DrunkWooky Comic Review: Amazing Spider-Man #46 (Spencer, Ferreira, 2020)

Reader beware! Spoilers abound ahead!

Thanks for joining me as I continue our read through Nick Spencer’s Sins Rising event. We’ll be adding this review of Amazing Spider-Man 46 to our Amazing Spider-Man Sins Rising Reading Order and Review Master Post! ASM 46 was released 8/12/2020 and can be found at fine online retailers, eBay of course, and your local comic shop. Official solicit:

(W) Nick Spencer (CA) Josemaria Casanovas”SINS RISING” PART 2!
•  The Lethal Legion returns to threaten the Big Apple , and only the Sin Eater can save us?
•  How can Spider-Man stop the murderous vigilante and… should he?
Rated T In Shops: Aug 12, 2020 SRP: $3.99

Sin-Eater has always been an interesting villain primarily because of the introspection he causes Spider-Man to undergo. In the first Death of Jean DeWolff story line, he was pushed to the edge of his moral code when he beat Sin-Eater senseless and nearly to death. At the time, Sin-Eater was merely a zealot with a shotgun, but now, through some mysterious power potentially linked to Kindred, Sin-Eater has become more. He has some sort of power that removes the powers of other supers.

Issue 46 begins with an attack at a science presentation at Empire State University by a group of super villains. The gore is off-camera but they are committing some pretty terrible atrocities. Spider-Man shows up to intervene, but Sin-Eater beats him to it. Sin-Eater appears to crash into the building using his earlier victim, Overdrive’s, power over vehicles. Worse than that, when Sin-Eater exacts his deadly justice, the innocents on the scene cheer his name. Peter is left wondering if maybe he’s too naive to think non-lethal force will always be enough to save the day.

Meanwhile, Sin-Eaters “victims”, the villains who invaded the science presentation, are being studied at Ravencroft. Not only were they revived from the dead, but they have lost their powers, and even more strange, they’ve seemingly turned a corner and are actually, sincerely good people.

The flashback framing with Peter as narrator works really well in this issue. Interspersed with that narration are the differing viewpoints of the different witnesses being interviewed by the nightly news. Through Peter’s indecision about his moral judgment of Sin-Eater and the differing viewpoints of the witnesses, the question is masterfully posed to the reader. “Is Sin-Eater a villain?” “Do his ends justify his means?”

Ferreira puts in quality work with this issue mixing interesting angles and panel layouts with spot on character models. He manages to dodge between an action sequence in a dimly lit auditorium and a dialogue in the fluorescent Ravencroft ward with skill. With help, no doubt from his inker and coloris.

This is yet again another strong entry into the Sins Rising story line and is ratcheting up the intrigue in Sin-Eater, Kindred, and all the mysteries Spencer has building for the past two years. Great stuff.