Being the highly respected and most friendly user on this site—SHUT UP I AM!–I decided once again to swim the uncharted waters of the Spider-Man universe. The last time I did this was with Amazing Spider-Man #677 and we know how fantastic that was. Although having Mark Waid and Emma Rios sure helped a ton. So this time I decided to try out the new, ‘Avenging’ Spider-Man. Although he isn’t doing any sort of Avenging in the issue as far as I could tell. What helped in this decision was that Leinil Francis Yu was going the art and boy am I sucker for his work. So I tried out this issue and I was sure pleased what I read. In fact get ready to get your socks blown off because this is actually my Pick of the Week.

Yes I know, I thought hell froze over too.

So why did I think this topped most of my pile, especially with Daredevil #10 being such an amazing issue? Well for starters we have Zeb Wells writing this comic and here’s another thing to blow you away: I think Zeb Wells is the best Spider-Man writing since this new era non-sense start. Yes I do mean that with a straight face. Every time I read an issue of Mr. Wells involving Spider-Man I loved every minute of it. You know why? Cause he doesn’t dwell on the melodramatic bullshit that has plagued this character since the (admittedly loved) JMS run. His Spider-Man is fun, cracks a lot of jokes, and acts like the young adult he should be (i.e. stupid and inexperienced). Plus he brings a lot of needed humor to the character and I did laugh a lot in this issue.

This story in a whole felt really great to read because it felt like Wells had a hell of a time writing it. Learning about Captain America’s past as a cartoonist, before turning into Cap, brought a smile to my face and some good jokes to laugh at. It made me smile because it brings a past of Rogers that is actually very intriguing and felt like it certainly could happen before he became the enraging, anti-mutant Super Solider he’s become. But again I can tell Wells had a lot of fun in this issue and he did a great job making Parker funny and not annoying in this issue. In fact it gets very heartfelt at the end and for once a hero bonds with Captain America without praising to him like he’s a god….Well we do get some of at that in the beginning, but at least in the end they bond like two normal dudes.

Here’s another reason why this issue made me want to have its babies and that would be Leinil Francis ‘Mother Fucking’ Yu’s art. Again I am a sucker for his art because it’s so damn gorgeous to look at. His style is rough and sketchy as hell but it just looks…..’right’ to look at. The faces he draws look like they are actual human beings with wrinkles and imperfections. The costumes look like fabric that is moving to people’s bodies. His attention to detail is practically perfect and he is one of the best in the industry in that regard. But he’s also good at doing a variety of different scenes from talking heads to fight scenes. I will say though there was a moment I knew this was going to be my pick of the week. One minute I’m reading Cap talking about his days as a cartoonist, and then I turn the page and BAM! A double page spread of Cap and ‘flashbacks’ of his days in WWII with a big image of Hitler getting punched in the face. I’m not a Patriotic person by any means but even I had to say ‘America, Fuck yeah!’ and do some push-ups after seeing that! If you see that double page splash I’m referring to and not weep for America then you must be a Commie! (Or just not into his art, whatever fits)

So yes, after what seems like an eternity I am making a Spider-Man comic the best in my pile. This issue has everything going for it: A one-n-done issue involving Captain America, written by Zeb Wells who is THE BEST Spider-Man writing (in my opinion), with fucking gorgeous artwork by Leinil Francis Yu. This issue has everything going for it and more and it makes me so depressed that Amazing Spider-Man will never, ever match this quality no matter how many times I read it. This is how you write Spider-Man and Captain America in the same issue. Let the other writers at Marvel read this as a primer because that’s how great it is. Now if you excuse me I’m going to salute the flag again.