Well, I can say that the Amazing Spider-Man #640 is easily the best of the three issues of the “One Moment In Time” storyline. Unfortunately, this still isn’t saying much. The story continues to be Joe Quesada’s personal attempt to justify the events of “One More Day” and explain what exactly was changed by the deal with Mephisto a few years back. The events of this particular issue are definitely less ridiculous than the previous two and make more sense, but I still just don’t like the way this story is going.
This issue sets up the events that will lead to the more permanent break up of Mary Jane and Peter as well as how, in the post-OMD continuity, Spider-Man was able to make everyone forget his identity. Unfortunately, all of this once again hinges on the random henchman that has been behind all of the One More Day problems. The same guy that was Electro’s henchman and the guy that fell on top of Spider-Man to make him late for his wedding is the one hired by the Kingpin to try and gun down Mary Jane and her Aunt Anna. I don’t understand why Quesada is pushing this guy so hard; he’s just not that interesting of a character and certainly not a threat worthy of Spider-Man. Maybe Quesada wants to show how any bad guy can be a threat to Peter, but he just is not a well enough developed character to hinge so much on. Also, the use Doctor Strange gets in this issue just feels so uninspired. I was hoping that the plot thread he is being used to solve would have a more surprising and interesting person behind it.
One area that I do have to give credit where it’s due is in the art from Paolo Rivera. I know that I previously been unhappy with his work, but that was mainly when it was juxtaposed against pre-existing art from the Amazing Spider-Man Annual. Here it is actually very good and looks quite classic and like a modern version of the art from the 80’s and 90’s. It really does look good and I loved his take of Peter here. The only problem I had with his work was when the assassin almost shoots Mary Jane, I honestly couldn’t tell if she had been shot or not. It wasn’t until later when someone says she only has a concussion that I knew for sure. Quesada’s artwork is still and odd as always. His characters still look like blobs that are all connected together and his faces just look so odd. Luckily, he barely has to draw any panels this issue, so I didn’t mind as much as in previous issues.
All in all, this is far and away the best issue of “One Moment In Time,” but it’s still a mess of a story. This one isn’t as completely annoying as the other two were and it’s at least nice to look at (for the most part) and the story make more sense, but it still just feel as though Joe Quesada is just trying to make people think “One More Day” was a good idea to begin with. I really would have been fine with this story never being written and I don’t see it getting much better in its final issue, though hopefully it’ll be at least readable like this issue was.
Overall: 5.5/10
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