Amazing Spider-Man #625
Writer: Joe Kelly
Artist: Max Fiumara
Colorist: Fabio D’Auria
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Marvel Comics
Price: $2.99
Release date: March 17, 2010

As much as I have enjoyed recent issues of Amazing Spider-Man, and I have, one of my favorite issues was the return of the Rhino in issue 617. For Amazing Spider-Man #625 the creative team returns and so does the story of the old Rhino and the new Rhino.

If you remember the previous issue in this plot-line, there’s a new more technological Rhino in town and he wants the skin of the previous or “classic” Rhino. And I mean he wants the skin in a creepy, serial killer, “born unto new worlds where his flesh becomes my key” kind of way. However, the old Rhino has given up his old life for the love of a nice woman and wants nothing to do with the whole situation.

That plotline gets revisited with this week’s issue as we get to see the unfortunate end to the situation, and it’s another high light for the series. Writer Joe Kelly is responsible for most of the best of the recent issues of Spider-Man, and you can tell that he enjoys writing these stories, especially when joined by his Four Eyes collaborator Max Fiumara.

There were so many sad moments in this issue, and Kelly sells it with the reaction the Rhino has to his loss. I just wanted to yell at the page “Don’t do it!” I can’t wait to return to the story, because I know they’ll come back at some point, and I hope they can find a way to redeem the Rhino, but he IS a villain so I don’t really expect that redemption to come.

Fiumara may not be a traditional Spider-Man artist, but I think he’s done some great work on the two issues he’s completed, and I just wish he could work at a faster pace. His style is very unique and hard to describe. There’s simply no one drawing like him today, and I can see how it might turn some people off, but I think they’re making a mistake by over looking it. Also not to be overlooked are the colors by Fabio D’Auria, particularly the page where the Rhino returns to his old ways. The use of black and red on that page goes a long way to selling the emotion of the whole issue.

This is just another in a line of top flight issues for Spider-Man fans to enjoy, and I feel lucky to have been able to read this. The reboot of Spider-Man has really looked for this fan who had written the book off for almost a decade, and since one of the first comics I ever picked up was an old issue of Web of Spider-Man, I’m glad to be able to enjoy his adventures once again.

I’m giving this one a well deserved 5 out of 5, and I can’t wait to see the next collaboration between Kelly and Fiumara. I’ve heard the Four Eyes is supposed to be good, and hopefully this issue will allow them to return to it.