Writers: Dan Slott, Christos Gage, Robbie Thompson, Peter David, Mike Costa, and Dennis Hopeless
Artists: Giuseppe Camuncoli, Javier Rodriguez, David Baldeon, Stacey Lee, Paco Diaz, and Will Sliney

All-New All-Different Marvel has certainly lived up to its name with Amazing Spider-Man. Since Dan Slott started his run during the Brand New Day era, Spider-Man has been moving in various directions, and this newest one: corporate mogul works much better than expected. While it’s a significant change, regardless of how long it has been baked for the last few years, and the issue begins with style. In a Marvel Universe filled with various Spider-Men, including one that’s the kind of kid he used to be, giving Peter his own role as the head honcho Spider-Man was necessary, and even if the issue itself goes out of its way to poke at the similarities at the classic Iron Man status quo, the biggest difference is that Peter himself is an extremely different man from Tony Stark.

While corporate mogul superheroes are a dime a dozen in the Marvel Universe, Peter Parker is given some easy traits to differentiate him: namely the fact he’s still Peter Parker. A regular guy from Queens, which works to Slott and Giuseppe Camuncoli’s advantage as they begin the issue. While Peter is at the top of his world, Spider-Man is too, but that doesn’t stop the Parker Luck from rearing its head in ways both humorous and sinister. It also helps that Camuncoli for anyone that’s familiar with him from his time on Daken, or Hellblazer can shift from humor to dark in a heartbeat, which works to his advantage here. Having a Spider-Man who runs around in his own themed car, as well as showing up at corporate events can get surreal for readers, but having someone who’s been illustrating the book for the last few years eases in the experience very well.

That being said, the issue’s $5.99 price is troubling, but readers do get more than their money’s worth.While the opening salvo is the beginning of Slott and Camuncoli’s new run, the backup stories headlined by other writers in the Spider-Man line all have their own flag to wave. The backup issues are led by the creative teams for Spider-Man 2099, Spider-Woman, Silk, Web Warriors, and a final story for ASM. In particular, Spider-Man 2099, Web Warriors, and Silk do a spectacular job of selling their new status quos, while the book’s price ostensibly being used to advertise upcoming books could turn into an annoying habit in the long run, here it works as a reminder of just how much bigger Spider-Man’s world has gotten. That being said, the fallout from Secret Wars isn’t ignored either. While Renew Your Vows wasn’t about the Spider-Man we’ve seen by Slott the last few years, it was a good signpost of new things to come, and anyone who enjoyed that story will have plenty of things to like here, as well as fans who’ve stuck around for the long run.

5 out of 5 Webwares

Review by Slewo