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Amazing Spider-Man #540
Back In Black (Part 2)
Credits
 Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Penciler: Ron Garney
Inker: Bill Reinhold
Colourist: Matt Milla
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit
Assistant Editors: Michael O’Connor & Daniel Ketchum
Editor: Axel Alonso
Editor in Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley
Synopsis
Peter phones MJ to check on May and learns that there is nothing to be done for her. With that in mind Peter does the only thing he can… track down the sniper!
He quickly tracks down and violently threatens the four dealers given to him by the man in the warehouse (last issue). The last one gives up three names of the people he sold that kind of sniper scope to. Jake Martino is the name that stands out.
Peter commandeers a police computer and finds Martino’s last address. Once there he find the place cleaned out but the landlord happily tells him that Martino just got a cab to Grand Central Station.
At the station, Peter uses his new spider-sense (see The Other) to track down Martino and a chase ensues. Peter comes at him with incredible force and breaks his arm with ease! He is ready to kill but demands the name of Martino’s employer before he does so…
From across the platform a man guns Martino down and runs off. Peter manages to land a spider-tracer on him but has to get Martino to a hospital. As he travels on the ambulance, Peter reflects on the fact that he was ready to kill…
Martino is rushed to the same hospital as Aunt May but he dies from his injuries.
As Peter consoles MJ outside May’s room his spider-sense detects the spider-tracer from earlier…
Outside, Peter webs up a man in the middle of a phone call regarding Martino’s death. Peter grabs the phone and hears one sentence spoken by the man who put May in her coma… He knows who he is and what he can do.
‘Hello, Mr. Fisk’
‘Well, hello, Mr. Parker. And what may I do for you?’
‘Just one thing, Mr. Fisk
You can die.’
Highlight
Without a doubt, the last page!
Comments
This issue keeps up the tremendous emotional pace established last time and rockets us through Peter’s relentless quest to find his Aunt’s assailant.
JMS’s use of short scenes, thought out thought bubbles and rapid panels of relocation makes this arc rollercoaster onwards. I really love where the plot is going as well. It’s not about finding a cure, a solution or thinking like a scientist would and coming at the problem logically. It is about complete physical and determined reaction based solely on emotion and, as I have said previously, this is something that is hard to build up in Peter because he has already been through so much and managed to overcome it. I don’t mean to say that we need to push him to his limits every time we want a good story but JMS has done that here and is creating some of the best Peter Parker seen in a long time.
That Peter learns that it was Kingpin is a step in the right direction (and again keeps the plot moving). With three issues left now I’m not too sure as to where this is going or how the events may unravel but I know I’m hoping for a classic fight between these two as a finale and am loving the journey so far. With the focus on One More Day (out in September) and the problems with shipping, this arc may fall under the radar slightly which is a good thing. I knew someone was going to be shot months before May was and, although the cover of #543 may give something away, Back In Black remains a mystery to me…
Just to pick up on one of the scenes that really makes this comic excellent. In Grand Central Station, Peter uses his new powers to sense Martino and it finally seems about time that this was the case. The Other is currently being wrapped up in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (#20-22) but the upgrades Peter received as a result of the epic (or is ‘epic’ a word used for worthy things?) have not been mentioned in the main title at all. So, nice to a little continuity creeping in.
I don’t know if there is anything new to say about Garney’s pencils. He remains fresh, captures Spidey perfectly, he makes a simple chase/fight sequence with Martino as detailed and dynamic as Peter’s fight with Captain America a few issues back and displays the expressions of Peter so vividly that there is no doubting his rage and emotion. I hope he stays on the book as one of the rotating artists as I feel he has hit his stride and knows exactly how to draw a superb book.
Need proof? Take the shot of Spidey swinging above the city – it’s kinetic, stunning against a cleverly simplified backdrop and is of a unique body position that Garney seems more comfortable in hitting right on the head!
Rating
Cover –  
Overall -
Reviewed by Adam Rivett
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Ultimate Spider-Man