By Zack Quaintance — Amazing Spider-Man #75 arrives today, bringing with it a new creative team for a flagship title that functions a bit differently than any other book in monthly comics. See, for years now, Amazing Spider-Man has been — to be frank — the most bloated monthly title in all of comics. It releases thrice monthly, and essentially hops from one expanded story to the next, often doing so with tie-in issues outside-of-yet-vital-to the main book as well as story arc opening and concluding issues that rise a few bucks above the usual $3.99 price tag for this sort of monthly comic book.

Essentially, to me Amazing Spider-Man is a comic that knows it has possibly the largest loyal readership in all of comics, a readership that will buy the book no matter what it costs and in spite of bloated story arcs, an endless train of tie-in issues that are vital to the main books plot, a breakneck release schedule, and higher-than-usual cover prices. Again, it’s been this way for years, and at this point, readers of this series just need to accept it or move on (myself included, which yeah, I know…), possibly to reading in trade format or via the monthly-fee Marvel Unlimited platform.

Anyway, I mention all of this because this first issue of a new run is also the first of a 19 (19!!!) -part epic, one that is slated to unfold over the next six months, bringing as it does an $80 price tag for readers who want to follow it as it releases. That’s a steep asking price and an ambitious scope for this story, and I think it means this book merits a little tougher scrutiny than a new series that set’s to release six (or even 12) issues over the next six months, all at the usual price tag of $3.99.

Phew. I hate that kind of price and format talk in a review, but it really is hard not to consider it while reading this comic, especially after the previous run operated much the same way and (to put it mildly) rarely delivered any sort of commiserate value. With all that out of the way, I will note right off that this first issue is better individually than any chapter of the run that proceeded it, with the possibly exception of the first issue of that run, which I enjoyed quite a bit.

To me the main interest of this book is recasting Peter Parker’s long-time financial instability in a new light, evolving it from something that has always been relatable and endearing, into a horror show with real consequential implications for our hero. And this is a storytelling interest that makes sense. One of Spider-Man’s most effective selling points is that he is an everyman hero, and — let’s be real — economic conditions for the everyman have really gotten tougher and scarier as we’ve moved into the late model capitalism phase in recent years.

Everything feels more tenuous these days, with the line getting thinner between relative economic comfort and dire circumstances. Thematically, Amazing Spider-Man #75 certainly reflects that, playing the idea out by bringing back Clone Saga Spider-Man Ben Reilly, who has a lucrative new job from a corporation that wrangled the rights to Spider-Man’s name and likeness during the Parker Industries phase of Dan Slott and co.’s run on the book (the most interesting idea that run explored, as it would have it). Ben Reilly is now positioned to be a better more effective Spider-Man than Peter Parker, and why? Money. Oooo, this is good stuff.

And it’s delivered by folks who are just outright great at making comics: the creative team of writer Zeb Wells (whose Hellions is the best current X-Men comic), artist Patrick Gleason (who is himself an excellent writer of superhero fiction), colorist Mario Menyz (who compliments Gleason well), and letterer Joe Caramagna (the unsung hero of this era of Marvel Comics). The group tells a taught and engaging story, one that feels high stakes and rich with not only new ideas but the big action set pieces that keep this silly sort of comic book humming right along.

I’m still left with some question, however, over whether all of this will merit an investment in six months worth of comic books, in a 19-part story. Maybe it’s because of the lack of value in the preceding run, maybe it’s because I’m just inherently irked by this title inflating itself to this point of expense. Ultimately, where I land is this is a great comic, and I hate that I’m not sitting here more excited about its future, which plans to incorporate plenty of other talented creators, from Kelly Thompson and Saladin Ahmed to Sara Pichelli and Jorge Fornes. I’m just not, but I definitely would be if the note in back was about honoring the readers’ time and money by doling out this excitement at a manageable pace of twice a month. There’s just an overwhelming feeling here the corporate mandates are determining how many issues these stories are going to have and not vice versa, which is probably always the case in Big 2 comics to some extent but few series are hit as hard by it as this one. Call it a victim of its decades of success, I suppose.

In the end, the book makes its point about the perils of greedy corporations two ways, one of which works great on the page, the other of which is distracting and tiresome in real life.

Overall: While Amazing Spider-Man #75 is the best individual issue of this title in years, one has to wonder if the continually bloated release schedule will make it a worthwhile investment. This is a good comic, but might be even better with a stripped down, less-is-more approach. 8.5/10

REVIEW: Amazing Spider-Man #75

Amazing Spider-Man #75
Writer: Zeb Wells
Artist: Patrick Gleason
Colorist: Marcio Menyz
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Publisher: Marvel Comics
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN is back to thrice-monthly because this story is pure jet fuel. Ben Reilly has returned to NYC and has fully taken back the mantle of Spider-Man, but what does this mean for Peter Parker? The greatest team of web-writers has come together with the most epic arachnid-artists ever assembled to bring you a Spider-story that will shake up Spider-Man’s 59th year in ways you CANNOT PREDICT!
Price: $5.99
More Info: Amazing Spider-Man #75

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Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.