Amazing Spider-Man #36 Review

 

Writer: Zeb Wells

Penciler: Ed McGuinness

Inker: Mark Farmer

Colorist: Marcio Menyz

Letterer: Joe Caramagna

Cover Artists: Ed McGuinness & Marcio Menyz; Arthur Adams & Alejandro Sánchez; Kris Anka; John Romita Jr., John Romita Sr. & Marcio Menyz

Publisher: Marvel

Price: $4.99

Release Date: October 25, 2023

 

Rek-Rap’s back, and he’s causing problems in the Big Apple. Mayor Luke Cage wants to solve them, but will Madelyne Pryor help? And how does Rek-Rap’s idol “Parker Pete-Man” factor into the equation? Let’s fwip into Amazing Spider-Man #36 and find out!

 

Story

Rek-Rap wants to check out a man's attic. Then his nemesis arrives! As Madelyne Pryor says, Rek-Rap means well. The way the Insidious Six keep attacking him makes destruction inevitable. The voters have had enough, so Luke Cage visits the Limbo Embassy. If only the Goblin Queen would put the New York City’s Mayor at ease. Perhaps Luke shouldn't have brought Spidey along.

 

While Rek-Rap conducts his investigation, Peter’s friend Randy Robertson works to help Luke reverse Wilson Fisk’s anti-vigilante law and put pressure on organized crime. But after Spidey unplugged Randy’s future Father-In-Law in the ICU, will Tombstone pour water on gang violence or enflame it? 

 

In Amazing Spider-Man #36, Rek-Rap searches for answers, while Madelyne Pryor seeks to cement her power. Intrigued by Peter’s description of himself to Luke, I also wonder at the identity of Madelyne’s agent. But I worry about her. With Orchis itching for an excuse to invade her Limbo Embassy, should she be making Power Man squirm? Her actions remind me why people believed Orchis’ lies and welcomed the internment and exile of their mutant neighbors.

 

 

 

Art

Muscular Luke balances his big and tall torso on a child-sized office chair while the Goblin Queen reclines in a claw-shaped one. Spider-Man waits in Limbo's lobby, watching Luke leave in his limo before he shows his masked face in public. Sweat pours down Hammerhead’s forehead as he bows before his Maggia master. Madelyne digs in a garden surrounded by foliage-free trees that fail to grow straight. Rek-Rap’s confrontation with the Grave Goblin threatens to make readers turn Amazing Spider-Man #36 sideways. But don’t worry. You haven’t wandered into a ‘90s Image comic. Ed McGuinness and Mark Farmer's Dark Web reunion is all Marvel and 100% Excelsior in Amazing Spider-Man #36!

 

 

 

Gray skyscrapers pale before the reddish hue of Madelyne’s Limbo Embassy. Light streams through an office window, highlighting the grain in her wooden desk. Her golden crown and red tresses glow as her gloved, ringed fingers point down at Luke and Spidey. Light plays across the supplicants as shadows fall on the floor and walls of her office. Hammerhead’s skin contrasts with gleaming metal, while a robotic welder sends sparks flying. Yet nothing compares with the ruined attic's blue-and-purple ceiling. The colors streak and change, suggesting muted watercolor, while Spider-Man dominates in his bright red and blue. Don't worry about Rek-Rap looking his best! Marcio Menyz highlights and shades every muscular inch of the un-sinister symbiote in Amazing Spider-Man #36.

 

 

 

Joe Caramagna’s black letters in white dialogue balloons are easy to read. As Rek-Rap ponders his Spider-Brain Tingle, his white thoughts fill red narrative boxes. Sinister sounds slice through a rooftop battle. Yet Amazing Spider-Man #36 ends quietly with a cowering character fighting to recall another's identity.

 

Final Thoughts

Heroes and villains vie for power, while an aspiring hero seeks identity and purpose in Amazing Spider-Man #36.

 

Rating 9.4/10

 

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.