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The Amazing Spider-Man (2022) (Single Issues)
The Amazing Spider-Man (2022) #20
Someone tries to kill Spidey and Black Cat. You thought this would be easy for Peter? Nope! The special two-parter from superstar guests Joe Kelly and Terry Dodson concludes here!
23 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 22, 2023
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9 people want to read
About the author
Joe Kelly
1,006 books207 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 25, 2023
I don't care what the context is, it is so disingenuous and gross to have Peter say he loves MJ "like a sister." Fuck. Off. Marvel.
March 10, 2023
I have never, ever, NEVER read anything as aggressively mediocre as this issue.
There is not a single redeeming aspect to this issue. Nothing about it works. And it actively insults the reader’s intelligence while scarring our eyeballs.
The art? Is illegible. In too many panels to count, a three year old with crayons and a bare stucco wall could draw better scenes. I like the Dodsons but they must have left their tablet out on a playground and invited the kids to contribute what they wanted because ye gods the art is ROUGH. It gives stick figures a bad name. Go ahead, zoom in and take a look, but don’t send your optometrist bills to me - I tried to warn you.
The dialogue? Hooboy does the dialogue stink. Like a dead skunk on top of a pile of vomit poured over a cesspool. This is some boomer tryna be GenZ and miserably failing bullshit. Here’s a hint, Joe: people don’t talk in memes in real life. The jokes fall flatter than a soufflé in a 7.0 earthquake. And the misogyny drips off the page, like one expects from someone who was one of the brain leak — I mean brain trust behind BND. Look, I know Kelly can do better. I’ve read better from him. But the Zeb Wells oily wet fart stench of this run is so strong, Joe visibly chokes on the page.
And the characterization is so awful, y’all. Peter is buddying up to Kareem, y’know, the thug who set him up to viciously assault the Rose’s men? Who is still working for mass murderer Tombstone and has been caught red handed renting super villain costumes to tech bros? As is usual for this run, fuck the whole “with great power” schtick. No, let’s play Dear Prudence for criminals, that’s so responsible of ya, Pete.
Of course, fuck the responsibility schtick because if Peter still lived his life by that, he wouldn’t be fucking the Black Cat who is, after all, a thief. Y’know, just like thief Peter let get away who then turned around and killed his uncle. And yes, Felicia is a murderer. It was badly written and motivated during the asinine Queenpin era, but she killed people nonetheless. Oh, but she’s a hot platinum blonde who wears skin tight leather with copious cleavage, so that makes it all okay. Poor Jed MacKay. All that hard work writing Felicia’s books, making her an independent character who didn’t need to cling to Peter’s arm to be relevant, who had her own lovers and wasn’t just the sad rebound - like she’s written here - pathetically lusting after another woman’s sloppy seconds.
What about the story, you ask?
What story?
There is no story.
So last issue, tech bro CEO is found dead with an umbrella to his head. Which makes his tech bro subordinates decide to go all supervillain in their borrowed Sinister Six costumes for some reason, even though they all have alibis for the murder so why the fuck they decided to actually commit crimes despite stating they want to avoid jail is beyond me. That’s how asinine this story is.
So basically the issue is a chase with Felicia carrying the White Rabbit - who is an annoying manic pixie criminal dream girl here who I guess is now a black widow type who murders rich husbands? Yeah, sure why not, it’s not like anything else in this issue pretends a concept like continuity, much less world building, exists. Spidey carries Kareem. There’s far too much highly unfunny banter - but if you think jokes about Tony Stark wearing adult diapers is the height of sophisticated wit, boy is this issue for you! Spidey plays Dear Prudence to Kareem, who is having issues relating to the White Rabbit (because she's a cartoon, Kareem, there's nothing authentically human about her) and then the tech bros are easily taken down by Peter offering to let his silence be bought if they signed over their ownership of the company to him, which brings the actual perpetrator out in the open: the tech CEO, who was cosplaying Mysterio, and faked his death with Mysterio tech for, reasons too stupid to recap. And apparently no one decided to check his pulse to see if he was actually dead - they all just fled the house, the supposedly good guys as well. Including Spider-Man, WHO KNOWS WHAT MYSTERIO'S TECH CAN DO, but sure, let's not even give the "corpse" a quick once-over. Again, super responsible and oh so empathetic of ya, Pete. No, seriously, that’s how ridiculous and mind numbingly insulting this issue was.
Then comes the scene that launched a thousand tweets. And may I say: screw you, Zeb Wells.
Yeah, I know, Joe Kelly supposedly put the words in the characters' mouths. So screw him, too. But we know whose sweaty armpits after ten days without deodorant doing heavy labor in a Florida summer stench is all over this two-part trashheap.
There are no words to describe what a dumpster fire on top of a plane crash into a train wreck Zeb Wells's run has been to date. There is no such thing as emotional consistency, character consistency, plot advancement, nada. A room of monkeys with laptops is guaranteed to write a better comic book, and with less visible flung feces on the page.
