Marvel & Disney: What If...? Goofy Became Spider-Man #1 Review

 

Writers: Steve Behling & Riccardo Secchi

Artist: Francesco D’Ippolito

Colorist: Lucio Ruvidotti

Letterer: Laura Tartaglia

Cover Artists: Francesco D’Ippolito & Lucio Ruvidotti; Andrea Freccero; Phil Noto; Ron Lim & Israel Silva; Skottie Young

Designer: Kat Walkington

Editors: Mikey J Basso, Mark Paniccia & CB Cebulski

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Price: $4.99

Release Date: July 30, 2025

 

When the school day ends, Goofy’s fellow students invite him out for the evening. Goofy appreciates the offer, but others depend on him. So, he returns home to tend to his insects. How will Goofy's love of insects impact his homelife? And how might a spider-bite alter his future? Let's grab a slice of Aunt Tessie's pie, leap into Marvel & Disney: What If...? Goofy Became Spider-Man #1, and see!

 

Story

In Steve Behling and Riccardo Secchi’s story, Goofy lives in a house with his aunt Tessie. She awakens him each morning, makes him his meals, drives him to and from school, and helps him pursue his interests. Others might denigrate his time-consuming idiosyncrasies, but she finds Goofy's approach to life charming.

 

In Marvel & Disney: What If...? Goofy Became Spider-Man #1, Goofy is fascinated with entomology. He looks forward to each class with Professor Gyro. Like Aunt Tessie, Professor Gyro looks after Goofy. As his top student, he encourages Goofy to apply the same focus and vigor to his other classes. But Goofy single-mindedly pursues his chief interest, and no one forces him to divert time from what he loves.

 

While Goofy fixates on insects, he's not self-centered. When he sees others in trouble, he tries to lend a hand. Goofy also respects life in all its forms. It would be easy to discount Goofy as clueless in Marvel & Disney: What If...? Goofy Became Spider-Man #1. Becoming "Spider-Goofy" may initially go to his head. But his dedication to protecting others helps him become a Spider-Goofy that other Spider-Men would readily work alongside. That is, if they can get used to Goofy's catchphrase.

 

 

 

Art

Goofy wears a red vest and blue slacks, along with a turtleneck shirt, gloves, and a hat. Aunt Tessie dresses in a long-sleeve blouse and skirt. Like her hair, Francesco D’Ippolito gives her kitchen a 1960s sensibility. The Pterygota swarm that nests in her cupboard cleans a pie plate before flying through the window to enjoy their day. Goofy counts his bees off with his fingers as he greets them each morning.

 

Lucio Ruvidotti lavishes a palette of cheery pastels on Marvel & Disney: What If...? Goofy Became Spider-Man #1. Professor Gyro stands out in his yellow hair, white face, and orange beak. As he points to the colorful chemical formula on his whiteboard, his red shirt, blue slacks, green hat, and white gloves link him with his most devoted student. Green clothes, hats, interior flooring, grass, foliage, and kitchen cupboards imbue the urban setting with a pastoral feel.

 

Laura Tartaglia fills yellow narrative boxes and white dialogue balloons with black uppercase letters. The yellow boxes introduce characters, locate readers in time and space, and clarify Goofy's entomological remarks. Words grow bold for intonation, and Goofy's thoughts float in puffy clouds as he explores his newfound abilities. Sound effects accompany moments of pain, sorrow, and elation in Disney’s reimagining of Amazing Fantasy #15. Thanks to Marvel Comics for providing a review copy.

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

While Goofy shares a love of science with Peter Parker, he has more A-hyucks than anger, as his friends long to include him in their activities. But while Goofy Parker shines, Uncle Ben threatens to steal readers' hearts in Marvel & Disney: What If...? Goofy Became Spider-Man #1.

 

Rating: 9.8/10

 

To look inside see my review at Comic Book Dispatch. 

 

Amazing Spider-Man #70 Review

 

Writer: Joe Kelly

Penciler: Ed McGuinness

Inkers: Mark Farmer & Cliff Rathburn

Artist: Cafu

Colorists: Alex Sinclair, Marcio Menyz & Frank D’Armata

Letterer: Joe Caramagna

Cover Artists: Ed McGuinness, Cliff Rathburn & Marcio Menyz; Skottie Young; Peach Momoko; Frank Miller & Alex Sinclair; Iban Coello & Jesus Aburtov; Björn Barends; Brent Schoonover & Rachelle Rosenberg; Netease (Marvel Rivals)

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

Publisher: Marvel

Price: $5.99

Release Date: March 26, 2025

 

Callix slew his siblings and Spider-Man. After threatening to murder his surviving sister unless she joined him, Callix left Cyra with the corpses to attack their father. Cyra never craved power like Callix. Instead, Cyttorak’s games made her feel like nothing mattered. Spider-Man's reverence for life taught Cyra to care about others.

