This collects ASM: 606, 607 "Echoes" short from Web of Spider-Man (V2) 1 ASM: 608-611 I get the feeling a lot of the reviewers suffer from a previous bias, first from still wanting Peter to be with MJ and cringing at any other love interest, and second from anything having to do with The Clone Saga. The first 2 issues with Black Cat are fun, funny and sexy. Joe Kelly nails the humor from the beginning and keeps it going through both issues. Yes, Felicia is drawn voluptuously, but to paraphrase Gail Simone talking about how Nightwing's butt is practically a supporting character in her books, "some characters lend themselves to that kind of thing." The driving story involves figuring out how a dead man has been turned to stone and stuffed in the safe of Dexter Bennet, new owner of the DB. Despite the scrutiny over how much Black Cat is in the book, her and Peter reuniting is what you'll remember from the book. The next story by Marc Guggenheim brings back Raptor from the previous annual. He again links the Reillys, who are now living at May's, to Pete, who he thinks is Ben Reilly. When confronting him doesn't go well, Raptor changes course, going instead after Peter's friends and family. The story swaps back and forth with flashbacks (done by Luke Ross, who did his share Clone Saga issues) from Ben Reilly's time in Portland. We learn the origin of Raptor, more about Ben during his exodus, and Kaine makes his return (which factors into future Spidey stories.) The hate this gets stumps me, I really just think people, most of which haven't even read The Clone Saga, flip to a switch to negative whenever they see it mentioned. This arc isn't great, but it's entertaining, flows well and is in line with other BND books. Personally I love that they're willing to take from every part of Spidey's history, even the ones looked down on, and try to do something with it. The third story, another by Joe Kelly, is a Deadpool team-up from Wade's pov. It's full of Deadpool-y humor with some very scratchy art that is serviceable but gives the impression of being smeared, or stretched at an angle. It won't get any awards but you won't squint to see what's going on either. And more importantly there are a couple Gauntlet seeds thrown in to continue that overarcing plot. Bottom line: if you're going through BND, you know the deal by now: short arcs, lots of variety, fast-pacing, and sub-plots carried through all of them. I first read these with no preconceived notions and thought they were a great continuation of everything that had come before.
