Finally Spider-Island is here. I say finally because the last few Spider-Man issues have been pretty poor, and it felt like the creators were just killing time until this event began. It’s been months now since the advertising, teasing and back up stories began about this book. The relief that I feel isn’t due to anticipation though, its relief knowing that I don’t have to see any more build up to this book. I swear, sometimes it felt like this was getting pushed harder than Fear Itself. But unlike Fear Itself, this book rocks!

This book is 30 pages long. It’s huge. And that’s really important in a time when I feel like comics are getting smaller and smaller and putting fewer panels on each page. This book delivers a huge chunk of story. I know that’s not enough to warrant a great review, the content also needs to be top quality. And this really is top quality.

Stefano Caselli really was a fantastic choice as artist on this book. The art is ASM is often always a real gamble and over the last 6 months or so I’ve seen stuff that I love and stuff that I think is an insult to the fans, but with Caselli on art duties I think we are finally guaranteed a run of good-looking stories. Caselli seems to be able to animate the still image in this issue, imbuing each panel with movement and fluidity, which is massively important for a Spider-Man book. The first image in the book is of Spider-Man swinging through the city and its fantastic. Spider-Man’s contortionist way of posing while web-slinging is one of his most recognizable traits, but perhaps due to the difficult task of drawing these poses, we often see the same basic movement copied by artist after artist. Here though is something stereotypically Spider-Man and yet original. Caselli also captures emotion of the face of the characters in such a melodramatic way. Its fantastic to see Jameson yelling furiously, or evil bad guys shooting out cocky, evil, smirks.

Dan Slott continues his recent streak of writing ASM with this issue and really puts in the effort with this issue. The plot is moved into perfect position for the next issue and we are given subtle reminders of where all of our characters are in their lives right now. This is a master class in what a prelude issue should be. Rather than heavy handedly throwing information into our laps, Slott reveals all the things we need to know in a way that complements and benefits this issue. My only complaints would be that there is another mention that Spider-Man is on way to many teams (a fact that is retold EVERY issue at the moment) and that there is a scene with some villains towards the end that is a little confusing. I think I know what happened but I did need to read it twice just to be sure. Either way, it wasn’t a big problem and I don’t want to go on about it too much.

Overall this is a great start to an interesting event. And at this point, it promises to outshine Fear Itself on every level. If you love Spider-Man this is a must and if you have never read a Spidey story before, this is a good place to start. Give it go; it’s really, really worth it.

Art: 5/5

Story: 4/5