Connect with us
Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #303 Review

Comic Books

Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #303 Review

Spider-Man must fight Green Goblin to save Aunt May and his past self.

[amazon_link asins=’B07C1WPPJZ’ template=’AiPTProductAd’ store=’aiptcomics-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’529e682a-4732-11e8-8b2c-afc942878ea2′]

Time travel can really screw things up, even if you’re a superhero. Maybe especially if you’re a superhero, as Peter Parker learns in this issue. It’s one thing to screw up your own life, but it’s another to screw up your own life…in the past!

Listen to the latest episode of our weekly comics podcast!

So what’s it about?

Read our preview.

Why does this matter?

As the cover suggests Peter may have put himself in a Gwen Stacy moment only with his younger self. Yikes. Zdarsky has been writing a great series and Joe Quinones has given this arc a great old school feel — so good you’d be silly not to finish this arc out.

Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?

Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #303 Review

It’s times like this you wonder why someone won’t off this bastard.

This issue opens with a clusterfuck of things going wrong for our heroes. You’d think with the upper edge of being from the future you’d accomplish your tasks, but it appears messing with the time stream can make these even harder. Green Goblin is now running amok in New York, knowing full well there are time travellers messing with his city and Teresa comes close to bungling the entire operation midway through the book. Spider-Man has even more to be mad about considering he put Aunt May into a dangerous situation. Zdarsky has been making me annoyed with these characters since the start as they’ve never really cared about the consequences of messing with the timeline, and here it appears that is catching up to them.

Quinones draws some lights-out pages in this book with three of the more climactic pages requiring little to no dialogue at all. There also two iconic Spider-Man images homaged in this issue which should have longtime Spidey fans’ hearts aflutter. Emotional beats with Peter looking through broken eye holes are made more gripping due to Quinones’ ability to capture the pain in Peter’s face.

Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #303 Review

It’s all up to Peter Parker.

It can’t be perfect can it?

[amazon_link asins=’B07C1WPPJZ’ template=’BottomAdAIPT’ store=’aiptcomics-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’f3b91c26-473a-11e8-ac6f-8d1203dcb6d2′]

The resolution to both conflicts — Peter stopping Green Goblin and Teresa getting the info she needs from Tinkerer — are way too easy. Given all the buildup, and how dangerous Green Goblin was in the last issue, it comes as a disappointment to see things resolved so easily here. By the end it’s clear the heroes going back in time will continue to mess with the time stream so there’s more yet to be revealed, but the good guys win too easily, and for that matter, too quickly.

Is It Good?

A good issue, though it does resolve things much too neatly. That said, this time travel story isn’t over yet and there’s sure to be some kind of fix to all that Spider-Man, Jameson, and Teresa have done to the time stream.

Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #303 Review
Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #303
Is it good?
Good action and plot development make this a solid bet for a good read.
Hits the right emotional beats
Finally our heroes are paying for all that careless time travel mucking about
Great homages to past Spidey stories and intense emotion for Peter visually
Resolutions come too easily
8.5
Great

Join the AIPT Patreon

Want to take our relationship to the next level? Become a patron today to gain access to exclusive perks, such as:

  • ❌ Remove all ads on the website
  • 💬 Join our Discord community, where we chat about the latest news and releases from everything we cover on AIPT
  • 📗 Access to our monthly book club
  • 📦 Get a physical trade paperback shipped to you every month
  • 💥 And more!
Sign up today
Comments

In Case You Missed It

EXCLUSIVE - Mad Cave launching new 'Flash Gordon' comic series July 2024 EXCLUSIVE - Mad Cave launching new 'Flash Gordon' comic series July 2024

EXCLUSIVE – Mad Cave launching new ‘Flash Gordon’ comic series July 2024

Comic Books

Becky Cloonan and Michael Conrad preview 'X-O Manowar: Invictus' Becky Cloonan and Michael Conrad preview 'X-O Manowar: Invictus'

Becky Cloonan and Michael Conrad preview ‘X-O Manowar: Invictus’

Comic Books

X-Men Monday #247 - Ann Nocenti Talks 'Giant-Size X-Men' #1 X-Men Monday #247 - Ann Nocenti Talks 'Giant-Size X-Men' #1

X-Men Monday #247 – Ann Nocenti Talks ‘Giant-Size X-Men’ #1

Comic Books

New 'X-Force' #1 scores a number of variant covers New 'X-Force' #1 scores a number of variant covers

New ‘X-Force’ #1 scores a number of variant covers

Comic Books

Connect
Newsletter Signup