Avenging Spider-Man #5

I love Marvel Team-Up style books! Spidey is still hanging with the Avengers, and the Serpent Society-based story from last issue even gets a bit more room to breathe. But this book isn’t really about seeing the Avengers take on the society (although I do enjoy Leinil Yu’s take on it). This is a book about Spider-Man looking for a kindred spirit. Zeb Wells hits a goldmine with the idea that young dreamer Steve Rogers isn’t so different than Peter Parker.

Parker runs with this idea, hoping that the intimidating team leader is really just another dork at heart. I love Spidey trying to convince Cap how similar they are, as Cap repeatedly tries to re-focus on the mission at hand. I know that ending is cheesy, but dang if I didn’t appreciate Wells bringing the two popular characters together for a brief moment of friendship. Who cares if the rest of the team likes making fun of poor Spidey, he’s got a friend on the team now! (Incidentally, I love the idea of making Hawkeye a smart ass foil for Spider-Man. They’re similar enough to each other that it is believable they’d rub each other the wrong way.)

Leinil Francis Yu’s art is wonderful. He must have missed the memo that Hawkeye is in a stupid new suit, so Hawk is wearing his old, cool one while the new togs are at the cleaner. Yu does a nice job giving the different Avengers different body types too; these don’t look like the same two people in a ton of different costumes.

Good