Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #45 (486) Review

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #45
PLOT: With Spider-Man trapped under the rubble of a hotel, Carlyle goes to the movie studio looking for hostages to expedite his escape. He’s followed there by Doctor Octopus still itching for revenge. Spider-Man eventually frees himself from the debris and heads to the studio for a showdown. After he prevails, with a little help from Doc Ock, Peter and Mary Jane sit for a heart to heart wherein he promises to give her time to sort out her feelings.
LIKES: The art is fantastic as usual. The scenes of Spider-Man freeing himself from the destroyed hotel and the battle are particualrly effective. The dialogue is as sharp as ever down to the last line about chocolate cake. Once again JMS has Spider-Man, along with Doc Ock, triumph through brains as much as brawn.
DISLIKES: I have no idea why Straczynski would mimic perhaps the greatest most character defining moment in Spider-Man history, his freeing himself from beneath crumpled steel girders in order to get to the medicine needed by a dying Aunt May in Amazing vol. 1 number 33, I think. While effective this can in no way measure up to that classic moment and it only is minimized by the comparision.
RATING: 3½ webheads out of 5: A strong conclusion to the arc though not on a par with what came from Straczynski before.