Amazing Spider-Man #553

I may decide to drop this, at least the gale issues.

last issue was unbelievably cheezy, although i have to admit there were some moments where i enjoyed the camp. I just can't decide if it was good cheezy (army of darkness) or bad cheezy (starship troopers).

Yes, last week's issue was the weakest of BND so far.  It was a bit too cornball in places but the art from Phil Jimenez was very nice.

I'm with you guys, I've stuck through OMD and now I'm just bored (and a lot poorer). I understand the desire they have to take Spidey back to his roots. But it just all feels forced and overdone.

Someone call me when Spider-Man actually does something new and different.

The last issue was definatley the weakest of BND, but 1 average issue and 6 really good ones is still a pretty damn good batting average.

Plus I like Jimenez's art, and I think Freak shows some promise as a villain.

Also the Bookie is great

@Diabhol - He has been since BND started.  That is, if you consider "not boring" and "fun" to be something new and different when it comes to Spider-Man books.  As I do.

@Balefuego- Agreed, though I think Freak should have been named "Puke". lol

I'm new here, but I had to say I'm digging OMD, even though I was actually a MJ fan. I was okay with the last issue, but Freak seems weak in comparrison to the other new baddies introduced. I've seen it plenty times before but Jiminez's work sometimes throws me off, and then in the next page the odd shaped head(see cover image above) and the design that was displayed for Freak make me kind of cringe.

agreed that spidey's head is very long in these jiminez issues. and there's one panel where he looks really fat to me for some reason; it's an odd angle and perspective. just a few odd panels though; i largely enjoy the art.

I have to say that I am enjoying Gale's issues more than the others so far.  This felt like Spidey to me, and I was glad they got off the "no web fluid" thing that plagued previous issues.

Wow, I found myself wishing for this issue to end.  I was actually disappointed with each page turn that I didn't see the last page.  If I hadn't already preordered the next couple of months via DCBS, I'd seriously stop reading OMD right now...  The plot feels like I've seen this issue 50 times before.  The villain is a little more gross, but this arc has nothing that we were promised with OMD.  There is no soap opera; there is no girl touble; there isn't much action.  Nothing in this issue made me care if the next one ever ships.  Ohhhhh, the drama of whether or not the politician introduced two weeks ago lives or dies... I'm on the edge of my seat... not.  Just Pete whining about his camera, costume, and reputation.  zzzzzzz.  As you can tell, I'm not exactly liking this arc :)

hey, it's almost a weekly book, and so the pacing is different. there's been a lot of exposition so far - they're just putting all the pieces into play. this means re-establishing pete's struggles for money as a photographer, getting to know a bunch of the "new" characters (harry and the girls, this guy running for mayor, new villains, etc). they're not just going to throw pete right into the midst of a love triangle with harry in the first month of the new book - it's more of a slow burn.

personally, i think it's been very strong, though in this arc i'm getting a bit antsy for something more to start happening. i also would like to see some of the old-school villains too - while negative man seemed VERY cool, and i had no problems with the new goblin-type vilain, but freak just looks a bit too stupid for me to love.

 but the bottom line is that stuff is happening every week in this book - there's lots of action and lots of fun, and i'm definitely ok with that for more.

I can't be the only one reading this thinking "Yeah, okay, now this happens, he's fighting a guy... oh look, there's Harry, great, aaaaaand when do we get back to the ACTUAL STORY?". This BND nonsense does END, right? Guys? :(

I'm just not having fun with Spidey anymore, and that sucks. It's mostly because this isn't Spidey. This is a new guy, a guy who hasn't gone through all the same stuff we've been through with him in recent years, and I hate that. I mean, I'm glad they're trying to move away from all that Civil War stuff they did to him, but this is not the way to do it, not by a long shot. This doesn't feel like Spider-man to me at all anymore.

I'm ridiculously disappointed with ASM nowadays. I'm never going to drop it, of course - I'm a Spidey fan, it's physically impossible for me to do - but I really hope they actually bring Spidey back into it at some point.

Agreed.  They keep trying to give us the "lovable loser" spider-man, when Spidey has been a very capable and intelligent super hero for years, married or not.  I'm to the point that I WANT spidey to be a skrull so that this guy will go away and the "real" Peter will come back.  This book should be retitled the Amazingly Inept Spider-Man.  The guy in this books isn't smart enough to invent web fluid, much less be a genius-level student, scientist, teacher, ace photographer, Avenger, etc.  When they erased his marrage, did they also erase his common sense?  15 year-old Ultimate Spidey is far more capable than this imposter.  I didn't particularly like OMD, but that's not why I dislike the current story.  BND stinks all by itself without any help from any lingering negative OMD feelings.

This was definitely more enjoyable than 552, Gale was on and so was Jimenez!