Gwen… See you soon.

That line could have been horribly cliche, it could have reeked of corn and cheese. But it was delivered pitch perfectly at just the right moment so that you can really feel how beaten down Peter is, how at the end of his rope he feels. And at this darkest moment, it’s his best friend who comes and saves him, maybe without even realizing it.

But it’s that friendship and its consequences that have been the abiding focus of this title.  We all thought that Brand New Day was about changing Peter, but an even bigger result of it has been that Harry Osborn has been resuscitated as an interesting and sympathetic character.

Guggenheim’s writing is well-timed, well-balanced and  he really understands these characters. Heck, even Vin Gonzalez — a character who has been so two-dimensional that  he could barely fit on both sides of one page — was a little bit human in this issue.

As for the art, I wish John Romita Jr. could be doing Spider-Man all the time. But in a way, I think his work shines even brighter when he’s doing these special storyarcs. On a (somewhat) unrelated note, I would really like to see this guy go back and do a modern X-Men story. He’s at the top of his game and I’d love to see his take on that team now.