Amazing Spider-Man #7 Review

by Charles Martin on October 10, 2018

Amazing Spider-Man #7 Review
Writer: Nick Spencer
Penciller: Humberto Ramos
Inker: Victor Olazaba
Colourist: Edgar Delgado
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Publisher: Marvel Comics

Superior Foes Guest Artists (uncredited) (I think): Steve Lieber & Rachelle Rosenberg

It's the second and final installment of Boomerang's day-in-the-sun story. The machinations of Mayor Fisk bring the ruckus to the normally peaceful Bar With No Name - and Peter Parker's trapped in the middle of it without the option of spandexing up!

Why don't more creators employ two-shot stories? Taken together, this issue and the last one prove that it's a wonderful format. You get a natural cliffhanger-y break in the middle and enough extra space to digress productively without slighting your main story.

The funny foreshadowing scene that showed Black Ant and Taskmaster taking down Vulture last time is matched here with a more sinister aside. Wilson Fisk is brought up short of venting his full wrath on Boomerang by an Ominous Stranger who pegs the meter on maximum mysterious menace.

Prior to that, we get a surprisingly compelling team-up between Boomerang and Peter Parker. While the spotlight is still fixed on Boomerang, this issue course-corrects a little and gives Peter a meatier role. It also scores a bullseye in painting Boomerang as a tragic figure. It's the scripting job Nick Spencer was born for, and it's a delight to see it done well.

The strong plotting is matched by smooth, stylized visuals. The whole art team is still flush with the honour of working on the hallowed pages of Amazing Spider-Man. That sense of gravitas keeps the character work from becoming too exaggerated. The colours are allowed to carry a lot of storytelling weight; they add focus and motion to the heavy shadows and chunky linework and significantly improve the overall readability of the visuals.

As shown up top, I'm 95 percent certain that Steve Lieber and Rachelle Rosenberg are again responsible for illustrating Boomerang's poker night shenanigans. In the last issue, they barely got a credit on the final page. Here their names are wholly absent. It's a weird omission; I thought 2018 was the year Marvel started showing love to artists again.

EDIT: Ah, wait, they're named on the cover. That's nothing to sneeze at. FUN FACT! Did you know your hard-working Marvel reviewer pals work with digital review copies that come without cover art? Well, now you do!

The creators wrap up Boomerang's limelight story with some real heart here. It's a sentimental conclusion that works surprisingly well. Wheels are turning ominously in the wider world of Spider-Man, though. This was an enjoyable Spidey-free interlude, but it's time to get Peter back in the mask.
 

Our Score:

8/10

A Look Inside

Comments

Charles Martin's picture
This story will be a fine addition to the short list of "Memorable Spidey stories told without using the Spider-Man costume."