With McNiven and Slott’s run coming to a close last issue, we turn to the newest team to enter the Spider-Man coliseum of awesomeness: Guggenheim and Larroca. Would this team be able to keep with the trend of producing high quality comics that were both well drawn and entertaining to read? Read on to find out.

To the best of my knowledge, I’ve never read anything by Marc Guggenheim so this comic’s writing style was new ground for me. Slott started off this Brand New Day with a nice return to the funny, smart-ass Spider-Man that I felt had been lacking from the Amazing Spider-Man for a long time. Guggenheim managed to build off of Slott’s great start, add his own little touch to the character and keep the action, smart humor and great dialog moving throughout the entirety of the comic. While I personally think Slott is a better writer, there’s nothing wrong with what Guggenheim brings to the table for his run so far.

Salvador Larroca’s artwork was one of the higher points of this comic. Larroca follows up McNiven’s great start with a similar style as to not bring a completely different feel to the title. While it might feel very connected with artwork that features portions of the same artist style and look, Larroca’s art still manages to show itself off in a couple different ways to differentiate his work from his predecessor’s. Overall, fantastic work on pens by Larroca.

Amazing Spider-Man #549

8.7/10 (How’d you get that?)

Much like the opening arc of this Brand New Day, Amazing Spider-Man #549 keeps the action coming and finally gives us a little interaction between Spider-Man and the newly created Jackpot, who looks a great deal like Mary Jane. The subtle hints at her identity, including the not so subtle ones, really add to the anticipation of finding out exactly who it is behind the mask. The newly revealed Menace looks interesting as well and should be making his first actual appearance next issue. For now though, ASM #549 is another solid issue from the Spidey braintrust and should be an instant pickup for those people who’ve been on board BND since #546.