Spider-Man may be the most complicated simple character of all time. Poor kid, spider bite, super powers, responsibility. It’s about as classic as you can get for a super hero origin, and with more movies than you can count on one hand and over 70 years of being Marvels top selling super hero. That nerdy kid from queens has a lot going for him.

Yet, as classic as he may be, that 70 years of history comes with a lot of baggage. Everything from fighting clones of himself, saving the multiverse with hundreds of other Spider-Men and Women, to (most controversially) making a deal with the devil to save his aunts life.

Recently comic fans of Spidey have been pretty-vocal about their dislike for the former writers 10-year tenure on the character. Most saying that he ran out of stories to tell a long time ago and has been straying away from the characters core values.  So who is there to take up the reigns? That’s where Nick Spencer comes in with “The Amazing Spider-Man #1.”

Nick Spencer is most well known for his recent run on Captain America, where he made headlines by turning Cap into an agent of Hydra. Many were surprised that he was the choice for the Webslinger, but Spencer has a long history of writing epic tales and hilarious comedy books. With his Spider-Man debut Spencer had to knock it our of the park… and he did.

The book opens with Spider-Man and Mary Jane standing on a roof top with Peter in his black suit. We’re not sure when this takes place, if it’s a flashback or a flashforward, but it does establish that Pete feels like something is missing in his life.

At this point in time, Peter Parker and Mary Jane haven’t been dating for years. Remember that deal with the devil I mentioned earlier? Well part of that deal was the MJ and Pete had to change history and make it so they were never married. Since then fans have been begging Marvel to fix the marriage.

From there the book shows us what we can expect from this run. Pete is living in an apartment with one of his best friends, and the super villain, Boomerang. He’s not a huge fan of the situation but Boomerang pays rent and Spidey figures its easier to keep an eye on him this way. We cut between the Avengers getting annoyed with Spider-Man and Pete losing his job at the Dailey Bugle due to a plagiarism claim.

The book ends with Peter talking to MJ about that empty feeling, saying that everyday he goes out there to save people even though the world is against him, but deep inside he knows that MJ will always be there for him. They share a look and a kiss and just like that Nick Spencer set into motion what fans have been crying out for, for years.

Peter and MJ getting together, on top of the quick and clever one-liners that Spencer gives to Spidey make this book a joy to read (this is the first Spider-Man comic to make me laugh out loud in a long time). It makes me feel like I’m getting introduced to the character for the first time again.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Ryan Ottley’s art in this book. Coming off a long tenure as the lead artist of Robert Kirkman’s “Invincible” is drawing the wall crawler for the first time and it’s a match made in heaven.

Ottley conveys incredible speed and dexterities in his art. The characters faces are very expressive leading to some great comedy, even though a lot of the male faces can start to look the same.

Overall “The Amazing Spider-Man #1” is a great ride from start to finish. If you’re new to comics and want to start reading Spider-Man, this is the perfect place to start. This is a promising start for Nick Spencer’s run and I’m sure he will continue to deliver on both greatness and responsibility.