Editor's Note: Amazing Spider-Man #597 arrives in stores tomorrow, June 10.

Plot: Spidey (in a Venom disguise) infiltrates the Dark Avengers Tower looking for a way to free Harry from his father Norman's clutches. As such things tend to go, it does not proceed without incident.

Comments: I like the broad outlines for the "American Son" storyline on paper: when his back-from-the-dead and recovering addict friend Harry Osborne gets drawn into the Dark Avengers, Spider-Man attempts to find a way to get him clear. In execution it's a little rockier, with a hero known as much for his intellect as his wisecracks making a lot of stupid mistakes in what is at times an idiot plot.

Case in point: Spidey's infiltration of the Avengers Tower is one of those good ideas that fall apart under scrutiny. Why no back-up? If there's a Wolverine-a-like in the building you're breaking into, why no way to mask your scent? If you've got the help of the Fantastic Four, why not try something more clever and indirect than walking through the front door into a den of known killers?

Some of this could be construed as inside ball nitpicking, but when your writer brings it up through the hero's internal monologues it becomes fair game. Joe Kelly would like to remind us Peter Parker is the most hard luck character in the Marvel U with the constant internal "stupid me" commentary. But in the final reading it feels like a band-aid for unwise story decisions.

Also, I'm not sure how well the dramatic tension of Harry not knowing the man behind the Spider-Man mask is working. It feels like a played-out contrivance (particularly how it functions in the context of this issue). I wish there were some new complications that could be injected into this particular storyline to throw at Spider-Man besides a friend of Peter Parker who kind of hates Spidey.

Finally, I do appreciate the tease of the return of another classic foe from Spider-Man's rogues' gallery. If he can receive the kind of interesting reinvention that the Vulture recently received, it might be one of the more successful elements of this particular arc.

I don't dislike this issue (at least, numerically, I hope that's reflected) – I just felt that it was boneheaded in its execution. I still want to know where the story goes because I like Harry Osborne as a character and I'd like to see how he evolves alongside this storyline. I just hope the story – and Spider-Man – get a little smarter in the next issue.

If you liked this review, be sure to check out more of the author’s work at Monster In Your Veins

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