Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #508 Review

Amazing Spider-Man #508 (#67)
“The Book of Ezekiel: Chapter Three”
Writers: J. Michael Straczynski
Penciler: John Romita Jr.
Inker: Scott Hanna
PLOT: This is it.  This is the conclusion of JMS’s storyline that began three years ago, as well as the end to the long journey of John Romita Jr. work on Amazing Spider-Man.  This issue begins with a crazed Ezekiel standing over a wounded Spider-Man.  He again states he is sorry for having to take Peters life, but it is the only way for him to survive.  A fight ensues, and Ezekiel injects Spider-Man with some type of drug.  Eventually, Ezekiel beats down Peter, chains him to an alter, cuts his chest open which begins the bloodletting process.  Peters blood flows thru a channel in the design of a spider.  Ezekiel cuts himself and allows his blood run down the other side of the channel until it meets with Peter’s.  This awakens the mystical spider that goes on to attack Peter, but there is also another effect.  The combination of their blood allows Ezekiel to share the memories of why Peter became Spider-man and vice a versa.  Ezekiel feels that he had attained this great power, but never used it for the good of other people like Peter did.  Ezekiel then rushes back to where Peter is and sacrifices himself to the spider.  Ezekiel seemingly perishes, and the Incan who helped Ezekiel helps Peter gets free.  In the end, Peter wants answers to the way he got his powers.  Was it scientific in nature, or mystical?  The Incan chief does not give him a complete answer, but instead states that it does not really matter because he still got his powers.
LIKES:

• JRJR art and cover is beautifully done.  JR goes out with a bang, and he will sorely be missed.
• After everything that happened, Peter’s origin was not altered too much, which is good.  Why change something that ain’t really broke???
• I like the fact that even though Peter physically lost the battle to Ezekiel, he won the moral battle.  Ezekiel finally made amends with himself and corrected his past mistakes by sacrificing himself.

DISLIKES:

• None of JMS’s characters stick around too long, or belong a staple in the Spider-Man universe.  Whether it was Morlun, Shathra, Digger, The Shade, and Ezekiel, they all seem to die.
• It kind of felt like the Ezekiel storyline was rushed and suddenly came to an end.  After a long set up, I thought that there might be a long and epic conclusion as well.

FAVOITE QUOTE: Editor to John Romita Jr. “Have a great vacation, John.  We’ll see you when school starts again.”

RATING: 4 ˝ webheads out of 5.  We finally get closure to JMS’s epic Ezekiel storyline.  We can now move forward to the “Sin’s Past” storyline.

Reviewed by AC-WEB (Ariel Chaidez)