Writer & Artist: Patrick Gleason.
Color Artists: Morry Hollowell & Nathan Fairbairn.
Cover Artists: Arthur Adams & Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewer: StoryBabbler
Peter Parker’s back! Sort of. For the last few months, Peter was hospitalized by an attack from the U-Foes at Empire University. In his absence, Ben Reilly took up the role of Spider-Man while working for the Beyond Corporation. But now Peter’s on the road to recovery, and Amazing Spider-Man #83 shows what that is like for the web-slinger just in time for Christmas.
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Review:
This comic is a pretty good Spider-Man story, it has action, heart, and emotional drama that speaks to one of the biggest parts of Peter Parker: his ability to get back up. This is the key theme of the comic as it focuses on Peter’s ongoing recovery and physical rehiabilitation as he literally gets back into the swing of things. For anyone worried, no, he doesn’t just get back to normal nor does he just switching back out with Ben Reilly.
One thing this comic illustrates is that Peter’s recovery is going to be an ongoing work in progress. He didn’t just get back to regular strength after the events of the Amazing Spider-Man #80.BEY, no, he’s not there just yet. Of course, he physically recovers better than regular humans but it’s not complete. There are still some physical issues he has to work through.
The comic does a bang-up job portraying the physical issues for Peter through the art. The art team do an excellent illustrating that while Peter can walk, stand, and do all of that, he can’t fully be Spider-Man just yet. The art by Patrick Gleason with colors from Morry Hollowell & Nathan Fairbairn highlight the pain, anxiety, and physical stress that Peter goes through in the comic as he tries to be Spider-Man for a little bit. It shows the struggle that he has to come to terms with the fact that he can’t fully be Spider-Man just yet, but he can’t give up either.
However, the biggest and best part of this comic is the heart that the writer puts in for Peter Parker. Patrick Gleason really shows that he not only can write well, but he can write Peter Parker/Spider-Man pretty good, showing his understanding of his personality and able to characterize Peter well from start to finish. He delivers on showing Peter’s courageous and enduring heroic spirit as he tries and fails to get back to being Spider-Man again.
Spoilers:
This is demonstrated best with a flashback Peter has with Uncle Ben, which has been weirdly rare these past few years. But this flashback not only serves a narrative purpose but an emotional one too. I won’t spoilt too much, but Gleason delivers a truly heartwarming flashback for Peter and Uncle Ben in both the dialogue and art. When Uncle Ben shows up, there’s this strong, warm, and caring presence to him that comes through in the art. Which all helps to deliver a great Spider-Man story during the holidays.
Final Thoughts:
Amazing Spider-Man #83 delivers a heartwarming story with Spider-Man in time for the holidays. It follows Peter Parker’s road to recovery as he tries to get back into the literal swing of things while dealing with his injury. There’s solid action, dialogue, and the story and art by Patrick Gleason really make this a cool Spider-Man story, both on its own and as part of the Beyond storyline.