90 pages later and I’m left wondering if I actually read through the entirety of Amazing Spider-Man: Full Circle or if I simply hallucinated it. From the jump, Full Circle delivers a massive Spider-Man tale with some of Marvel’s best writers attached. For the uninitiated, Marvel cobbled together seven complete creative teams to craft this story from beginning to end in one of the most innovative ways possible. As explained in the opening pages of the comic, each creative team was only provided the story immediately preceding their own with no additional context. Bonkers, right?
So begins the madness. Perhaps surprisingly, the issue delivers a coherent overarching story across all of the creative teams, and it doesn’t devolve into a game of comic book telephone. From the moment you read the first page, Jonathan Hickman’s presence is felt with a strong introductory story with Chris Bachalo. Before long, Gerry Duggan and Greg Smallwood take over for what I think is the best set of pages in this issue, before the remaining teams each take their stab at carrying the story.
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It’s very evident this entire one-shot was cobbled together by a variety of creators, but that’s by design. Yet, it’s also my biggest criticism of the entire comic. While bouncing from one creative team to the next, I’m not sure there’s a flawless transition in the entire book. Not only do readers go from one artist to the next, they’re dealt a whole new hand with a writer trying to pick up the pieces someone else left. Because of this, the story goes off on aimless tangents more than once.
This book is still such a goofy idea, you must applaud Tom Breevort and the team who assembled it. Spider-Man: Full Circle #1 summarizes exactly what comics are supposed to be: a fun, out-of-this-world thrill rides providing an opportunity for you to escape everyday life for even a moment. At the very least, you’re likely to crack a smile once or twice at the wacky tone of this.
Amazing Spider-Man: Full Circle #1 is nothing short of a spider-fueled fever dream. An excellent experiment executed to near-perfection, Full Circle was a refreshing take on typical comics one picks up every Wednesday. Sure, halfway through it starts to wander, but at least it provides wacky, adventurous takes on everyone’s favorite friendly, neighborhood superhero. Something like this would get exhausting week after week but it’s a great trip off the beaten path this Wednesday.
Published by Marvel Comics
On October 23, 2019
Written by Jonathan Hickman, Gerry Duggan, Nick Spencer, Kelly Thompson, Al Ewing, Chip Zdarsky, and Jason Aaron
Pencils by Chris Bachalo, Greg Smallwood, Michael Allred, Valerio Schiti, Chris Sprouse, Rachael Stott, Cameron Stewart, and Mark Bagley
Inks by Tim Townsend, Al Vey, Greg Smallwood, Michael Allred, Valerio Schiti, Karl Story, Rachael Stott, Cameron Stewart, and John Dell
Colors by Chris Bachalo, Greg Smallwood, Laura Allred, Mattia Iacono, Dave McCaig, Triona Farrell, Nathan Fairbairn, and Frank D’Armata
Letters by Joe Caramagna
