The Amazing Spider-Man – Countdown to #700!- Spoilers!

I’m jumping on the bandwagon to see out one of the greatest titles in comics, this has to be good right???

It seems since I started reading comics a few exciting events have taken place and probably the biggest is the Marvel Now! reset. As part of that reset some old titles it seems have been benched to make way for fresh series’. One of these and probably the title with the most uproar around it is the decision to end The Amazing Spider-Man (ASM) at #700.

I wasn’t really interested at all to begin with. But over time, and being a total sucker for hype and advertising, it seems that everything I read or saw we gearing up for this goodbye issue #700, so I crumbled and just had to get on-board and say cheerio to ASM with everyone else. I’ve never read ASM so wasn’t that bothered but I loved the cartoons and movies so I think I’ve got a pretty good understanding of Spidey and his situation over the years. I also added ASM’s replacement (Superior Spider-Man) to my pull-list awhile ago now so thought it might be nice to see out the old before starting anew.

#695 – I picked this as my jumping on point for a simple reason. It was the farthest back my shop had in single issues in a continuous run (#695 – 699). So I thought why not? Turns out I got lucky, I never felt lost or out of place in this issue and the opening page cover off everything you need to know to get up to speed. It’s as if the writers (Dan Slott & Christos N Gage) planned this to be a jumping on point explaining everything as the story progresses through the pages. This is part 1 of  3 for the story arc Danger Zone so it also had the added bonus of feeling like the start of something (I’m big into starting things from the beginning if possible). Overall the issue was pretty action packed with some cool fight scenes and interesting story, especially the device that made Peter’s spider-sense act like it was on steroids. The finale left me wanting to go straight onto the next issue with Peter being knock out by the hobgoblin’s (well one of the hobgoblins!) gas.

#696 – After awaking from the Hobgoblins gas Peter finds himself restrained and in the company of the Kingpin. The rest of the issue revolves around Peter’s co-worker Max, who is told to contact Spider-Man in order to save Peter.

This issue flew by and was over before I knew it with Peter and Max making a escape attempt, now in possession of a key to access Norman Osborne’s secret weapons cache, while being chased by both the Hobgoblins. Can’t wait to check out the finale of Danger Zone in the next issue

#697 – After evading the Hobgobilns and destroying Norman Osborne’s secret stash and spider-sense disruptors, things are looking good again for Peter by the end of this issue, if not for two unforeseen setbacks. The first one comes in the shape of golden baseball with legs** (kinda looks like a miniature version of the aliens from War of the Worlds), is this the “gold flash” that Madame Web predicts will bring about the end? And the final bombshell is that Norman Osborne has come out of his coma and is once again on the loose!

**Edit found out it’s called an Octobot!

Brief interlude….. I have just gone to pick-up my copy of #700 only to find that it was never put aside for me!?!? and has now sold out! WTF idiots, so they are ordering the next printing for me but hat won’t be for a while, month or two at a guess. ABSOLUTELY GUTTED!  Well at least I have heap to read  from the Christmas bonanza I scored

#698 – This issue was my favorite of the bunch by some way. Firstly the art looked so much better in this issue, much brighter, better drawn and more descriptive which always helps. This issue starts with Dr Ock, who is on his death-bed with only hours to live requesting to speak with Peter Parker, hence the title Dying Wish (Prelude). During the meeting Dr Ock uses some crazy mind switch trick to transfer his mind into Parker’s body and vice-versa! Genius, with the added twist that they both have full access to each other memories and experiences along with their own personalities. How’s Peter going to get out of this one? And what will Dr Ock get up to in Peter’s body both as Parker and Spider-Man?

#699  – This issue is probably my least favorite. Firstly it’s pretty much just an explanation of how Doc Ock did the switch with Peter. It also suggests that Dr Ock had a plan for every possible situation that could have arisen in his career. And that through this meticulous planning he had made a huge oversight that Parker could use this mind swap to his advantage to get out of the switch using Dr Ock own plans! It just seemed a little convenient especially after the enjoyable last issue. So Parker using the plans that Dr Ock had created arranges his own breakout of the Raft via a bounty offered to some super villains colleagues. One interesting element that did come out in both these issues was Dr Curt Connors might actually now be in control again within his lizard body prison.

#699.1 – This point 1 issue doesn’t really seem to have any relevance to the #700 build up. Although it does directly follow on from the events in #699 it’s more of a setup for Morbius’s own ongoing series than anything to do with Spider-Man. So if you fancy checking out Morbius #1 then this is the place to start. This is the first time I have come across Morbius so I’m glad it was through a very good origin issue like this, I LOVE origin stories so this was great. It also left me very intrigued to see how they deal with this character as an on-going series, being a villain and all, I don’t think I’ve seen many (if any) on-going titles about villains? So it’ll be cool to see what they do. Well that’s another book I’m adding to the reading list. *You don’t need this for the build up to #700 but I highly recommend if you enjoy origin stories.

Overall this was a pretty sweet build up and I’m even more gutted now about my delay on #700. I might even have to torrent it! I know naughty, but I already paid for it so I think I will sleep at night 😉 I can’t believe how extremely lucky I got with picking a starting point, almost randomly issue #695 was perfect and I would strongly recommend starting here if you’re new to ASM  like me. Well that’s it, my longest post to date and I can’t wait for #700 hope you enjoyed it!