Loveness, Jeff

AVERAGE REVIEW SCORE:

4 out of 5

(1 book)

The Amazing Spider-Man/Inhuman/All-New Captain America: Inhuman Error

(Art by Luca Pizzari, Ryan Lee and Alec Morgan)

A floating island populated by avian monsters appears in the sky over New York and began an attack against New Attilan, led by the former superhero Red Raven.  Whilst Medusa tries to reason with Raven, Spider-Man must rally a group of young Inhumans long enough for the cavalry to arrive, in the form of Sam Wilson, the new Captain America.

There was so very much to dislike about this book; from the uneven art, to the return of a Golden Age hero that literally no-one cares about, the fact that Sam is little more than a third-act cameo, to the focus on the Inhumans; Marvel's sad attempt to disenfranchise the X-Men so they could get the movie rights back.  Honestly, almost all of the constituent parts of this story are terrible on paper.

However, there was one consistently good element that not only tied the whole book together but also elevated it to the point that I actually rather liked it overall.  That element was Spider-Man.  We get some great irreverent and slightly meta humour here from the Wall-Crawler, be it his fantasies about how disastrously things would go if he asked a girl out, to the scene where he gets introduced to the young Inhumans and immediately says what we're all thinking; "Okay.  I've already forgotten your names, but hey, welcome to the club".  But more than just the comedy, Spidey provides the heart to this tale, offering Medusa help when she needs it, acting as a mentor to the young Inhumans and being super-supportive of Sam's relatively new role as Captain America.

Overall, a book which is far greater than the some of its parts due to some pitch-perfect writing of Spider-Man.

4 out of 5

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Marvel Comics (here)