Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #46 (487) Review

Amazing Spider-Man #46
PLOT: Dr. Strange returns and warns Peter of the consequences of his failure to heed Strange’s warning to stay on the path in the Astral Plane while fighting Shade. Soon while out on patrol, Spider-Man is confronted Shathra, a female spider-wasp like human who posesses a wide array of powers. They fight and Spider-Man ultimately gets away. Shathra takes complete human form and goes to a newspaper to reveal some deeply personal (and made up) info on Spidey.
LIKES: The ending redeems a pretty ho-hum affair. Up to that point the story seemed like a cross between the spider totem mumbo jumbo of the Ezekiel/Morlum arc and the mysticism of the lasat encounter with Dr. Strange. As usual with Straczynski, the dialogue and Peter’s internal narration are strong points and of course Romita, Jr.’s art is top notch as always. JMS sure is fond of Dr. Strange, isn’t he?
DISLIKES: Shathra has a long way to go to be a memorable adversary. Romita’s (or JMS’s) design for her is on the tepid side. Let’s hope there’s more to this arc than what’s been introduced here. Let’s also hope Straczynski gets this icon/totem stuff out of his system.
RATING: 2½ webheads out of 5