Peter tells Felicia he loves MJ "as a sister?!?!?!" She's pregnant with his child in The Lost Hunt which, yes, is set in the past but still in continuity and it's being published concurrent with this stale stack of fetid fecal matter spewed from a diseased corpse. Yes, of course he’s reaching for something to say just so he can get inside those tight leather pants later, but the characters have histories. It’s again, insulting to the characters and to the readers for him to say that.
And the line was written only to get the reaction it got. There's no other reason for it to exist. It's not in character, it doesn't reflect the characters' histories, but it DOES rile up the internet which is Marvel's only PR strategy these days. I'm convinced Kelly threw it in solely to draw attention away from just what a dungheap the entire issue is. The sister line isn't even in the top 10 of the most offending elements of the book.
Peter then tells Felicia he loves MJ "as a best friend" and he's no longer in capital L love with her, just small l love because love changes, when the last time we saw MJ prior to this arc in ASM 9, he was screaming that she is the most important person in the world to him?!
Peter is suddenly in love with Felicia even though the last time we saw Felicia - an entire ten issues ago if you count the Dark Web issues, at least MJ showed up in Dark Web #1, Felicia was left completely off the page - she didn't even give him a full yes to when he asked her out and he only asked her out to make himself feel better about himself?!
This shit is just so inanely tedious. It’s time to burn ASM to the ground.
Look, it would be one thing if there was, like, y'know, a story attached to this. If we saw Peter and MJ growing apart, or Peter and Felicia growing closer. But we didn't. There is no story. There is no purpose except one:
This was written solely to make people seethe and rage. It is troll baiting of the worst order. Zeb Wells could care less about telling you a good story. Fuck it, he could care less about telling a mediocre story because even mid writers know you need something that looks like character development. This is nothing but a coldeyed money grab to make money off fans being angry.
It's a nothing story, done only for this "Oh gee I guess I don't love MJ anymore *sticks thumb up tights*" depiction of Peter just to create incredibly manufactured drama for the What Did Peter Do arc which Zeb Wells decided to finally tell AN ENTIRE YEAR LATER —
- no, actually, I have no idea why they had Peter say this about MJ, because supposedly the next arc is about Peter literally moving heaven and earth to find his "sister/best friend." Is it so we won't care about her when she's fridged in ASM 26 when the story returns to the present like all the imagery is teasing will happen? Because selling a comic book on the promise that a women is going to be murdered just to cause Peter manpain is SO 2023.
Misogyny, thy name is Marvel.
Do. Not. Buy. This. Shit.
There is not a single redeeming aspect to this issue. Nothing about it works. And it actively insults the reader’s intelligence while scarring our eyeballs.
The art? Is illegible. In too many panels to count, a three year old with crayons and a bare stucco wall could draw better scenes. I like the Dodsons but they must have left their tablet out on a playground and invited the kids to contribute what they wanted because ye gods the art is ROUGH. It gives stick figures a bad name. Go ahead, zoom in and take a look, but don’t send your optometrist bills to me - I tried to warn you.
The dialogue? Hooboy does the dialogue stink. Like a dead skunk on top of a pile of vomit poured over a cesspool. This is some boomer tryna be GenZ and miserably failing bullshit. Here’s a hint, Joe: people don’t talk in memes in real life. The jokes fall flatter than a soufflé in a 7.0 earthquake. And the misogyny drips off the page, like one expects from someone who was one of the brain leak — I mean brain trust behind BND. Look, I know Kelly can do better. I’ve read better from him. But the Zeb Wells oily wet fart stench of this run is so strong, Joe visibly chokes on the page.
And the characterization is so awful, y’all. Peter is buddying up to Kareem, y’know, the thug who set him up to viciously assault the Rose’s men? Who is still working for mass murderer Tombstone and has been caught red handed renting super villain costumes to tech bros? As is usual for this run, fuck the whole “with great power” schtick. No, let’s play Dear Prudence for criminals, that’s so responsible of ya, Pete.
Of course, fuck the responsibility schtick because if Peter still lived his life by that, he wouldn’t be fucking the Black Cat who is, after all, a thief. Y’know, just like thief Peter let get away who then turned around and killed his uncle. And yes, Felicia is a murderer. It was badly written and motivated during the asinine Queenpin era, but she killed people nonetheless. Oh, but she’s a hot platinum blonde who wears skin tight leather with copious cleavage, so that makes it all okay. Poor Jed MacKay. All that hard work writing Felicia’s books, making her an independent character who didn’t need to cling to Peter’s arm to be relevant, who had her own lovers and wasn’t just the sad rebound - like she’s written here - pathetically lusting after another woman’s sloppy seconds.
What about the story, you ask?
What story?
There is no story.
