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Amazing Spider-Man #655
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Dan Slott
Artist: Marcos Martin
Cover: Marcos Martin

“No One Dies pt 1”: In the last issue of ASM, Marla Jameson shoved her husband, J. Jonah Jameson, out of the way to save him from being impaled by one of the Spider Slayer’s talons. As a result she was killed, and now Dan Slott takes us through the aftermath and sets up a new direction for our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. The first half of the issue is told by Marcoss Martin’s great sequential artwork as he takes us through the mourning of those who will be attending Mrs. Jameson’s funeral. No words, just great looking panels that convey the emotion and tone needed for this part of the story.

The remainder of the issue picks up with Peter going through a nightmare that has him confronting those who he’s lost because of his dual life. If you’ve been reading Spider-Man titles for a while, then you’ve probably seen scenes similar to this one played out when Peter is wrought with guilt. Slott makes this one stand out among some of the best, and it’s due in part to how visceral some of the scenes are. In particular Martin’s page that shows an Uncle Ben who is beaten to a bloody pulp by Spider-Man’s hands. The appearance of the vigilantes (Punisher & Wolverine) was a nice touch, as they show Peter how to make sure your enemies don’t come back, but he protests their methods only to face his dead enemies in the dream. While Peter is facing his own emotional weight, there is a very intense hostage situation going on and the man in charge makes it plainly clear that he doesn’t care about human life.

For some reason I’m really drawn to silent issues, only because it lets the artist show off his/her ability to tell the story effectively with only their artwork. Martin does this from start to finish, and I was a bit disappointed that the entire issue didn’t follow this format. Slott, however, made excellent work of Peter’s emotional state when it was time for us to get a little deeper into his psyche. This new direction seems like it may take its toll on Peter, and just when things were starting to go well in his life. I hope Slott doesn’t take us all the way back to Parker having a crappy day in every issue, but this will definitely be an interesting episode as Pete makes what is usually an impossible declaration. Either way, you should be on board, because Slott has been writing some of the best Spider-Man to come out in some time, in this writer’s opinion.

Till next time!

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