In this review of The Amazing Spider-Man #1, Spider-Man gets caught in a mysterious trap!
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1
Writer: Joe Kelly
Artists: Pepe Larraz, John Romita Jr.
Main Cover: Pepe Larraz
Variant Covers: Gil Kane, Ryan Stegman, Simone Di Meo, David Marquez, Lee Bermejo, Mark Chiarello, Frank Miller, Nimit Malavia
Page Count: 24 pages
Release Date: April 9, 2025
This Review Contains Spoilers
The issue opens with a series of interviews, each with Peter in the hot seat. Each one has its own disaster. The first interviewer questions the plagiarism that led to his doctorate being withdrawn, then blames him for losing money when Parker Industries fell.
The next questions his spotty attendance, the one after is a bad startup that Peter wants nothing to do with. Questions about his Spider-Man injuries, fans of Peter who want him to talk about Norman Osborne, and Peter leaving to help Spider-Boy wrap up the interviews, which are all separated by panels of moments throughout his career as Spider-Man.
With the interviews over, Peter goes to May’s house to help her put pictures on the wall. He blames the disastrous interviews on the “infamous Parker Luck.” In the middle of their conversation, Peter gets a phone call, and he reveals that he was offered a job as Supervising Engineer of Cooperative Disciplines at Rand Enterprises and that an internal recommendation got him the job.
The recommendation turned out to be from an old classmate of Peter’s from Middle School, Brian Nehring.
At Rand Enterprises, Peter and Brian reminisce about using the supplies in their middle school chemical closet to set off stink bombs. In the middle of their trip down memory lane, Peter asks Brian why he vouched for him, and Brian reminds him that they made a promise that the “freaktastic four” would stay together forever.
As Brian continues with the tour of the facility, Peter disappears after being distracted by loud noises from outside. Running into battle with the Rhino, Peter assumes he’s lost the job. The fight with Rhino continues as usual until Rhino suddenly collapses and doesn’t have a pulse. Spider-Man is forced to use his strength for chest compressions, ultimately saving his life.
At Kingsley Tower, Roderick Kingsley’s assistant tells him that he intercepted Rhino’s bloodwork from Ravencroft and that the markers are present to prove that Rhino is a “customer” for some unknown product. Roderick isn’t concerned and tells him not to intervene before he dismisses him.
After he’s gone, Roderick begins talking to a figure encased in shadows, admitting that he’s worried that Spider-Man will make the connections, and asks if he can add him to his “To-do list.” The shadowy figure agrees, and Roderick sends him off while looking at the hobgoblin outfit.
Later, Peter and Shay are on a double date with Randy and his date, Brie. Peter reveals that Brian covered for him, and he wasn’t fired. During the conversation, Randy admits that people on his caseload as a social worker in East Harlem are suddenly shutting him out, and he doesn’t know why. Peter notes that it’s the same area Rhino lives in and decides to check it out.
As Spider-Man, he sneaks into Alexei’s apartment to search for clues. Suddenly, his spider-sense begins to go off like crazy. Even though he tries to convince himself that nothing is there, he turns around to see a vision of his past enemies, coming towards him.
Analysis
To start us off, the artwork in this issue is beautiful. You can feel the movement in each character that is drawn, and the colors blend together nicely. This run of ASM uses softer tones, so far, and I found myself really enjoying it, even during the battle between Spider-Man and Rhino. Towards the end of the issue, there’s a use of red lighting that could have easily taken over the pages, but it accentuates the shadows instead. It’s all very well done.
As for the story, this might seem familiar to anyone who has been reading The Amazing Spider-Man for some time. The interview montage at the beginning of the issue felt very reminiscent of Brand New Day, a Spider-Man arc that ran in 2008, though his interviews in Brand New Day ended much less positively.
Surprisingly enough, this was not where the similarities ended. Peter mentions the infamous “Parker Luck” in the first issue of both arcs. Brand New Day follows the interview with Peter at a club with his friends, while this arc follows it up with a double date, but both include Peter and his friends conversing around a similar table.
There’s even a picture of Peter’s enemies in Brand New Day that reminded me of the cover and this issue’s final panel. I genuinely can’t tell if this is meant to be a fun throwback, an attempt to make people feel positively about the run, a hintat the future of this arc, or a consequence of bringing back several Peter Parker tropes all at once, but it may cause long time readers to make this issue feel familiar or even repetitive.
Even so, these sections were well done. Peter’s various interviews were genuinely funny. Each one felt unique and different while still keeping an upbeat tone, even when Peter was being yelled at and laughed at.
After his relationship with Aunt May turned turbulent during the events of “The Eight Deaths of Spider-Man,” it was reassuring to see him helping her and watching them as they joked around together. And while the dinner scene was one of the lower points of the issue for me, it still broke up two more serious portions of the story with brighter colors and humor, as well as showed that there are still consequences for Peter’s behavior in the previous arc.
As for Peter, he feels like Peter again. While I felt like his behavior in “Eight Deaths” was understandable, it’s refreshing to see Peter’s positive side again. It’s nice to read his quips and watch him jump into action. Peter, being his upbeat self and cracking jokes during the fight, makes Rhino’s collapse feel that much more serious. You can feel his panic.
The jokes stop, the action pauses, and Peter uses all the strength he has just used to try to incapacitate Rhino to save him instead. Something like this would not have had quite the same impact in the last arc because Peter was tackling everything with that same level of seriousness. Here, it takes the reader by surprise just as much as Peter.
This issue also has one of the better cliffhangers we’ve had in a while. The return of Roderick Kingsley and his mysterious companion, combined with the gorgeously drawn hallucination of Peter’s enemies, has set up a mystery that has wasted no time pushing the plot forward. While Peter’s new job was a minor plot point in comparison, it leaves the reader curious about how it’s all connected because, with Spider-Man, it’s always connected.
Final Thoughts
This is a great first issue, hooking the reader in with beautiful art, fun moments, and plenty of mystery, but it gets slightly held down by the way it relies very heavily on Spider-Man tropes, making it feel repetitive for fans.