So last issue, tech bro CEO is found dead with an umbrella to his head. Which makes his tech bro subordinates decide to go all supervillain in their borrowed Sinister Six costumes for some reason, even though they all have alibis for the murder so why the fuck they decided to actually commit crimes despite stating they want to avoid jail is beyond me. That’s how asinine this story is.
So basically the issue is a chase with Felicia carrying the White Rabbit - who is an annoying manic pixie criminal dream girl here who I guess is now a black widow type who murders rich husbands? Yeah, sure why not, it’s not like anything else in this issue pretends a concept like continuity, much less world building, exists. Spidey carries Kareem. There’s far too much highly unfunny banter - but if you think jokes about Tony Stark wearing adult diapers is the height of sophisticated wit, boy is this issue for you! Spidey plays Dear Prudence to Kareem, who is having issues relating to the White Rabbit (because she's a cartoon, Kareem, there's nothing authentically human about her) and then the tech bros are easily taken down by Peter offering to let his silence be bought if they signed over their ownership of the company to him, which brings the actual perpetrator out in the open: the tech CEO, who was cosplaying Mysterio, and faked his death with Mysterio tech for, reasons too stupid to recap. And apparently no one decided to check his pulse to see if he was actually dead - they all just fled the house, the supposedly good guys as well. Including Spider-Man, WHO KNOWS WHAT MYSTERIO'S TECH CAN DO, but sure, let's not even give the "corpse" a quick once-over. Again, super responsible and oh so empathetic of ya, Pete. No, seriously, that’s how ridiculous and mind numbingly insulting this issue was.
Then comes the scene that launched a thousand tweets. And may I say: screw you, Zeb Wells.
Yeah, I know, Joe Kelly supposedly put the words in the characters' mouths. So screw him, too. But we know whose sweaty armpits after ten days without deodorant doing heavy labor in a Florida summer stench is all over this two-part trashheap.
There are no words to describe what a dumpster fire on top of a plane crash into a train wreck Zeb Wells's run has been to date. There is no such thing as emotional consistency, character consistency, plot advancement, nada. A room of monkeys with laptops is guaranteed to write a better comic book, and with less visible flung feces on the page.
Peter tells Felicia he loves MJ "as a sister?!?!?!" She's pregnant with his child in The Lost Hunt which, yes, is set in the past but still in continuity and it's being published concurrent with this stale stack of fetid fecal matter spewed from a diseased corpse. Yes, of course he’s reaching for something to say just so he can get inside those tight leather pants later, but the characters have histories. It’s again, insulting to the characters and to the readers for him to say that.
And the line was written only to get the reaction it got. There's no other reason for it to exist. It's not in character, it doesn't reflect the characters' histories, but it DOES rile up the internet which is Marvel's only PR strategy these days. I'm convinced Kelly threw it in solely to draw attention away from just what a dungheap the entire issue is. The sister line isn't even in the top 10 of the most offending elements of the book.
Peter then tells Felicia he loves MJ "as a best friend" and he's no longer in capital L love with her, just small l love because love changes, when the last time we saw MJ prior to this arc in ASM 9, he was screaming that she is the most important person in the world to him?!
Peter is suddenly in love with Felicia even though the last time we saw Felicia - an entire ten issues ago if you count the Dark Web issues, at least MJ showed up in Dark Web #1, Felicia was left completely off the page - she didn't even give him a full yes to when he asked her out and he only asked her out to make himself feel better about himself?!
This shit is just so inanely tedious. It’s time to burn ASM to the ground.
Look, it would be one thing if there was, like, y'know, a story attached to this. If we saw Peter and MJ growing apart, or Peter and Felicia growing closer. But we didn't. There is no story. There is no purpose except one:
This was written solely to make people seethe and rage. It is troll baiting of the worst order. Zeb Wells could care less about telling you a good story. Fuck it, he could care less about telling a mediocre story because even mid writers know you need something that looks like character development. This is nothing but a coldeyed money grab to make money off fans being angry.
It's a nothing story, done only for this "Oh gee I guess I don't love MJ anymore *sticks thumb up tights*" depiction of Peter just to create incredibly manufactured drama for the What Did Peter Do arc which Zeb Wells decided to finally tell AN ENTIRE YEAR LATER —
- no, actually, I have no idea why they had Peter say this about MJ, because supposedly the next arc is about Peter literally moving heaven and earth to find his "sister/best friend." Is it so we won't care about her when she's fridged in ASM 26 when the story returns to the present like all the imagery is teasing will happen? Because selling a comic book on the promise that a women is going to be murdered just to cause Peter manpain is SO 2023.
Misogyny, thy name is Marvel.
Do. Not. Buy. This. Shit.
May 7, 2023
Spider-Man 💗💗
October 28, 2023
Still a meh two parter. I do like Peter and Cats moments but rest? Boring.
January 12, 2025
This might have been the worst issue yet. Ah well. The Peter and Felicia romance is a good contrast, I prefer that over MJ, but this issue and the last were kind of duds otherwise.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews