AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #39

By: Arnold T. Blumberg
Date: Thursday, March 14, 2002

Last December, the Marvel Universe went silent throughout many of its mainstream superhero titles, but AMAZING SPIDER-MAN did not. Due to the schedule-shifting that occurred when AMAZING scribe J. Michael Straczynski decided to make #36 a tribute to the memory of those lost in the September 11 attacks, plans for the 'Nuff Said story were delayed. Now it finally arrives, and like only a very few of those stunt issues from a few months back, it accomplishes a lot with very little verbiage and succeeds in utilizing the silence to solid dramatic effect.

Mary Jane, separated from Peter and living her jetset supermodel life, is having a great time hobnobbing with the elite. But when she gets home and the lights are low, it's Peter and his arachnid alter ego that she's thinking about. Still she can't bring herself to reach out to him. Meanwhile, Aunt May is embarking on a new phase of her life, one in which she knows of her nephew's bizarre double existence. She's decided to help the poor boy while simultaneously working through her own conflicted feelings on the matter. But will May's newspaper crusade help or hinder the activities of her dear Peter? And last but not least, Spider-Man swings into action, saves lives and preserves the city as usual, but returns home alone, the image of Mary Jane mocking him from television and magazine covers. Even distanced from his wife by miles and doubts, the specter of Spider-Man hangs heavy over both of them. Will they ever be reunited?

Straczynski packs this issue with plenty of character study and development, and all of it with no dialogue and very little supplementary verbal content - although the Aunt May sequence does depend on us reading her e-mails to papers like the Bugle and a few popular talk shows as well. It may be a bit of a dodge format-wise, but it works and it's definitely forgivable. Romita Jr. also carries much of this issue by making every page a delight. His crisp line, keen sense of anatomy and evocative imagery - particularly during the climactic Spider-Man scene - punctuates Straczynski's wordless script and makes the issue as full of sound and action as any other normal installment.

As with the other 'Nuff Said issues, this one features a bit of the original script, which in this case is relatively enlightening and entertaining as well. But the real power of the issue lies in the finished product graced by Romita and Hanna's artwork and Dan Kemp's colors. It may have taken a few months for the series to get around to that moment of silence, but the time spent in quiet contemplation of Spider-Man's situation and that of the women he loves was a reward in and of itself. And now, back to the word balloons!

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN

Grade: A-

Issue: 39

Author(s): J. Michael Straczynski, John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna

Publisher: Marvel

Price: $2.25