Review by Ian Keogh
Zeb Wells’ run on Spider-Man ends with Dead Wrong, which will please many vociferous online critics unable to credit the good aspects of his writing. However, one irritation is supporting characters who serve their purpose for a story arc then disappear from view. Such has been the case for Randy Robertson.
He doesn’t actually appear until after a cute date chapter given the proper awkwardness as drawn by Emilio Laiso, but considering he’s allegedly Peter Parker’s best buddy these days, it’s been a long time since we’ve seen Randy. He’s back because Dead Wrong is Wells tidying up some loose ends. Some are thoughtful and poignant, such as a look at Cale Naughton, whom you may not even remember, some are funny and some are just page fillers.
The core story concerns Tombstone, who double-crossed Spider-Man at the end of Gang War. Ever since Spidey’s been attempting to sabotage his business and ruin his reputation among other gangsters, turning him into a liability as far as they’re concerned. It’s not the sort of thing Tombstone’s can allow to continue, and from that Wells builds a thriller with the advantage constantly shifting. The chapter ending cliffhangers are terrific and Wells has the audacity to plot almost two chapters as a desperate chase scene almost from beginning to end. A different type of shock awaits in the concluding chapter, and it’s Wells again confounding expectation.
With the exception of Laiso’s chapter and the short stories everything is drawn by John Romita Jr. Considering how many runs he’s had on Spider-Man over the years and how good they’ve been, he has absolutely nothing left to prove, yet for Dead Wrong he once again pulls out all the stops. The action is first rate, the spreads have the power of an express train, and the people have visual depth and personality. Everything he draws looks great.
Wells uses the short stories to take a final look at characters he’s either introduced or used extensively, and as such they’re a variable bunch. The best surprise is kept for the Chasm appearance.
Contrary to what many would have you believe, Wells on Spider-Man has constantly asked whether something different can be done with regularly repeated scenarios. It means not everything has worked, but only a single of a dozen collections has been less than good, and most have considerably better than good. The varying quality of the short stories and the sheer quantity of them drags down the star rating for Dead Wrong, but the four title chapters on their own are great.
