Review: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #17

Writers:  Dan Slott & Christos Gage
Penciler:  Humberto Ramos
Inker:  Victor Olazaba
Colors:  Edgar Delgado
Letterer:  Chris Eliopoulos

Spider-Verse is over!  Time for Peter Parker to get back to running Parker Industries.  A simple demonstration of their new super-villain prison can’t go wrong, right?

What I Liked

With Spider-Verse concluded, Dan Slott and Christos Gage use the opportunity to put some of the jokes and laughs back into Amazing Spider-Man.  We get to spend a fair amount of time with Peter Parker and not Spider-Man.  This enables Peter to bounce off his supporting cast, like Aunt May, Anna Maria, and the rest of the Parker Industries staff.

With everything that has taken place over the last few months, there are character threads I’ve completely forgotten about.  For example, the Anna Maria/Sajani alliance.  It was helpful to get that reminder.

When I think of the art in Amazing Spider-Man, I can’t help but think of Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazaba, Edgar Delgado and Chris Eliopoulos.  The work they have done on Spider-Man over the last year has been phenomenal.  Ramos’ pencils give off such a feeling of kinetic energy, which are heightened by Olazaba’s pencils and Delgado’s colors.  Everything comes off as being extra vibrant.  Eliopoulos gets to craft the lettering art for The Ghost, which has an almost ghost-like quality to its shading.

We get another backup story starring The Black Cat.  I’m a big fan of Black Cat, and am glad to see her featured here in a 3-part story.  With all the Spider-characters getting their own spinoff series’, I always wished that Black Cat would get one of her own.  Of course, this was back when she was a hero/vigilante.  That’s less likely being on the wrong side of the law, but hopefully she can be a foil in various guest-appearances.

What I Didn’t Like

The issue was light on web-slinging Spider-Man action, but after seeing multiple Spiders in Spider-Verse, that might have been on purpose.

Also, I want to see where things progress with Parker Industries.  Will Peter continue to push it to the side and neglect his responsibilities?  How will Sajani and Anna Maria’s scheme play into all this?

Amazing_Spider-Man_Vol_3_17_Textless

Summary

The next issue is the end of the 3-part The Ghost and Black Cat stories.  Can Parker Industries recover from this corporate takeover?  What happens when Black Cat’s story crosses over into the life of Peter Parker?  Will Anna Maria keep covering for Peter/Spider-Man?  We should find out these answers and more next month.

Rating:  4 out of 5

This review is written in partnership with Pop Culture Network.  They can be found at their website http://www.popculturenetwork.com/  

#ComicBookChronicles @CBChron founder. Editor-in-Chief of @thekliqnation. Comic book reviewer, podcaster #RABBLERABBLE