In this review of The Amazing Spider-Man #66, Peter seeks advice. But will it help?
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #66
Writer: Justina Ireland
Art: Andrea Broccardo
Main Cover: Mark Bagley
Variant Covers: Kaare Andrews, Chris Samnee, Paco Diaz, Skottie Young
Page Count: 21 pages
Release Date: January 22, 2025
This review contains spoilers
The Amazing Spider-Man #66 begins as Callix attempts to tell his father and siblings that he won against Earth’s champion, but he receives disapproval because his trial had already ended. He wonders if he will just continue to be made fun of and ignored as his siblings plan ahead.
Back on Earth, Peter quit the gallery opening and told his Aunt he couldn’t help with F.E.A.S.T.’s community day. As he goes to buy himself food, it is revealed that Cyra and Doctor Strange are following him. Cyra mentions that while Doctor Strange viewed each of the deaths in her trial with detachment, Peter mourned each one.
Upon entering the grocery store, Peter finds out the window washer that he saved at the beginning of the arc has died, reinstating his belief that nothing he does truly matters. A robber threatens the cashier as he’s about to pay for his food. Peter speaks to him, telling him he’s just going to get caught and go to jail over barely any money, and says he’s playing into a system that doesn’t care about him. He freaks the robber out, and Spider-Boy is able to subdue him. He follows Peter, asking if he is okay, but Peter encourages him to quit fighting crime and be a kid because nothing will ever change and nothing will get better. While still watching him, Cyra wonders why she cares so much about him.
Shay and Peter meet up, and it is revealed that Peter basically ghosted her. He asks her how she deals with loss in her nursing job, and she admits that it hurts but that she continues to do her job because she likes helping people. She encourages him to see a professional and hopes the conversation helps with whatever Peter is going through, but it doesn’t. Meanwhile, Juggernaut’s connection to Cyttorak allows him to learn what is happening, and he rallies the X-Men to travel to New York.
Peter visits Felicia last, admitting that he can’t keep fighting and doesn’t feel much of anything. Felicia tells him there is always good in the world and kisses him. Cyra and Doctor Strange leave upon seeing this, talking about the differences between Peter and Strange and how Peter is now seeking connection after being broken. As they finish speaking, it is revealed that Callix has traveled to the edge of the casket. Tendrils in the Blight attack him but is able to escape, and realizes that his father fears losing control. He returns, saying he needs to speak with his brother.
At the end of The Amazing Spider-Man #66, Cradios arrives to take on the champion, only to find him missing. Instead, it is the X-Men who come to meet him and take on his challenge for themselves.
Analysis
I like where we are in this arc. Peter searches for his reason for being Spider-Man while getting advice from people in his life. I also like that we’re seeing more of the Scions. I was really hoping for more Cyra, and I was happy to see her a lot in this issue. From her reluctance to begin her trial to her sadness at its outcome to her curiosity about humans, especially Peter, she has the majority of my interest at this point in the arc. I want to know why she is so curious and what the outcome of her curiosity will be. Her twin has also caught my attention. It seems like there’s going to be some serious in-fighting between the scions, and I want to see that play out.
I really liked where they were going with Peter, but every time he entered a new scenario, I felt like the execution was off. Peter refusing to stop the robber at the grocery store feels like a direct parallel to him originally refusing to stop the robber who went on to kill his uncle early on in his story. It’s a parallel I enjoyed when it began, but I found myself disappointed with it by the time it was over.
This could have been a great moment for Peter to consider the actions he was taking by thinking back to the action he deliberately did not take as a teenager and what the consequence was. But instead, we don’t get even a thought about Uncle Ben or Peter’s past in this scenario. Even if he had ultimately come to the conclusion that he still would not have done anything, it’s not about it being the thing that pushes him back towards being Spider-Man, even though that would have been ideal, but this was the perfect setup for a moment with some real, emotional weight, and it passes by without being recognized.
Instead, we get a speech from Peter that feels like it comes from nowhere. Instead of contributing to the feeling that he’s given up and doesn’t care, it feels awkwardly pretentious. It feels worse when he’s speaking to Spider-boy, telling him that you can’t change things and things don’t get better. While I can understand him quitting, the dialogue feels unrealistic for Peter.
Then comes the conversation with Shay. Once again, I can understand Peter distancing himself from his loved ones. He saw them all die, one by one and then learned how the world eventually forgot about them. I’d be shocked if he weren’t distancing himself. Shay feels more alive than ever in The Amazing Spider-Man #66, and it’s a shame we see so little of her. She refuses to let Peter mistreat her but continues to give him advice when she sees that he needs it. Still, very little comes of their conversation. Shay shares her advice and experiences, but it doesn’t help Peter. We don’t even see him think about her words or consider her advice. He just says it didn’t help, and that’s the end of it.
Usually, something like that wouldn’t be a big deal, but we already know how Peter feels. We saw him interact with strangers, friends, and fellow superheroes. We don’t need further evidence of the depression he’s fallen into, but we still get this conversation with Shay. I would have rather had this than the incident in the supermarket, but as it stands, it only gives us one new piece of information: that Peter and Shay are no longer dating.
This sets up the part of The Amazing Spider-Man #66 I found the most bizarre. Peter going to Felicia for advice made sense to me, but the kiss between them felt forced. I liked Cyra’s explanation that Peter is searching for a connection after breaking, but that doesn’t change the fact that Peter did not initiate the kiss.
I enjoyed Felicia’s line about there always being good in the world, but I struggle to understand why she decided to kiss Peter when he didn’t do anything different than what he did with Spider-Boy and Shay. If Peter had been the one to tell her he wanted to feel something, to seek out a connection with her, I think I would have liked this moment better, but as it stands, it feels like it’s there for shock value rather than to move the story forward.
Finally, the art in The Amazing Spider-Man #66 really caught my attention. The colors in every panel contrast very nicely. Even in panels where the background wasn’t meant to stand out, a combination of dull and muted colors stopped it from looking too plain. I also really liked the way Peter’s expressions were drawn. I could understand when he was feeling apathetic and when he was hurting through his expressions more than his words.
The panel where he is surrounded by the bodies of those walking on the street after he speaks to Shay made my jaw drop. It was an outstanding representation of his mood, and it felt like we were seeing not just his friends and family but every person in the world through his eyes as if he thought that their lives truly didn’t matter enough to see them as living beings in his mind.
Final Thoughts
The Amazing Spider-Man #66 sets up engaging scenarios but fails to deliver them meaningfully, leaving much of the issue feeling out of character and missing moments of emotional weight.
