REVIEW: The Amazing Spider-Man #789: That Old Parker Luck.

I am going to miss Parker Industries as it looks as if good old P.I. will be no more. The global conglomerate does not die in vain as we are treated to a familiar Peter Parker who returns to being a more relatable character inÂ The Amazing Spider-Man #789.

What drew me to Spider-Man when I was a kid was Peter Parker. Â When he took off his mask he was like me. Â He was a geeky science nerd who had problems. Â He had trouble making rent, had bad allergies, and was not exactly great at relationships. Â Over the years Spider-Man lost some of that relatability when he married a supermodel soap opera actress. Â He wasn’t like me anymore.Â Brand New Day was a badly executed attempt to fix that, but led me to walk away from Spidey for several years returning because of the Superior Spider-Man arc. Even after Peter regained control of his body and regained the webs he didn’t feel right, but more like he was filling in for Tony Stark.

Dan Slott has written a story where we get back the Peter Parker I grew up with. Â Peter is down on his luck and crashing with his new love interest, Bobbi Morse (Mockingbird). Â He has no idea what the future holds for him as Peter Parker and he feels like a failure. Â Tired of Peter’s pity party Bobbi makes him see that as Spider-Man he gets to make a real difference in people’s lives and have fun doing it. This issue is part 1 of theÂ Fall of ParkerÂ storyline, but to me it feels more like a rebirth than a fall. Â We even get quite a few nods to a previous time in which Peter fell on hard times and his friends banded together to help him. The nods to the past helped set a great tone for the future direction of the series.

The story was not the only great thing about the book. Â Stuart Immomen’s pencils coupled with Wade Von Grawbadger’s inks were as amazing as Spider-Man. Â Their take on the web slinger showed the graceful smooth movements that are instinctive to him as Spidey when he lets himself go and also the more repressed Peter Parker who is his own worst enemy as his self doubt and guilt keeps him from succeeding.

This is a great jumping on point for new readers as we are getting ready to head in a new direction. Slott does a great job of telling you what you needed to know about the past and starts to lay the seeds about what the new direction for Peter will be.

We are also treated to a backup story by Robbie a Thompson that acts as a recap of Spidey’s past making the book very accessible to new and returning readers. Mark Bagley pencilled the story, much to my delight as he is among my favorite Spidey artists, which was inked by John Dell.

The cover art was done by the legendary Alex Ross and if you judge this book by it’s cover you won’t be disappointed.

I am looking forward to seeing where the Fall of ParkerÂ takes Spidey next, because It seems I am caught in his web once again.

Story: 4.5 Stars
Art: 4 Stars
Overall Rating: 4.5 Stars

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(W) Dan Slott (A) Stuart Immonen (CA) Alex Ross