Ughh. The art change should have been up to the previous issues standards but here it's really just run of the mill. That being said I really enjoyed this book and it basically crawled at a snails pace but I think we needed this issue to really understand some of the new characters (and yes I consider all these familiar faces new because this is a totally different ball game). We are expected to be invested in the book and the people who populate it so we need some deep dives into their characters once in a while. This was as enjoyable as Tarintino dialogue to me. The next issue does need some more action so we don't get bored though. more

Despite the slow pace I really appreciated the opportunity to see more of the individuals we'd be seeing going forward and in a subtle fashion. Hickman is doing an exposition dump but not in the typical way you'd normally see it. We get our character motivations for Gwen and Harry and see how not completely on the same page they are as well as Harry and Peter's dynamic. It's all pretty nuanced and that might be why people are so iffy on it. That tends to go over a lot of heads and is definitely a trait that Hickman employs. I loved seeing how driven Gwen is in pushing the Parkers forward while Harry is very casually forceful to Peter specifically. Also an interesting circumvention of the norm to have Harry of all people tell Peter about great power and responsibility.
The biggest detractor here is the art. I can't rate the issue any lower as it is as a whole is fantastic but the art is very distressing. Messina seems to heavily rely on reference photos for his faces and while that is very normal to use reference to get poses or even some faces down, none of them have cohesion between panels, most egregiously is Gwen. When she first appears she looks like Margot Robbie, then the next panel, someone entirely different, the next panel looks like some other model and the fourth panel she's in has her eating something. The hand in that picture is very odd. It either has five fingers or a really messed up thumb that is in the completely wrong position OR is turned the entirely wrong way around. It's supposed to be her left hand but it is facing the wrong way for that to work. Take a look at it yourself and it'll be a lot more clear. I don't want to accuse Messina of using AI generated art, I really don't think that's the case. I think he just over relies on reference and may have been a little lazy. I'd really rather it be the latter but considering the hands and poses throughout a lot of the issue it doesn't really make a lot of sense. Hands are hard and that could be it but as a professional artist on a very popular and important book you think you'd take a lot more care to raise the quality up a bit. more

Amazing stuff here. This is just the issue USM needed, more slower one that focuses on characters and their relationships. I loved every page and I was hooked on the dialogue.

And Messina as a guest artist works really well here. I wouldn't mind seeing more of him once in a while.

The only problem I have is the cover. It's a bit misleading, and since I desperately wanna see Ben's viewpoint on Spider-Man, it was a letdown more

Weird Science Marvel Comics can bolt.

Not sure what to think here. Is Ben going to be the new Goblin? Does Peter have gaps in his own memory and will that be the catalyst for the new Goblin problems? I'm glad that Ben seems to be getting back to normal but the idea that he and Janine share that they might just both be "bad" feels like a cop-out. The Spider team just don't want to deal with him anymore so we'll just write him off as a "bad guy" and push him away after doing him so dirty from the end of Beyond until now. At least he seems to not be crazy and has somewhat come back to BEN and away from Chasm. We'll see. more

I thought this was fine? Like, a bit confusing on the whole setup for the Goblin storyline, but I'm also a bit excited for it. However, Chasm stuff felt random and didn't seem to go anywhere that much.

Maybe I just wish this was longer? And we saw Peter and Ben actually interacting without masks? The same kind of writing we had for Peter in #45-46?

The art is good. But, Wonder Woman exists as the truth to combat the lies of the evil patriarchy who spread nothing but lies and only seek power to oppress women. Christianity is a tool of the evil patriarchy, blah blah blah. This series started off OK but after these last two issues maybe it’s time to take this off the pull list.

Another amazing issue! This is the only book I'm picking up this week. tbh, probably an 8 or 9 but I'm rating it 10 because of the weirdos who try and tank the rankings every month. If you don't like it, read something else, weirdos! lol

Satire drawn by Greg Land is just peak.

Two issues in a row they can't help but point out that Ororo is black. The Stan and Jack cameos were actually pretty nice. Much more so than we get nowadays. The novelty of a Christmas issue worked because that aspect didn't become the sole plot point. The Sentinels' return was really interesting, seeing how the new and improved X-Men dispatch them or are captured.

While the plot here is engaging and the conflict between Havoc and Cyclops works well, the dialogue has become very repetitious and somewhat bothersome.

Even if this enemy returns it really felt like the most filler issue ever. The biggest point that I can give it is the fallout of John Proudstar which even then felt rather brushed over. The opening page is depicted beautifully though.

Thrilling. While it dabbles in horror elements there isn't much to call this necessarily scary. That might pick up as we get closer to the end of the mystery but as of now things are a little too intangible to be frightening.

