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Amazing Spider-Man #634

Reviewed by Otomo

I've always been one of the most outspoken critics of Brand New Day, and the direction the Marvel Universe has taken in the past few years. I've also criticized Marvel for flooding the market with Spider-Man and Avengers titles, to the point where it makes it really hard to keep up and collect. Even with the weight of all that on Amazing Spider-Man's shoulders, I thoroughly enjoyed ASM #634, the first chapter of Grim Hunt.

The Kravens have assembled their team of baddies not only to hunt Spider-Man this time, but to hunt anyone related to Spider-Man or carrying "Spider" in their name somehow. It's really exciting to see Julia Carpenter as Arachne, Kaine back in the book and a surprise guest star from Straczyski's Spider-Man run toward the end of the book.

The feel of having the Kravens perform their rituals while Spider-Man gathers his allies reminds me of one of my favorite storylines of the series, Maximum Carnage. While the motivations of the characters are different, this is one of the first time I've felt that dire feeling in Spider-Man where it feels like what happens in this book actually may have an impact in years.

Thankfully, I didn't have any of Peter Parker's "Brand New" personal life in the issue bothering me with the reminder that this is a post-retcon story. It stayed pretty much consistent with him as Spider-Man, bringing back a lot of my favorite elements of the book.

The cast of characters, their reactions to the situation, and the overall premise is a really fun one to read, and I'm itching for next week's continuation. But more than that, the back up story explaining why Kaine is a part of this is a fun one and I look forward to it as well. If Marvel continues printing more pages with back up stories to justify their $3.99, I'm happy to pay it.

Oh yeah, and we get a short story from Stan Lee as well. Too early to comment on that as it's going to span issues, but it looks like fun so far.

I really enjoyed the art of the issue, and thought it's some of the best I've seen since Brand New Day, where we're forced to have a rotating creative team that often varies in quality. They pulled out the stops for this issue. Michael Lark and Stefano Gaudiano do a great job. There's so much detail to both the characters and the backgrounds, with the shading and line work providing a grittiness that really serves the Kraven story well.

Almost every shot has some great background, whether it's a stairwell, the cityscape, or an apartment. Those backgrounds usually take artists much longer to draw than just the figures, so I appreciate seeing all the detail work in this book.

The coloring keeps to a very muted, gritty palette that reminds me of Ed Brubaker's criminal in feel. Matt Hollingsworth does the colors and he does a great job here as well.

The final product is an intriguing set up for a story that starts out as a strict hunt and suspenseful thriller, and turns into something mystical and very exciting. I can't wait to see how this story goes, and Joe Kelly has shown himself to be one of the best writers of the rotating Spider-Crew. I felt compelled to write to Marvel about the book because I enjoyed it so much. And I'll end this review the same way I ended my letter:

The only thing missing is Mary Jane.

9/10

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