US Shipping Date: February 21, 2007

Previous Issue: Amazing Spider-Man #537 Next Issue: Amazing Spider-Man #539

Synopsis
The sniper’s rifle remains sighted on Aunt May and MJ as they wait in the motel room for news of Peter. MJ takes a phone call from him just before the incursion into the Negative Zone takes place (see Civil War #6) and he tells her that it is about to get bad… As the battle between the forces of Captain America and Iron Man (see Civil War #7 for the full details), we hear Peter’s thoughts on the situation and he wonders whether the people know why they are fighting any more…?

In Ryker’s Island Penitentiary, The Kingpin directs the sniper into waiting for the outcome of the battle but that either of the secondary targets will be acceptable.

The battle is over and the pieces begin to be picked up. Aunt May and MJ continue to wait, with news that Peter is missing. MJ leaves the hotel room and prays for his safety, all the while being watched by the mysterious sniper.

Much later, the sniper considers Peter’s spider-sense and that he will have to act quickly. He waits…

When Peter eventually returns to the motel, the door opens and a device (that was attached to the door last issue) activates in the sniper’s ear and he leaps into action! Within seconds Peter senses that something is wrong and as the trigger is pulled he dives to MJ and pulls her to the floor!

The bullet did not miss altogether though… Aunt May clutches her bloody chest where the bullet hit her full on!

Highlight
The sniper’s thoughts, Kingpin pulling the strings and the final page finally happens!

Comments
I think the problem with this issue, as with the last, is that it can’t really do anything with the events of Civil War. It can’t refer to them directly, it can’t fill in the gaps and it can’t really clamp onto anything to make this a thoroughly successful tie-in issue.

I know why there are these limitations but Straczynski doesn’t do a grand job of overcoming these. A little less convoluted set up for the issue’s conclusion would have gone a little way, as MJ’s prayer, the scene at Bill Foster’s garve and the whole page shot of the sniper waiting are all bad filler. Not only that but more thoughts of the sniper would be good (we get a bit which is an insightful tease but there could have been so much more), or how about some more thoughts from Kingpin? It seems that he is going to become a serious target of Peter’s now and a little fleshing out in these pages (perhaps reinforcing his motivation and the rich history between these characters) would have been perfect.

However, this is a tie-in and the feeling would have been that this issue has to reflect the events of Civil War. It does do this but there aren’t that many events to reflect on!

And the closing page… First off, to produce a spoiler cover makes the issue’s poor build up even more pointless. Not sure who’s bright idea this was at Marvel! The position of the bullet wound does not indicate that Aunt May is now dead but rather wounded severely so there’s no need to go shouting about her demise… yet. I can’t say yet whether this was a smart move by Marvel or not and will just see how well this works as a motivation for Back in Black and Amazing’s upcoming justification of the change in costume and continuation of this story.

Once again Garney is underused. He does get his hands on some wonderful action scenes that couple well with the events of Civil War #7, and his Cap vs. Iron Man is brilliant, but apart from that there is a lot of waiting around and meandering. The quality of his work is increasing and his handle on the characters is strong but there is a spark lacking that the action sequence in his previous issues has managed to produce. I have to say that I am glad he remains on the book – his covers look, well… amazing and the interior preview of #539 is ferocious and has so much punch to it that I can’t wait. JMS needs to play to this strength and give him more! The only major criticism I have is that the last page could have had far more impact. As a turning point for Peter’s move to black, there could have been much more shadow present and a darker element played on this shocking event than there is.

Oh, and a big let down in this arc that there was no real fight for Spidey to get his teeth into and no mention of the events of Mr Parker Goes To Washington or the Red and Gold costume. I suppose I should write “yet” on the end of that sentence but I really don’t think it will happen!

So onto the next BIG LIFE-ALTERING EVENT! ‘sigh’

Rating
Cover –
Overall –
The War At Home Overall -

Reviewed by Adam Rivett

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Previous Issue: Amazing Spider-Man #537 Next Issue: Amazing Spider-Man #539