Amazing Spider-Man #680
Written by Dan Slott and Chris Yost
Art by Giuseppe Camuncoli, Klaus Janson, and Frank D’Armata
The short of it:
Remember when John Jameson got sent off into space just before Marla Jameson got killed? It was right before Spider-Island. Anyway, we’re picking up on that, with John at the Horizon space station, and the Horizon people hanging out with Jonah talking to him. Then everything goes upside down, contact is lost, and Jonah starts to explode. Peter heads to his home away from home, the Baxter Building, and finds his no longer dead, but horribly out of touch, friend Johnny Storm. Can we say buddy comedy? Yes we can! The two go to space to find out what happened to John Jameson and the crew of the space station, only to find that everyone but John has been taken over by DOCTOR OCTOPUS!
What I liked:
- With Johnny back from the dead it was inevitable that we’d get a Spider-Man/Human Torch team up, and really, this is exactly what I had hoped for. The dynamic between the two characters is perfect.
- Jonah is great. I love the slow start with him being the happy doting father, and I love how long it takes to get him screaming at everyone in sight. It’s been too long since we’ve seen the righteous fury of J. Jonah Jameson.
- Johnny doing Risky Business may be the best thing I’ve seen in months.
- Wait, no, Spidey being a dick is.
- The uselessness of Johnny and Peter in space is just awesome. Yes, Johnny should avoid flaming on in a room with limited oxygen, and yes, Peter’s webs should be useless in zero gravity.
- I may whine about Marvel’s complete and total inability to maintain a creative team for longer than a few issues, but Giuseppe Camuncoli does a great job with the art here.
What I didn’t like:
- Not to knock on the art in this issue, but the book goes through so many artists that I forget who is supposed to be regularly relieving Humberto Ramos. Does the book even have a regular reliever? Is it Camuncoli?
- My problem with co-writers in a situation like this is that I don’t know who is doing what. Slott is the full time writer, right? So does that mean that Yost is writing this arc? Is one scripting for the other? Is Yost taking over for Slott? Random co-writers confuse me.
- Still hate Doc Ock’s new look.
Final thoughts:
Lately I don’t know who to expect as the artist on any given issue of any book out of Marvel. They always announce creative teams like it matters who’s both writing and drawing, but given that with their insane publishing schedule no artist in their right mind could keep up, it also means that from one issue to the next you never know what you’re going to be getting. This issue we were lucky with Camuncoli, but how long until we get a Juan Bobillo?
Co-writers are also weird, like I said before. When I see a co-writer on a book at Marvel I expect the torch to be in the process of getting handed off, and they’ve done good work with that. Matt Fraction’s Marvel career launched out of his co-writing of Immortal Iron Fist and Uncanny X-Men with Ed Brubaker, and then he paid it forward by doing the same with Kieron Gillen. Brian Bendis co-wrote the first few issues of Secret Warriors to launch Jon Hickman. Sometimes it makes sense. Other times it happens and I get confused. Dan Slott is the full time writer on Spidey, and he’s writing the upcoming Spidey event, while Chris Yost writes Scarlet Spider. Is this to boost Yost’s name value to keep Scarlet Spidey selling better? Which of them wrote the majority of this issue?
Pete and Johnny as a duo is just awesome. Seriously, this issue is so much fun just because of the way the two play off of each other. And hey, Johnny doing Risky Business with Friday? Epic. So freaking epic.
If Johnny joined this book full time as a supporting cast member I’d be soooo happy.
Overall: 8/10
