The Amazing Spider-Man [2015] #30 - Marvel Comics

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN No. 30, September 2017

Selling an impressive 56,560 copies in July 2017, at least according to “Diamond Comic Distributors”, this book’s portrayal of Peter Parker as both the tough chief executive officer of Parker Industries and the ‘natural leader’ of a defeated Avengers must have caused some considerable consternation amongst Spidey’s fandom. For whilst there’s no argument that the “fictional superhero” is perfectly capable of taking the initiative in a crisis situation, the supposedly well-planned, overly confident, even arrogant, web-slinger presented by Dan Slott towards the end of this twenty-page periodical is hardly recognisable from the hesitant, street-level crime-fighter whose popularity would quickly make him become “Marvel's flagship character and company mascot.”

Indeed, the unqualified haughtiness and lack of respect Spider-Man shows his arch-nemesis, Doctor Octopus, in “Master Planning”, genuinely beggars belief, particularly when the Berkeley-born writer knows full well how dangerous a foe Otto Gunther Octavius has proven himself to be in the past, even before the mechanically-appendaged leader of the Sinister Six came to acquire all of the wall-crawler’s super-powers as well; “Don’t hold back on my account. As you can see, I now possess all your powers as well. We are evenly matched.” Unsurprisingly, such abnormal hubris ultimately ends in Web-head facing an even greater threat of his own making, on this occasion six heavily-armed spider-riders alongside Superior Octopus, and resultantly doubtless made many of this publication’s readers wonder why having had so much recent regard for his other main adversary, Norman Osborn, in this title’s previous story-arc, Parker shows so little for the man who has actually beaten him in the past..?

Fortunately, dubious characterisation aside, this “Secret Empire Tie-In” does provide any perusing bibliophiles with plenty of enjoyable cameos, starting with the lead ‘villain of the piece’ himself, the Mjolnir-wielding [Hydra] Captain America. In fact the inclusion of Quicksilver, Mockingbird, Taskmaster, Hercules, the Wrecker, Kamala Khan and Amadeus Cho at the beginning of this comic, all of which are dynamically pencilled by Stuart Immonen, actually helps provide what is predominantly a rather wordy-heavy, sedentary narrative with some much-needed pulse-pounding action, even if the super-heroes themselves are making a headlong retreat away from the invading terrorist organization so as to “get ‘em tomorrow.”

The regular cover art of "THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN" No. 30 by Alex Ross