Written by: Zeb Wells
Art by: John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna
Colors by: Marcio Menyz
Letters by: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Cover art by: John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna, Marcio Menyz
Cover price: $4.99
Release date: February 28, 2024
Amazing Spider-Man #44 concludes the Gang War event with a massive brawl in New York’s Central Park to decide who will be the one gangster to rule them all.
Is Amazing Spider-Man #44 Good?
Amazing Spider-Man #44 brings it all home with a large fight in the park, double-crosses, a few twists, and a slightly new status quo for the Big Apple. Was it all worth it? No, not really, but at least it’s done.
When last we left the Amazing Spider-Man and his semi-amazing friends, the final two gangs commenced battle in the middle of Central Park. Madame Masque and her crew on one side, Beetle and her Sister Six on the other. Spidey and his allies chose the lesser of two evils by supporting Beetle’s forces. Meanwhile, Tombstone lamented how far his daughter had fallen from grace, so he clipped Beetle’s wings (literally and metaphorically) to pull her out of the fight.
Now, the battle rages on. Just when it seemed like the Beetle/Spidey partnership was winning, Tombstone orders Beetle’s crew to bash the Spidey friends and retreat, leaving Spidey and his semi-amazing friends alone with Madam Masque’s forces. Count Nefaria and Silvermane get Spidey down for the count while the rest of Spidey’s allies get overwhelmed, but a well-aimed sniper shot from Shotgun destroys the sigils on Count Nefaria and Silverman to free them from Madame Masque’s mind control. Simultaneously, Luke Cage, Shang Chi, and the rest of the tie-in characters arrive to turn the tide.
Madame Masque is defeated, along with Count Nefaria and Silvermane. Rabble escapes. Randy wakes up. Fisk’s law is repealed due to a groundswell of citizen support, and Tombstone is the last gangster left standing to rule NYC.
What’s great about Amazing Spider-Man #44? If you like a superpowered brawl in the park, this issue is exactly that. Dumb, mindless fun. There’s not much more to add on the positive side because there’s nothing to this beyond “…and then they fight.”
![](https://weirdsciencemarvelcomics.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/asm-44-p2.jpg?w=675)
What’s not so great about Amazing Spider-Man #44? A big story should have a big idea at its center. The bigger the story, the bigger the outcome. Therefore, we see how Gang War falls short on multiple fronts, so what was spun up into an “event” with a ridiculous number of tie-ins really is nothing more than a sub-standard Spidey adventure.
For example, how has Spidey or the world changed in a significant way due to this event? It hasn’t. Tombstone is now the top gangster, but that’s all you could say for sure. Everyone else returned to where they started. You could make the case that repealing Fisk’s Law is a big deal, but were any of Marvel’s heroes really paying attention to it? No.
Did the tie-ins make a difference? No. In fact, the outcomes of the tie-ins aren’t a factor in the battle at all if you stick to ASM. Shang-Chi and Danny Rand don’t even show up to the battle until it’s over, as an example.
What about Spider-Man? Didn’t this event set him on a new path or change his circle of friends? Nope. Worse, Spider-Man is barely a participant in this war. If you distill the victory down to who did what, Shotgun turned the tide, and even then, it’s not clear how freeing Silvermane and Count Nefaria from Madame Masque’s mind control made them less effective. In effect, Team Spidey won the battle because that’s what the script says.
Is the art good, at least? It’s okay. The colors pop, and there’s plenty of whiz-bang action to engage your eyeballs, but Romita Jr. is having a devil of a time drawing faces that don’t look like melting potatoes.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
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Bits and Pieces
Amazing Spider-Man #44 brings the Gang War “event” to a close with the deciding battle in Central Park to establish the new top gangster in NYC. Unfortunately, the battle is mindless, Spider-Man is barely a factor in the outcome, and the mountain of tie-ins turns out to be pointless. Wells and Lowe have turned in worse events, but Gang War fails to be anything more than forgettable.
5.5/10