Writer: Justina Ireland
Artist: Gleb Melnikov
Colorist: Marcio Menyz
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Cover Artists: Ed McGuinness & Marcio Menyz; Bengus (Marvel Vs Capcom 2); Skottie Young; Stonehouse
Editors: Kaitlyn Lindtvedt, Tom Groneman, Nick Lowe & C B Cebulski
Publisher: Marvel
Price: $4.99
Release Date: December 25, 2024
Doctor Doom selected Spider-Man as Earth's Champion. But whether he battles supervillains, struggles to keep a good-paying job, or maintains a treasured relationship, even when Peter Parker wins, he loses. Spider-Man has won three battles against the scions of Cyttorak. Yet each fight ended with his death. Can Peter break his losing-while-winning cycle? Let's thwip into Amazing Spider-Man #64 and find out!
Story
Peter Parker is no stranger to losing. That's why he works so hard to win. His Uncle Ben instilled this refusal to give up during Peter's adolescence. While conferring with Doctor Strange after his recent bout with Cyrios, Peter asks how he can improve. Doctor Strange tries to keep Peter focused on the prize. Thanks to the Reeds Of Raggadoor, dying doesn’t matter. But Peter must win each battle to prevent Cyttorak from unleashing pain and misery on Earth.
Unfortunately, Peter Parker isn't the Sorcerer Supreme, so he can't envision the contest like Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom. Worse, Doom relegated this duty to Peter as if defending his planet against destruction were unimportant. So, Peter seeks reasons to keep pushing, only seeing the constant, unending demands of being Spider-Man. Whatever trials beset him, Spider-Man can never fail. Nor can Peter take a raincheck in his personal life or crime-fighting career. Peter Parker doesn’t need Norman Osborn’s help to enhance his spider senses in Amazing Spider-Man #64. With more battles awaiting him and unable to choose the time and place of those bouts with Cyttorak’s scions, the dial of Peter’s spider-sense rises to eleven.
Peter's been trying to be more proactive lately. His attempts to throw Tombstone in jail may not have succeeded, but his relationship with Shay is going well. Unlike Black Cat, Shay Marken is a good fit for his life. Like Aunt May, Shay prefers helping people to hijinks and caring for others to crowns. So even though he can't be honest with her about his Spider-Man duties (at least not yet), Peter Parker is winning the battle of life. Unfortunately, he can't see it. In Justina Ireland's story, the greatest danger Peter faces is the inevitability of failure, given Peter's impatience to win each battle on his terms and get on with his life.
Art
As Doctor Strange hovers in Peter's apartment, his blue astral form enhances his cold dismissals of his student's questions. Then, Randy Robertson backtracks on their agreement, insisting that Peter's colorful career must include photographs featuring blue and red. All the green-and-yellow villains that Spider-Man battles in Randy's collection evoke the device Peter built with Doctor Strange while anticipating his fights with Callix and Cyra. Merciless Marcio Menyz won't let Peter catch a breather at the luminous Gallery 862, as the colors adorning the owner and her father remind Peter of Cyttorak’s scions.
While Callix and Cyra study Earth’s champion, Callix talks big in Amazing Spider-Man #64. But unlike his otherworldly canines, Callix’s body language reveals his reluctance to fight. Gleb Melnikov shows Peter's eagerness to tackle his next challenge, leaping into battle fueled by confidence and anger. Yet while Spider-Man wails on a demigod, Shay's downcast expression and Aunt May's drawn features reveal the cost of keeping secrets from those we love.
Joe Caramagna’s thwips uppercase black lettering into dialogue balloons and red-edged narrative boxes. He bespells blue-edged balloons with blue words. The dialogue grows bold for inflection and rarely shrinks. White block letters guide us through this linear story about Peter fighting to keep his head above water. Beasts whose bite is worse than their bark fill scenes with vibrant vocalizing. Sound effects accompany Spider-Man’s efforts to level up and avoid an agonizing death in Amazing Spider-Man #64. Thanks to Marvel for providing a copy for review.
Final Thoughts
Peter grows so inured to the constant battles with demigods that he doesn't realize how fortunate he has been. He is so irritated by how these contests were foisted on him that Peter complains to the astral form of Doctor Strange about enduring the pain of each "temporary" death. So, when Peter attacks Callix in anger, the demigod hits him where it hurts most in Amazing Spider-Man #64. Yet, as Peter battles his latest foe, he fails to notice the similarities between him and a son overlooked by an uncaring father.
Rating 9.8/10
To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.
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