The Amazing Spider-Man #1: Behind-The-Scenes Edition

I got this Marvel freebie from one of the comic shops I visited over the summer.

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man
Issue: 1 (Behind-The-Scenes Edition)
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: September 2018
Writer: Nick Spencer
Artist: Ryan Ottley
Editor: Nick Lowe

This is a pretty cool promotional freebie from Marvel. It's the complete main story from the recent Amazing Spider-Man reboot, but with just Ryan Ottley's pencil art.


This gives a unique perspective to the story, as well as revealing the process. Not to mention showing off Ottley's artistic talents.


Obviously, without the dialogue and the finished art, a lot gets missed, but I didn't mind. And the full version is readily available for those who wish to purchase it (and likely to remain in reprints for years to come).

I could't follow that much of the dialogue-based storytelling, but much of the familiar supporting cast made appearances. The plot's main action saw Spidey joining the Avengers to deal with what appears to be a massive invasion by extradimensional creatures in New York City. But thing are not entirely as they seem.

The art was beautiful and the story looked interesting enough that I would say that the book did its job as a promo.

Rating: 7.5/10

Brit #9

This was one of those Free Comic Book Day extras. Not an official FCBD edition, just a bargain bin comic that a dealer was giving away for free as part of the Free Comic Book Day fun.

Title: Brit
Issue: 9
Date: 2008
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Bruce Brown
Penciler: Nate Bellegarde
Inker: Nate Bellegarde
Colorist: FCO Plascencia
Letterer: Rus Wooton
Cover: Ryan Ottley, Kelsey Shannon
Editor: Aubrey Sitterson

I had no familiarity with this title at all going into this, so to start a fairly complex book with a large cast at issue #9 can sometimes be a bit of a stretch.

But I have to say, the first scene was a really solid hook for me. The book opens with a guy named Bob sitting on the Great Wall of China with his date for the evening, teleporter Ms. Popper. Popper is instantly likeable, an older female character who is quietly competent.

The story, as it turns out, plays heavily with parallel universes, and relies a bit heavily on parallel universe cliches once we get going, but there was good flow in the action, screen time for a lot of characters, emotional intensity, and a very clear degree of thought put into characters' various powers and abilities.

There is also a seemingly invincible villain who has that whole invincible-and-also-intolerably-annoying vibe, and it did not help matters when his identity is revealed on the last page to be the most obvious cliche of them all.

But in spite of all that, there was enough here in terms of good dialogue and clever interactions to keep my interest up.

Rating: 6.5/10