 

So Cyra makes a pact with the Avatar Of Death. The scion offers Phil Coulson her immortality and magical power to revive Peter. Will Cyra’s sacrifice be worth it? And how will Peter Parker’s life change when he becomes the Unstoppable Spidernaut? Let's slip on our hazmat suits, leap into Amazing Spider-Man #70, and find out!

 

 

 

Story

The Blight is a force of nature. While Cyttorak sensed its hunger to devour life, he also felt the vitality of the universe. Cyttorak’s sensitivity to life and how the Blight yearned to destroy it tore at his heart. The god walled away this unendurable pain and fear by distancing himself from life, playing games with his family, and telling himself he didn’t care about anything or anyone.

 

When Dr Strange wanted the power of the Crimson Casket, he discovered the danger of the Blight. He made an offer Cyttorak could not refuse. Why not make a game of protecting life? All this worked fine until Dr Doom became Sorcerer Supreme. The Ruler of Latervia (and perhaps the world) didn't want to protect Earth's Borders and pretend the cosmic danger didn't exist. Strange's approach managed the menace and saved lives. But it also kicked the can down the road for future generations to take care of. In Joe Kelly's story, Doom appoints someone who reveres life and would never make a game out of protecting it. So what if a few million people die because Spider-Man won't play by Dr Strange's rules? Doom is building a better future.

 

In Amazing Spider-Man #70, the Blight festers in anyone who wonders if life is worth fighting for. It feeds off negative energy, empowering people to kill those who hurt them. And who can hurt you more than the people you love? Peter has tried Cyra and Cyttorak’s way of dealing with the Blight. Now, as the Spidernaut, Peter discovers a more direct way of combatting it. When his approach works against the symptoms of infection, Peter channels all his power to tackle the source of the disease.

 

 

 

Art

Spidernaut travels through realms of reality to strike stratospheric Callix. Peter’s punch hurtles Callix back to Earth as a crimson streak. The displaced air and explosion shocks Dr Doom more than the former Sorcerer Supreme. Humming with power, Peter Parker returns to Earth. His first act is to clasp Juggernaut’s shoulder. Callix, beaten but defiant, rises from the impact crater to radiate the Blight like a star in Amazing Spider-Man #70.

 

While the Blight’s infection spreads across him as red eyes and black appendages, Callix thwips barbed webs reminiscent of how Spider-Girl emulates Spider-Boy's powers. As the Blight distorts Callix’s appearance, its massive brown body hangs over New York like a MUTO, turning the sky yellow, orange, and brown. Infused by Cyra’s crimson magic, Spidernaut no longer wears Doom’s arcane armor. Instead, Peter wears a Juggy-shaped version of his familiar red-and-blue. 

 

 

 

When Spidernaut conjures a circle of blue and leaves a blue streak behind, Dr Strange questions his colleague in Amazing Spider-Man #70. Rather than answer, Doom turns away from the blue Dr Strange. Doom’s gray mask lightens, along with the yellow and brown sky.

 

While Alex Sinclair and Marcio Menyz lavish a loaded palette on Ed McGuinness, Mark Farmer, and Cliff Rathburn’s art, 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 giant shout emphasizes the power coursing through Spider-Man, while letters in pink balloons convey agony. Stylized lowercase letters in yellow boxes infuse a historical perspective on these apocalyptic events. Thanks to Marvel for providing a copy for review.

 

 

 

Cash Grab: Story

As Spider-Man pursues thieves, one opens a bag and hurls money from the hoverdisk. When the windfall causes pedestrians' attention to wander, Spider-Man abandons his pursuit to protect them. Joe Kelly's optimistic five-page story in Amazing Spider-Man #70 ponders how institutions weather tragedies that crush individuals.

 

Cash Grab: Art

Laser beams streak past Spidey as he thwips through a flock of greenbacks. Soldiers in black wearing Mandalorian helmets stand atop a hovering metal disk. Spider-Man asks a police officer to grab fluttering currency as he makes an impression on the patrol car roof. Cafu's art and Frank D’Armata’s coloring lend a dreamlike quality to Peter's struggle to live a double life as a superhero with a secret identity and foster friendships, a family, and a successful upfront career. 

