Civil War: Amazing Spider-man (A Marvel Comics Event - Spider-man #532-538) [Paperback]

J Michael Straczynski (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Marvel (2007)
• ASIN: B000QGTH6G
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,926,465 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

J. Michael Staczynski was born in Paterson, NJ in 1954, from a lower-middle-class blue-collar family that moved 21 times in his first 18 years. He began writing in earnest and selling at the age of 17 and hasn't stopped since. He graduated San Diego State University with degrees in Psychology and Sociology.

As a journalist, he has written over 500 published articles for such periodicals as The Los Anglees Times, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, Penthouse, Writer's Digest, San Diego Magazine, the San Diego and Los Angeles Reader and TIME, Inc. He has also published numerous short stories in Amazing Science Fiction Magazine, Pulphouse, and various anthologies.

As a television writer and producer, he has written over 200 produced episodes, including workj on The New Twilight Zone, Nightmare Classics and Murder She Wrote. He also wrote, created and produced the series Babylon 5, Crusade and Jeremiah.

Moving from TV to film, he wrote Changeling (directed by Clint Eastwood), Ninja Assassin (produced by the Wachowskis), provided the story for Thor (directed by Kenneth Branagh), wrote Underworld 4 (starring Kate Beckinsale), and has written numerous other films that are currently slated for production.

He has won the Hugo Award (twice), the Saturn Award, the Eisner Award, the Inkpot Lifetime Achievement Award, the E Pluribus Unum Award from the American Cinema Foundation, the Space Frontier Foundation award, the Ray Bradbury Award, the Christopher Award, and over a dozen others.

He was also nominated for a British Academy Award (BAFTA) for his screenplay for Changeling.

He writes ten hours a day, every day, except for his birthday, New Year's Day and Christmas Day.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Spidey chooses sides in the Civil War, May 1, 2007

By 

N. Durham "Big Evil" (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Amazing Spider-Man: Civil War (Paperback)

Armed with a new costume and having revealed his identity to the public, Spider-Man has even more big decisions coming in the Civil War. In this TPB, Spidey and his family are targeted as he finds himself in the middle of the superhero civil war between the factions of Captain America and Iron Man. What makes this Civil War tie-in important is that this fills a few holes from the main Civil War storyline, including Spidey's switching sides from Iron Man's pro-registration to Captain America's resistence. The only real downside however is that this TPB features a few plot holes itself that will get filled in by reading the main Civil War storyline, as well as a few preceding Spidey and even some Iron Man stories as well. That being said though, writer J. Michael Straczynski makes the most with his script, as well as getting to leave the reader hanging by teasing us with the possible death of someone close to Peter. Ron Garney's art leaves something to be desired as well in some panels, but he does a servicable job nonetheless. All in all, of all the countless Civil War tie-in books, the Amazing Spider-Man chapter is undoubtedly one of the best.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best of Marvel's Civil War TPBs, October 20, 2007

By 

K. W. Schreiter (Conshohocken, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Amazing Spider-Man: Civil War (Paperback)

This trade paperback collects Amazing Spider-Man #532-538, written by J. Michael Straczynski and drawn by Ron Garney. Focusing on Peter Parker/Spider-Man's role in the Marvel Universe-encompassing Civil War, the story develops the quasi-paternal relationship between Peter and Tony Stark as the Civil War escalates. Peter's shocking public revelation in issue 533 was the first non-cinematic Spider-Man news in a long time to be covered by mainstream US media. As the conflict intensifies, Peter grows to question his siding with Stark and eventually hides with MJ and Aunt May in a decrepit motel room. The book ends with a cliffhanger that left me eager to read issue 539. Reading the main Civil War TPB is helpful but not essential as there is enough of an independent plot here for those interested only in Spider-Man.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pure Marvel, August 2, 2010

By 

Nancy Nagler "synergist" (Wisconsin USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Amazing Spider-Man: Civil War (Paperback)

I thought I had a good handle on Marvel's Civil War. As always, Marvel gives great art, great action with deeper meaning. I saw parts of the book on their free digital comics and I had to have it. The interaction between Spider-Man and Captain America is spot on, from the first fight to their conference and Spider-Man's resulting decisions.
When Cap began his story, at Spidey's usual good natured ribbing, I was hooked. I never thought of Steve Rogers as a school boy and certainly not a scholar but he was that sickly boy who probably used books for protection. Back there, during the Depression, he found Mark Twain, a favorite of our family, and his memorized statement on patriotism told me where his own spirit came from. And that bit of Twain's amazing words sent me on a search for where it came from and landed me into a half a day's discovery of Mark Twain's quotes and a renewed interest in the Hannibal, Missouri's favorite son. It is amazing how true his statements are even to this day.
This is exactly why I have followed Marvel for all these years. There is always far more to those 'comic books' than just action.