A review by jagussow
Amazing Spider-Man by Nick Spencer Vol. 1: Back to Basics by Nick Spencer

Spider-man has never looked as gorgeous thanks to Ryan Ottley's art. If only they found a writer up to the task of continuing Spider-man's story and who could write something up to the quality of Ryan Ottley's art.

Instead they went with Nick Spencer who hasn't met a superhero he didn't think needed a doppelganger. One of the plot points in this book is a direct criticism of a plot point of Dan Slott's prior run. While it shines an interesting perspective on it, it also feels gauche and cheap.

After this past year of Spider-man highs - Infinity War, Video Game, Spider-verse and Chip Zdarsky's run on Spectacular Spider-man, this is a let down. There's a zippy plot and gorgeous art but there's nothing of substance.

With every iteration of Spider-man, there's usually a clear perspective on what makes him special. He sees a giant alien spaceship and runs towards it, tries to save a man from ruining his life in sake of venegence or tutors a would be criminal in math to help them on a better path. This book doesn't have that and aside from the beautiful art, there's nothing to distinguish this from any generic superhero book.