Amazing Spider-Man has gotten back on track with this latest story arc that has placed a focus on the returning Sin-Eater. Nick Spencer has tapped into what made Sin-Eater such an intriguing villain during his height in the “Death of Jean DeWolff.” Adding in a supernatural element to the resurrected Sin-Eater has made him a much more haunting antagonist. The motives for his actions are familiar but seem to have been given a twist with what ended up happening to Overdrive after Sin-Eater attacked him. How this all relate to Kindred’s great plot to destroy Spider-Man is still left to be seen? Let’s see if we find out with Amazing Spider-Man #46.
Writer: Nick Spencer
Artist: Marcelo Ferreira
Inker: Roberto Poggi
Colorist: David Curiel
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: At the Catalyst Renewable Resources Symposium the Lethal Legion attacks everyone in attendance while attempting to steal some of the technology there. Spider-Man shows up and does his best to try to stop them but is overwhelmed by the Lethal Legion’s numbers.
Sin-Eater suddenly appears and quickly starts taking down the Lethal Legion one-by-one. When he takes down the last Lethal Legion member, Count Nefaria, everyone that is still in the room applauds Sin-Eater for saving them.
Later, Norah Winters conducts interviews with everyone at the symposium. Everyone talks about how thankful they are for Sin-Eater showing up to save them. One of the EMT’s interviewed even mentions he has never seen anything like it, especially as Count Nefaria started ranting about how he wanted to make sure everyone was okay.
Over at Ravencroft, Norah is told by the doctors that the Lethal Legion have all been model patients since being admitted. Norman Osborn (the new Director of Ravencroft) tells Norah that she can interview the Lethal Legion but wants to make sure the articles and videos that come out of the interviews put Ravencroft in a favorable light.
One of the doctors wonders if that is a wise idea given there most recent arrival. Norman isn’t too concern.
When Norah interviews Count Nefaria, the villain reveals that after being shot by Sin-Eater he feels that he deserves to suffer more. Count Nefaria goes on to talk about how he dreams about all those he has hurt and killed, leaving him to wonder why he has been shown mercy and not his victims.
Over at a hospital, Spider-Man is left wondering what Sin-Eater is actually doing because while the Lethal Legion seems okay Overdrive has been placed on life support ever since he was resurrected. Spider-Man asks Carlie Cooper what exactly happened after Overdrive woke up.
Elsewhere, as Norah gets into her car she calls J. Jonah Jameson that she has a story about Ravencroft that will blow up with the ending she has for it.
As Norah starts her car Sin-Eater appears inside the car as well. A white light is shown coming from the car with the sound of a shotgun being fired. End of issue.
The Good: Just about Amazing Spider-Man #46 works so well that when there is that one thing that doesn’t it is even more noticeable. Which has become a trend when it comes to Nick Spencer’s work on Amazing Spider-Man. Luckily the important part of this story, Sin-Eater, is nailed extremely well.
Sin-Eater was by far the star of the show in Amazing Spider-Man #46. Spencer has made the proper adjustments to Sin-Eater’s character without losing the core of who the original version was. The supernatural powers that Sin-Eater now has in his resurrected form have made him even more dangerous. In many ways, this version of Sin-Eater comes across as an evolution of the character rather than someone who got a cheap upgrade.
What’s particularly impressive about this is that it all makes sense for the direction to take Sin-Eater. Seeing how Sin-Eater is literally taking his victim’s sins and making them feel them so much that they become reformed made things much more interesting. Specifically, the fact that Sin-Eater isn’t killing his victims this time around makes how Spencer shows an entire crowd of people getting behind him when interviewed by the media more understandable. To these people Sin-Eater was not a cold-blooded killer like Punisher, instead, he was an anti-hero who did everything he could to stop the Lethal Legion and save everyone.
This puts Spider-Man in a unique spot as he can’t deny what the public perception is of Sin-Eater at the moment. It now makes Spider-Man have to approach things differently as he has to investigate the truth behind Sin-Eater’s powers. Going to check on Overdrive and questioning Carlie Cooper about his status shows this fact. In turn, it does help make Spider-Man better as he can’t simply look for wherever Sin-Eater is and try to defeat him in a fight. Spider-Man needs to think things through to better understand what he is up to against the resurrected Sin-Eater.
All of this helps to further the greater Kindred plotline without the need to have the villain that Spencer has been building up since the start of his run actually physically appear in Amazing Spider-Man #46. Instead, Spencer is able to treat Kindred as this dangerous threat that looms over everything currently going on. Which makes you question why Kindred would allow Sin-Eater to run around as an anti-hero if it did not feed his greater plans for Spider-Man. How it all factors into Kindred’s plotline makes “Sins Rising” a greater story than if it just stood on its own, which it is already doing a good job of.
Ending Amazing Spider-Man #46 with Sin-Eater confronting Norah Winters was a good hook to get further invested into what happens next. We’ve seen how Spencer has been working Norah back into the series through the new media company she is working with J. Jonah Jameson. How this confrontation with Sin-Eater possibly alters the current direction Norah’s character has been going on with her new media start-up will be equally interesting to see play out.
Marcelo Ferreira does a good job stepping in to take over the “Sins Rising” story arc from Mark Bagley. Ferreira is able to match Bagley’s style enough that you don’t notice that there is a different artist working on this issue. This is always important as having consistency with the art is vital for a story to be successful. And to Ferreira’s credit, he absolutely gets over the new supernatural powers Sin-Eater has through the action sequences with the Lethal Legion. There was an aura around Sin-Eater’s appearance that was created during the first half that made the moment when he appeared in Norah’s car cause greater worry for what happened in that final panel.
The Bad: The one spot that Spencer stumbles with Amazing Spider-Man #46 was with the appearance of Norman Osborn. For one, Norman, and by extension, the Ravencroft facility came across as an unnecessary story beat. The entire time Norah was at Ravencroft it felt like Spencer was just padding out Amazing Spider-Man #46 to reach a certain page count. This interview with the Lethal Legion could’ve easily happened at a normal prison and nothing would’ve changed.
The other reason Norman Osborn’s appearance did not work is the fact that Spencer didn’t really give a full explanation of this new status quo for the Spider-Man villain. All we get is that Norman, since we last saw him locked up and left behind by Kindred in Amazing Spider-Man #31, is that Mayor Wilson Fisk gave him the job. There isn’t even an editor’s note to let us know when this particular event happened. The lack of development within Amazing Spider-Man for this highly important plot point is just head-scratching. There is absolutely no reason for a Spider-Man character as important as Norman Osborn did not be shown in his new status quo at some point before Amazing Spider-Man #46.
Overall: Amazing Spider-Man #46 continues the momentum from the previous issue as Nick Spencer is possibly crafting the best story arc of his run on this series with “Sins Rising.” The development around the resurrected Sin-Eater has come across as an evolution for the character. How this has challenged Spider-Man makes the anticipation for the endgame of “Sins Rising” be even greater after reaching the final page of Amazing Spider-Man #46.
To comment on this article and other Comic Book Revolution content visit our Facebook page, Twitter feed and Instagram. You can catch up with all of Kevin’s thoughts about comics, anime, TV shows, movies and more over on Twitter. You can also watch the fun and silly videos Kevin is making over on his TikTok.