Well now, that was unexpected. And by "that" I mean "lots of stuff"! I wasn't sure what to expect after Brand New Day was over, and Big Time kicked in, but I have to say I'm loving it. Peter is enjoying an extremely rare upswing (no pun intended) and he's earned it, dammit. He's finally got himself a new girlfriend in Carlie Cooper, a character who actually seems plausibly compatible for Pete, a new job that makes sense, given his incredible intellect and a nice place to live. Herein lies the trouble with Spidey as a character. We love him because he's the "everyman" who has faults and is a bit down-trodden but always rises to any challenge. But how long can he stay on that course as a character and have it be believable? The man is one of the smartest people in the Marvel U, but he has trouble keeping an apartment, making money, keeping jobs? At a certain point, being as smart as he is, he has to figure out how to make it all work, doesn't he? But that isn't interesting enough to keep reading! So we build him up and let him enjoy it, before we strip it all away from him again. That's the bittersweet part of this story for me. I love that Pete's finally getting it together, but since I'm reading a timeless, ageless character who will never stop being published, I know that this is all doomed to end tragically after awhile. This way, we can enjoy seeing him pull himself up by his little webby boot-straps again. This is what keeps us coming back to him as a character, and this is one of the many things that Slott understands. He's doing a fantastic job here and I can't wait to see what else he has up his typewriter.

A little while back, we saw a good chunk of Spidey's rogues get upgraded. One character that seemed to be conspicuously missing was Hobgoblin, but he also finally gets that treatment here. This isn't the same ole' Hobby sporting the same old stuff. He's a little loonier and a lot more formidable. I like that he no longer rides the Goblin Glider and has found other means of transportation as well as some different weapons. For so long, Hobs has been just a Green Goblin in brighter colors. But now it looks like the character is finally getting to spread his wings, as it were. It also looks like Scorpion/Venom is gonna be getting a change-up soon! I'm curious to see where that's headed.

There are some really minor nit-picks, however. First of all, maybe I'm wrong (and I'm sure someone will make me feel like a jerk in the comments below if I am), but didn't Phil Urich's "Goblin Laugh" come from his mask? The mask that was bust-icated during his fight with a Sentinel during the whole *shudder* Onslaught thing? How is he able to do it without his mask? Another instance that felt a mite strange was when Roderick Kingsley made his way into Norman Osborn's hidden Goblin stash. How is it that a fella just walks in and presses a button and is granted access to millions of dollars of villainous weaponry, created and housed by one of the Marvel U's most notorious criminals? The dude was top cop of H.A.M.M.E.R and ran almost EVERYTHING, but didn't think to change the password to one of his lairs? And it wasn't JUST Kingsley! Apparently Phil Urich was able to get access as well! Shenanigans, I say! But hey, I'm just picking nits, here.

Overall, this is a great new chapter in the life of the web-head and I'm chomping at the bit for each new issue! If you didn't like Brand New Day, give this a shot. You won't be disappointed!