The Amazing Spider-Man #12
Marvel
Written by: Dan Slott
Art by: Giuseppe Camuncoli & Cam Smith
Colors by: Justin Ponsor
When we last left our heroes, calamity and death had been wrought upon the Spiders’ safe zone when Morlun and the one and only Solus arrived to feed. Just when you assumed Captain Universe had enough power to defeat the Inheritors, the table was flipped so hard that it literally killed a few Spider-Men before hitting the ground. Having feasted upon Captain Universe, Solus became super charged and turned his new powers back on the Spider-Team. Morlun has The Scion (the baby), for what purpose we still don’t know, but this book ramps up the awesomeness Dan Slott has created by tenfold. You thought you’ve seen all the versions of Spider-Man there is to see? Even after reading my Know Your Spider-Verse list or watching YouTube videos detailing the Spider-Men? This issue is sure to bring back one massive Spidey and a few others that everyone forgot about and it’s incredible!
Dan Slott is weaving this story so good, that I am almost convinced that under that mask, the Master Weaver is Slott himself. This book does an incredible job at cramming as much story from every little corner of the Spider-verse into one. Slott spins scenes from Spider-Woman, Spider-Man 2099, Spider-verse Team-Up and Inheritor side-scenes all together without making this book feel crowded. The art by Guiseppe Camuncoli and Cam Smith is once again the absolute best and I really hope they’re both long time Spider-Man fans, because if they are they’re drawing their dream comic. They get to draw Spider-Man in any form they feel like. It probably doesn’t matter which Spider-Men die (which many do), so I imagine the artists for these books get to pick and choose who is in the background in some panels and who dies in others and who’s fighting in the backgrounds. So I really love that we aren’t seeing the same Spiders in every issue. Justin Ponsor’s colors also do the best job making this comic feel alive and give the scenes a depth of energy that they wouldn’t have without his skills. His work coloring the Spider-heroes differently and giving them each the look they were designed to have really lends great detail to the pages. Ultimate Spider-Man looks like the cartoon, one of the Japanese manga Spider-men that hadn’t ever been drawn in color was still black and white. This book is a Captain Universe size feast for your eyes.
This event has my jaw on the floor (if it isn’t obvious by my numerous articles on it and incessant gushing). This issue had my heart beating with a bit of adrenaline and that’s rare for me. It had me searching through Google wondering how on earth I could have missed the new Spider-Men featured in this issue and wanting to know everything about them. Finally the cliffhanger at the end of this issue delivers an emotional punch that will hopefully make them all realize exactly why they are who they are, and why they need to fight for every Spider-Hero out there. Read this book.