Amazing Spider-Man #608 Review
Amazing Spider-Man #608
Writer: Marc Guggenheim
Penciler: Marco Checchetto and Luke Ross
Inker: Marco Checchetto and Rick Maygar
Colorist: Fabio D’Auria
Cover: Adi Granov
Reviewed by Gerard Delatour II
As always, this review contains SPOILERS. Consider yourself WARNED!
Plot Overview
In an issue that jumps between two time periods, we begin with Ben Reilly getting a research position with Damon Ryder, the man revealed in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #36 to be seeking revenge on Ben under the identity Raptor. We cut to present day, with Spider-Man and Screwball engaging in a battle of sorts on the Empire State Building. Later, Peter brings photos of the fight to Ben Urich at Front Line, but because Screwball broadcasts all her activities live online, the photos are worthless. Ryder storms in and confronts Peter, again believing him to be Ben Reilly. After some tense words and an altercation, Ryder hands Urich an old article and leaves. The article details the prologue scene from the annual – namely, the fire that consumed Ryder’s home and a police sketch of Ben Reilly as the suspect. We cut back to the past and learn that Ryder was working on finding the missing link between dinosaur and man, based on a theory that the dinosaurs evolved out of existence rather than becoming extinct. Peter searches for Ryder following a spider-tracer he planted earlier, but finds an empty hideout because Ryder has gone to Peter’s apartment, where Michele Gonzales has allowed him entry. We learn that Ryder tested the dinosaur recombinant DNA formula on himself. The issue ends with a dual cliffhanger – Ryder appears ready to attack Michele, while Peter is confronted by Kaine!
The Good
Despite the work of two separate art teams, the book is beautifully illustrated. Checchetto draws the present-day scenes and Ross draws the flashbacks, a plan that works wonderfully without making the shifts jarring to the reader. Checchetto in particular draws some knockout pages here that are rich in detail without being distracting. He draws consistent faces and interesting fight choreography, and he does it all with an eye for light and shadow. I’m becoming a big fan, and I would love to see his work more consistently.
Another positive is that we get to see plenty of Ben Reilly – while he only appeared briefly in the heavily-referenced Amazing Spider-Man Annual #36, he appears prominently in the flashbacks throughout the issue. The structure of the story also seems to indicate that we will continue to see Ben (in flashbacks, of course) for the rest of the arc, possibly detailing the falling-out between himself and Ryder, leading to the climactic fire. I’m genuinely excited to see both stories unfold, which is a magnificent feeling.
The writing by Guggenheim strikes a delicate balance, detailing two stories clearly and peppering both with some witty one-liners and jokes that I enjoyed. There were a couple of things I didn’t care for (see below), but this wasn’t a terrible effort.
The Bad
I have to pick on the Screwball set piece and its aftermath. While I understand why it is present in the story (to get Peter to the offices of Front Line), the scene rubbed me the wrong way. I’m tired of seeing Spider-Man make a fool of himself “fighting” a Z-list supervillain like this.
Additionally, Ben Urich is oddly out of character here. First, his explanation of why he can’t accept the photos is silly. Newspapers always report stories slightly behind television and the Internet. Why would Urich not accept these photos in particular, and now? It doesn’t make all that much sense, not even considering the fact that newspapers have a different target audience than Screwball’s website presumably does. Second, his distrustfulness of Peter is strangely incongruous with how their relationship has always been shown. Some hobo-looking dude comes into his office, roughs up one of his closest friends and colleagues, and then claims that that friend committed a crime years earlier – and he believes the hobo-looking guy! I find it hard to believe, and frankly, it made me a little angry.
The Ugly
Recombinant dinosaur DNA?! Good lord … that’s just dumb. And familiar. I hope there’s some kind of “hidden twist,” but I wouldn’t count on it.
Stegron the Dinosaur Man is going to be pissed!
Final Thoughts
This is a solid, if unspectacular, issue. It’s a nice setup for the arc, but some missed characterization and minor annoyances keep it from being a top-level story.
Grade
B. The art pulls it up significantly from an average C.
Nova#1
on November 6th, 2009
Was this the issue where it was hard to tell who was Ben and who was Ryder at times? So much so that there is some wrong speech bubbles in there…is that the next issue?
Amazing Spider-Man #609 Review «
on November 6th, 2009
[...] up from last issue, we have parallel storylines taking place in present-day New York City and in a flashback to [...]
spidertour02
on November 6th, 2009
@Nova#1: Hmm. I didn’t notice any errant speech bubbles, though Ben and Damon DO look pretty similar (as drawn by Ross).