The Amazing Spider-Man by Dan Slott, Vol. 1

The Amazing Spider-Man (2014) (Collected Editions) #1-1.1

by Dan Slott, Sean Ryan, Humberto Ramos (Illustrator)

Collects Amazing Spider-Man #1.1-1.5 & #1-6 and Annual #1.

Peter Parker is back! He's got a second chance at life, and he's not wasting a moment of it. But his old foes Electro and the Black Cat are back as well, re-energized and madder than ever! And a new revelation rocks Spider-Man's world: The radioactive spider that granted Peter his powers bit someone else, too! Who is Silk, and where has she been all these years? Find out as Peter Parker retakes his life, putting the "friendly" back in the neighborhood, the "hero" back in "super hero" - and the "amazing" back in "Spider-Man!" Plus, it's a new chapter in the story you know by heart! He sought revenge, but found responsibility. Watch as young Peter Parker takes his first steps toward finding his way in the world as Spider-Man!

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Spider Man, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book

291 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 19, 2016

About the author

Dan Slott is an American comic book writer, the current writer on Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man, and is best known for his work on books such as Arkham Asylum: Living Hell, She-Hulk, Silver Surfer, The Superior Spider-Man, and Ren & Stimpy.

Reviews

[Donovan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very solid first half. Second half was random bullshit.

Slott writes a great, characteristic Spider-Man. Drama. Action. Humor. It follows up Superior Spider-Man really well with lots of plot threads and hooks. And the artwork is slick and fantastic.

Then the second half changes writers and artists and stories entirely. The entire tone and style is gone, and it's obvious Marvel slapped this confusing volume together for a cash grab.

Read Slott's portion and stop reading for 4 star material.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ein schön aufgemachter Hardcover-Band, der in zwei ungefähr gleich lange, aber sehr unterschiedliche Teile zerfällt:

Zunächst die Hefte AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 1-6 mit der Arwork von Humberto Ramos; Nachdem Doc Ock als Superior Spider-Man abgetreten ist, ist endlich Mr. Parker wieder Herr im Haus. Sympathisch, witzig und gut gelaunt geht die Reihe an den Start. Die sechs Hefte sind bereits als Sammelband unter dem Titel The Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 1: The Parker Luck erschienen, den ich bereits rezensiert habe und darum hier auf eine Wiederholung verzichte.

Der zweite Teil, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 1.1 - 1.5, gezeichnet von Ramon Perez, ist eine weitere der ungezählten Origin Stories von Spidey, allerdings kein ermüdendes überflüssiges Reboot. Die Handlung setzt erst nach dem Spinnenbiss ein und fokussiert sich auf Peters private Probleme, nicht auf Kämpfe mit den Superbösewichten. Dabei erzählt Slott um die Originalgeschichte sozusagen herum, erzählt, was zwischen den Zeilen, pardon, Sprechblasen des Originals noch passiert ist.
Als Spidey hat Peter hier hauptsächlich mit CLASH zu tun, einem Selfmade-Möchtegern-Superhelden, der mir im MCU bisher noch nicht begegnet war. Dahinter verbirgt sich der Teenager Clayton Cole, der anders als Peter aus begütertem Hause stammt, ansonsten aber auch ein Nerd und Außenseiter ist - und Spideys größter Fan.
Perez hat mich schon mit der Artwork zu HAWKEYE absolut überzeugt und tut es hier wieder. Sparsame Hintergründe, kräftige Linien, Gesicher im Cartoon-Stil gezeichnet: das wäre eigentlich gar nicht so mein Ding, aber die Wirkung der Panels ist enorm. Perez Blick für Perspektive, Gesten und Mimik und gelegentlich auch Dynamik ist großartig, und wenn ihm danach ist, sieht sein Spidey fast wie von Ditko gezeichnet aus. Die Kolorierung von Ian Herring rundet den sehr positiven Eindruck ab.
Im Fazit der vielleicht sympathischste Rückgriff auf den Ursprungsmythos.

Komplettiert wird der Band mit dem AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #1.

Fazit: Für den ersten Teil (The Parker Luck) habe ich knapp vier Sterne vergeben, der zweite von Perez gezeichnete Part katapultiert den Band in den Bereich des fünften Sterns.

