Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #58 (499) Review

Amazing Spider-Man #58 (#499)
“Happy Birthday Part-Two”
Writers: J. Michael Straczynski
Penciler: John Romita Jr.
Inker: Scott Hanna
PLOT: A group of heroes, including Spider-Man, have unwittingly brought back from the dead the dreaded Dormammu, Dr. Strange’s arch foe.  Strange dispatches the rest of the heroes to continue to fight The Mindless Ones while he battles Dormammu toe-to-toe.  After some heroic feats to save innocents, Spider-Man decides to back up Dr. Strange and stop any Mindless Ones from interfering in the fight between he and Dormammu.  Too bad Spidey is uppercutted and thrown in the magical battle and in between the two sorcerers, disrupting the magical spell Strange was working on to defeat Dormammu.  Strange and Spider-Man end up in the void, trapped outside time and space.  Strange conjures up another magic spell and the two find themselves between the time the Mindless Ones appeared, and after Dormammu destroyed everything and killed all the heroes.  Strange explains that this is one of many possible realities that can happen.  Before anything else happens, Peter leaves Strange’s side because he sees MJ in danger.  He tries to protect her from the Mindless Ones, but fails.  We then see Spider-Man crashing into the tombstone of May Parker.  Spider-man sees an aging Peter Parker, with an alternative Spider-Man costume visiting her. We then flash back to Peter Parker right before an irradiated spider bites him. Before anything happens, Peter remembers Strange’s words, “We are inside the moments between moments.  We may even be able to affect what happens when the quantum possibilities collapse into one reality.”  What happens next continues in Amazing Spider-Man #500.
LIKES: The art is amazing, no pun intended.  JRjr really outdoes himself, especially with the impressive magical battle between Dormammu and Dr. Strange. JMS does do a good job explaining quantum physics to a layman like myself.  I think the story itself is pretty strong.
DISLIKES: Even though I am enjoying the story, I am beginning to turn with the masses in the belief that Dr. Strange, his enemies, and/or Earth’s mightiest heroes do not mix well with Spider-Man.  The magic and totem storyline would do fine for a mini-series or for a storyline other than Spider-Man’s blockbuster 500^th issue.  I really hope the JMS does not change Peter Parker’s origin like Byrne tried to do in the past, but I guess we’ll find out next issue.  Also, killing MJ was not cool at all, but we all know that she will be back when everything is said and done.
RATING: 3 webheads out of 5.  I was really hoping that Dormammu and Dr. Strange were not going to play an important part in Spider-Man 500^th issue, but I was wrong.  The mystical angle comes to a head in Amazing Spider-Man #500, and we will see what surprises and plot turns JMS has in store for us then.
Reviewed by AC-WEB (Ariel Chaidez)