Writer: Joe Kelly
Pencilers: John Romita Jr with Todd Nauck
Inker: Scott Hanna with Todd Nauck
Colorists: Marcio Menyz with Erick Arciniega
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Cover Artists: John Romita Jr, Scott Hanna & Marcio Menyz; Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado; Dan Panosian; Gabriele Dell’Otto; Jeff Dekal
Designer: Jay Bowen
Editors: Kaitlyn Lindtvedt, Tom Groneman, Nick Lowe, & CB Cebulski
Publisher: Marvel
Price: $4.99
Release Date: July 23, 2025
When the new Kingpin of New York tipped Peter off to an illegal weapons deal, Black Cat decided to tag along. Hellgate arrives mid-transaction and kills the Queen's Cola goons when Spider-Man hesitates to parley. Spider-Man owes his strength more to radioactive spider-venom than gamma radiation, but such slaughter enrages him.
Hellgate embarked on an epic quest to confer with the Prince of Spider-Silk. Instead, Spider-Man threatens him. Hellgate relishes testing his mettle against the warrior that Nikodimu sent him to meet. But can the inhabitants of New York City withstand their battle? Or will the Hobgoblin's soldiers be the first casualties in a war of the worlds? Let's thwip into Amazing Spider-Man #8 and see!
Story
Peter loved his uncle Ben, even if they often clashed. Still, his uncle's teachings return to Peter as he battles Hellgate. The fighting grows so fraught that Spider-Man struggles to quip. But his every movement is tempered by his uncle's teachings.
Hellgate thought he would meet someone who exercised great power. He envisioned an unstoppable Spidernaut who prevented cosmic calamities like the Blight. Instead, he finds a man clad in a close-fitting costume who hesitates to fight and wastes his energy shielding those unworthy of being warriors.
In Amazing Spider-Man #8, Joe Kelly reminds us how power swells our self-esteem while diminishing our view of others' importance. His story also reminds us that true power comes from helping those in need. It's a lesson that Peter has taken to heart. As Peter follows his uncle's teachings by protecting New Yorkers, another person senses he is in danger. She should be sharing this battle with him. Instead, fate has taken her on a different course. Ironically, she and her spouse confront the same difficulties Uncle Ben and Aunt May faced when they took in a young boy and raised him as their own.
Art
John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna, and Todd Nauck reveal the brutality of Spider-Man's battle with Hellgate amid the "insignificant" people infesting this realm. Hellgate's armor evokes the fabled knights of yore and an Asgardian god. Peter’s punches dislodge Hellgate’s helmet and draw blood in Amazing Spider-Man #8. Yet the fire flowing through the volcanic warrior’s cooled and crackling lava-skin, and the flames he unleashes, remind us that Hellgate feeds on conflict, and that anger makes him stronger.
Marcio Menyz and Erick Arciniega fill the linear page flow with the colors of a new day. Spider-Man's intense conflict with Hellgate and the heat he radiates softens nearby colors by overexposure. Black And White memories help center Peter. Yet glowing red and blue circles remind him of a time he teamed with Mayor Cage to take the law into his own hands. As buildings turn to rubble, and smoke rises amid the conflict, a silver-clad warrior enters the gray fray in Amazing Spider-Man #8.
Block letters locate us in time and space, while narrative boxes remind us how long Peter has battled this warrior from another realm. As Peter shares his thoughts in red-edged narrative boxes, dots flock to Hellgate’s dialogue. Joe Caramagna's black uppercase letters in white balloons grow bold for intonation, swell for raised voices, and shrink for lowered voices. The enlarged colored dialogue reminds us that Peter doesn't want to fight, while gray letters in gray balloons tell us why. Sound effects accentuate the collateral damage Peter struggles to prevent as his opponent's movements prophesy his doom. Thanks to Marvel for providing a review copy.
Final Thoughts
While Peter battles a warrior from another realm, the people in his web sense he is in danger. Amazing Spider-Man #8 introduces another potential hero and reminds us how George Washington's fledgling army defeated a superior empire.
Rating 9.6/10
To look inside see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.
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