Great, Good, Decent: Milestone Amazing Spider-Man 850

Introduction

“Amazing Spider-Man 850 coming soon”. I texted these words to Chris last week as I was organizing my comics for the big October 2020 reviews. He replied with, “Already?” I know that he was very excited for 800. He collected several variant covers for the issue as it was the penultimate before the Legacy renumbering.

Even so, there is some evidence that Marvel might not be all that great at counting in some of these Legacy reveals.

I followed my announcement up with the fact that the the new number 50 came right after number 750. I wondered if they might try to celebrate both anniversaries in succession. Luckily, it looks like they realized the quandary and will use #50 in a different manner by launching a new story. I have to ready myself because this one looks dark. Surprisingly the (spoiler alert) return (again…how many times now?) of Gobby wasn’t. Read more in my Amazing Spider-Man 850 review, starting now.

The Great

Gobby is Back! – I already told you this in the introduction. Granted, I gave it a sarcastic comment. That’s just my nature. Trust me. I’m always here for classic villains returning in any book. I loved it when they introduced Leader into Immortal Hulk. Joker War has resurrected Batman and Detective Comics.

Now, the Green Goblin returns to–

*checks notes*

*rubs eyes*

*puts on reading glasses*

*whispers off camera* Is this right?….Okay, here goes. *ahem*

Now, the Green Goblin returns to fight side by side with Spider-Man. The Sin Eater (more on him later) proves to be a bit too much for our favorite wall crawler. And, so, Norman Goblinizes himself to join the fray. Together, they triumph. Goblin uses the good deed to proclaim his original debt to Peter repaid and returns quickly to his villainous ways. Expect to see more of the Green Meanie in future issues.

The Good

Spider Family – I either misread or misinterpreted the end of the previous issue. The Spider Family is, in fact, back. However, I interpreted them as being back to stop Spider-Man or work against him. While that part is true, their actual intentions became more clear in this issue.

They came back from the future (or an alternate dimension, I guess it isn’t that clear) to help Spider-Man survive the fight with Sin Eater. So, they stopped Spidey from preventing Norman from changing. That allowed the Goblin to help Ol’ Webhead defeat the Sin Eater. I may still be misinterpreting this whole scenario. To be perfectly honest, I just skimmed some books last week to get the reviews done.

The Decent

Sin Eater – I’ve made no secret of the fact that I haven’t been the biggest fan of the Sin Eater arc. He just doesn’t “feel” like a proper Spider-Man villain. He belongs more with Doctor Strange perhaps, with a few modifications. Ghost Rider would prove to be a worth foe. For me, Spider-Man doesn’t match up well against these supernatural types.

With that being said, I like Kindred. He’s back at the end of this book. Perhaps that means he will be part of the next story. I mean, we find out in my Marvel comics review for November on Friday or Saturday. Part of me wants to sneak a peek, but I’ll be good. I already had to warn Chris of potential spoilers in this article.

The Vignettes

Instead of following in the footsteps of DC Comics and filling this issue with short stories, Marvel instead split the main story into 3 acts (how Shakespearean of them) and then featured 3 short stories at the end of the issue. Coincidentally, they split nicely into a Great, Good, and Decent.

The Great (A Family Affair by Saladin Ahmen and Aaron Kuder): Tells the story of Vulture’s granddaughter getting into a scuffle with Spider-Man due to a misunderstanding. Spidey puts her straight (possibly) and she may have a reckoning with granddad.

The Good (Four Shoes by Tradd More): A weird story where Spidey is taken into an alternate dimension via a glowing cube on the Brooklyn Bridge. His mission? Save a dog from some kind of knight/wizard lady? I don’t know. It’s better than I’m making it sound here.

The Decent: (All You Need Is… by Kurt Busiek and Chris Bachalo): I expected more from these names. This story felt like a way to simply jam as many Beatles references into the story as possible. I….am not a Beatles fan, so I don’t see that as a worthy goal.

The Verdict

Amazing Spider-Man 850 is all I hoped for. The return of the Goblin is predictable. However, I didn’t see the team up coming. Also, I enjoyed the history lesson in the second chapter of the story. Sin Eater is gone (good riddance), Kindred returned, and Gobby is on the loose. This books was wavering a bit for me recently. However, similar to Joker War and Leader, this issue might serve to refocus and bring it back to greatness.

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