[Daniel Cura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't typically write reviews, but feel I should for this one. Just to clarify and so other collectors/readers know: This is a good story, but not a good book.

The way this collection is put together is questionable. This hardcover edition collects issues #1-6 of the 2014 new Amazing Spider-Man and the return of Peter Parker. Those 6 issues that make up the first half of this book, I thought, were great. The second half of the book contains a few short, random stories, Annual #1, and the "Learning to Crawl" arc of issues #1.1-1.5.

In my opinion, the "Learning to Crawl" arc should have been collected in its own book. It just clutters this book and takes away from the main story of issues #1-6. Additionally, I'm not a fan of most of the cover artwork being from the "Learning to Crawl" issues. This was Peter Parker's big return and the cover art choices for both the jacket and cover takes away from that, and won't match the Volume 2 cover art. This deluxe hardcover edition sees half of Humberto Ramos' fantastic issue #1 cover art with Peter Parker pushed to the back cover, downplaying exactly what art the reader should actually expect.

This collection just seems like a series of questionable publishing decisions on Marvel's part, and it isn't the first time. I loved the writing and art of the main story arc, but the rest of the book left a bad taste in my mouth.

[Ricardo Noronha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Peter Parker is back (to his own body) and now he has to get used to the "inheritance" Doc Octopus left him with. Some things are good, like Parker Industries and the doctorate, others not so much, like having made an enemy out of Black Cat as well as leaving Peter with a girlfriend he never (personally) knew. Also, we are presented to Cindy Moon, aka Silk, a girl who was bitten by the very same spider that gave Peter Parker his powers! This volume also contains "Learning to Crawl", a story about Spider-man's origin but from the point of view of a brand new villain: Clash, the sultan of sound!

[Adam Spanos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peter Parker the one true Spider-Man, reclaims his body from Otto Octavius aka Doctor Octopus whom had been in possession of his body attempting to became a Superior Spider-Man for nearly a year. Peter must now try to move on and adjust to the changes that occurred while he was gone. This may be his biggest challenge yet.

This is one of those rare occasions where Humberto Ramos' artwork does not put me off completely, but this probably has more to do with the lively inks. The coloring during the battles with Electro look wonderful, it's bursting with style and I can imagine someone not too familiar with Spider-Man wanting to dig further. The action can be followed quite well, plus the backgrounds really do look alive in a cartoonish way. The style is so lively and can just wake you up. Weak puns aside, I liked the dialog for the most part and I simply love Anna Maria Marconi by this point. She has a way of words that always entertains me and she meshes with Peter just fine.

Overall, I will say that this volume hit things off right for me. Dan Slott ties up loose ends from The Superior Spider-Man and starts things anew from here plus prepares for the future.

[Alvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised that the retro-telling of the back-story for Peter's change from Puny Parker to Spider-Man, on how it wasn't an overnight change, and how that story was well fleshed out with the origins of the Clash.

The follow-up from his recovery from being taken over as Superior Spider-Man is a good epilogue and does answer some questions as to how and why his friends would have reacted to him acting out of character for so long.

[Bruce · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading the incredible "Superior" Spider Man story arc, I wanted to continue with the writer's work on ASM; It started off where Superior left off and was going well, but then it delves into some past storylines with a villain called Clash that I just didn't find compelling, and the artwork to match was not to my liking either.
I'll continue with Vol 2 and hope the main storyline with Black Cat continues and the same writer/artist team continue to deliver!

[Snow · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is fun and interesting, but if I am being honest I am not a super big fan of the “my body was taken over and the person completely changed my life and now I have to adjust to it” but, even when it is done well (which this, arguably, is just ‘fine’ at doing). I’m also not happy with the “pheromone” bit Slott used in introducing Cindy Moon, who is far more interesting in further developments than what she has been on page so far in this run.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun collection.

I can see why people are annoyed it has some filler, but it was a cute story and really explored the "Parker luck" concept. Plus, getting to see after effects of the "Superior" arc and how Peter's life changed was really interesting.

