The Amazing Spider-Man can be a tough sell. However, The Amazing Spider-Man #1 was a great little romp, with writer Joe Kelly and artist Pepe Larraz giving readers an extremely interesting new chapter in Spider-Man’s life. Fans have been conditioned to distrust the quality of The Amazing Spider-Man, even when the creators onboard are on the level of Kelly and Larraz — remember how excited fans were for fresh off Hellions Zeb Wells to start writing The Amazing Spider-Man — and many fans weren’t sure if the next issue could keep up the quality of the first. Luckily, The Amazing Spider-Man #2 is another entertaining Spider-Man romp with a wonderfully classic feeling to it.
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Kelly has long been a fantastic writer, and has a grasp on this kind of Spider-Man. Marvel seems to want more of a blank slate Spider-Man with this run, a timeless Peter Parker that just works, and Kelly gives that on every page. He knows how to write Peter Parker, from the opening monologue as Spider-Man battles his greatest foes to the way he interacts with everyone throughout the issue, and his final dumb decision. This is just plain good Spider-Man writing, and that helps a lot.
This issue doesn’t really have the same big action set piece like the first issue’s Rhino fight; while it does open with Spider-Man under attack, it’s obvious that it’s a hallucination and it doesn’t really land in the same way the Rhino fight does. However, that doesn’t mean it isn’t an awesome moment, one that plays into the overall vibe of the issue. This issue is all about a drugged Peter trying to figure out exactly what’s been going on since he started his search to learn why the Rhino went crazy last issue. Each scene in the book feels like a time jump, with Peter not knowing where he is or how he got there. It’s a great way to get the reader in Peter’s head, as we’re also trying to figure out what is going on. It all comes to a head at the Ravencroft Institute, where Kelly gives readers a cool little conversation between Spider-Man and the girl he dates as Peter. It’s not momentous or anything, but it’s charming. The issue ends with another big cliffhanger, one that fans of Kelly’s work on Spider-Man will be very surprised to see.
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Larraz and colorist Marte Gracia are back with more tremendous art. The opening “fight” looks sensational, the red color overlay of the action scene giving the readers the idea that things aren’t what they seem. Larraz can make any character look like a million bucks, so getting to see him drawn Spider-Man’s rogues in their beautiful classic costumes is a treat. His Kraven and Lizard are standout — and later we get a Green Goblin hallucination that will make everyone want to see Larraz draw Spider-Man’s greatest villain — and Larraz does a great job of showing the aftermath of what would happen if Spider-Man cut loose on a bunch of inanimate objects that he thinks are his greatest villains. It’s a great way to start the issue, and the art’s quality never flags from there.
The script needs the reader to believe that Peter doesn’t know what’s going on and Larraz’s character acting sells that perfectly. In fact, the character acting throughout the issue is outstanding, especially Peter’s new boss and Norman Osborn when he shows up in the issue. Larraz’s Green Goblin is great, as his design for Norman Osborn. Anyone looking for the classic JR Jr. Norman hair rendered by Larraz is going to be disappointed, since Larraz draws Osborn’s hair differently than anyone has in years. Kudos to the team on their rendering of the Ravencroft Institute. Ravencroft has always been Arkham Asylum light, but Larraz and Gracia are able to give the building the right kind of grandeur. Ravencroft is a gothic nightmare brought to life from Larraz and Gracia, and it’s a shame it hasn’t always looked this good.
The Amazing Spider-Man #2 is a fantastic follow up to the last issue. It pays off the ending of the first issue, using that to inform the rest of the issue’s plot, as Spider-Man being drugged keeps coming back throughout the issue. The humor is classic Spider-Man, and the character interactions are always entertaining. The central mysteries of the issues — what is Hellgate and Hobgooblin’s plan, how did Spider-Man get drugged, and who was after Rhino — are built up well. Kelly and Larraz are doing their best to make readers forget about the mistakes of The Amazing Spider-Man‘s recent past, and succeeding pretty well. I didn’t think that Marvel would be able to sell me on liking the mainline Spider-Man book after so many years of making me hate it, but Kelly and Larraz are showing that The Amazing Spider-Man can still recapture some of the glory of the past.
Rating: 4.1 out of 5
Published by Marvel
Released on April 23, 2025
Written by Joe Kelly
Art by Pepe Larraz
Color Art by Marte Gracia
Letters by Joe Caramagna
The Amazing Spider-Man #2 is on sale now.
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Image Credit: Warner Bros. -
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