What they got right: First off, this is the art that the title's been missing. It's pretty good, and I really like Matteo's Peter. Of course, I've been a fan of Tobin's ever since he took over Marvel Adventures: The Avengers and his run on Super Heroes, so there's no surprise there. I also like his Emma Frost (as a character–as a person I want to smack her one, which I'm thinking was Tobin's goal). The rehashed origin is fine, since new creative team usually or should be a new jump-on point, which is what Tobin is doing here. Besides, it served one extra (possibly unintentional) goal and makes me love new character Sophia "Chat" Sanduval. She's an original to this series and Marvel as a whole and I really hope she comes back for more (with occasional cameos by Emma, perhaps seeing how happy her friend is will resonate with her). Sure she has one of the lamest mutant powers in Marvel multiverse history, but she makes up for it with a lot of personality and heart. (Especially the part where she apologizes to everyone Emma "influences".) Between her, Emma, and Tigra, Tobin should be teaching the other Marvel writers about how to treat female characters.
What they got wrong: Gwen Frickin' Stacey? Really, Paul? Is this payback for the less than enthusiastic reviews I've been giving MA: Avengers lately, because the last one I praised as being back to form. Did you have to pollute the title with Gwen Stacey? (If you haven't guessed, I'm not a fan of the character.)
Recommendation: While it appears MA: Avengers is going away, I can get my Tobin Spider-Fix here. I wasn't always a fan of the few issues of MA: Spidey I picked up before, but I think I'm going to like this new direction. And hopefully, there will be more Chat.
