Review: Amazing Spider-Man #685

Writer: Dan Slott
Penciller: Humberto Ramos
Inker: Victor Olzaba
Colourist: Edgar Delgado
Letterer: Virtual Calligraphy’s Joe Caramagna
Previously, in Amazing Spider-Man: Peter Parker has finally hit the Big Time. With a swanky new job at Horizon Labs, designing new gadgets and gizmos for his dual life as Spider-Man couldn’t be easier. Spidey is also a card-carrying member of the Avengers now too, which comes with its own benefits – like having someone to watch your back.
Doctor Octopus and the Sinister Six have convinced the leaders of the world that he can save them from global warming with his Octavian Lens satellites. Spidey and the Avengers disagree, but after the Avengers are defeated at the hands of the Six, it now falls to Spidey, Black Widow and Silver Sable to try to stop Ock’s plans before they come to fruition. Unfortunately, Ock has set the world leaders a new task in order to secure his cooperation – capture Spider-Man!
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For a storyline that is literally shaking the world, this issue is very much about Peter Parker as a character. Though we barely see his face this issue, it is a perfect testament to how Peter has changed recently, and just how far he has come. Leading his own little strike team against Doc Ock, Peter really steps up as a leader, barking orders and disciplining Silver Sable when she doesn’t do as he asks. Of course, all of this is with the usual Parker reluctance – Peter’s not used to this role, but Slott has placed him in it, and as he is wont to do, Peter rises to the occasion. Despite the gravity of the Sinister Six’s plan, Spidey will still be the one to save the day – because that’s just who he is, and he won’t stop until he has.
It’s not just Spidey that Slott is a master of writing, either. Only a few pages are devoted to Mary Jane Watson, but she rings as true to character as ever, and almost promises a return to the previous status quo that fans are scrambling for. The aid that both Silver Sable and Black Widow are offering Spidey is also well realised, with Sable’s motivational speech reiterating to the reader that which we all know already – Spidey is more than he seems, behind all the jokes beats the heart of a hero. It’s nice to see the other heroes in the Marvel Universe acknowledge this when Spidey is usually relegated to back-seat jokes instead of anything of import. It’s not just the heroes either – there’s a brilliant exchange with the team at Horizon Labs that shows how even normal citizens realise what Spidey always seems to underestimate about himself.
Slott pulls a very well done bit of misdirection in this issue whilst all this is going on. It’s been a bit of a “Will he? Won’t he?” with regards to Doc Ock’s plan to help/murder the entire human race, and this issue compounds this by having the entire world doubting Spidey. It’s enough to make you wonder if he could be wrong, even if you know that he’s not. With the entire world, including SHIELD and the United Nations (and even Dan Slott himself in a cheeky little cameo) seeming to support Doc Ock’s plan, it makes the final reveal even more devastating when you realise that you might have actually doubted Spidey, whose resolve is unshaking, even in the face of all the naysayers.
As with the previous issue, Humberto Ramos fills in for Stefano Caselli in this issue, and his style remains consistent. We know from Spider-Island that he can draw six issues in a row and still perform just as well, so having two in a row must be nothing. From his depiction of Doc Ock, it is clear that he is on death’s door, and I must mention Edgar Delgado’s colouring on the final few pages that really hits home how powerful Ock’s new weapon is.
I’d heard this issue called predictable elsewhere, but I must disagree. This is another in a line of excellent issues that highlights why Spider-Man is the heart of the Marvel Universe; other heroes may be more popular, or looked up to more often, but Spidey will always be the heart and soul, which is something Slott understands intimately. Ends of the Earth continues to impress, and the stakes are now even higher going into the final two issues of the story.
8/10


