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Spidey made a deal with the Devil. Norman Osborn merged with the Carnage symbiote, taking him off the board. Peter Parker on the other hand assumes the “man in the chair” role and calls in Spidey’s support to look after his loved ones. The Red Goblin tries to paint the town red in Amazing Spider-Man #799!

***SPOILERS LIE AHEAD***

We’ve only got a couple of issues left in Dan Slott’s ASM run. There’s been a healthy bit of buzz around this book for a while, with Slott announcing his exit, Spencer/Ottley taking over, the #800 milestone, and the introduction of Red Goblin. It’s been a while since there was this much hype around Amazing Spider-Man in a mostly positive light.

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Dan Slott has been bringing his A-game at the right time. “Go Down Swinging” has been cashing in on the extra attention. Amazing Spider-Man #799 maintains the velocity from last issue; it’s a fast-paced train racing towards a massive conclusion.

Norman Osborn, in all his glorious insanity, tries to wrangle together a family reunion in the most aggressive way possible. This feels like Spidey is heading towards one of those classic, hero defining moments. Red Goblin is going to force Spider-Man into an “unstoppable force” paradox.

Red Goblin is a fantastic design, with a great balance of Goblin and Carnage bits. My only criticism so far would be the lack of creativity in the murder constructs. Cletus Kasady turns his hands into various blades and projectile weapons. We got those awesome “Carnage Bombs” last issue, but nothing else yet. I want to see Immonen use the symbiote as more than just a great looking costume.

It’s great to see Silk again; she was also in last week’s Spider-Man/Deadpool #31. Even though it lasted all of ten pages, Spidey’s supporting cast of heroes coming in to protect Peter’s loved ones was a nice way for Slott to bring in some of his favorites one more time. It was also an effective way to showcase just how powerful Red Goblin is, being resistant to the usual symbiote weaknesses.

There’s so much action in this issue, it’s easy to miss how big of a twist it was to have Harry’s mom return. She went from being the kidnapping nanny to the subject of a bombshell Norman drops on his son. We’ll probably explore that more once things settle down, assuming the characters make it through the next issue alive.

Stuart Immonen, Wade von Grawbadger, and Marte Gracia always do great work on Amazing Spider-Man. At this point, it seems effortless. Not only does Red Goblin look like a perfectly menacing horror villain, but the action sequences are dynamite as well. Immonen, as usual, expresses a wide range of emotion in his character’s faces every time it needs some extra weight.

Next issue is the big conclusion to “Go Down Swinging” with Norman Osborn poised to do some major damage. Amazing Spider-Man #800 should be an explosive milestone, even if making Normie into Red Goblin Jr. was a bit corny.