Comic Books

> > 655
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #655

This February may be the shortest month of the year, but this time it’s the BIGGEST month for AMAZING SPIDER-MAN! “Awakening” We can’t tell you what’s in this issue without spoiling the end of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #654. But we can say this: Marcos Martin returns to AMAZING SPIDER-MAN in a full-length 30 page story that will haunt you. As the fallout of recent events continues to rock Peter Parker’s world, he makes a choice– a promise– that even he might not be able to fulfill…

Story by Dan Slott
Art by Marcos Martin
Colors by Muntsa Vicente
Letters by Joe Caramagna
Cover by Marcos Martin

Price: $3.99
iFanboy Community Pick of the Week Percentage: 11.3%

Reviews

UserAddedSpoilers
wallythegreenmonster02/25/11NoRead Review
mongo02/24/11YesRead Review
BC102/23/11YesRead Review
DrCatclops02/23/11YesRead Review
Zeppo02/23/11NoRead Review
761
Pulls
Avg Rating: 4.6
 
Users who pulled this comic:
 

Comments

  1. Avatar photo RoiVampire says:
    February 21, 2011 at 2:11 pm

    now that is a cover

  2. Avatar photo torippu says:
    February 21, 2011 at 2:19 pm

    There is always something special about a Slott/Martin issue of ASM. Can’t wait to read.

  3. Avatar photo TexasZombie99 says:
    February 21, 2011 at 2:25 pm

    @RoiVampire  The excess of whitespace is actually really effective here, I’m impressed.

    @torippu  Agreed.  Martin gets a lot of hate because his art isn’t typical, I think it’s amazing, really emotional stuff. 

  4. Avatar photo torippu says:
    February 21, 2011 at 2:31 pm

    @TexasZombie99 If Martin was drawing any other book, I am pretty sure that I wouldn’t seek it out.  This team works really well together – although I will have to admit that Slott’s ASM work right now is really good I have loved everything about Big Time so far!

  5. Avatar photo Zeppo says:
    February 21, 2011 at 2:41 pm

    Very Spider-man from martin has blown my mind. An oversized issue dealing with peter’s grief…high expectations o
    for sure

  6. Avatar photo Andrew says:
    February 21, 2011 at 3:09 pm

    Martin gets hate? That’s crazy! He’s the best artist to draw Spider-Man since the reboot!

  7. Avatar photo jrodine says:
    February 21, 2011 at 3:58 pm

    What a cover!

  8. Avatar photo RoiVampire says:
    February 21, 2011 at 4:00 pm

    @Andrew  I’ve never heard this either. I think the poor boy must be mistaken, or maybe he’s lost his mind. He’ll probably be put in a home soon. Such a shame.

  9. Avatar photo JimBilly4 says:
    February 21, 2011 at 8:15 pm

    I have not heard any hate on Martin either. Some people may not love him, but hate him? His style isn’t controversial like Acuna, Azaceta, or Bachalo. By the way, I am guessing Peter promises to not try and exploit spider-man’s popularity by publishing more spin-off books than the market will bear. Now that is a promise he might not be able to fufill.

  10. Avatar photo cubman987 says:
    February 21, 2011 at 11:27 pm

    Martin gets a lot of hate on other comic book sites, not so much here.

  11. Avatar photo CaseyJustice says:
    February 21, 2011 at 11:45 pm

    Gonna have to play this one by ear on Wednesday. It’s very good, but finances have put it on the chopping block. I love Martin, though, so who knows?

  12. Avatar photo oopsxlandmine says:
    February 21, 2011 at 11:56 pm

    Martin isn’t a bad artist. But Caselli was putting up some of the best spidey art i’ve ever seen. Sad to see him leave the book.

  13. Avatar photo WadeWilson says:
    February 22, 2011 at 12:29 am

    I gave the .1 issue a shot, as I haven’t read Amazing for a long time. I was pretty surprised that Spider-Man (the guy whose name is on the cover) was in like one panel. 

    I thought the Marvel .1 issues were meant to be “jumping on points” … but I don’t wanna jump onto a Venom book. 

