Comics / Comic Reviews / Marvel Comics

The Amazing Spider-man #617

By Hervé St-Louis
January 24, 2010 - 21:32

The former Rhino, Aleksei Sytsevich, wants to retire and live peacefully with his new girlfriend. However, a new Rhino confronts him on New Year’s eve in order to properly defeat him and take over. But the former Rhino is not budging, as he doesn’t want to destroy his new life. Only Spider-man can help, but this new Rhino is more powerful than the old one. Will Spider-man be able to stop this new foe?

This issue was quite entertaining. I admit that although I was quite aware of whom the Rhino was, I don’t recall reading much about him. Here, he’s given another chance at life, just like the Sandman, but his story has special resonance. Just like Spider-man, I’m rooting for him and hope he will continue to be a good guy and let this new Rhino take over. This story brought back some of the crazy life themes of Peter Parker, Spider-man’s alter ego. These are usually quite fun and important in a Spider-man story. I like how Norah interacts with both Peter Parker and Spider-man. She is a truly lively character and who knows a possible love interest. There is little to complain about this issue. If all Spider-man stories were this good, readers would be in for a treat.

Fiumara is one of those artists that you have to learn to like. His work does not come across as great Spider-man material, but in spirit, it feels right. Sure, Peter Parker looks like a skinny dude, but  I really like the facial expressions he gives his characters and the gestures and poses they have. The colouring by D'Auria also enhanced his work. Everything flowed well, although some aspect of the storytelling were off. For example, all the scenes with the horses were badly integrated. Where did they come from and how were they killed? This issue also makes the jump from $2.99 to $3.99 which is a concern to me, although there is a back up story. I'm not sure if eight extra pages justify such an increase.

Rating: 8.5 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12