Amazing Spider-Man’s Zeb Wells and John Romita Jr Ending Run on Marvel Series

Spider-Man fans are nearing the end of Zeb Wells and John Romita Jr.’s run on the web-slinger. It’s been two years since Marvel relaunched The Amazing Spider-Man under Wells and Romita Jr., beginning with a big mystery surrounding Spider-Man being on the outs with the hero community, and even his closest friends in his personal life like Mary Jane. Since then, we’ve witnessed a Gang War, the death of Ms. Marvel, Dark Web, Mary Jane in a new relationship with kids, and a heroic Norman Osborn. All these subplots will reach a climatic conclusion later this year.

Marvel released teaser art for Amazing Spider-Man #58, which begins the final showdown with Tombstone. “Tombstone’s revenge! Spanning multiple issues, Spidey’s most brutal battle begins in Amazing Spider-Man #58,” the press release reads. “Hitting stands in September, the visceral issue will kick off the climactic final arc of Zeb Wells and John Romita Jr.’s epic run!” The art by John Romita Jr. shows Spider-Man perching on a building in a pouring thunderstorm, with rain falling all across his costume. Fans may be wondering why Tombstone is the chosen villain to end this era of Spider-Man comics, but Wells has been setting this up ever since he helped relaunch Amazing Spider-Man. 

Marvel relaunched Amazing Spider-Man for 60th anniversary

2022 saw the announcement that Zeb Wells and John Romita Jr. were the new creative team on Amazing Spider-Man, which was relaunching for Spidey’s 60th anniversary. Both Wells and Romita have a long history with the character, giving this run a kind of “greatest hits” feel worthy of an anniversary run.

“Spider-Man doesn’t turn sixty every year,” Spider-Man editor Nick Lowe said, “and we are going BIG with this run cramming it with the biggest WTF moments Spidey has ever had. Zeb and JRJR will go down in history as one of the best creative teams ever!”

“Ever since my father told my brother and me that Spider-Man/Peter Parker lived close to our home in Queens, NYC, we were hooked! We talked Spider Man on long drives to family get-togethers, and it was as if we had an extra family member!” Romita said in a statement. “As luck would have it, my brother Vic had the brains and went in another direction, while I had a little bit of art in me. As luck would also have it, I was able to watch the greatest Spider-Man artist, my father, John, work with the greatest Spider Man writer, Stan Lee, on the greatest character of all time. Fortunately, after joining the comic book universe, I was given a chance to work on this great character, the Amazing Spider-Man. I was terrified! How do I follow my father??? How do I follow any of the previous Spidey artists?? I had no idea, but I stuck it out and got lucky. The subsequent runs were much less terrifying, and became more and more fun. There was one particular run that was incredibly fun, but also incredibly important to me. The 9/11 issue may well be with me for as long as I live. One commonality with all the runs, was working with the brilliant writers and artists….. again, luck!!

“To take being lucky to another level: Marvel has allowed me to get back to work on this amazing character, and work with another brilliant writer, Zeb Wells! The stories are stunning and I am reading the scripts with a grin and wonderment…..then wondering how the heck to do them justice!!

“Well, fortunately, I have a close friend and brilliant artist to help me do that. Scott Hanna and I have worked on this character before and Scott is still a brilliant artist who will continue to be brilliant, lucky for me and anyone who looks at the art. Adding to Scott and myself is the third artist, the color artist, Marcio Menyz. It’s difficult to describe how wonderful his work is, so to save space and everyone’s patience, I’ll let it speak for itself! It’s stunning!!