  14. Avatar photo wallythegreenmonster says:
    February 22, 2011 at 1:45 am

    @WadeWilson  –yeah my thoughts exactly. 

    at any rate i’m basically loving this series overall. The quick artist switching is a bit jarring though. I wish they could stick with one artist for a longer stretch of time, but then maybe i’m old fashioned. 

  15. Avatar photo Franktiger says:
    February 22, 2011 at 8:57 am

    That’d be sweet if that were the colors of his costume for real.

  16. Avatar photo WaltKellysGhost says:
    February 22, 2011 at 8:03 pm

    If Marcos Martin drew Spider-Man all the time, I would buy it no matter what I thought of the writing. His style has a very classic feel that works great on titles like Spider-Man. I love Ditko/Romita era Spider-Man and Martin’s work invokes that. I’d love to see Marcos on a Fantastic Four arc in the future.

  17. Avatar photo Loshem says:
    February 22, 2011 at 8:46 pm

    Love the simplistic cover. Looking forward to this issue.

  18. Avatar photo Andrew says:
    February 22, 2011 at 9:31 pm

    @WaltKellysGhost  You said it!

  19. Avatar photo RattFink says:
    February 22, 2011 at 10:07 pm

    @wallythegreenmonster  i think martin was working with slott on asm for a while, so it shouldn’t be too weird of a switch.  that’s what i gathered from the “don’t miss” podcast.

  20. Avatar photo ResurrectionFlan says:
    February 23, 2011 at 12:49 am

    @WadeWilson  Try the first issue of Big Time that’s where I jumped on. It was a perfect intro. It’s probably in a trade already.

    YUP. Man they are fast. http://www.amazon.com/Spider-Man-Big-Time-Vol-1/dp/0785146237

  21. Avatar photo ctrosejr says:
    February 23, 2011 at 11:24 am

    Slott was pushing this HARD on Word Balloon.  He said it was the best single issue that he’s ever written.  I was going to get it anyway, but now I want to know what all the hub-bub is about.

  22. Avatar photo andybmcd says:
    February 23, 2011 at 3:15 pm

    Holy crap, this issue was crazy.  Very trippy and very Ditko-esque.  The new villain’s design is really lame though.

  23. Avatar photo Myncy says:
    February 23, 2011 at 5:24 pm

    This was amazing, nuff said

  24. Avatar photo JNewcomb says:
    February 23, 2011 at 5:26 pm

    Great cover!

  25. Avatar photo k5blazer says:
    February 23, 2011 at 5:51 pm

    Almost made this my POTW, did anyone else notice the Frank Miller homage when Spidey beatdown The Burglar, he stood over him like Daredevil did over Kingpin in I think 229 of the first run od Daredevil, or am I reading too many comics?

  26. Avatar photo ResurrectionFlan says:
    February 23, 2011 at 7:06 pm

    How amazing was the spiral page and the MC Escher page?????????????????????????? MARTIN!!!!!

  27. Avatar photo sirdave101 says:
    February 23, 2011 at 7:35 pm

    Wow.

  28. Avatar photo andybmcd says:
    February 23, 2011 at 9:56 pm

    Wow indeed @sirdave101.  This was not at all what I expected from this issue and I was pleasantly surprised.  In fact, this issue would have been the PERFECT .1 issue.  It goes over what’s gone on before while exploring Pete’s history.  It’s practically tailor-made for the initiative.  That aside, Martin’s art, while I’m not the biggest fan, was pretty much perfect for this issue.  Everything had a Ditko-esque charm about it and the page compositions were stunning.

    Longer thoughts here: http://bit.ly/ieSONo

    Overall, a 9.4/10 or a 5/5 on the iFanboy scale. 

  29. Avatar photo oopsxlandmine says:
    February 24, 2011 at 12:35 am

    everything was awesome except the art. Didn’t really dig Martin in this issue. Caselli spoiled me i guess..

  30. Avatar photo Meanmrmustid says:
    February 24, 2011 at 5:17 am

    Poor Spidey.  One of the best issues of Amazing up against one of the greatest ever comic period. 

