In this review of The Amazing Spider-Man #31, the Parker Family deals with the fallout of last issue’s reveal that Cormac Crane is the son of Aunt May and Uncle Ben.
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #31
Written by: Joe Kelly
Art and Main Cover: Patrick Gleason
Variant Covers: Paulo Siqueira, Lee Bermejo, German Peralta, Luciano Vecchio, Francesco Manna, Marcus To
Page Count: 27 pages
Release Date: June 17, 2026
This review contains spoilers
The Amazing Spider-Man #31 begins with views from an underground fight ring, dubbed “The Blood Market”. Hosted by Tombstone, it’s held to declare the winner of auctions. The auctioning is for the gear of various supervillains who have lost it due to unforeseen circumstances. Eventually, Spider-Man joins the fun to retrieve The Shocker’s gloves.
The Amazing Spider-Man #31 features 2 plots and jumps in and out of both. In the other, Cormac Crane doubles down on his assertion that he’s the son of May and Benjamin Parker. Ric proposes a counterargument, stating May is unable to bear children. May provides a backstory, stating her heart condition prevented successful pregnancy, suffering multiple miscarriages.
Notwithstanding the risks of potential death, Ben and May kept trying. A local superstition during a trip to Ireland made it successful. But unfortunately, May gave birth to a son, who was declared a neonatal death due to respiratory distress. May states Uncle Ben took care of the burial, and eventually the two forcefully moved on.
Aunt May tells Peter that despite the loss of her son, she’s been overjoyed with raising Peter as her son. She hands Cormac his birth certificate, which states his birth name: Richard Benjamin Parker.
Back at the fight ring, Spider-Man engages in a fight with the Vulture. At the end of the issue, Raleith appears at the venue, presumably to help Peter.
Analysis
For me, it’s hard to properly judge the Cormac plotline at this point in time. The fact that May states Ben took care of the burial, yet Cormac (or Richard) is here clearly implies some type of foul play. I can’t properly evaluate my feelings on the writing of it until I have all the details.
I can say though, that it would most likely be poorly received for me if Cormac is not actually the son of the Parkers. There’s the presentation of genetics tests and birth certificates. Of course, they can be faked, but it would just seem unnecessarily convoluted. Especially when this plotline could add a new dimension to Peter and May’s relationship—as she’ll have a son who doesn’t constantly bail on her—as well as the fact it hasn’t changed May’s love for Peter whatsoever.
I loved May’s comments on raising Peter. It’s one of my favorite character relationships in comics, so hearing that it’s unconditional love, and not conditional because Pete filled the void of a son, is really nice.
On the topic of the delivery, the first person POV during Cornac’s birth was extremely well-crafted. Looking at the unresponsive baby from May’s eyes as she holds her hands out is gut-wrenching and immediately invokes empathy. Patrick Gleason does a wonderful job here, and I hope he becomes the main artist of the book. The blue and white color scale Marcio Menyz illustrates it in also matches the blue and white of the birth certificate, subtly carrying on the parentage theme.
The fights at the underground fight ring were underwhelming in my opinion, because they were barely shown. I liked the first fight between Tarantula and Montana, but it was too short. Fights featuring Spider-Man were glossed over in order to return to the Parkers plotline. Here’s to hoping they get more of a focus during the next issue with the arrival of Rarlith.
Final Thoughts
The Amazing Spider-Man #31 elaborates a bit on the Parkers and Cormac Crane plotline, but ends up creating a bigger, potentially confusing, mystery than initially thought of. It remains to be seen how well it’ll be followed up on.