 

 

Final Thoughts

Adopting a different suit helps Peter Parker identify with one of his greatest enemies in Amazing Spider-Man #70. Drawing on Dr Strange’s tutelage, Cyra’s endurance test, and Cyttorak’s crimson magic, Peter's courage and selflessness inspire others.

 

Rating 9.6/10

 

To look inside see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

Amazing Spider-Man #69 Review

 

Writer: Joe Kelly

Penciler: Ed McGuinness

Inker: Mark Farmer

Colorist: Marcio Menyz

Letterer: Joe Caramagna

Cover Artists: Ed McGuinness, Cliff Rathburn & Marcio Menyz; Skottie Young; Amanda Conner & Paul Mounts; Ben Harvey; Netease (Marvel Rivals)

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

Publisher: Marvel

Price: $4.99

Release Date: March 12, 2025

 

It felt like nothing mattered until Peter Parker saw Randy, Shay, Aunt May, and another volunteer sprawled before the FEAST center. Peter gave up his remaining Reeds of Raggadorr to revive them. Aunt May even thanked Spider-Man! But the danger to Earth remains. Spider-Man changed the future by shrugging off his role as Earth’s Champion. Callix broke Cyttorak and Dr Strange's pact by killing his brothers and sisters. Can Peter defend Earth against the all-consuming Blight? Let's don our arcane armor, leap into Amazing Spider-Man #69, and find out!

 

Story

Sadly, Peter Parker lies dead before the throne of Cyttorak, slain by the scion Callix. Peter could have survived the attack by keeping the Reeds of Raggadorr in reserve. Dr Strange would have. Instead, Peter went from seeing death as an inconvenience to giving up his life for others. It’s a fitting end for Manhattan’s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. But right now, Earth needs a champion.

 

All this began because Dr Strange craved power. In Amazing Spider-Man #69, Dr Strange returns to help people in New York. But once again, he travels there in his astral form. The former Sorcerer Supreme seems more interested in scoring points with Dr Doom than helping people. Dr Strange could have helped Peter more throughout this contest. Or he could have asked Dr Doom to let him compete in the Contest Of Scions he founded with Cyttorak.

 

While Dr Strange comes off badly in Joe Kelly's story, Phil Coulson shines as the Avatar Of Death. Like Dr Strange, Cyttorak plays games with people’s lives. Most parents resort to psychological games at one time or another to help their children find their way. But Cyttorak has overplayed his hand, and now Callix acts like the leader of a country the United Nations refuses to recognize. So, Callix conquers other countries, and with each conquest, he asks, "Do you see me now?" Phil Coulson pierces the web of illusion Cyttorak has spun. In Amazing Spider-Man #69, he guides Cyra toward the truth like a parent should, without manipulation or games. 

 

 

 

Art

The monstrous Blight froze Spider-Man with terror in Cyttorak’s throne room. Now, it hovers over New York City, turning the sky orange as the X-Men fight. Cyttorak awaits acclaim while Cyra kneels over Spider-Man. As his slain siblings sprawl on a network of long, thin blades, Callix’s white face evokes a mask. But unlike Hallow's Eve's bag of tricks, his isn't easily removed.

 

Doom and Dr Strange share Callix's disregard for gravity in Amazing Spider-Man #69. The silver Sorcerer Supreme resembles an armored Green Goblin adorned with a red and gold cape. His yellow energy bursts deliver healing and hurt in equal measure. Yellow radiance also joins the red and blue energy that floods Cyttorak’s throne room, helping and harming those it touches.

 

 

 

While Marcio Menyz lavishes a loaded palette on Ed McGuinness and Mark Farmer’s art, Joe Caramagna thwips uppercase black lettering into dialogue balloons and narrative boxes. The dialogue grows bold for inflection, swells and changes color for volume, and rarely shrinks in this nearly sound effect-free issue. Coulson's blue-edged narrative boxes suggest a link with Dr Strange's (and another character's) blue dialogue. Thanks to Marvel for providing a copy for review.

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

Cyttorak refused to tell his children and subjects like Juggernaut what he expected of them. Cyra misinterpreted her father's intentions. In Amazing Spider-Man #69, Cyra revises her opinion about her father and what he tried to teach her. It's a revelation that helps the godling understand why she continued to observe Spider-Man after their battle ended.

 

Rating 9.5/10

 

To look inside see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

Amazing Spider-Man #64 Review

 

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.

