The Amazing Spider-Man will be swinging into theaters soon, so it’s only natural that Marvel decided to write a tie-in comic book, but is it a worthwhile purchase?  Read on to find out.

The official description from Marvel:

The Amazing Spider-Man premieres in theaters nationwide July 3, 2012!

As Peter Parker swings into action as Spider-Man, he’s about to face his first challenge as a super hero!

But how did he get there? Go “between the scenes” with this story-inspired and based upon the new The Amazing Spider-Man movie!

Featuring Gwen Stacy, Captain George Stacy, Dr. Curt Connors and the rest of Amazing Spider-Man gang as they come to cinematic life!

This story in this issue takes place during the movie, expanding on a scene between the scenes to tell a minor narrative that more or less has little to nothing do with the main feature.  Instead of attempting to adapt the film this comic exists to inform curious readers about the type of person behind Spider-Man‘s mask. It offers flashbacks to give good advice in a complicated situation but thankfully stays away from spoiling the main plots of the movie.

The script has issues but for the most part it succeeds in conveying a world that gives some meat to the trailers for the forthcoming summer blockbuster.  Tom Cohen does a good job delivering a consistant version of Peter Parker even though there are some dialogue moments that feel mishandled, but thankfully for the most part the narrative holds together.

The biggest detriment to this comic is the art by Neil Edwards.  He’s able to capture the realistic nuances from the movie, and the look of Spider-Man but he fails to make the characters resemble their movie counterparts.  If this story wasn’t a movie adaption I’d be going the other way here.  The art is solid but it’s as if he was attempting to draw the comic versions of these characters in the film’s context.

This issue had some problems, the story is ultimately an unnecessary read but it’s not a train wreck and since it’s a movie tie-in that says a lot.

3/5