Amazing Spider-Man #1 Review

 

Writer: Joe Kelly

Artists: Pepe Larraz & John Romita Jr

Inker: Scott Hanna

Colorist: Marte Gracia & Marcio Menyz

Letterer: Joe Caramagna

Cover Artists: Pepe Larraz & Marte Gracia; Cafu; Gil Kane, Josef Rubinstein & Morry Hollowell; Greg Land & Rachelle Rosenberg; Lee Bermejo; Mark Chiarello; Ryan Stegman & Frank Martin; David Marquez & Jesus Aburtov; Nimit Malavia; Simone Di Meo

Designer: Jay Bowen

Editors: Kaitlyn Lindtvedt, Tom Groneman, Nick Lowe & C B Cebulski

Publisher: Marvel

Price: $5.99

Release Date: April 9, 2025

 

Cyra’s endurance test stripped Peter Parker of the will to live. Her brother's attack ripped away his ability to live. A dose of a demigod’s revivifying vitality helped him knock the soul rot from the X-Men and yank the Blight from our world. Peter resolved to never falter in his commitment to others again. As Juggernaut told him, “Don’t think. Just do.”

 

Peter may not miss practicing magic, but he yearns for the security of a regular paycheck. So, Peter hurtles into a Fastball Special interviewing spree while singing “Don’t Stop Me Now” with Freddie Mercury. Doctor Doom made him Earth’s Champion. Cyttorak’s scion Cyra made him the unstoppable Spidernaut. But can Peter Parker land a job? And how are Norman Osborn’s efforts to shut down Oscorp going? Let's update our résumés, leap into Amazing Spider-Man #1, and see!

 

 

 

Story

Forced to choose between Spider-Man and himself, Peter Parker resolved to prioritize his relationship with Shay Marken. Then came his battles with a crime lord and the angry children of a silent god. Peter wants to revive his promises to Shay and make Aunt May proud. But Peter’s past rides before him when he sends out his résumés. His spotty attendance record and association with a supervillain CEO make him as alluring as Sam Witwicky’s medal from Barack Obama.

 

All this begs one question in Joe Kelly’s story. Why does Peter Parker need a job? Peter already has a full-time crime-fighting career. He could claim a check for a hundred grand from First National if he became a Hero For Hire. And that’s just the beginning of his moneymaking options. But he cares more about his friends and loved ones than his happiness. As Peter shields them from recriminations through anonymity, he must take the abuse dispensed by small-minded people holding great corporate power in Amazing Spider-Man #1.

 

As Spider-Man spends his life beating up supervillains, he also looks after their interests. While the Green Goblin rises immediately to mind, the Rhino’s plight comes into focus in Amazing Spider-Man #1. Aleksei may never get over Oksana’s loss, but others, like his rival Screwball, want to help "Vic"  move forward. When Spider-Man tries to understand Rhino’s dilemma, he risks falling under another person's arresting influence.

 

 

 

Art

While Peter dresses for success, he also models what prospective employers want to see. As he shines brightly during interviews, images of his past, his other career, and his everyday failures thwip through his mind. Aunt May looks rejuvenated from the Reeds of Raggadorr. Her nephew's prospects excite her as he hangs a photo. Pepe Larraz shows how Peter’s buoyant attitude during his whirlwind job hunt restores Aunt May’s faith in him. Yet when someone throws her nephew a bone, a childhood memory makes Peter wonder at his abrupt turn of fortune.

 

Marte Gracia reveals the featureless world Peter fights to fit into, with gray, purple, or green interviewers questioning the young aspirant wearing a gray suit. As Peter enters a world of commerce, plate glass windows fill the lobby with light. The highrise windows are so clean that Kenneth McCarry could have cleaned them. Yet their green tinge suggests avarice and corruption and reminds us that Peter’s thoughts are never far from one business leader in Amazing Spider-Man #1.

 

Joe Caramagna thwips uppercase black and blue lettering into dialogue balloons and narrative boxes. The dialogue grows bold for inflection, swells and changes color for volume, and shrinks for lowered voices. A frosty balloon greets an unwelcome reminder. White letters in edgy black balloons signal a villain's return, while one of Peter's remarks fills the air with yellow laughter. Sound effects enhance a persistent phone, someone ringing Spider-Man's bell, and the booming and crashing that busy executives tune out in their pursuit of corporate profits. 

 

 

 

Death To The Tyrant: Story

When Norman Osborn brought him a pizza, Peter took a study break to hear his friend’s plans.

Joe Kelly addresses class conflict in this five-page follow-up. Norman Osborn has much to atone for in Amazing Spider-Man #1. He recognizes he has inflicted great harm upon New York City. Yet Norman jokes about the pain he inflicted on others. The Soul Rot may not have infected Norman Osborn. Yet his resultant anger when another person expresses how Norman injured him suggests that power and wealth have inoculated Norman from empathizing with others.

 

Death To The Tyrant: Art

Marcio Menyz makes the Oscorp sign glow. Overhead lights illuminate the beige press room. Security guards in blue flank Norman as he stands before the brown wooden podium. John Romita Jr and Scott Hanna show a crowd of colorfully dressed seated reporters and standing photographers. More guards stand along the back wall. No one smiles or radiates warmth for Norman. Frantic action pursues painful drama as Marcio Menyz’s vibrant, uniform color explodes.  

 

 

 

Teaser: Story

In the Arizona badlands, scientists argue in Amazing Spider-Man #1. This final four-page story addresses the ongoing battle in science between long-established theories and reinterpretations based on new evidence. One man's controversial idea stands to be validated more rapidly than Alfred Wegener's hypothesis of continental drift.

 

Teaser: Art

Clad in brown, yellow, and green, the surveyors leave their dome tents. They gather before a hoodoo, pointing and photographing the sandstone sculpture. The clouds in the yellow and orange sky reflect the smaller dust clouds floating along the ground amid this painted desert. A man carrying a handheld movie camera and notebook contrasts with another scientist filming with his phone. Their argument serves as the opening notes in a symphony accompanied by bass drums amid colors that conjure the beauty and mysteries of the American Southwest. Thanks to Marvel for providing a copy for review.

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

As Peter Parker searches for a new place to spend his days, a strange development brings a mighty villain low. When Spider-Man leaps to meet this new challenge, titans arise to shake New York’s webbed wonders in Amazing Spider-Man #1.

 

Rating 9.3/10

 

To look inside see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.