"8 Deaths of Spider-Man" concludes this March and the wall-crawler is about to undergo his most startling transformation to date in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man #69 and #70.
Brought to us by writers Joe Kelly and Justina Ireland, artists Ed McGuinness, Gleb Melnikov, CAFU and Andrea Broccardo, this one-of-a-kind Amazing Spider-Man epic has seen new Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Doom entrust Spidey with protecting the world from the evil god Cyttorak - a daunting mystical undertaking that required a new magic-powered suit and eight extra lives.
Despite that, Cyttorak’s scions still proved to be too much for the wall-crawler, and on the covers for the saga’ final chapters, Joe Kelly and Ed McGuinness reveal a shocking development: Did Spider-Man fight his way through Cyttorak’s champions just to become one himself?!
Here's the official description from Marvel Comics about the debut of the Amazing Spider-Naut:
Spider-Man used the last of the extra lives and is done. True death. In AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #69, things have never looked more bleak as the X-Men fight among themselves, and Doctors Doom and Strange reunite—only to find the situation unwinnable. In AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #70, ENTER THE SPIDER-NAUT! But who is this unstoppable webbed-wonder?! And does he represent the world’s last hope or Cyttorak’s ultimate victory?
Marvel Comics has struggled to find a fan-pleasing direction for Spider-Man in recent years, and even with issue #1000 on the horizon, there are no indications that Peter will be reunited with Mary Jane Watson. However, those two are together in the new Ultimate Universe, something it seems has been done to appease any upset fans.
It's unclear whether Kelly - or even Ireland - will be Amazing Spider-Man's permanent writer after this arc. Given Kelly's previous work with the character, we're sure most fans would be happy enough with the Deadpool scribe sticking around for a while.
As for this "8 Deaths of Spider-Man" storyline, it's been fun and something different for the character. Zeb Wells' run was very gang-centric with characters like Tombstone and Beetle taking centre stage, so a mystical epic has been a fun change of pace.
Check out the covers by Ed McGuinness along with a stunning variant cover for Amazing Spider-Man #70 by Björn Barends below and stay tuned for more on the series as we have it.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #69
Written by JOE KELLY
Art and Cover by ED MCGUINNESS
On Sale 3/12
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #70
Written by JOE KELLY
Art and Cover by ED MCGUINNESS
Variant Cover by BJÖRN BARENDS
On Sale 3/26