I gotta tell ya, I'm becoming more and more of a Marc Guggenheim fan. I don't know what it is about his writing style, but his dialogue just always feels so "real". Great character interaction from this guy. Keep an eye out for him.
And I want to send a big thumbs up to artist Mike McKone. I love your Spider-Man Dude!!! Spidey has such a classic feel under Mike's pencil. Beautiful, gorgeous lines. Reminds me of a mix between Dodson and Romita Sr. I dug it.. ALOT. Get this guy as a regular on a Spidey book already!
**Minor Spoilers**
As for the story itself. I thought it was very well handled. This is the issue that has the big reveal as to who is behind the "Jackpot" mask. Even though Marvel laid the clues out pretty thick to make is think it was one person, it was painfully obvious from the get go that it was probably not going to be who we thought it was. Hell, Marvel even said that it wasn't Mary Jane.
**End Spoilers**Guggenheim wrote a good conclusion to this whole Brand New Day/Jackpot thing. I know that alot of people are probably disappointed at the reveal, but I wasn't. It makes a great setup to launch Jackpot as viable hero character. I'm curious to see if any Marvel writers are going to grab the character and run with it. She has potential, if readers could just be open minded a little.
Bottom Line: If you've been following
Brand New Day and
Secret Invasion Spider-Man, pick this issue up as a bookend piece. Even if you might be disappointed with the reveal, the issue itself is pretty immaculate. Solid writing, great classic looking art.
4 stars out of 5 as it was just missing that little extra "oomph" to give it a five star rating for me. A more shocking reveal might have done the deed.