This is "Look Back," a feature that I plan to do for at least all of 2020 and possibly beyond that (and possibly forget about in a week, who knows?). The concept is that every week (I'll probably be skipping the four fifth weeks in the year, but maybe not) of a month, I will spotlight a single issue of a comic book that came out in the past and talk about that issue (often in terms of a larger scale, like the series overall, etc.). Each week will be a look at a comic book from a different year that came out the same month X amount of years ago. The first week of the month looks at a book that came out this month ten years ago. The second week looks at a book that came out this month 25 years ago. The third week looks at a book that came out this month 50 years ago. The fourth week looks at a book that came out this month 75 years ago. The occasional fifth week looks at books from 20/30/40/60/70/80 years ago.

Today, we take a look at the November 2010 finale of the "Brand New Day" era of Amazing Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man #647.

In case you were unfamiliar with the concept of "Brand New Day," at the end of 2007, Marvel did a storyline throughout the (then) four Spider-Man ongoing titles called "One More Day." Aunt May was dying from a bullet wound that she suffered when Peter Parker (the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man) instinctively dodged an assassin's bullet that instead struck May. The guilt was eating him alive as he couldn't find any way to save her. Ultimately, the demon Mephisto showed up and offered Peter a deal. The demon would heal May if Peter agreed to surrender his marriage to Mary Jane to Mephisto as a sacrifice. Marriages of true love like Peter and Mary Jane were quite powerful in Mephisto's world and erasing this one would be quite a feather in Mephisto's cap. Peter was initially unwilling, but Mary Jane, knowing Peter's guilt issues, insisted that they go through with it. So they agreed and Mephisto altered the Marvel Universe so that Peter and Mary Jane were never married.

This, then, led into "Brand New Day," a new era of a single Spider-Man, with the three other Spider-Man ongoing titles canceled and replaced by Amazing Spider-Man being released three times a month. Artists would do individual arcs and a "brain trust" of writers would alternate story arcs (the origianl brain trust was Dan Slott, Bob Gale, Marc Guggenheim and Zeb Wells. Dan Slott wrote the first story). Over time, the brain trust changed, with Mark Waid, Joe Kelly and Fred Van Lente joining the group (other writers chipped in, as well, like Roger Stern, Brian Reed and Tom Peyer).

Finally, though, Marvel decided to reduce the release of Amazing Spider-Man to "just" two issues a month and with only one writer. Dan Slott got the gig.

So Amazing Spider-Man #647 was a farewell to the "Brand New Day" era and it was a fun oversized issues with short stories by all of the brain trust members spotlighting various Spider-Man supporting cast members (typically ones that the writer in question had done some specific work with during their time on the books, like Marc Guggenheim did a Flash Thompson short story).

The main story was by Fred Van Lente, Max Fiumura and Morry Hollowell and it saw Vin Gonzales (Peter's old roommate) return to New York after being released from prison. Meanwhile, Harry Osborn is about to leave time to protect his son from the reach of his father, Norman Osborn.

Peter, though, is struggling with the fact that his friend, Carlie Cooper, is pushing him to define their relationship as more than just two members of a "gang" of friends who hang out together...

The major action sequence in the issue is an excellent fight against the villain, Overdrive, who made his debut early on in "Brand New Day." Overdrive can turn any vehicle into whatever vehicle Overdrive wants it to become. When Overdrive kidnaps a young rich woman, Peter springs into action, but because he didn't have his costume on him, he has to use a Spider-Mam Halloween costume. Things take a turn for the bizarre when Overdrive turns his escape vehicle into the Spider-Mobile!

Once Overdrive is captured, Peter heads to the going away party, which is a costume party. Peter attends dressed as J. Jonah Jameson. Mary Jane Watson (who had only recently returned to New York) dressed as another new character who debuted during "Brand New Day," the superhero Jackpot (who were were led to believe was actually Mary Jane at first). Mary Jane gives Peter some advice about moving forward with Carlie (while also advising Carlie to be patient with Peter)...

In the end, Peter asks Carlie if she will be his girlfriend, and "Brand New Day" ends with Peter officially in a new relationship with Carlie Cooper.

This was a fun farewell to the "Brand New Day" era and I especially love how they got each of the other brain trust members to chip in with stories, as well (Mark Waid's in a one-page gag, though, about J. Jonah Jameson - the Musical). Dan Slott's solo run on the series (dubbed "Big Time") actually also debuted in November of 2010, as well. Sorry, Dan, I'm sure one of your "Big Time" issues will pop up in Look Back in 2021, though!

If you folks have any suggestions for November (or any other later months) 2010, 1995, 1970 and 1945 comic books for me to spotlight, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com! Here is the guide, though, for the cover dates of books so that you can make suggestions for books that actually came out in the correct month. Generally speaking, the traditional amount of time between the cover date and the release date of a comic book throughout most of comic history has been two months (it was three months at times, but not during the times we're discussing here). So the comic books will have a cover date that is two months ahead of the actual release date (so October for a book that came out in August). Obviously, it is easier to tell when a book from 10 years ago was released, since there was internet coverage of books back then.