Amazing Spider-Man #3

Writer – Dan Slott
Artist – Humberto Ramos
Inker – Victor Olazaba
Colours – Edgar Delgado

The book opens with a mystery woman, the mention of Ezekial and a keypad that says 616.  Shades of Spiderverse coming up?  Black Cat is also up to no good, declaring the city hers with anything she wants for the taking as well as ruminating about her revenge upon the Spider for taking everything away from her, not knowing that it was Doc Ock.  Other events include Peter committed to looking for a cure for Electro, he has a tussle with Felicia a little later on and Jonah gets a new job.  Slott and Ramos continue to have fun with putting Peter through the ringer by preying upon his confusion at events that keep coming into play of which he has no knowledge, both personally and professionally.  The character transformation Slott is giving Black Cat is good to see as she has been in status quo mode for many years.  She has attitude and newfound confidence and maybe it came to her in a bad way, but it will be nice to see her take a round or two out of Peter like the good old days.  It looks as if Electro is going through a power set shakeup, perhaps to gel a bit more with the film version, whatever the cause; it is always nice to see the classic villains do something a little different than normal.  Anna Maria makes a little appearance which is better than nothing as she remains one of the best supporting characters introduced in the book in the past decade or two.  The book also features a nice evolution of J. Jonah Jameson, who has gone back to his spider-hating roots but with an all new platform to wage his war.  This was another excellent issue from Marvel’s recent relaunch and the fantastic creative team of Dan Slott and Humberto Ramos.

4 out of 5

Aquaman #32

Writer – Jeff Parker
Artist – Paul Pelletier
Inker – Sean Parsons, Rick Magyar
Colours – Rain Beredo

Monsters abound in the latest issue of Aquaman and it is an action-packed book from cover to cover.  It looks as if the sea-king may have met his match in the new villain named Chimera, maybe more so as all of Aquaman’s vaunted powers do not mean much in the face of this creature.  Meanwhile, Mera is in Atlantis and still facing down the faction that wants her dead.  These men do not know what they are in for as Mera is a queen for a reason, and she proves it to them without question.  Jeff Parker and Paul Pelletier continue to get better and better with every passing issue on this book with this one being the most exciting by far.  Chimera is an interesting creature, man-made by Dr. Shin and company and one they immediately regret doing so.  Aquaman does not have the largest rogues gallery in the DC Universe and for the last few years, Geoff Johns and now Jeff Parker have been building it up and Chimera is a fine addition.  Having Mera on her own the past couple of issues has been refreshing and revealing in the strength of her character, and it is nice to see Parker furthering her as much as he is.  If the book continues on this trek with its great plotlines, action sequences and artwork by Paul Pelletier, it will definitely end up being one of DC’s best.

4 out of 5