Amazing Spider-Man #36 Review

Written by: Zeb Wells
Art by: Ed McGuinness, Mark Farmer
Colors by: Marcio Menyz
Letters by: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Cover art by: Ed McGuiness, Marcio Menyz (cover A)
Cover price: $4.99
Release date: October 25, 2023

Amazing Spider-Man #36 finds Spider-Man teaming up with Rek-Rap to crack a big case… according to Rek-Rap.

Is Amazing Spider-Man #36 Good?

Do you mind if I let you in on a personal moment? Cracking open Amazing Spider-Man #36 forced me to recall where the series left off, and for the life of me, I couldn’t recall what happened last time. It seems strange that I couldn’t remember what happened in Marvel’s top-selling comic (if you believe the Comichron numbers) just two weeks ago. Hmm.

When last we left the Amazing Spider-Man, he was cured of Norman’s sins by a joint effort between Kraven II, Queen Goblin, and Norman Osborn. The ending suggests Norman’s struggle against returning to his Green Goblin ways may not be completely over. Now, the goofy, demonic Spider-Man doppelganger Rek-Rap continues to make a nuisance out of himself while he tracks down some unexplained “big case.” Spider-Man steps in to get Rek-Rep under control just when the Goblin Queen’s Repossessor shows up to do the same. Spidey fights off the Repossessor and takes Rek-Rap on the lam on the hunch that Rek-Rrap is on to something.

If it isn’t obvious from the description or the preview pages, this is one of Wells’s silly, jokey issues, setting up a buddy adventure between Rek-Rap and Spider-Man. One of the more perplexing outcomes of Zeb Wells on ASM is the lack of consistency, so it’s understandable if you don’t know what to make of this issue. Does Zeb Wells want to write a cartoon comedy or a kickass adventure? By waffling back and forth, the overall tone of Wells’s run becomes annoyingly schizophrenic.

“Wait a minute! What about Norman? What about MJ? What about everybody else?” you might wonder if you’ve been following the series. They’re nowhere to be found, not brought up, or relevant in any way to this issue after the events of the last issue. If Wells has demonstrated anything with consistency, it’s that he does not know how to pay off what he sets up.

Odder still, there’s a brief scene in this issue between Silvermane and Hammerhead that presumably starts to lay the foundation for the coming Gang War event. If the tone of the scene is an indication, Gang War is not going to be a serious thrill ride but another joke-laden patchwork of disjointed ideas as with Dark Web. It’s just a guess, but all signs point to Gang War turning into Dark Web Part 2.

What’s great about Amazing Spider-Man #36? I’ll give Wells this much credit, at least one or two jokes land. Not the majority, but a few. If you’re looking for a chuckle in a Spider-Man/Rek-Rap team-up comic, this issue is about as good as it gets.

What’s not so great about Amazing Spider-Man #36? I hate to use this word with any regularity, but in this case, it fits. This issue is “cringe.” Rek-Rap was a bad idea that keeps popping up. The Limbo Embassy in the heart of NYC (another ill-conceived outcome of Dark Web) was a bad idea that now pops up again. And the whole thing feels like a rejected Robot Chicken sketch pitch.

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

Amazing Spider-Man #36 forgets everything that happened in the last arc and kicks off a silly, jokey team-up adventure with Spider-Man and Rek-Rap to stop a big threat only Rek-Rap can find. The humor only works in one or two spots, the lack of follow-up (especially for Norman) is bizarre, and the brief scene between Silvermane and Hammerhead to set up the coming Gang War event leads you to believe Gang War is going to turn out as well as Dark Web.