I thought that my guts were finished twisting over Johnny Storm's death in the pages of Fantastic Four, but this was a great series of stories on how Johnny was a huge effect in Spidey's life. I'm not sure if this would have hit me harder if this had come out last week so that I could have it with FF #1, but it still packed a lot of emotional weight coming a week later. From someone who has lost his brother I still can feel the loss that Spidey has for the Torch. I saved this issue for the last book to read in my pile and I had though that Cap was my POTW, but I had to change my decision after this book.

My initial impression of Dan Slott was that he was a jokey irreverent guy especially after his Word Balloon interview, but with the last couple of issues I'm really seeing that with his ability in humor he also knows how to write a broader spectrum of human emotion. The only thing I picked up on is that the Thing doesn't seem to match up with what we are seeing in FF and New Avengers. I'm not sure if I'm ready to see Ben get past his rage stage yet about losing Johnny. Even with that I understand that it wouldn't have fit the mood of what this issue is trying to portray.

I love all of the artists in this issue and its super hard to say which I liked the best. Marcos Martin's art is wonderful and works as a bridge between each of the flashback stories. You get such great wonderful emotion from each of his pages. His faces really reflect the emotional state and tells a great story as much as the words on the page. Templeton's layouts especially the two page splash of the practical joke war between Spidey and Torch was just wonderful. I'm not really familiar with Nuno Plati's art but I found it wonderful, and the story was so great. Who would have thought that pantsing bad guys is so much more effective than beating them up. The shot with the Wizard wearing Kravenwear TM pending was just so hilarious. What can you say about Caselli other than awesome. The panel with Spidey, Johnny, and Reed giving themselves fist pumps was just wonderful especially Reed's face. You just don't think that you get that machismo from him, but Caselli just capture that in such a great way.

I might have to drop both Spidey and FF if they keep ripping my heart out just to save me from the pain I feel when I feel these characters loss. The last two pages of this issue was just another blow to my heart for a character that I honestly never had much of a connection. It really shows how great the work of Slott and Martin allow you to reflect the emotional connection between Spidey and the FF. The last message from Johnny hits how important family is and that nothing is more important to a person that to feel like they belong to one. The faces of the FF when they hear Johnny's message was so heartbreaking, but you feel that Spidey joining the FF was right on the last page. I think that the difference between Spidey joining a bunch of teams versus Wolverine joining a team is you get to see that he belongs because he is treated like a family member and so it just feels right and natural.

If I ever get to get to meet Slott I'm going to have to punch him and give him a hug because Johnny's last words in this issue was so right. He's definitely has me on this book for the long haul.

Also my brother's name is John also.