- Written by: Zeb Wells
- Art by: Ed McGuinness, Mark Farmer
- Colors by: Marcio Menyz
- Letters by: VC’s Joe Caramagna
- Cover art by: Ed McGuinness, Marcio Menyz
- Cover price: $3.99
- Release date: June 28, 2023
Amazing Spider-Man #28 finds Peter Parker and Norman Osborn reluctantly providing “medical” assistance for the world’s most unusual pet on behalf of J. Jonah Jameson.
Is It Good?
Amazing Spider-Man #28 is a serviceable yet silly entry in the now-infamous run from Zeb Wells. Ed Mcguinness’s art is good, the story’s pace and plot execution is fine, and the cliffhanger is respectable. If you can get past some of the oddly silly character work, convenient contrivances, and general lack of direction, this is an okay issue.
When last we left Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, he was feeling the weight of Kamala Khan’s death (which is odd considering he barely knew her). Meanwhile, Doc Ock’s sentient harness decided it didn’t hate Spider-Man anymore, forcing Doc Ock to invent a new harness and destroy the old one. Somehow, the old harness has returned and shown up at JJJ’s doorstep for help.
Now, we learn JJJ has been nurturing a pet-like relationship with Doc Ock’s old harness for months (???), and he immediately seeks out the help of Peter and Norman to fix his pet/friend. Despite their obvious misgivings, the scientists agree, which leads to a cascade of events that brings the upgraded Doc Ock right to Oscorp’s front door.
All of it. All the build-up and hype and anticipation and expectations built up over the last 18 months by Zeb Wells and Nick Lowe is completely gone. It might as well never have happened. With nothing to show for all the wasted time and reader goodwill, Wells and Lowe have downgraded to telling semi-serious Spider-Man stories that won’t move the needle in terms of enriching Spidey’s canon or creating lasting memories.
Does that mean this is a terrible issue? No. On the contrary, it’s just silly enough to be mildly amusing. Amazing Spider-Man #28 is like reading a slightly more mature Spider-Man cartoon, with bright, colorful art via Ed McGuinness, over-the-top acting from JJJ, and a Doc Ock whose as one-dimensional as ever. The only thing missing is at least one character taking a pie in the face, immediately followed by a duck-quacking noise.
Does Amazing Spider-Man #28 make up for the Ms. Marvel death debacle? No, not in the least. That stink is going to take a long time to wear off, but at least you get a forgettable time-waster of an issue until a better story (or ideally, a better creative and editorial team) comes along.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
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Bits and Pieces
Spider-Man #28 is a semi-serious, forgettable, and sometimes silly time-waster to take your mind off the horrendous death of Kamala Khan. Doc Ock’s upgrade has interesting threat potential, but JJJ is written bizarrely out of character, and the setup is somewhat ridiculous.
Weird Science Marvel Comics 
I think you hit the nail on the head with this being a forgettable time waster. Which is just so frustrating considering all the unresolved fallout from ASM #26. It seems like they want to save the lion’s share of Peter’s depression and angst regarding Kamala for the Fallen Friends issue that comes out in a few weeks. (Centering Peter in that rather than here is problematic in its own right since Peter is so totally unrelated to Kamala. But whatever)
What’s even crazier to me is that they seem totally fine with giving us no resolution whatsoever regarding MJ after ASM #26. Like I mean Kamala died to save MJ’s life specifically. How does she feel about that?How does she relate that to her kids being dead? They’re definitely not talking about that in Fallen Friends. (if they do, i’ll eat my shoe) And it looks like they won’t deal with it here either. Not until this ock tentacle arc finishes at least.
Like MJs the second most important character in the spiderman canon imo. And marvel has been absolutely devastating her with OOC moments and massive trauma throughout this run. Then when her story isn’t immediately relevant to Peter, she’s unceremoniously dumped from the comic with no resolution to literally anything. I genuinely think there’s something pretty sexist to that.
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