Comic Review: Avenging Spider-Man #7

Book: Avenging Spider-man #7Written By: Kathryn ImmonenPencils By: Stuart ImmonenPublisher: Marvel ComicsRelease Date: OUT NOW IN STORES & DIGITAL DOWNLOAD (VIA COMIXOLOGY)Rating: I think I'm forming a bit of a guilty pleasure relationship with Avenging Spider-man. Pleasure due to the fact every issue is a great change of pace and just seem to be having fun with Spider-man and guilt because I know I should want more from my friendly neighbourhood Spider-man but these fairly simply tales capture something I've missed about Spider-man in the big action events of his bigger titles. Here we have Spidey with She-Hulk and a simple case of an enchanted Egyptian relect, summoning loads of cats to a muesuem and giving She-Hulk a tail (much to her annoyance). From the get go Spider-man feels like a extra in a comic that doesn't need him but his personality makes it better despite that. His wannabe funny gags are doing nothing for She-Hulk as they capture a fish-worm-thing in the sewers of New York and Spidey's attempts to accompany She-Hulk to her museum shindig captures the try hard in Spider-man perfectly. Anyway this tale, that is written by Kathryn Immonen feels like a 90s issue of Spider-man as it plods along with it's light hearted self and with some nice 90s feeling art from Stuart Immonen the whole thing has a retro feel to it somehow. Spider-man is drawn like a naughty kid with some of his stances and pops to Spider-life when he need to fight. There's also a great action sequence towards the end of the comic with She-Hulk playing with a bus but it's the last few pages of sorting out the bad guy that that will either warm your heart of make you roll your eyes, due to the semi-silly nature of it all. I'm not saying I'll ever return to this issue and it's certainly not an issue I'd consider a great Spider-man adventure but somewhere in this goofy tale of Egyptian gods and armies of cats I was reminded what the kid in me loved about Spider-man when I first met him. In this throw away story, Spider-man is simply fun. There's no big event threatening his personal life or some super team vs another super team or the end of the world at risk, this is a day to day Spider-man adventure and that is what I've really grown to like about picking up Avenging Spider-man. We either get a big spectacle (that isn't Spider-mythology threatening), a heartfelt love letter (man I still really love that Captain America issue) or just a simple stand alone Spider-man story and this month is just that. This one really put a smile on my face even if deep down I felt a little guilty getting the kick out of it that I did. It's like junk food really but I enjoyed pretty much every bite.