Amazing Spider-Man #63 Review

 

Writer: Justina Ireland

Artist: Gleb Melnikov

Colorist: Marcio Menyz

Letterer: Joe Caramagna

Cover Artists: Ed McGuinness & Marcio Menyz; Rafael Albuquerque; Skottie Young; Lucas Werneck; Francesco D’Ippolito (Disney What If)

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

Publisher: Marvel

Price: $4.99

Release Date: December 11, 2024

 

Since Doctor Doom dubbed him Earth’s Champion, Spider-Man has battled two scions of Cyttorak. Although he has defeated Cyntros and Cyperion, each victory comes at a terrible cost. Armed with the Reeds Of Raggadorr, Peter has met Phil Coulson in a magical place twice, and it wasn't Tahiti. Still, Peter has boned up on magic, thanks to Doctor Strange’s mystic tome. His scientific knowledge is another weapon in his arcane armory. But can Peter combat the Inevitability Of Time? Or will a demon riding a Tuffy bicycle trip him up? Let's thwip into Amazing Spider-Man #63 and find out!

 

Story

Uncle Ben taught Peter to always believe in himself and never give up. Failure may be inevitable, but success in life comes through helping others. While his loved ones and friends like Ben, Gwen Stacy, and Ms Marvel have died, Peter has helped villains like Norman Osborn embrace positive directions. So when Cyrios observes Peter's failures and consigns him to a stereotype, she misjudges why Peter keeps picking himself up and finding new ways to help others.

 

While Cyrios nabs the headline in Amazing Spider-Man #63, Justina Ireland continues Peter's struggle to meet everyday demands. Norman Osborn insulated Peter with flexible work hours so he could be Spider-Man. Now that Peter no longer commands a salary, Randy prepares a gallery show to sell his photography. Aunt May wishes the nephew she raised could head a family and hold a steady job. So she tries to give him a new purpose with FEAST, not realizing Peter is already a full-time public servant.

 

 

 

Distraction emerges as a theme and a threat amid this cosmic challenge. Doctor Doom claimed that Spider-Man often lacks focus. Cyttorak’s scions, Callix and Cyra, claim that Doctor Doom is distracted. Aunt May believes Peter lacks the focus to commit to people and employment. While using physical and emotional pain to weaken him, Cyrios claims that Spider-Man should embrace change. Yet Peter’s ability to react to change is likely why Doctor Doom so magnanimously entrusted Spidey with the Earth's future.

 

Uncle Ben may be gone. But in Amazing Spider-Man #63, Uncle Ben lives on through Peter Parker, who believes in himself and never gives up. Perhaps one day, Aunt May will see that and revise her opinion of her distracted nephew.

 

 

 

Art

After battling a muscular starfish-faced godling and his space beetle brother, Peter meets one of Cyttorak's daughters. Cyrios seeks to put him off guard by appearing as a sweet little devil. After using Peter's spell against him, Cyrios drags him along like a puppy with a glowing green leash through yellow circles bordered by orange. As Gleb Melnikov made adult Cyrios a silhouette while observing Peter’s childhood, her girlish appearance, bicycle, and Peter become silhouettes when they revisit one of Peter's failures. Doom's armor covers Peter like arcane venom when he spies a purple and green villain transporting a blonde damsel through the air with the greatest of ease. A faded Peter fights across the connecting corners of three painful panels before he faces adult Cyrios in a hallway.

 

 

 

Marcio Menyz lavishes a loaded palette on Peter’s battle with Cyrios as she forces him to revisit his nonChristmases Past. But Peter's not the only one who undergoes hardship in Amazing Spider-Man #63. Aunt May looks drawn as she frowns in red, blue, and dark gray. Black Cat struggles to smile in her glossy black catsuit trimmed with white. Shay makes Peter smile, whether gazing wistfully at him in her blue, purple, and dark gray or laying a red, white, and black checked blanket. Darth Maul-like Cyrios smiles the most with her red face adorned with black and framed with red and purple. But Peter banishes her smile by replacing the green tether linking them with a speckled band of red.

 

 

 

Joe Caramagna’s uppercase black lettering in dialogue balloons and narrative boxes grows bold for inflection, swells for increased volume, and never shrinks. Sound effects help us hear Spider-Man hit the wind, a gunshot that haunts him, and Cyrios repeatedly extending Anita Ward’s invitation in Amazing Spider-Man #63. (But will she be happy if he accepts?) Thanks to Marvel for providing a copy for review.

