Image Courtesy of Marvel.com

SPOILERS: Keep in mind that my method of reviewing involves spoilers for purposes of analysis. If you care about being spoiled and have not read Amazing Spider-Man #14 yet, please avoid this review until you do!

Amazing Spider-Man #14 was a solid finale to a very fun event. Slott and company really found a way to get to the essence of a Spider-Man book, even going so far as to have Earth 616 Peter say, “We’re Spider-Men. We’re all misfits.” The action sequences are fairly engaging, although I feel like they are not the strongest in the series. Where this book really shines is in its heart and humor, which is the place where Spider-Man books are the strongest. And with so many threads (pun intended) coming together here, there was a lot of heart to be had: from Peter coming to Gwen’s defense and telling everyone else “If Stacy says she’s got this… She’s got this” against GOBLINS, no less, demonstrating that he is finally able to get over his own hang-ups and see Gwen for the strong, independent hero that she is, to Mayday’s heartfelt refusal to kill Solus: “I’m Mayday Parker, daughter of Spider-Man and I won’t do it. I won’t seek vengeance, only justice,” to even Spider-Ham saying, “May, don’t know if it means anything, but if your pop was anything like me, he’d be proud of you right now.” I mean, how many comic books can nearly bring me to tears with something a freakin’ talking cartoon pig in a spider-suit says?

These dramatic and heartfelt moments, though, are punctuated with plenty of humor, and the book never feels TOO serious. This is in all respects an excellent end to what was, essentially, a shameless celebration of over 50 years of Spider-Man in all his (or her) many forms, and it nails it! I do have a few pieces of criticism, however. It would have been nice if the final battle felt a bit more epic. With 21 pages, comics are a bit limited in that regard. And, while it’s true that the last few issues were, essentially, one huge final battle, I found myself wanting something a bit grander in the end. The ending was tied up a bit too neatly for my tastes, as well. There are barely any arguments against Peter’s decision to let the inheritors live (albeit imprisoned for all eternity in a bunker in a nuclear wasteland). At the very least, I expected Otto to give him a hard time, but Otto pretty much disappears from the comic after his major trump card is played (though we’ll come back to that in issue #15). Overall, though, it’s a fantastic book: a great end to a great event. This is one you should definitely consider picking up. Though… if you’ve read this much of Spider-Verse, I have a hard time believing you need a recommendation to pick up the finale (If you haven’t, it may be worth it to wait until Spider-Verse is out in the massive graphic novel that is being released as in May).