Even though I have 4 variants coming in the mail I ran out and bought three more this afternoon when the closest store opened.
The art was so good. It really brought the characters and vibe of this new universe to life. Everything is so detailed and lived in. The characters are expressive. Home run.
I thought this was tremendous and the most exciting and interesting and emotional issue of a Spider-Man comic I have read in years.
I loved all the attention on the Bugle and the characters working there. I thought the ending speech was fantastic. I loved the peak at who this Peter is and how he feels.
This was a fantastic laying of the groundwork for what looks to be an extremely enjoyable ride.
I have long contended that Hickman would be the ideal person to ride Spider-Man. And this first is you has me even more set in that opinion. I think he does incredible work with characters despite his reputation for high concept and I can't wait to learn more and see these new iterations of the characters grow. While he's definitely a concept person across all of his runs I have felt that those concepts are held up by the skeleton of incredibly rich and interesting and complicated characters whose arcs are a joy to follow.
Everything about this issue felt additive to the mythos of Spider-Man to the characterization and to comic books in general. This doesn't feel destructive, petty, or spiteful.
I'm sure there will be more twists and drama to come but this foundational issue was fantastic and I think a great mission statement