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

Cyrios forces Peter to revisit Yesterday and laments his inability to Let It Be while ignoring that mindfulness and judgmentalism don't Come Together. As Peter struggles to prevent past failures from ruining his present, more scions of Cyttorak study him in Amazing Spider-Man #63. One seeks power, the other freedom, and both have likely watched Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure.

 

Rating 9.6/10

 

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

Aint No Grave TP Review

 

Writer: Skottie Young

Artist: Jorge Corona

Colorist: Jean-Francois Beaulieu

Letterer: Nate Piekos

Editor: Marla Eizik

Cover Artist: Jorge Corona

Publisher: Image

Price: $16.99

Release Date: December 4, 2024

 

When Ryder coughs up blood, the Doctor hands her a death sentence. Still, it’s not all bad. Ryder can take his medicine and maybe extend her lease of life. But bartering for a few more months seems like another raw deal. So, how does Ryder face her cryin’ husband and daughter? She leaps on her horse and rides away. Ryder doesn’t care if she’s gotta beg, borrow, or steal to press her claim to a happy life. She wants the years she is owed with darling Darius and little Joey. Where will Ryder’s quest for life take her? What trials must she undergo to cheat death? Let’s saddle up our horses, ride into Aint No Grave TP, and find out!

 

Story

Ryder made her name by robbing banks, stagecoaches, and trains. Then, she found true love and left her career of crime to become a wife and a mother. Ryder embraced life on the farm, away from the centers of civilization she thumbed her nose at. She played housewife to Darius and raised their daughter. She and her husband might quarrel. Joey might get rambunctious and muddy her dress. Still, the family muddled through whatever problems came their way unless Ryder backslid into her old ways. Then came the Doctor’s declaration. Ryder knew a death sentence when she heard one. Heck! She’d sent more than a few people the Grim Reaper’s way!

 

In Aint No Grave TP, Ryder searches her liberated loot for two coins from Cypress. They are meant to pay her toll for the afterlife. She wants them for a ploy. Darius argues that dyin’ isn’t like the other problems Ryder has ignored or worked around. But for Ryder, it's all or nothing. She vows to cheat death. Darius forces her to tell Joey goodbye. Like the Terminator, Ryder insists she will return.

 

As Ryder travels through prairies and badlands, she navigates a trail of grief. Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance mark her journey. When she reaches Cypress, Ryder resumes her outlaw career. She tries to win a game everyone loses. Yet she can't escape the siren song of a man who guides souls toward eternity in Aint No Grave TP. 

 

It's easy to admire how Ryder demolishes obstacles in her way. Like Judas Priest, society often hails those who ignore the rules while charting their paths to success. But there is always a price to be paid for one’s actions. And like the corporate executives who reap fortunes while their workers get by and their shareholders go bankrupt, Ryder must answer one final question. Why should an outlaw get a second crack at life?

 

Art

Jorge Corona shows Ryder riding past hoodoos and natural stone monuments while crosses and headstones mark untended cemeteries. She insulates herself in layers of clothing as she rides between narrow defiles and past animals on grazing lands. Ravens watch as Ryder nears an arch with sand streaming down like a waterfall. She compares two dead trees with the emblem on her coin. Then, a tear tumbling down her cheek, Ryder leaves her horse behind and trudges toward a gunslinging hay mound.

 

Jean-Francois Beaulieu lavishes a loaded palette on Aint No Grave TP. While Darius and his wife frolic beneath a cloudy blue sky, a black sun hangs in the scarlet sky over Cypress. Yellow windows glow in the beige, tan, and green buildings that climb the hills of this Pellucidar (sadly) without dinosaurs. Scraps of parchment flutter down, their edges eaten away by yellow and orange after blotches of scarlet form like mold near a gold star. A black goat with glowing red eyes clatters across rooftops of the wood frame buildings and leaps across a glowing cerulean river toward an obsidian steamboat. Beautiful colors adorn every panel of Ryder's journey, whether filtered memories or undeniable reality.

 

Music notes in beige rectangles accompany burlesque dancers and a tinkling piano in the scarlet and magenta gambling hall. Nate Piekos casts generously sized black and colored letters into polygonal balloons in Aint No Grave TP. Ryder's words flow like the river she avoided as she shrugs off bullet wounds. Sound effects enhance laughter, roundhouse punches, and gunfire, while a hissing engine foretells a seemingly inescapable destiny. Thanks to Image Comics for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

When a former outlaw gets a death sentence, she rides to the gates of hell to bargain for her life in Aint No Grave TP. The spaghetti western speaks to how we relate to changes in our families, careers, and society and how we deal with grief and loss.

