Dan Slott was sprung from the forehead of Stan Lee with the sole purpose of writing Spider-Man. Seriously. He gets Spidey and also understands Peter Parker. He knows how the public should react to the webslinger and how to turn that perception. All in all, he writes Spider-Man the way Spider-Man should be written.

This issue advances the myriad of plotlines spun into the web of thirty-six issues (including this one) worth of "Amazing Spider-Man" that were released this year. Peter even helps the reader recap them all as he berates himself for having so many outstanding issues. This issue advances the spider tracer killer story, as that is the main focus of Spider-Man's in costume activities in this issue.

While we get a significant amount of detail on Harry Osborn, we're left with significantly little about how Liz Allan and her brother came to be where they are, other than reading between the lines. Is this important to the overall story? Not really, but it would certainly help fill the back story for newer readers.

McKone delivers a highly consistent, visually polished interpretation of the world Peter Parker inhabits. All the characters he renders are instantly recognizable and readers are rewarded with little treats, such as McKone's take on Green Goblin and Mysterio (settle down, both are in flashback).

McKone's knack for detail (bricks on Aunt May's porch or rubble in Liz Allan's house, for example) meshes superbly with Slott's tale to offer a visual treat, especially at Marvel's bargain price of $2.99 (yeah, that is a little dig on Marvel's crazy price hikes). All in all, it's good to have fun Spider-Man stories that can be shared with younger readers (again, this issue is suitable enough for me to hand over to my comic-devouring eight-year-old) and enjoyed by more "seasoned" readers. This is the third issue out of four that I've purchased and if the quality keeps up at the level I've seen of late, I think there will be many more issues of "Amazing Spider-Man" in my collection in 2009.