Even more gripping than the first issue. Hard to talk about the content of the story but it feels very real while still being fantastical. They way trauma and fear is depicted here is fantastic. The characters feel like actual people. Not paragons of society. People with flaws, baggage and weight.

This was really, really good. I've always been much more of a science fiction person than just about anything else but somehow I've never really jumped into a lot of sci-fi comics. Seems odd considering the medium lends itself very well to it because a lot of concepts at least in the physical aspect in science fiction is based on detailed descriptions of future tech. Here we get to see that future tech on full display and while Johns isn't delving into manufacturers of ships, the classifications of weapons, buildings and other tech by mega corporations or hegemonic governments, the minutiae of detail like a lot of traditional sci-fi does, he still creates a "lived in" world. Reminded me a lot of Wall-E but with people instead of robots. If Wall-E was the most generic looking main character ever but he's got a really cool helmet, commands crows and his buddy has a pet warthog named Pumba. Put that in most other stories not set in space and I'd call it stupid but it works well here.
Fabok is great as he tends to be. You can tell he put a lot of time into this and I hope that Johns and Fabok continue to go that route. These guys aren't great with tight schedules and if this is more of a sporadic release, as long as the quality keeps up I'm down to read this whenever it hits the shelf. more

This is a FRIGGIM GRAND SLAM.

Wow.

I've seen a lot of rumbling about ghost machihe but haven't read much into it. I knew they had some well respected creators on board but I didnt pick up the Ghost Machine big first issue. I did, however pick up this. Id pretty much already decided by the look of the main character Id at least give it a shot.

What I didnt expect to have one of my favorite issue 1 in the last year.

This book is pretty much without flaw as far as great comics go. Well crafted, well written, well set, and in CREDIBLY well drawn. Jason fabok is no stranger to accolade and acclaim but dear God this book is beautiful to look at.

And the writing is no slouch either. I always say you know a book is good when you feel like you didn't pay ENOUGH for it.

The Ghost Machine dudes just made their opening statement, and the entire industry needs to be listening. more

Fantastic art, gripping story. Not sure where the story is going to go as it doesn't seem to tackle all of the horrors of firefighting and is going for something a little more supernatural but its very engaging. Real world traumas and fears with a layer of the fantastical. Works very well.

Okay this was actually really good. I might be giving a higher score than it deserves but for what ASM has been, this is a nice return to something I'm used to in Spider-Man. Peter getting set up with someone new, having decent chemistry, having to run out on them, actually saving people, helping his friends and fingers crossed we get some decent characterization for Ben in the next few issues before issue 50 puts everything on the back burner. Also a fan of Todd Nauck here. I really wish he would be a recurring artist rather than a guest. He's miles ahead of JRJR. That cover is GARBAGE. more

Even FCBD issues have more content than this.

Anthology books are hard to rate and I didn't read every story in here because I really just do mainline ASM or am just a sucker for 90s nostalgia so I'll just review the stories I read.
ASM: Nothing but a tease for something we likely won't see for a long time and was already pretty much established in the last issue of Gang War. To make matters worse they put JRJR on the art so the whole thing feels worthless. 3/10
Gold Goblin: Short and sweet and somewhat heartbreaking as we see Norman fall further and further away from his growth. 7/10
Chasm: I'm really of two minds on this one. I want to read more when it comes to Ben Reilly. I loved his mini series that ran at the same time as Beyond. This isn't that Ben Reilly. I keep holding out hope and now that he's out from Limbo MAYBE we'll see some journey back to what/who he once was and stop being this weird villain and a reminder of Dark Web. 5/10
Kaine: Weirdly enough I was never really a fan of Kaine. When he died in Spider-Verse I had nothing to really latch onto with him so it felt really hollow. I'm honestly more excited for his return and potential series or at least appearances going forward than Ben's. Really great art, cool snippet of some darker stories that Kaine has the potential for. 7/10
2099: Yeah this one bored me more than the rest. I used to really like 2099 but they haven't made him work since the 90s. Everything has to involve the Spider-Society, or the Spider-Verse or something. Just send him back to his time and either use him there or don't use him at all. You don't have to make every comic emulate the movies that are already adapting the comics. 4/10 more