 

Rating 9.8/10

 

For cover art from individual issues see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

Aint No Grave #4 Review

 

Writer: Skottie Young

Artist: Jorge Corona

Colorist: Jean-Francois Beaulieu

Letterer: Nate Piekos

Editor: Marla Eizik

Cover Artist: Jorge Corona

Publisher: Image

Price: $3.99

Release Date: August 7, 2024

 

The Sheriff in Cypress told Ryder she arrived too early to take the train, so the stablemaster suggested she take Her Blind Majesty instead. After Ryder won her marker on the casino boat, the concierge threw her off, and she washed ashore near a stone and wood tower. Can Ryder earn a reprieve from death from the master of the underworld? Let’s saddle up, ride into Aint No Grave #4, and find out!

 

Story

A ghost town surrounds the tower. Ryder enters an abandoned saloon. A lamp reveals her tired and wounded face in the mirror behind the bar. She takes the bottle and glass from the bar and has a drink. Then she pours another. Why not? She doesn't have to pay for it, and no one is here to stop her.

 

The alcohol and the glass remind Ryder of her home. She sat inside the house she wanted. As Ryder drank alone, she coughed blood on her hand. Enraged, she threw the glass across the room and overturned the dining table. But Ryder’s rage died when her daughter opened the door. Joey stood at the doorway, watching her mother drink alone in the ruins of the saloon.

 

Ryder runs outside. She chases Joey through the rain, only to stumble and fall in the mud. On her journey to Cypress, music accompanied a procession of souls marching toward a river. This evening, Ryder follows a melody into the dark tower. Joey stands beside a lanky, desiccated guitarist, playing his steel strings as his fingers bleed. A tear appears beneath his hat brim as he gently weeps while Ryder's distraught daughter cries a river.

 

In Aint No Grave #4, Ryder struggles to make sense of a nightmare. But she doesn't belong in the tower any more than with Darius. Ryder stole from others, killed anyone who tried to stop her, and thumbed her nose at the system. She married a man who valued society's opinion over her identity. They brought a child into their domestic delusion. Ryder created a dream because she couldn’t build a reality. So, in her final moments, she is trapped in a nightmare of her own making.

 

Art

When Ryder spotted the tower, it resembled the pillars thrust up through the surface by Sybok’s god. But as she nears, darkness falls. Amid the torrential rain and crackling lightning, the silhouette evokes a plant. Arrayed in her voluminous coat, Ryder resembles a flower rising from the soil, awaiting the sun's rays to stretch forth its petals. Blood and mud cake her face. Small square shots of the whisky glass link larger panels of Ryder staring at a bottle in the saloon and her home. In the aftermath of her tempestuous rage, Joey's shadow stretches across the room, backlit by daylight. While in the saloon filled with broken furnishings and furniture, the lightning propels her daughter's shadow toward the bar.

 

Jean-Francois Beaulieu lavishes a nuanced palette on Jorge Corona’s expressive, dramatic, and haunting art in Aint No Grave #4. Ryder traded her traveling clothes for a black suit and white blouse aboard Her Blind Majesty. She throws on her gray coat but charges through the blue night and into the tower. Amid the patchwork interior, a guitarist in a gray suit and one of Snake's old top hats plucks chords without a pick. He wears a red scarf around his neck, sits on broken wood, and rests his feet on train tracks. Ryder lost her red scarf when she donned her funereal finery. Yet Ryder will regain it, and the leather gloves evoking her sunflower dress amid her desperate fight for another crack at life.

 

Skottie Young’s silent script for Aint No Grave #4 gives Nate Piekos time for a drink and a game of cards in his neighborhood saloon. His rough-hewn logo adorns the cover, and his weathered chapter title stretches across the dark tower on the opening page. Black music notes shine against an orange-yellow background, their white frames evoking the cards that led to the players' eternal doom aboard Her Blind Majesty. Yet after the action-packed nightmare, large white uppercase letters in a black dialogue balloon suggest that the time for Ryder to board the train has arrived. Thanks to Image for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

Aint No Grave #4 makes us question everything we thought we knew. Like another hand dealt by Madam Gates, events may play to Ryder’s advantage or her detriment. As her life flashes before her eyes, Ryder refuses to stop fighting until she meets the one she came to Cypress to see. Does she have another card to play? Or is Ryder destined to tread the same path until she accepts that this is a game she cannot win?

 

Rating 8.2/10

 

For another cover see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.