This latest arc of Amazing Spider-Man has been an unbelievable treat in comparison to the previous abomination by Joe Quesada. As the culmination of the various Brand New Day story threads, some established almost 100 issues ago, this is the final act in the greatest era Spider-Man has experienced, at least in my lifetime.

For the last few issues we’ve been slowly building up momentum towards the epic battle between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus that is, so obviously, on its way. And yet, Mark Waid has managed to craft a tale that takes us in a completely different direction to the one we envisioned at the start of the arc.

It’s a clever device to bring in all of Spider-Man’s heavy-hitting villains and play them off against the wallcrawler; it feels much the same as the Sinister Six concept, only this time there are far more villains, and the stakes feel much higher.

The art by Paul Azaceta and Matthew Southworth is absolutely gorgeous; much improved from Azaceta’s previous issues on the book. The style is a mixture of gritty colours and wonderfully rendered character models. You can tell who everyone is, and it’s nice to see characters like the Looter receiving a modern day makeover that still looks almost identical to the original Steve Ditko design.

The next issue is the final instalment of this arc, and hopefully it maintains the incredibly high standard of creativity displayed so far. It’s ending on a high note will do nothing more than reinforce the suggestion that Mark Waid is still one of the best craftsmen in comics.