The reason for this book, which takes place in a separate realm than all the regular Marvel books, was to re-start the story of Spider-Man so that new readers could get caught up. After 150 issues, that reason is moot, right? I guess it still makes money so they continue it, but why not just throw writer Brian Bendis and artist David Lafuente onto another new, regular-continuity Spider-Man book? After all, Peter Parker can't be in high school for ten years plus, can he? I do love this book and it's been firing on all cylinders lately, but this issue is a complete mess. A big anniversary issue should basically be a story that involves something big; a death, a wedding, a return, or a huge swerve. I don't want extras because the extras are always horseshit that nobody cares about and are always drawn by someone that's not the regular artist. David Lafuente is the usual artist on this book and he's a phenomenal talent. For this issue he drew the wraparound cover and six measly interior pages. There are some names that added art for this mega-issue, but nobody super famous. John Romita, Sr., Skottie Young, Michael Avon Oeming, Sean Phillips, Alex Maleev, and Mark Bagley are the semi-big names that provided art, but where are Marvel's best artists like John Romita, Jr. or Steve McNiven or Marko Djurgevic? The book is split into two parts. Part one has S.H.I.E.L.D telling Parker that he has to attend superhero school. Part two is a mix of various stories that lead to Parker reading an essay in school about how his father is his favorite superhero (and this second part was already published a few years ago as Ultimate Spider-Man Super Special #1). Skottie Young, who usually draws the Wizard of Oz books, does a great job with his odd but fascinating bit dealing with Spider-Man facing a villain in a museum. David Lafuente's art is exceptional as usual, but the rest of the art is borderline terrible and so many artists on this book makes it difficult to get immersed and interested. All I wanted was a 22 page issue with some oomph. This is an expensive mess. 1/2*
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