Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #507 Review

Amazing Spider-Man #507 (#66)
“The Book of Ezekiel: Chapter Two”
Writers: J. Michael Straczynski
Penciler: John Romita Jr.
Inker: Scott Hanna
PLOT: The Gatekeeper Cometh, but what plans does he have for one Spider-man?!?  Peter turned down Ezekiel’s offer to go down to Peru to fight this mystical entity, and elects to stay in New York City.  This is not good news for NY, since it is now being overrun by millions of spiders.  After saving Mary Jane from these icky spiders, Peter is finally found by the Gatekeeper.  He is engulfed and bitten by hundreds and possibly thousands of spiders that send him into a dream-like hallucination.  The answers to the reasons why Peter was originally bitten by a radioactive spider, and why he got powers were finally given, and they weren’t by coincidence.  Also, Ezekiel’s motives have finally come to light, and lets just say that he never had Peter’s best interest in mind.  When Peter comes to, he finds himself in Peru with Ezekiel standing over him.  Zeke tells Spider-Man that he is truly sorry, but only one of them will be allowed to leave Peru alive.
LIKES:

• Finally, this first JMS epic is coming together and to its conclusion.  The mystical and totem storylines that Peter has been involved with the last three years are finally making sense.
• The Gatekeeper is not a traditional enemy that can be punched or hurt.  He may not be an enemy at all.
• JMS was able to add to the origin of Spider-Man without really changing anything to the main concept, unlike that John Byrne.
• Awesome opening dream sequence with all those spiders crawling out of MJ.  Very creepy.
• Some great artistic scenes by JRjr of the millions of spiders overrunning New York City.

DISLIKES:

• There was some continuity an issue when JMS went back to Peter’s origin, with regards to which supporting cast was around when Peter got bitten.  But this could have been due to the fact that this was Peter’s hallucination and this is what he remembered.

RATING: 5 webheads out of 5.  This was a brilliant issue by both JMS and JRjr.  Having all the pieces coming together after the last few years makes me want to go back and read each issue of JMS’s Amazing Spider-Man run over again.