Amazing Spider-Man #530 is another of Marvel Comics’ “The Road to Civil War” issues. Marvel starts cranking up the hype machine for Civil War. Is it getting us interested? Check out the review.
Creative Team
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Penciler: Tyler Kirkham
Inker: Jay Leisten
Art Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10.
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10.
Overall Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10.
Synopsis: The issue starts with Peter Parker meeting Tony Stark at the airport. They take off for their trip to Washington, D.C. Tony tells Peter that he has made a new version of the Spider-Man armor. During their flight, Tony fills Peter in on the Super Hero Registration Act. Tony is going to attempt to reason the Senate out of enacting this legislation.
They arrive in DC and we see Peter in his hotel room trying on his new Spider-Man armor. The suit is a liquid metal nano-fiber that can disappear when not needed. The nano-fiber can also take the appearance of Spider-Man’s original blue and red outfit or his black and white outfit.
To Peter’s shock his new armor also has metal arms that pop out the back called Waldoes. They can pick up items and have small cameras to look around corners.
We then cut to Peter and Tony arriving at the Capital. We see Titanium Man watching them from a rooftop. In the Capital, the Senators grill Tony as to why they should not enact the Super Hero Registration Act. Peter chimes in saying that the Act could put many people and their families in jeopardy. The Senator counters that registering privately and securely would allow them to operate openly and legally. Tony tells Peter to leave the talking to him.
After the grilling is over, Peter and Tony exit the Capital only to be attacked by the Titanium Man. Peter quickly morphs on his Spider-Man outfit and we have a brawl. During the brawl the soldiers around the Capital report that they are under attack by Spider-Man and some armored guy. Titanium Man blasts off to escape, but Spider-Man webs him on his back and goes along for a ride saying “This fight isn’t over.” End of issue.
Comments
The Good: Straczynski continues to deliver the goods. After writing a good lead in to the Civil War over in the Fantastic Four, Straczynski writes an exciting lead in to the Civil War in Amazing Spider-Man. Peter and Tony’s relationship is interesting and we can already see the eventual schism in their relationship will be Tony supporting the Act and Peter feeling terrible about having to support the Act because of Tony. The Civil War is defiantly going to have a huge impact on Spider-Man.
As always, Straczynski knows how to pace his story. He has great dialogue and the interaction between Tony and Peter is pretty humorous. There isn’t much action, but Straczynski doesn’t need a lot of action to craft a good issue.
Marvel is doing a very good job building up to the Civil War in all of these various lead in issues. DC set the bar pretty high with the lead in to Infinite Crisis and Marvel is definately trying to keep pace.
The Bad: The art is less than impressive. Kirkham’s style is too rough and sketchy and lacks any detail. Plus, Kirkham’s Peter Parker looks like he is 12 years old.
Other than the complaint with the art, this was a good issue. Straczynski is doing a great job laying the foundation for the upcoming Civil War. More importantly, Straczynski is doing a good job hyping the upcoming Civil War and getting the reader excited for what is about to happen. It is working with the Revolution. We can’t wait to check out Civil War #1.