Book Review: The Amazing Spider-Man #700.5

Book: The Amazing Spider-Man #700.5 by Brian Reed with illustrations by Sean Chen and color by Chris Sotomayor

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

In the finale part of this miniseries, Spider-Man found himself in the middle of a zany Fantastic Four adventure. This story was really funny and I'm glad Mary Jane Watson was in the story as well.

The story opened with Peter barely having time to have fallen asleep before he’s being woken up by Johnny Storm who needs his help. He told Peter that a Ben (The Thing) from the future showed up and gave him a device and told him that he needed to keep it away from Richard Reed (Mr. Fantastic).

Peter was still trying to mull over what Johnny said when the rest of the Fantastic Four showed up outside his apartment window. Johnny quickly took off leaving Peter to try to explain what was going on as well as get a little more information from the other three.

While the Fantastic Three and Spider-Man try to find Johnny, the fiery member of the team is visiting an old friend, Mary Jane Watson.

Johnny thought it would be the perfect place to hide out but a short while later the other four show up.

I'm glad this mini ended on a humorous note since issues 1 and 2 dealt with a monstrous blizzard while issues 3 and 4 had Spider-Man trying to escape from a villains hospital. It was nice to have a funny issues to end with.


This last issue also included another short story:

“What Would Spider-Man Do”? by Kevin Grevioux with illustrations by Lee Weeks and color by Rico Renzi

The main story may have ended on a happy note but this story was truly an emotional one. The story opens with Spider-Man taking a young man to the hospital. He had been shot trying to be a hero.

Afterwards Peter tells Mary Jane how it happened before he goes to the hospital to sit with the young man. While Peter was blaming himself and feeling awful about the situation, he got an unexpected dose of inspiration.

This story showed how inspirational Spider-Man is and that no matter how much he's seen as a menace and a villain, he will never stop doing what is right. And along the way he inspired those who see him.

Book Review: The Amazing Spider-Man #700.4

Book: The Amazing Spider-Man #700.4 by Joe Casey with illustrations by Timothy Green with colors by Brad Simpson

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

This picks up right where the third issue ended with Peter at the villains hospital trying to find a way to get out of there. But now that the entire hospital staff and the villains are clued in to who the new patient really is, Peter is going to have a hard time making it out of there alive.

But Peter's threat doesn't come from the hospital staff, because the Doctor stands by his code to heal, so he talks the villains into attacking Spider-Man during lights out.

Spider-Man was ambushed as soon as he tried to leave his room. And even though he is healing faster than normal he is still not completely ready to go up against three villains.

The fight doesn't go as planned especially with a staff member attempting to wake up Firebrand which sets off a huge fire. Spider-Man being the hero that he is, doesn't hesitate to save the villains. Unfortantely, the Doctor and the rest of the staff got away but at least he made it out alive.


This issue also included a second story:

Three O'clock High! by Clay McLeod Champman with illustration by Javier Rodriguez

In this short story, Casey a young boy who is continuously bullied tells the bullies that Spider-Man is his friend to stop them from bothering him.

However, that only makes things worse. Thinking that Casey is making up a lie the bullies tell him he has until 3 pm tomorrow for Spider-Man to show or they're going to beat him up.

Casey tried to flag down Spider-Man at the scene of a robbery but wasn't able to get his attention. Then he tried to see if he could get someone to pretend to be Spider-Man but that didn't quite work out. So as a last resort, Casey took drastic measures to finally get Spider-Man attention but that only resulted in Spider-Man being angry with him.

So, the next day, Casey with no Spider-Man for reinforcement endures the school day as a "dead man walking" before heading to the playground. After admitting that he lied and prepared to get beat up, Casey got surprised by Spider-Man but he wasn't there to stop the fight. Instead he was there to give Casey a nudge in the right direction for standing up for himself.

This was a good story.

In fact this was a really good issue. Both stories were well-written and the artwork is good. I'm really looking forward to reading the last issue.

