Amazing Spider-Man: Matters of Life and Death

Title: [amazon_link id=”0785151036″ target=”_blank” ]Spider-Man: Matters of Life and Death[/amazon_link]

Creators: Dan Slott, Fred Van Lente, humberto Ramos, Marcos Martin

Page Count: 216

Cover Price: $24.99

Release Date: May 25, 2011

Collects: Amazing Spider-Man #652-654, 654.1, 655-657

Review: Dan Slott can do no wrong.  Let me repeat that.  Dan Slott can do NO WRONG.  The man captures the essence of Spidey in a way that hasn’t been done in past 20 years – or more.  I haven’t missed an issue of Amazing Spider-Man since I started regularly reading comics in 1991 with issue 351, and Dan’s comics have wholly reinvigorated the Spidey franchise for me, that I anxiously wait for the next trade.

There is just the right amount of action, humor, drama and downtime that once a book is picked up, it’s painful to put it down, if even for a short break.

The art is good – for the most part.  It suits the story as needed.  I understand the need for multiple artists  on a bi-weekly series, but it would be nice if all the styles were a bit more similar.  Going from one storyline to another – in the same book – can be quite jarring, and this book is a perfect example of that.

The storyline itself deals with Peter adjusting to all the changes that the [amazon_link id=”B005M4A482″ target=”_blank” ]Big Time[/amazon_link] storyline brought, while adding to them nicely.  You really feel that Peter Parker is just another Joe that was thrown into this superhero thing, and he’s just doing what he does because he can.  For a story about a guy bitten by a radioactive spider, Dan Slott makes it believable.

Summary:  Another winner in the Spider-Man line of books.

Overall: 4 out of 5