Review- AMAZING SPIDER-MAN: WORLDWIDE VOL. 5

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN: WORLDWIDE VOL. 5 (Marvel, First Printing, 2017; Softcover)

Collects Amazing Spider-Man #20-24 and Annual #1(cover dates December, 2016- April, 2017)

Writers: Dan Slott and Christos Gage with Humberto Ramos (Annual #1)

Artists: Giuseppe Camuncoli, Cam Smith, Roberto Poggi, and others

Colorists: Jason Keith and others

I borrowed this book from my local library.

Crossovers suck, exhibit A. Let's say for a moment that you are a new reader who decided to follow one title, and that title is Amazing Spider-Man. Let's say that you follow the title via collected editions and have been buying them as they came out. You're four volumes in, and you crack open Volume 5 to find...Doctor Octopus alive in the first panel with a *footnote telling you it happened in Clone Conspiracy #1, out now! What's the point, Marvel?

While they quickly explain what you missed there is a feeling that you missed a lot of stuff, which you undoubtedly did because you chose not to buy the big fat hardcover which collects everything in this book except for Annual 1 plus the other 21 issues which Marvel expects you to buy. I love comics, but sometimes I feel like this industry needs a crippling bubble burst to wake up. They had one in the '90s and they seem to be doing everything in their power to make it happen again, only this time I doubt that print will recover.

Clones, Clone Sagas, alternate universe doppelganger fan fiction like Spider-Gwen...face it tiger, you just hit the convoluted jackpot. This is impenetrable to the mythical new reader. That is if you could find a new reader who were willing to pay $3.99+ each for 26 comics for one story that is hard to follow.

Once we get past all of that gobbledygook we get a somewhat entertaining battle with the new Jackal, the old Jackal, Spider-Man, the new “Superior” Doctor Octopus, and a whole town of clones. Peter Parker's personal life as a CEO is left out of this book and I am thankful for that. I'm just glad that this was a library book and that I didn't pay for it beyond my property taxes.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 2.75 out of 5.

The OCD zone- This is the part where I go into tactile sensations and materials used in physical media. Those with heart conditions, high blood pressure, or women who are pregnant should exit my blog at their earliest convenience, as their safety cannot be guaranteed beyond this point.

Library copies are fascinating studies in the durability of these books. I look at them like science experiments, as the average human handles their books like the Samsonite Gorilla when compared to how I handle my books.

Paper stock: Fair weight coated stock with a glossy sheen.

Binding: Perfect bound paperback.

Cardstock cover notes: Laminated cardstock cover.