Marvel's flagship Spider-Man title is about to debut its final (for now) issue — and it looks like that will be including some familiar faces. Marvel Comics has debuted a trailer for Spider-Man #11, revealing that both Bailey Briggs / Spider-Boy and Matt Murdock / Daredevil will be factoring into the issue. If these preview pages are any indication, the crossing paths of these three heroes is going to get interesting.
Who Is Marvel's Spider-Boy?
Spider-Boy is a previously-unheard-of sidekick of Peter Parker's, who nobody on Earth-616 remembers. Earlier this year, an issue of Edge of Spider-Verse revealed that Spider-Boy's real name is Bailey Briggs — an interesting tie to previous Marvel lore. In the comics, Stephanie Briggs was an FBI agent who appeared in 1995's Web Of Scarlet Spider, Jeremy Briggs was a short-lived alchemist in 2011's Avengers Academy, while Foxy Briggs was a robber all the way from Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's Amazing Spider-Man #31. But more specifically, the exact name of Bailey Briggs has already been used by Marvel — and actually, by another book penned by Slott, 2004's She-Hulk #3. In that issue, created by Slott and Juan Bobillo, Bailey Briggs is established as a much older man who works at Hammer Aeronautics, up until he was murdered by his supervisor. His murder trial became a case for Jennifer Walters / She-Hulk's law firm, Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg, & Holliway — and actually had a ghost version of Bailey testify during it. Bailey falsely accused his ex-girlfriend of committing the murder, and was sent to the Cage of Cytorrak as penance for doing so. It is unclear at this point if Spider-Boy Bailey is the same Bailey, albeit time and multiverse-displaced.
Is Spider-Boy Getting His Own Book?
Beginning in November, Slott and artist Paco Medina (X-Men: Before the Fall – Sinister Four) will be partnering on a new Spider-Boy ongoing series, further exploring Bailey's unconventional story.
"Spider-Man isn't supposed to have a sidekick. That's just wrong on so many levels. And that is exactly why we are going to have so much fun with this," Slott told Marvel.com in a recent interview. "Both this character—and this new title—are going to break all the rules. Bailey Briggs is going to have over-the-top adventures in the Spider-Man corner of the Marvel Universe. He'll be facing off against a mix of both all-new villains and fan-favorite Spidey bad guys. The one thing we can promise you, whenever you pick up a copy of Spider-Boy, we are going to take the weirdest and wildest swings with every single story! Our goal is to get every reader to ask two questions: 'What in the hell did I just read?!' and 'When is the NEXT one coming out?!'"
You can check out the official synopsis for Spider-Man #11 below, and keep scrolling to check out the preview for the issue!
(RE)INTRODUCING…SPIDER-BOY! The battle to save the Spider-Verse may be over, but spinning out of the restored Web of Life and Destiny returns the spectacular SPIDER-BOY, Peter Parker's stupendous sidekick! Wait, that can't be right—who IS this Spider-Boy, and what is his connection to the Amazing Spider-Man?!
- LEGACY #167 | FINAL ISSUE
- Writer: Dan Slott
- Artist: Luciano Vecchio
- Colorist: Edgar Delgado
- Letterer: Joe Caramagna
- Format: Ongoing Series
- Page Count/Cover Price: 36pages,/ $4.99