Book Review: The Amazing Spider-Man #700.3

Book: The Amazing Spider-Man #700.3 by Joe Casey with illustrations by Timothy Green and color by Brad Simpson

Rating: 4 stars

Review:

In the third part of this miniseries, Peter found himself in the last place he wanted to be. A hospital for villains. He wound up there after a fight with Firebrand took a turn for the worse and Spider-Man ended up being severely burned.

It's a race against time for Peter to try to figure out how to get out of there before anyone figures out Spider-Man is one of the new patients. The problem is how can he leave when his body is still healing.

There was a lot of suspense in this story with Peter being stuck in the hospital filled with villains. He was trying his best to keep his identity a secret because in his current state there is no way he could fight off anyone.

The story ends on a cliffhanger with Peter's identity or should I say Spider-Man's identity being discovered and it's definitely going to add even more complications for Peter's escape. I look forward to the next issue to see what's going to happen.
 
I really like this story it reminds me of one of those old movies where someone is accidentally brought into the villains hideout because the crooks mistakenly pick up the wrong person.


This issue also included a bonus Black Cat short story "Cat and Mouse: a Black Cat Mystery" by Jen Van Meter with illustrations by Emma Rios and color by Jordie Bellaire.

In this story the Black Cat is out to stop an art thief who's been circulating forgeries. She gained access to the paintings by infiltrating a costume party held by the host and art thief. This was a fun story that let the Black Cat slink around doing what she does best and like that she helped someone who was in need of a little help.

Book Review: The Amazing Spider-Man #700.2

Book: The Amazing Spider-Man #700.2 by David Morrell and illustration by Klaus Janson with color by Steve Buccellatto

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

Okay, this one was truly touching with how determined Peter was to get to his Aunt May.

The story continues from part 1, with Peter as Spider-Man was set to go out into the extremely harsh winter weather to go check on his aunt. However, before he could get to her he helped rescue several stranded people caught in a fire. The firefighters' equipment was unable to reach the people who were trapped in an apartment building that was on fire. But thankfully Spider-Man was swinging by.

After that he set out trying to get to his aunt because as more time slipped by his Spider Sense got worse and he knew time was starting to run out. As soon as he was nearing Queens, he spotted an ambulance trapped in the snow on the road. But just when he wasn't sure he could help them a snowplow was barreling down the road which unfortunately caused an accident. Even though Peter was very cold and nearly exhausted, he dealt with the situation. But with a help from the plow to clear the road for the ambulance and give Spider-Man a much needed ride close to Queen, Peter was nearly to his aunts.

As Peter walked to his aunt's house, he was so cold that he was starting to slow down. He had started to hallucinate from possible suffering from hypothermia. But someone who means a lot to Peter helped guide and motivate him to continue walking on.

And when Peter finally arrived at his aunt's house, she was in dire situation. Peter immediately went to work helping his aunt. The last few pages were really sweet with Peter and his Aunt May.

I really enjoyed this issue it was filled with so much of what makes Peter a hero, his heart and compassion. Even with some of the people in the city and Jameson thinking he's a menace that doesn't stop him from trying to do what is right.

Now after reading the first two issues I'm really excited to finish reading the last three parts of the story.

Book Review: The Amazing Spider-Man #700.1

Book: The Amazing Spider-Man #700.1 by David Morrell with illustrations by Klaus Janson and color by Steve Buccellatto

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

In this first part of this five part mini, a fast approaching blizzard is heading for New York City. But before it hits, Spider-Man was doing his best to take down crooks and villains while trying to help people. While he was doing all of that, Peter was starting not to feel good, something seems to be wrong health wise. He was feeling really tired and cold (which had nothing to do with the temperature).

As the monstrous blizzard spreads throughout the city leaving in it's wake increasing piles of snow, Peter starts to get a sense that something is wrong with his Aunt May (who he is not living with).

The issue ends with Peter getting ready to put on the Spidey suit to brace the storm to go check on his aunt.

I thought the first part of the story was really good and well-written. I also like the illustrations. This miniseries was released back in December and we all know how bad this winter has been. It was nice to see Peter trying to deal with the horrible weather as well as trying to be a hero.