This is a very weird anthology. It honestly shows me a Spider-Office that doesn't really know what it wants. The entire thing is an exercise in synergy, with Madame Web haphazardly being the impetus for the anthology. It gives me the same vibes as when Black Adam got a full page splash in Dark Crisis along with an extended sequence showing just how great and heroic he was, because he and his movie were definitely going to be a smash hit. Luckily, Marvel didn't commit quite so hard to Madame Web, at least. We also get some weird synergy with Loki. I really just want Spider-Gwen to be in her own universe. Half the fun of the original run was exploring Earth-65 and seeing how different it was from 616. You take that away and Spider-Gwen gets lost in the sea of ancillary Spider-Characters with nothing to truly define her besides the memory of her counterpart's death 50 years ago. Now tying her to the off-brand comics-catching-up versions of the MCU's Ouroboros and Mobius, it seems like Marvel simply wants her brand to continue to diminish. The synergy might run even deeper with Spider-Man 2099 taking the lead role in whatever the next Spider-Verse event is, but who knows if he will be by the time issue 1 of End of the Spider-Verse, For Real This Time, comes out. My point with the synergy is that it feels like so much of the creative side of editorial, specifically Spider-Editorial, is being driven by whatever the latest creative flaunt is. That tells me that the editors don't really have a direction or directive, or drive, for how they want to shape Spider-Man and his extended cast's books for the foreseeable future. They're just latching onto whatever might work.

I'm behind on every Spidey book that isn't Amazing, so I know I'm missing context for certain things, but never so much that I felt lost. However, this anthology does not make me want to rush and catch up. The standout story for me was literally the first one. It's Wells and Romita, and it's about Tombstone. As much as Gang War bummed me out, I still really enjoyed the first arc of Wells' ASM run and this brief story has the vibes of that rather than what Gang War was like. The tone feels more consistent, Spidey is turning the tables on Tombstone somewhat... As an incredibly stupid man once said, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." I am extremely hesitant here, but I'm looking for something in this anthology. Miles' story was fine, but too caught up in its lore for me to latch onto anything. I haven't read that arc yet, why do I care about whether this vampire guy gets out? Spider-Woman had me interested, until Nick Lowe spoiled it for me in the back matter, and now I'm kinda dreading that one. The second Wells story did *look* fantastic, but it did nothing for me. Green Goblin is coming back, we know. The Chasm/Kaine stories are ones I want to enjoy, but the absurdly awful Greg Land art really took me out of it. Whenever I see artists that *I know* are hired for their speed rather than their ability, it tells me that Marvel doesn't actually care about this story and selling it. So why should I care? The Spectacular Spider-Men story was cute but I wasn't super invested in it either.

It's weird that there are two major elements of the Spider-Comics at the moment that weren't represented here: Ultimate and Slott. Ultimate is edited by a separate group (which is why it's better), I know, but this is supposed to be the grand opening statement of all things Spidey come 2024, so why not include an incredibly brief story by Hickman to grab the 2 and a half people who aren't yet reading that book? Hell, maybe its inclusion would boost sales for this anthology. The Slott stuff being absent is much more perplexing. He's writing two separate titles right now, that's a big chunk. And I assume those stories are building to something in the near-ish future. And Slott participated in the last big anthology issue, so why not here? I don't know about you, but this web feels pretty incomplete!

I wish I could say this book is exciting, or serves a purpose, or feels important. It's not any of these things. You can skip it, in fact, *do* skip it. It's a waste of your money and your time. I only rated it a 5 because nothing is really bad, it's just bland as hell. This book is a statement on editorial's failures. Eight dollars of non-excitement. more

Zdarsky seems to be speed-running through some of the bigger Batman premises with his first two arcs as he brings us his take on the classic "What is Gotham without the Batman?" I really enjoy his internal monologue for Bruce, as it really sells the whole "smartest, most prepared man in the room" schtick that Batman is known for. Hawthorne's art was fun throughout and I particularly liked the placement of skeleton Jim throughout the story. Really added a nice touch of levity. more

Very cool, but it goes very fast. Almost a bit too fast. We go from Gotham to Atlantis to the Moon at a breakneck pace which is the obvious intention. Evading Failsafe is impossible but some of the tension is starting to wane because we are told over and over how impervious he is. Excited to hit the conclusion.

This run has just been absolutely stellar. One highlight from the first half of the book is Arthur defending Bruce by letting the Atlantean guard know just how many times Bruce has saved the planet. Moving on, the bulk of this book was Batman facing Failsafe after #128's amazing setup. Gladly, this did not disappoint. Along with great inner-narration from Zdarsky, he also writes a fantastic fight between Bruce and Failsafe that ends with the former seemingly stranded in space. I can understand why some people might think this is a little absurd, but I personally enjoy it and believe we've seen crazier things happen. As for the backup, it continues to be even better than the Catwoman one (which was entertaining in its own right). Romero's art is a great blend of a classic feel with suspense and tension that create almost a psychological thriller. All in all, the main story and the backup story come together to make this a, simply, outstanding book. more

I am a Gun is a fucking blast