Amazing Spider-Man #801 Review: The Bogenrieder Perspective

After ten years on Amazing Spider-Man, Dan Slott writes his final issue. Does it go out with a bang, or a twist of the knife just to spite us one last time? Time to find out.

Amazing Spider-Man #801

“There for You”

Writer: Dan Slott

Artist: Marcos Martin

Colors: Muntsa Vicente

Editor: Nick Lowe and Devin Lewis

Plot:

The story deals with this one guy named Kenneth Kincaid Jr. After getting caught up in a mugging while getting some cigarettes, he’s saved by Spider-Man, and because of his save, Kenneth manages to get to the hospital to say goodbye to his father just before he dies. We gotta have a montage, however, and Kenneth slowly turns his life and his family’s around because of Spider-Man’s influence that one fateful night.

Years later, Spider-Man is battling the Inner Demons in Manhattan. (Because Slott has to go reminding us he made Mr. Negative before that new PS4 game comes out, amirite?) As one of them gets away, Kenneth trips him, allowing Spider-Man to retrieve the plot-device briefcase. Thanking Kenneth, Spider-Man swings away.

Afterward, Kenneth checks in on his niece, who complains that it was a Spider-Man fight. You know, not one of those cool heroes who just had movies come out or have one in the works. Kenneth explains that Spider-Man is pretty cool, through a giant two-page spread that basically allows Marcos Martin to be as psychedelic as he wants one last time, and the niece somehow changes her mind in the span of a single little speech.

The final page is Spider-Man swinging down the street with the briefcase. (Oops, spoilers.)

Thoughts:

I think I held off reviewing this issue because it’s kind of sunk in at this point that Slott is actually leaving. And for some reason, I just want to let that sink in. And before we get into the piece of bland that this issue was, I want to explain why I had to actually think about that.

For those of you who don’t know, I’m one of the younger reviewers for this site. As of this review, I’m 19 years old, (I began reviewing ASM for Crawlspace when I was 17) and started reading comics when I was nine. Though I grew up with JMS’ Spider-Man and Spider-Girl, those runs were over by the time I was able to read proper English or understand panel structure or anything I talk about these days. And they were long gone by the time I began to think of media in a critical light. It’s weird to think that looking at Dan Slott’s comics actually helped me get into analyzing comics and contributing to this site. Not that I’m not glad to see Slott off of ASM, but now that he’s actually leaving, it’s kind of surreal. Dan Slott has been writing Spider-Man for half of my life, and he’s been a near-constant in my life since 2008, whether I like it or not. And as I grew older, and so much of my life changed, it was somewhat comforting knowing that Slott was still on Spider-Man. (Not really, but there’s something about breaking in a pair of shoes and reading Slott for ten years; I think there’s a parallel there? I dunno.)

Maybe I’ll send that part to Marvel’s offices. They printed the Ameri/co/ letter, maybe they’ll slip this one onto Lowe’s desk given how sentimental I was.

That said, I’m glad he’s gone because I said it before and I’ll say it again; this issue was the biggest loaf of Wonder Bread that I’ve ever spent $3.99 on. And I’ll keep it brief because I know we’re all tired of him.

Starting off with art, I’m glad Marcos Martin got one last swing of the bat before Slott jumped ship because he has been sorely lacking when it comes to art on Spider-Man. There’s a certain comfort to his art like you’re being thrust right into the Silver Age again, but with a modern twist. I wasn’t old enough when No One Dies came out to be a comic reviewer, so I’m glad that I got one last chance to say it before the run ended.

Plot-wise, I’m not really sure what I have to say about it, considering that it was a backdrop and was mostly made as an excuse for Marcos Martin to strut his stuff with big, expansive double-page spreads. I don’t really have any investment in Kenneth as a character, nor do I care about his family. While Kenneth is there consistently at the very least, his family seems to be there mostly as a plot device; something for him to work for rather than be fully-fleshed out characters. Granted, they only appear for one issue, but there are background characters I’ve cared for more than Slott’s Peter (That shopkeeper’s son that Peter webbed to the ground way back in Vol 4 #19; I want an ongoing of him, two trades’ worth!) so it’s not like it couldn’t have happened on his watch.

But at the end of all of this, I guess it all comes down to me asking this one question; what was the point of this issue? Why leave on this issue and not go out on a milestone issue? It just seems weird, because this issue does almost nothing. It makes no grand statement about Peter or Spider-Man, even though it was clearly meant to be. It feels like time has been wasted simply so that Slott could reach a record on whatever many issues he was writing, and I got suckered into paying the four bucks I needed to spend to send him packing from ASM.

Regardless, this issue was harmless, but wasted time; indicative of Slott’s average quality, but not the grandiose exit that I was expecting. And I suppose for Slott’s exit, that’s something of a comfort for me; that doesn’t save it from getting points deducted, though.

Final Grade: C

Here’s to Spencer making me care about the title again, maybe.