the end, but ... still.

[Jman27]

Not very pleased personally. The first arc was promising but from that moment onwards, it was dull.
TheKindred story was a complete mess. The only good that ended up rom that fiasco was the retcon of the Osborn Brats.

felt like that was a cop out. like Spencer at the end couldnt/ wouldnt be allowed to address the main problem so he had to settled for something that in comparison is so much smaller

[Spidey5640]

Not very pleased personally. The first arc was promising but from that moment onwards, it was dull.
TheKindred story was a complete mess. The only good that ended up rom that fiasco was the retcon of the Osborn Brats.

I would add that he (with a huge assist from Jed MacKay) did a nice job of bringing Black Cat back in Spidey's orbit and getting her out of that stupid "Queenpin" garbage. Wasn't crazy about most everything else he did but those two things were good.

[Minerboh]

I would add that he (with a huge assist from Jed MacKay) did a nice job of bringing Black Cat back in Spidey's orbit and getting her out of that stupid "Queenpin" garbage. Wasn't crazy about most everything else he did but those two things were good.

I absolutely agree. I can't believe I didn't mentioned it! Thanks for adding it.