Spider-Boy #18 Review

 

Writer: Dan Slott

Artist: Paco Medina

Colorist: Erick Arciniega

Letterer: Joe Caramagna

Cover Artists: Paco Medina & Edgar Delgado; Russell Dauterman

Designer: Adam Del Re

Editors: Tom Groneman, Nick Lowe & CB Cebulski

Publisher: Marvel

Price: $4.99

Release Date: April 2, 2025

 

Boy-Spider may share his arachnid and human DNA, but he threatens Bailey’s relationship with his mother. So, when Bailey returns from Madripoor to find Boy-Spider has stolen his life, the Walloping Web-Snapper has nothing good to say about an honorless identity thief. But while his half-brother tries to shatter his life, Killionaire wants to blow up the homeless shelter.

 

Bailey helps Boy-Spider repel the Bada-Bros’ attacks. But in the process, Bailey loses his mother and brother to Stillwell Farms. How will Bailey adjust to splitting his time between Tabitha Briggs and Christina Xu’s parents? And who will Killionaire hire to attack the FEAST Center next? Let's slip on our unstable molecule sneakers, leap into Spider-Boy #18, and find out!

 

Story

Madame Monstrosity experimented on Bailey in her secret laboratory at Stillwell Farms. Eli eased Bailey's distress with humor. But when Bailey tried to reciprocate, Madame Monstrosity took Bailey's joke as a suggestion. Bailey watched, feeling responsible, as Madame Monstrosity merged Eli's human DNA with an elephant and a rhinoceros. In Spider-Boy #18, Dan Slott transports us back in time. We see Bailey and his mom before they became test subjects and learn how Bailey befriended the boy who became Hellifino.

 

Spider-Man ordered Bailey not to fight A-List Villains. But Bailey lives in a homeless shelter founded by Mr Negative. The super A-Lister may not run FEAST anymore. But the Chinese gangster and sometime philanthropist became Mr. Negative when someone experimented on him. So, in the worst traditions of paying it forward, Spider-Boy #18 reveals the gangster’s role in Bailey, Tabitha, and Eli becoming Madame Monstrosity’s playthings.

 

As Mr Negative and Bailey’s lives are bound to FEAST, so is Christina Xu’s. Bailey first met the girl when Inner Demons pursued her through Chinatown. Bailey defended Christina against the masked men in business suits. Then he learned Christina carried one of Mr Negative’s keys. When Killionaire’s Bada-Bros prepped the homeless shelter for a radical makeover (likely involving calculating square roots), Christina discovered more keys. Now, Christina has seventeen of them. And this time, she won't settle for Spider-Boy's previous method of shielding her from the Inner Demons' swords.

 

Art

Erick Arciniega paints the FEAST Center in reddish brown. Pink posters adorn Bailey's bedroom. Rose smoke surrounds the black, white, and gray gangsters who invade the homeless shelter. Bailey's golden bear with a red bow tie remains behind, while Bailey awakens in a gray van beside a boy wearing a red jacket in Spider-Boy #18.

 

After Mr Negative takes a sword to one of his Inner Demons, he produces a gold key evoking the Hydra symbol. While Tabitha picks up her vocalizing cat, dogs gaze up at Christina Xu clutching a bag of keys. Inner Demons hide like Jawas hunting R2-D2 as Christina walks beneath glowing red paper lanterns. When Spider-Boy arrives in his red-and-blue costume, he and Christina discover why the Inner Demons wear masks.

 

As characters speak uppercase black letters into dialogue balloons, Mr Negative speaks white words into black balloons. Words grow bold for intonation, shrink for lowered voices, swell for volume, and change colors for emphasis. The Chinese gangster and Madame Monstrosity merit stylized introductions. Joe Caramagna helps us hear hissing canisters produce coughing, punching, kicking, and Spider-Man's characteristic thwipping. Thanks to Marvel Comics for providing a copy for review.

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

Insights into Bailey’s past reveal mysteries surrounding Mr Negative and throw the 10-year-old into moral quandaries most adults cannot figure out. When Spider-Man discovers what Bailey and Christina are up to, he may not take the kids out for pizza and ice cream. But given Peter Parker's improving situation with Tabitha Briggs, the future is wide open in Spider-Boy #18.

 

Rating 9.6/10

 

To look inside see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.