So what you will about Marvel as a whole, but AVENGING SPIDER-MAN continues to be just plain fun as it wraps up its first arc. Red Hulk lies dead (apparently), and Spidey and Jonah have an army of angry warriors on their heels.

It’s wisecracks and Jonah being generally furious and so forth all the way down.

AVENGING SPIDER-MAN isn’t exactly a revolutionary book, nor is it a terribly serious one – it’s a little like what you might imagine an adventure would be if Peter Parker was retelling it to you after the fact, with some liberties taken for the sake of entertainment. And that’s fine. Maybe that’s what Spidey needs – what Marvel needs. Not every book has to be monumental or revelatory, and it’s nice that this one has made it three whole issues as, essentially, a popcorn book.

These days I just don’t care for much of the Marvel mainstream, but I do have a soft spot for Spidey. While I probably won’t dive into AMAZING SPIDER-MAN anytime soon, AVENGING is a good fix with little baggage. If only more of their line was like this (not all, of course, but more), I’d be ready to make mine Marvel once again.