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Main story was still good but flashback story was boring to me

[Pruett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spider-verse setup and Silk introduction: dope cool rad

Learning to crawl and the annual: boring sucks not the shit

3 stars

[fleur · Rating 2 out of 5]

mhh whatever

[Dawt · Rating 3 out of 5]

HER NAME ISNT MACARONI???

[Shane Findlay · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

[Dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

I dont think I much enjoyed the "point" stories, however it's important for later on in this run.

The traditionally numbered issues are solid stories.

[John Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

Silk seems interesting but the way she’s introduced her is just gross.

The art bounced off of me and half of this collection is just a boring retelling of his origins.

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Added a star for introducing my favorite Spider person - Silk!

[Christopher Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This started out really well, but the interjection of the mini comics and the flashback to Peter's past really ruined its momentum for me.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, that was underwhelming.

When I started reading the original 1960's Amazing Spider-man series late last year, there was one thing that really annoyed me about it: the "Spider-signal". Peter would project a big, glowing Spider-man face from a rooftop in the direction of the criminal(s) he just tied up to lead the police to the scene of the crime. What bothered me about it was that it seemed a little too similar to the dumb gadgets from the Adam West Batman series, which I think was airing at the time that the original ASM series was being written.

Fast-forward to 2016, and Spider-man has a Spider-mobile, and a Spider-cycle, and a helicopter, and a slew of gadgets... and his alternate persona -- Peter Parker -- is some tech billionaire. Why does this series always need to model itself after Batman!? It's unnecessary, and annoying.

On top of that issue (which I'm sure a lot of readers would feel is minor), there isn't much that I find compelling about the story in this indroductory issue. It's boring. It sort of sets up some things to happen in subsequent issues... but, I don't really find myself terribly eager to get to those issues, because I haven't been convinced that I should really care about what will happen next.

The Green Goblin will be back? Meh.
Some corporate douchebag that Peter is working with is actually the villain he's trying to take down? Meh.
The family members of some old Spidey villains have been mysteriously brought back to life in order to persuade said villains into complying with some mystery figure's dirty deeds? ok.
I dunno. They could have done a lot, starting the series from scratch. And they didn't do anything really new or novel.

On top of that, the art is the epitome of mediocre. It's hard to look at this book a lot of the time, given how great the art can be in Marvel comics, and is currently in other Marvel series'.

I'll probably read the next TPB collection in this series to see if there's a marked improvement. I don't expect there will be. I do feel that I wasted my time reading this one, though...

[r · Rating 4 out of 5]

cindy moon the woman that u are... 🕸️

[J A SPONG · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book goes to prove that Dan Slott is one of the greatest Spider-Man writers that the character has seen in his history and also one of the best in the business yet he does not get the recognition of a Bendis, Snyder or Fraction. Slott just 'gets' Peter Parker and puts him in difficult situations that he always gets out of (apart from when he doesn't) in a way that you would imagine the character doing. Another reviewer has mentioned that the book was incorrect to include the 'Learning To Crawl' old school storyline in the collection but I think it just goes to show that Dan Slott can write the Parker of any era and is a good fit with the main storyline with one story him learning and the other re-learning.

[Harrison Delahunty · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection’s just kinda fine. Nothing’s necessarily offensively bad, though nothing particularly interesting happens in the six issues of ASM here. Ramos’s art is up to par.

The “Learning to Crawl” issues have a really fantastic pencilling/inking job by Ramón Pérez, but feel like they’re trying far too hard to be a modern version of Untold Tales of Spider-Man (which I wasn’t really crazy about, but were better than this in the writing department).

The annual is a collection of three stories, all of them cute if a bit fluffy.

It all just ends up being an extremely mediocre/average volume of Spider-Man stories.

[Scott Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this; it was fun. That said, I didn't waste any time on the extras here. I didn't read 1.1-1.5. I did read the annual at the end which fit better with the first five issues of the collection.

I think that means this huge thing is just a repeat of "The Parker Luck." So the fact that I don't remember and can't be bothered to find out tells you that this was what 3-out-of-5 ought to indicate essentially a neutral response.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is above average, as reboots go, and back to basics in many ways. Yet writer Dan Slott continues to add new characters, situations, and surprising resonances to the Spider-Man saga. The comics art collaborators are great, too. Recommended.