This was a great kick-off to “American Son.”  Kelly doesn’t wait to get to the point of what the story’s about, though that makes me think that this is a distraction.  But what Kelly really gets is the relationships.  This is the first time we really see Peter and Harry pal around like regular bros do.  And the Peter-JJJ, Jr. interaction is priceless!  But the best is Spider-Man – Norman: all the frustration and all the pain that Norman has caused him comes out here.  On the art side, there are three full-size pages in this issue by Jimenez that are just awesome, and if you bought “Short Halloween” you get to see the uncolored inked originals.  I wish the Norman reveal had been built up to a bit more, but when Kelly says its like Han seeing Vader in the Cloud City dining room, he’s right.  There’s a homage page as well which is really good; Norman smiling despite being at the disadvantage really tells you how creepy he is.  The last page, though, was supposed to be a shocking reveal, but Marvel’s promotional campaign ruined it.  Also, maybe it was the angle or maybe it was something else, but the images leading up to it don’t seem to match up with what’s revealed. 

The Parker/Osborne connection has been at the core of the Spider-Man story since the Stan Lee days, and it still has impact.  Don’t look at this and say “Another Norman/Spider-Man story. Greeeaaat…”  First of all, you’re discounting one of the great adversarial relationships in all of storytelling, not just comics. Norman was, for a time, almost an adoptive father to Peter, and his philosophy towards Spider-Man is like Khan vs. Kirk – “I don’t want to kill you; I want to hurt you.  And I will keep on hurting you…”  Second of all, this is the first time that this has been dealt with in a meaningful way since the end of the multiple series run (Amazing/Spectacular/Sensational/Adjectiveless), which was at the end of the 90’s.  Third, if a Norman/Spider-Man match-up turns you away, then you should also avoid stories involving Superman/Lex Luthor, Batman/Joker, Green Lantern/Sinestro, X-Men/Magneto, FF/Doom, Daredevil/Kingpin, ad infinitum- in other words, some of the best stories in superhero comics WHEN DONE WELL!  And that’s the last point- use new characters or use characters we’ve seen 1,000 times, what it comes down to is the quality of the writing.  Joe Kelly can use whatever damn characters he wants, he can write!