Spider-Boy #7 Review

 

Writers: Dan Slott

Artists: Paco Medina

Colorist: Erick Arciniega

Letterer: Joe Caramagna & Cory Petit

Cover Artists: Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado; David Baldeón; Natacha Bustos; Rahzzah

Publisher: Marvel

Price: $4.99

Release Date: May 29, 2023

 

Madame Monstrosity changed Bailey Briggs into Spider-Boy, his friend Eli into Hellifino, and his mother Tabitha into her feline servant Tabby. Now, she's transformed his friend Christina into a Pigeon. But can Madame Monstrosity change any of the Humanimals back? Let's activate our anti-genetic modification shields, thwip into Spider-Boy #7, and find out!

 

Story

After Madame Monstrosity transforms people into Humanimals, she forces them to work for her. Madame Monstrosity promises to change them back into Humans after a period of indentured servitude. Sadly, she doesn’t know how.

 

Perhaps she might find the answer if she looked for it. But Madame Monstrosity prefers to dabble. To paraphrase the High-Evolutionary, she's not a creator. She merges animals and Humans to observe the results. In Spider-Boy #7, she wants to know how Spider-Boy made her forget him. Madame Monstrosity can’t be bothered with time-consuming scientific tests. So, the mad scientist opts for more direct methods.

 

Yet when Madame Monstrosity tortures Spider-Boy, she reveals her greatest secret. Bailey's Spider-Sense also detects that Madame Monstrosity is in danger! How can Spider-Boy use this revelation to help his friends and escape Madame Mostrosity’s grasp?

 

In Spider-Boy #7, Madame Mostrosity’s Humanimals face a choice. Either they accept who they are or cling to the belief that Madame Monstrosity will return them to their original forms. It is a test of their character. Will they remain slaves to Yesterday or accept who they are now? The Humanimals must choose to protect their friends or bolster the influence of a powerful ruler.

 

As for Bailey Briggs, he must use the knowledge he’s gained to help others. So, should he find a way to help Madame Monstrosity? Or should he place the mad scientist in danger?

 

What a choice! Or, to quote Squirrel Girl, Holy Macadamia Nuts!

 

 

 

Art

Dan Slott packs his story with characters, forcing Paco Medina to populate panels with people. Medina brings his A-Game to Spider-Boy #7, as Toy Soldier confers with Jarvis, Captain America, Thor, Squirrel Girl, Spider-Man, and Miles Morales in the entrance hall to the Jarvis Lounge. Madame Monstrosity activates her cattle prod with a smile while Spider-Boy's lips part to reveal his Tombstone teeth. Electricity arcs off the prod, and an image of the High Evolutionary appears before the glowing laboratory lights.

 

Tabby looks confused and frightened as Boy-Spider hugs his feline mother. Braving the disapproval of her porcine and equine supervisors, Christina pauses while hoeing a field as Tabby and Boy-Spider approach. Then Toy Soldier and Thor swoop in, preceding an Avengers quinjet. Drop your garden tools, Humanimals! It’s Hammer Time!

 

 

 

 

Erick Arciniega lavishes a loaded palette on Spider-Boy #7. The rising sun fills the sky with pink, purple, and blue as a carrier pigeon joins Spider-Man on his morning thwip. The Avengers’ colorful uniforms stand out from the brown and tan walls in the waiting area. Overhead lights illuminate Spider-Boy as he crouches in his cage in the gray laboratory. When Madame Masque departs, she slams the brown wooden door behind her. Despite her house’s Victorian exterior, the gray laboratory, halls, and stairways evoke a medieval castle.

 

As Dan Slott populates Spider-Boy #7 with so many characters, Joe Caramagna & Cory Petit do a Spidey team-up to thwip uppercase lettering into white dialogue balloons. Toy soldier gets green italicized lettering in contrast to the dominant black, while extreme emotions may color words or balloon borders. After wielding electricity, one of Madame Monstrosity’s balloons begins to melt. Thankfully, the arriving pigeons and their large Coos in clingy light blue balloons transform Christina's beak into a smile.

 

Thanks to Marvel Comics for providing a copy for review.

 

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

When Spider-Boy needs rescuing from Madame Monstrosity's lair, his friends discover Bailey’s greatest superpower. Amid all the Whoing and Cooing, Spider-Man battles a Crocodile with a flamethrower, Squirrel Girl gets a Toy-Boy, and Madame Monstrosity asks Bailey for a Forget-Me-Not in Spider-Boy #7.

 

Rating 9.6/10

 

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.