Here we are! Now we’re finally in the Sins Rising event proper! 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 45 to our Amazing Spider-Man Sins Rising Reading Order and Review Master Post! ASM 45 was released 7/29/2020 and can be found at fine online retailers, eBay of course, and your local comic shop. Official solicit:
MAR200987 (W) Nick Spencer (CA) Josemaria Casanovas”SINS RISING” PART 1!
• SIN-EATER is back and New York City is in TROUBLE.
• Who will the shotgun-toting villain target, and can Spider-Man stand a chance against him?
Rated T In Shops: Jul 29, 2020SRP: $4.99
ASM 45 feels a bit like it’s treading water. Ok, we need to bring people who haven’t been following this volume of Spider-Man up to speed. Ok, we need to get people who haven’t read The Death of Jean DeWolff up to speed, but this issue will feel like a slog for habitual Amazing Spider-Man readers.
It’s not bad, necessarily. It just feels like we’ve covered all of this ground before.
We find Peter going through the motions of a big, fancy date he had planned with MJ. For those who haven’t been reading Amazing Spider-Man recently, this brings us up to speed that MJ’s back in Peter’s life. For those who have been reading, this will be old news, as will the fact that she left for a fancy modeling job and stood Peter up. We covered this ground during Peter’s dream sequence in ASM 44, and like I said, it feels like we’re treading water a little.
Suddenly, some action breaks out in the form of Overdrive plowing through a street fair packed with people. But, again, the punch from this action seems a little dulled by the fact that Peter has been here before in his premonition dream sequence in ASM 44.
What is Overdrive running from? None other than Sin-Eater! Of course, we knew this was coming. ASM 44 Dream sequence cited again.
But at least things get pretty interesting in the final pages here. Sin-Eater shoots Overdrive with his shotgun as Sin-Eater is wont to do. Sin-Eater has always been a pretty realistic villain. Besides the super strength he may or may not have based on S.H.I.E.L.D.’s super serum testing on him, he’s just been a mal-adjusted guy with a shotgun, blasting people away. Here, things take a turn to the more fantastical, though!
Instead of a wide spread of pellets from a shotgun shell, a straight, precise, blue light shoots out of Sin-Eater’s shotgun. What is going on!? I’d say this is enough to get the reader coming back for issue 46 to see what type of shenanigans Kindred has performed on Sin-Eater’s gun.
The Mark Bagley art is classic style, and effective in the most straight-forward comic book form. Bagley is no stranger to drawing Spidey and it shows. Any reader who spent some time in the Ultimate Universe will feel right at home here.
At the end of the day, the final page reveals make this issue an essential read for the Sins Rising story line. However, it’s a bit of a slog at the outset for longtime readers of Spider-Man. We’ve covered a lot of this ground before and I’m excited to move on to the freshness of the story ahead!
