Rating:  -
Brand New Day is a great example of the worst that comics have to offer long time readers. This TPB presents that first storyline in a retcon that has removed 20+ years of Amazing Spider-Man history.
The title is Brand New Day...but there's really nothing NEW about it. The reading is painful and reeks of "forced nostalgia". There's probably more character growth in an issue of ARCHIE than in this entire collection.
While the artwork is passable to decent, if you're looking for a fun read...avoid this at all costs.
Instead of reading this lousy TPB, pick up some of Marvel's ESSENTIAL AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. These classic reprints of 60's-70's-80's stories show a character with morals and who understands that "with great power comes great responsibility"...plus the stories were done right the first time and we didn't need a Brand New Day to recycle them.
Rating:  -
Things have changed. With One More Day leaving a bad taste in every comic fan's mouth (regardless of whether you are a Spidey fan or not, the idea of One More Day alone will coax a groan out of you), Marvel embarks on a new direction with one of their flagship titles. With Brand New Day, we get a re-booted Spider-Man in what seems to be a self-contained universe where things have noticably changed. Peter Parker is younger and a photographer yet again, and Harry Osborne is back as well. Mary Jane may be gone (although there are shots aplenty of red-headed girls in many of the frames contained in this hardcover collection), but Spidey still has plenty of problems to deal with; including a new, psychotic villain called Jackpot. Brand New Day would otherwise be a disaster were it not for the revolving writing team of Dan Slott (She-Hulk, Avengers: The Initiative) and Marc Guggenheim (Wolverine, Blade, The Flash) who manage to make Spidey the most likeable he's been in years. Add to this some fantastic artwork from Steve McNiven (Civil War), Phil Jimenez (Infinite Crisis), and Salvador Larroca (X-Men); and you get something really special here. No matter what damage One More Day may have done, Brand New Day is nevertheless enjoyable for what it is, and the spectacular artwork featured here is worth the price of admission alone.
Rating:  -
While it took some pain to get to this point in Spidey's story, the results in this book are so much fun that, much like childbirth, you forget the bad stuff. Dan Slott was born to write Spider-Man and it shows on every page. Beyond the first two story arcs of Amazing Spider-Man: Brand New Day, you also get Tom Brevoort's "Spider-Man Manifesto" discussing what makes the title tick and how to correct some past mistakes. Dan Slott's very first Spider-Man story (a backup from the 90s) is also in here and fans of Captain Jean DeWolff will love it.
Rating:  -
While not horrible, the new direction that Marvel has taken Spider-man is ridiculous. The whole point of the Ultimate universe was to give a reboot for new fans and update the comics for a more "modern day" origin story. Given that they have the Ultimate universe, it is hard to see why Marvel felt it necessary to reboot Spider-man in such a horrible fashion. With the Other it seemed like they were finally giving some much needed depth to the character after the whole clone saga debaucle, but here the powers that be seem to feel that they did not want a grown up, mature Peter Parker. Rather than deal with the fall out from the Civil war, they have taken a cowards way out and merely transposed our hero into what I can only assume is an alternate universe.
If you're a Spider-man fan, pick up the New Avengers which actually have a decent take on him in the cannon universe. Pass Amazing by until they actually close this story line and bring him back into the fold.
Rating:  -
In Brand New Day, Marvel's assigned great authors and even better illustrators to tell some of the funnest stories yet.
But first, Spider-Man made a deal with the devil to magically change the universe. And I wish I was joking.
BND starts off with Spider-Man living in this "new universe," and uproots everything about spiderman continuity. His past has essentially been erased, which makes this book very unsatisfying despite the stories contained.
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