Amazing Spider-Man Vol II #20 (461)

Amazing Spider-Man # 20
Plot: Alistair Smythe threatens to kill Jonah Jameson’s family if he doesn’t agree to lure Spidey into his latest trap. Jameson agrees, of course, and places an ad in his paper revealing that he possesses Spidey’s web-shooters and costume and is planning to have DNA experts analyze them both in hopes of determining his secret identity.  Spidey shows up at the Daily Bugle to see who is behind this latest scheme to wipe him off the face of the planet, and ends up battling every single Spider-Slayer that Alistair and his infamous dad Spencer ever created! After wiping out every single one of them, Smythe brings out a legion of new, tiny Slayers accompanied by a huge, six-armed monstrosity that he reveals as his newest and deadliest Slayer of all (Smythe isn’t kidding, either, as we learn next issue). One of the tiny Slayers sticks to Spidey’s face and begins to read his mind…we don’t see what happens next, because this story is continued next issue. NOTE: Amazing Spider-Man #25,  58 and 192 are also reprinted in this issue. 
Likes: It was really cool to see Spidey take on ALL of Smythe’s Spider-Slayers and win. Spidey is a heck of a lot tougher than he has appeared in battles with a few of these models in the past, so it was a nice vindication of sorts.  Randy (Robertson) and Peter’s misadventures with Gloria Grant and Jill Stacy were a lot of fun to witness, too. In one sequence Joe Robertson, Randy’s dad, asks Peter if living with his wild son has him crawling the walls yet, and Peter answers “Not so that anybody’d notice, Robbie.” Mackie has a great sense of humor, and this issue really shows it.
Dislikes: Erik Larsen’s art looks rushed here, although even Larsen’s rushed art is palatable. It is also kind of hard to believe that Spidey would rush headlong into a mysterious trap without some kind of gadget or plan, especially after how many times in the past he’s paid for doing so. I really would have liked to have seen Alistair in his Spider-Slayer battlesuit here, too…that really added a lot to him visually (not to mention physically!)
Rating:  out of four. A very good Spidey comic, if perhaps a little rushed.