What did Spider-Man do to end up on the outs with nearly everyone? The answer is… complicated. Your Major Spoilers review of Amazing Spider-Man #23 from Marvel Comics awaits!

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #23

Writer: Zeb Wells
Artist: John Romita Jr.
Inker: Scott Hanna
Colorist: Marcio Menyz
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Editor: Nick Lowe
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: April 5, 2023

Previously in Amazing Spider-Man: While attempting to stop a madman from merging with an ancient Mayan god, Peter Parker and his girlfriend Mary Jane were sent to an alternate dimension as sacrifices. Realizing that Spider-Man’s death in that reality would make the god unstoppable, MJ sent Spidey home, killing the god, but stranding herself…

WHAT DID PETER DO?

As we’ve seen several times before, Spider-Man woke up in a smoking crater and immediately went on the run. Burying his costume, he made his way back to the city in desperation, looking for a way to save Mary Jane from The Emissary. When he reaches New York, he finds that, though he spent more than a week in the alternate dimension, less than a day has passed at home. This triggers him to panic since, if hours equal days in the other world, every second means one less chance to save the woman he loves. Rushing to The Baxter Building, Spidey insists that he be given access to Reed’s lab, only for The Thing to tell him that they can’t let him in there until they know what happened in Pennsylvania, and that they’re intending to make him stay. That is the wrong thing to tell someone as fast and agile as Spider-Man, but after escaping the FF, he runs straight into Captain America, who reveals that the FBI is concerned about what they have dubbed WMD explosions linked to Spider-Man.

He wouldn’t beat up the Sentinel of Liberty, would he?

ANXIETY ON PARADE

I don’t think it’s going to be much of a spoiler to tell you that, yes. Yes, he would. He also alienates Aunt May and turns to the only man who doesn’t ask any questions about ethics or laws: Norman Osborn. I rather enjoy Romita’s art, as stylized as it is, in this issue, as it builds Spider-Man’s desperation to find answers, showing him constantly in motion, or halfway in-frame. The brief encounter with Captain America shows off his resourcefulness, but overall, the story plays far too coy with actual details of what is happening/has happened. Given how often something like this plot has happened, the Fantastic Four and Captain America seem far TOO skeptical, while Spider-Man’s refusal to explain what’s happening makes him come across as either inhumanly stubborn or just plain dumb. Likewise, his decision to turn against everything he knows and ally with Norman at the end of this story feels unmotivated and sudden, especially given that Peter literally punched him out only a few pages earlier.

BOTTOM LINE: RAISES THE BLOOD PRESSURE

When we’ve been waiting for months for an explanation, the decision to have Amazing Spider-Man #23 dole out only a tiny bit of missing detail is a bothersome one, especially when a clearly traumatized Peter spends the whole issue in fight-or-flight mode making bad decisions, but good art and some interesting details bring things together for 3 out of 5 stars overall. I’m not sure that the unanswered questions are able to support a multi-issue arc, but if nothing else, you wonder how Mary Jane got married while we weren’t looking.

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