After turning the Spider-Man world on its ear with one of the most dramatic status quo shifts in the character’s history two weeks ago, there was definitely a lot of curiosity as to what Dan Slott, Giuseppe Camuncoli and the rest of the Spider-office would do as an encore in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 4) #2. 

In what should be a surprise to nobody who has been following Slott’s Spider-Man writing since his game-changing Superior Spider-Man run in 2013-14, the creator is filled with surprises and is not backing down from his dramatic overhaul to Peter Parker’s universe, regardless of any of the criticisms the first issue might have received. In fact, in many ways, Slott and co. have doubled down on the status quo, providing the reader with even more context as to how big and powerful Peter and his company, Parker Industries, has become.

For those looking for a fast-paced, action-filled superhero comic book ride, that’s a very good thing – though it’s hard not to keep coming back to the question that was posed by Dan and myself during our recent episode of Amazing Spider-Talk: is this a Spider-Man comic?

There’s no question that the Amazing Spider-Man franchise is swimming in unfamiliar water as this opening volume 4 arc progresses. It’s not so much that Peter, seemingly, for the first time in his life, has experienced professional and financial success that makes this new status quo such a profound curiosity, but rather the scope of Peter’s success and how he’s going out in the world and applying it.

Like its predecessor, ASM #2 is filled with quirky new gadgets – all wonderfully rendered by Camuncoli who continues to demonstrate why Marvel has to keep him on this book for as long as the Parker Industries status quo continues. This time around, readers are treated to an underwater Hydro-Spider vehicle, which is perfect for scouting Zodiac’s (unsuitably named) Aquarius base, as well as a cloaking hologram device that can make a structure look like anything, even a humpback whale because …. Because!

Admittedly, these gadget-centric sequences are filled with a level of techno-babble that has a tendency to drag the narrative a bit, especially for those of us out there who don’t have a degree in computer science or cyber security. It’s not that these scenes don’t serve a higher purpose – it’s important to demonstrate Peter’s proficiency, not to mention what it is exactly about his tech that has made him such a super-charged success. But it’s content that also feels quite foreign in a Spider-Man comic, especially when you add in the element of having Peter having these techo-dense conversations with Marvel heroes like Nick Fury Jr., who readers are more likely to associate with books other than Amazing Spider-Man (like Iron Man, for a “random” example). 

Additionally, this kind of discourse has a tendency to lower the stakes a bit in this story. ASM #2 features a number of double- and triple-reversals that provide Peter and his benefactors with multiple chances to hang one over on the bad guys. For all of the jokes and puns, the Zodiac cartel is still being portrayed as just a bunch of faceless goons that Spider-Man needs to be wary of only because the creative team is telling the reader he needs to be wary of them. Surely, you can’t bury Spidey under tons of rubble every arc, but where’s the fun of having him think 12 moves ahead of the opposition? That was the kind of stuff that got tiring with Otto during the Superior Spider-Man era. 

Beyond the technology, ASM #2 continues to establish just how successful of a company Parker Industries has become during this mysterious eight-month layover from Secret Wars. In one scene, Peter refers to having his name on the side of hundreds of different buildings around the world – speaking to an unprecedented level of success that not only pushes the boundaries of suspension of disbelief, but snaps them every which way like a rubber band. These scenes keep begging the question of “how” Peter became such a monumental success seemingly overnight, and there’s still no indication from the creative team that this question is going to be answered anytime soon (or at all).

Slott and Camuncoli peel back more information about the Peter/Hobie Brown relationship, and don’t do anything to quell the obvious comparisons to the Tony Stark/James “Rhodey” Rhodes dynamic in the Spider-Man comics. Hobie even plays the straight main to Peter’s smart-alecky leading man, making it difficult not to hear Robert Downey Jr. and Don Cheadle’s voices bantering back and forth. 

None of these sequences make Amazing Spider-Man #2 a bad comic book by any stretch – but is it a good Spider-Man comic? It just keeps coming back to that question.

Fortunately, Slott does work in plenty of moments that bring it all back to not only his most recent work with Peter and Spider-Man, but also comics from quite a few years ago like “Ends of the Earth” and a certain underrated two-parter from “The Gauntlet” run in the late 2000s. And as was the case with ASM #1, Peter’s sense of responsibility for good and bad alike is as strong as it’s ever been. If anything, there seems to be a certain amount of emphasis on showing how Peter’s success has given him even more responsibility to do right by the world (as well as showing the repercussions and fallout from those times in the past where Peter didn’t always honor his mantra 150 percent).

Ultimately one’s opinion of new ASM status quo comes down to having the ability to just succumb to the premise and not get hung up on its implausibility or its analogous nature to another Marvel hero whose name rhymes with Rony Bark. This is not the first time one has had to approach a Slott comic with this mindset – look no further than Superior, arguably the most successful (commercially and critically) Spider-Man era from the past decade. There are still plenty of moments where it feels weird to call this new volume Amazing Spider-Man, but its energy and fun cannot be denied.

Listen to us discuss this issue on our podcast, the AMAZING SPIDER-TALK!