Amazing Spider-Man #87 Review

Writer: Zeb Wells

Artist: Carlos Gomez

Color Artist: Bryan Valenza

Cover Artists: Arthur Adams & Alejandro Sanchez

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Reviewer: StoryBabbler

Peter Parker had been hospitalized, and in his absence Ben Reilly stepped up to be Spider-Man. But during this time, Peter has been making his way on the slow road to recovery, but he’s not there yet. Well, Amazing Spider-Man #87 shows that Peter’s got a couple of friends who are going to help him get back into fighting shape.

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Review:

So, carrying on from the Christmas-themed issue, Peter is slowly but surely recovering from his injuries. Of course, he still needs some time and physical activity to get back into the literal swing of things and that’s where Black Cat and Captain America come in. Now, Black Cat makes sense, but Cap was a strange one since The Thing or Luke Cage would suffice, but this comic sells me on it.

Zeb Wells really follows through on making this a fun comic with an uplifting spirit as he conveys the sincere desire by Black Cat and Cap to help Peter get back into fighting shape, while Peter deals with his own emotional hangup of not being at 100%. Seeing Black Cat and Captain America as his coaches is fun, and you can tell Black Cat is enjoying this while Cap seems right at home training Peter. Their dialogue is written well and the characters bounce off each other pretty good, especially with Peter’s narration during the whole comic. The two share some sentimental moments with Peter in different ways that really make them likable characters and good friends.

The art also goes a long way to make this comic pretty enjoyable to read as Carlos Gomez’s art and Bryan Valenza’s colors give it dynamic energy and vibrancy. The designs and panels for the main trio are cool, Gomez does a great job with body types as you can tell Peter, Cap, and Black Cat apart from each other. Plus, the art team excel with facial expressions so you can see when Peter feels tired, or when Black Cat and Cap look concerned or proud with Peter’s progress.

In the meantime, we get some Beyond snippets throughout the comic showing what’s happening with Ben and the Beyond Corporation, and it doesn’t look good. The comic delivers this sense of eeriness with Ben, like he’s not completely whole after getting mind-wiped by Beyond. This is heightened by certain close-ups here and there to show his fracturing mind. We also see Maxine deal with Dr. Kafka and she really leans into her evil corporate overlord aspect in their parts.

Also, it’s just great to see heroes actually supporting other superheroes instead of fighting each other for a bad story. It sounds weird but Marvel has a problem with writing heroes as regular friends supporting each other, hanging out, or staying in touch in normal ways. Admittedly, I think we should’ve seen more of Miles Morales and the other Spider heroes reach out to Peter or MJ and Black Cat, but Cap helping him out is pretty good.

Final Thoughts:

Amazing Spider-Man #87 shifts back to Peter Parker as Black Cat and Captain America help him recover. Zeb Wells delivers not only a fun but positive story as we see Cap and Black Cat help Peter in this vulnerable state in ways only they can. Meanwhile the Beyond portions show that something’s up with Ben Reilly after the last issue, and sets things up for the next part in the Beyond storyline.