Writer: J.J. Abrams and Henry Abrams
Art: Sara Pichelli and Olivier Coipel
Price: $4.99
Release Date: September 18th, 2019
As J.J. Abrams makes his long-awaited debut as a comic writer, everyone is wondering…..does one of the best movie and TV producers of our time have what it takes to write a comic book?? Let’s take a look. Hopefully, we won’t be LOST!
When your name is attached to some of the most famous franchises in Hollywood like Star Wars, Star Trek, Lost, etc… you’re no doubt at the highest level of your profession. However, being great in one profession doesn’t mean you’ll be great or even average at another. Take Michael Jordan as an example. His unmatched drive, competitiveness, and athleticism made him the greatest basketball player ever. 
Anyone who follows baseball knows how his second career turned out.
Not good. Not good at all. A .202 average for the White Sox Double-A minor league team. Jordan then went back to basketball and promptly won three more championships.
On the other side of the coin is Deion Sanders. He’s the best defensive back in the history of the NFL 
He was also such a good baseball player that he actually played in an NFL game and MLB playoff game on the SAME day in October of 1992. 
My point is there’s no way to know how this comic mini-series will go for Abrams. It could be great, a train wreck, or average. I’m going in with absolutely no preconceived notions and an open mind!
Our issue opens with MJ frantically looking for Peter in a wreckage strewn NYC street. She pulls a battle-damaged Peter out of the wreckage. His Spidey suit has surely seen better days 
At the point when Peter and MJ say “he” I was left wondering who “he ” was? That’ll be answered later, trust me. They are then faced with the source of the destruction. A big new bad guy and his much smaller minions. 
His minions look to me a bit like Aliens. 
Am I wrong?
Here’s where I’ll stop. At least with the story. However, I will go on and give you my opinion on my previous question about if Abrams can write a comic. The answer is YES! He’s the Dieon Sanders of the comic world!! I’m not sure how much of collaboration this is with JJ and his son Henry but it didn’t matter. Either way it’s great!
This has a very “Lost” vibe to it. We’re thrown in the middle of the story not knowing what the heck is going on. We’ve got a battle, and new villains and little else to go on as the series begins.
We do have things that will be very familiar to Spider-Man comic fans. One-liners, bullying, and speeches from Aunt May. However, it’s not retreads and the same old, same old. Trust me. We also get some wonky Abrams time jumps, wacky dreams that ignite powers or abilities, and one heck of a cliffhanger. I fully expect Abrams to skip forward and backward in time to piece the story together. I’d also totally be down with Marvel following DC’s lead of late and adding issues this mini-series.
And when you have the name Sara Pichelli attached to a Spidey book, you know the art will be awesome. I love how she draws Spidey as a normal, almost too slender sized man. The battle-damaged costume is a nice touch on two fronts. First, who doesn’t love battle-damaged costumes?? I remember when you could buy battle-damaged Tie-Fighter toys. It makes sense though. You can’t really have a battle that destroys a city block and has Spidey’s costume all nice and pristine, can you?! Secondly, I think by showing a lot of Peter’s face in his torn costume that Pichelli is trying to show a more “human” side of Peter. We’ll see if that plays out throughout the series.
I don’t read solicits. Like a child, I do look at the covers of solicits though. So, I don’t know if this is a 616 In Continuity book. If this is a 616 book, it will be talked about. A LOT. It has a “generational change” that’s also been talked about in a certain DC book.
If this is an “alternate universe” book it won’t carry as much weight in my opinion. Again, by not reading solicits I don’t know what universe this book is in, or even what the bad guy’s name is.
My only minor gripe of this book is that there are three pages with absolutely zero art or color and just four words. I get that Abrams was going for the dramatic effect, but this isn’t a movie. We aren’t going to see a camera pan from outer space to a planet with a rebel freighter speeding by like in Star Wars. Comics are expensive. To pay $5 for a comic and have three pages with next to nothing on them is disappointing.
Final Thoughts:
Abrams proves he can hang in the “primetime” of the comic world! An absolutely fantastic first issue that will have Spidey fans a buzz for sure! I highly recommend this book!!