  31. MisterJ says:
    February 24, 2011 at 4:26 pm

    This was great work by everyone involved.  This was the best thing that I saw from Martin since the ‘Paper Doll’ issue.  But this was so much better.  Some of the best composition that I have ever seen in a comic.  Everything was so good that even Spidey’s shout at the world near the end did not seem cheesey, even though it really was.

    Was this the first time that they ‘retconned’ the Gwen Stacy/Norman Osborn relationship out of existence??

  32. Avatar photo RoiVampire says:
    February 24, 2011 at 5:21 pm

    @MisterJ  y’know i didn’t catch anything like that. what page are you talking about? i’ve been waiting for years for them to retcon that out.

  33. Avatar photo BetaRayRyan says:
    February 24, 2011 at 8:51 pm

    I normally HATE dream sequences but son of a bitch, this was pretty to look at.  I knew from the first panel that this issue was going to be something special.

  34. MisterJ says:
    February 25, 2011 at 11:19 am

    @RoiVampire  In the interests of full disclosure I was not reading comics when Gwen and Osborn took off for Europe, so I am not 100% sure how they retconned it back then.  As such, my presumption could very well be misinformed.

    That much having been said, in this issue they showed Gwen as definitively dead (great artwork on the broken neck while I am here).  If she is definitively dead, how could she have been in Europe making babies with Pete’s greatest enemy?  It was my impression that showing her as very dead kinda took away that whole story line.

    If she was dead and came back to life for the kiddie story line, well then my presumption does not apply.

  35. Avatar photo Franktiger says:
    February 25, 2011 at 2:03 pm

    I think Peter’s dream was a case of some misplaced guilt there.  We know he’s been haunted by Ben’s death, but the circumstances surrounding Marla’s were different.  Guess Marla’s death brought out his worst fear, that those closest to him are harmed, and he feels somehow responsible that his choices have lead to that, and that brought out his guilt about Ben.

  36. Avatar photo Loshem says:
    February 26, 2011 at 12:46 am

    Marcos Martin is my Herooo!!!! I love that nostalgic and modern blend he brings.

  37. Avatar photo ComicBookGuy37 says:
    February 26, 2011 at 7:08 am

    @MisterJ  I’m pretty sure they haven’t retconned it out. Gwen Stacy spent time abroad after her dad died, but before she came back for her death storyline, so I always assumed the Norman/Gwen thing was during that period (and I remember reading a thing with JMS where he said that). Regardless, if they’ve officially retconned it out, I’m pleased as punch.

  38. MisterJ says:
    February 26, 2011 at 4:57 pm

    @ComicBookGuy37  Oh, my mistake.  I thought that the Goblin kids were spawned after her ‘death’.  I have never read the story myself, as it just seems so, so bad.  It will probably be like baby May, and just drift off to be forgotten.  Well, hopefully.

  39. Avatar photo Jig says:
    February 26, 2011 at 8:04 pm

    Oops! Sentry shows up. Guess Marvel doesn’t get Tom Katers’ money.

  40. Avatar photo Malecema says:
    February 26, 2011 at 10:04 pm

    This was one hell of an issue, it had the same feel as those iconic, classic Spider Man stories.  

  41. Avatar photo cromulent says:
    February 27, 2011 at 12:00 am

    Wow, they even brought back “Charlie” from Spider-Man vs Wolverine one shot, which happened to be one of my first comics. Nice.

  42. Avatar photo TheApeThatEscaped says:
    February 27, 2011 at 11:33 am

    WOW!

    This wasn’t on my pull list – I’ve not read ASM in months – and then I saw it on the shelf… as soon as I picked it up I just had to have it.  Marcos Martin strikes again!  Great issue.  Not jumping back on ASM just yet, but I may have to make the exception whenever Marcos is on art duties.

  43. Avatar photo cubman987 says:
    February 27, 2011 at 2:39 pm

    What a great issue.  Absolutely loving ASM right now.

    Also, ComicBookGuy37 is right, Gwen and Norman hooked up before her death, and her pregnancy was super fast because of Norman’s Goblin blood (also made the twins age super fast)….they’ve never retconned it out, JMS wanted to with OMD but it was vetoed because he wanted to bring Gwen back.

Leave a Comment