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Amazing Spider-Man #513
Sins Past Part 5 (of 6)
Credits
  Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Penciler: Mike Deodato Jr.
Inker: Joe Pimentel
Colorist: Matt Milla
Letterer: Virtual Calligraphy’s Cory Petit
Assistant Editor: Jennifer Grünwald
Editor in Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley
Synopsis
Spider-Man holds his first press conference to arrange a meeting with Gabriel and Sarah. The three have their ultimate confrontation, and the twins learn the truth about their father. Sarah begins to trust Peter, but Gabriel hates him all the more strongly. Sarah is badly injured and Peter takes her to the hospital, leaving Gabriel behind to discover firsthand the truth about Osborn and his legacy.
Review
One of Straczynski’s best qualities is the ability to integrate exposition into a story without making it sound forced. In this issue, MJ gives us the essential information from the last four issues in conversation with Peter, but it feels relatively natural, and that’s a nice accomplishment that prevents the issue from starting off badly.
The press conference and the pages leading up to it are very funny, and lead into the big confrontation wonderfully. Straczynski’s transition from humor to drama is, as always, seamless.
The bridge scene maintains an impressive amount of tension. Straczynski manages to keep readers feeling like the situation could explode any second. The rift between Gabriel and Sarah evolves naturally. It feels like both of them really would react to Spider-Man exactly as they do. Sarah’s Gwen Stacy impression at the end of the bridge scene is perfect, and as always, Deodato’s art is incredible at key moments such as this.
On the negative side, Straczynski pays a tad too much attention to the media and the police. He uses them to break up the bridge scene so it doesn’t feel too long, and they serve their purpose there, but the truth is that they simply aren’t important enough to warrant the amount of panels and dialogue they get. The only other issue is that Spider-Man and the twins get just a tad wordy in their explanations. For the most part the dialogue is necessary and works well, but a few of the speeches (like Spider-Man’s description of Osborn’s powers) could be more concise.
Spider-Man’s arrival with Sarah at the hospital is a surprise highlight of the issue; his lines may have been used before elsewhere, but they’ve never worked so well. This is dark humor at its best. In the last two pages, Straczynski does a great job in the initial stages of creating Gabriel’s psychology. The last page looks great; Deodato makes it just what it needs to be. The only thing we miss in this issue is MJ. She is conspicuously absent, and especially after Peter’s reaction to her in the last issue, one would expect her to be closer—whether in person or in thought—to what Spider-Man is doing.
All in all, this is another excellent issue in a very well-told arc. The art is everything it should be, and Straczynski rises to the difficult challenge of following up the very heavy issue #512 with success.
Rating
Art: 5/5
Overall: 4.5/5
Reviewed by Chris O Neil
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Ultimate Spider-Man