by Slott, Smith, Pallot, and Weber
"Bury the Ledes," back-up story "Spider-Sense & Sensibility," and gag page "The Many Costumes of Spider-Man"
It's a throwback to classic Spider-Man as we see Fancy Dan and the Enforcers! They're part of a larger story involving Daily Bugle reporter Betty Brant, her deceased husband Ned Leeds, and an underground mob plot about the (falsified) Battle of "Blood Creek."
Spider-Man plays more of a side character her, where Betty takes the main stage. "Blood Creek" was her husband's story, before he passed away, and so events happen to spur Betty on to finish his life's work. The whole thing comes off as a traditional, play-it-safe, Spider-Man crime story. No character development here, but it's not needed. Slott would be great as an animated series writer for this reason. He's very good at weaving plots together and teasing storylines early. The characters don't need to develop so much as their situations change.
Following is a shorter story about Peter's birthday, and his spider-sense. It has a very charming way to convey spider-sense that makes it worth the read alone.
Capping off the annual is a page of Spider-Man's costumes -- a fun way to look back at years of Spider-Man, and Dan Slott's 10 years there!
by Soule, Garney, Milla
"Mayor Fisk"
Man, talk about decompressed! Everybody walks around New York City and contemplates Muse's new art (remember him?) on city buildings, until he makes one of the Punisher.
Cue next issue, except, well, now you have to wait a month. It helps that Ron Garney is back on, but there's a disturbing amount of pages where there's a massive panel of nothing. . . did I really need a half-page of the back of Wilson Fisk's head? Could you have picked a better angle to
At least when Bendis decompressed his stories, he had oodles of dialogue to focus your eyes on. Here it's just tracts of unused space.
by Thompson, Bachalo, and Hepburn
"Area 14" part 1
Reading this issue along with Daredevil just shows me how they're worlds apart. Thompson hands in a creative script that challenges the reader to take multiple reads to "get" it, utilizing both artists to jump back and forth between two different scenes that build on each other, technically and emotionally.
Those last few pages make Deadpool a sympathetic character in a way I've never seen before. Both Bachalo and Hepburn are perfectly suited for this style of storytelling, injecting their visual humor into each page, despite having utterly unique styles. They really squeeze the story out of each page, and this would make a great jumping on point for anyone. (So would last issue!)
This is the best comic book I read this week, if not the best comic book I pick up monthly.
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