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The Amazing Spider-Man (2022) (Single Issues)
The Amazing Spider-Man (2022) #17
Round One is over! Peter Parker finds himself trapped in Limbo. Peter not only has to find his way back home, but he has to do it in a truly hellish fashion.
24 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 11, 2023
7 people are currently reading
12 people want to read
About the author
Zeb Wells
711 books72 followersZeb Wells is an American comic book writer known for his work at Marvel Comics, as well as his work on the animated TV series Robot Chicken.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
January 22, 2023
What has happened to Spidey?
When did the writers decide that he had to go dark and in limbo?
Spider-Man used to be a fun, adventure filled comic with upturns and heroic deeds. Now it’s just another dark and brooding comic that has become the norm.
I canceled my subscription to it a while ago, and if it hadn’t been for the Disney 100 cover, I wouldn’t have grabbed it.
The current team has no idea what to do with our hero, and until they do, I’m out. I can at least take the cover off, toss the comic in the recycle bin and have a cool Disney Avengers “what if” mini-poster on my office wall.
When did the writers decide that he had to go dark and in limbo?
Spider-Man used to be a fun, adventure filled comic with upturns and heroic deeds. Now it’s just another dark and brooding comic that has become the norm.
I canceled my subscription to it a while ago, and if it hadn’t been for the Disney 100 cover, I wouldn’t have grabbed it.
The current team has no idea what to do with our hero, and until they do, I’m out. I can at least take the cover off, toss the comic in the recycle bin and have a cool Disney Avengers “what if” mini-poster on my office wall.
January 21, 2023
2.5. Not really interesting. Quite boring. Still hate the way they draw peters face. Best part was peter’s new suit.
January 16, 2023
With no context this entire story is absurd but the art is pretty cool
February 5, 2023
DarkWeb Is Boring
Can this story line be over already? Boring, does not feel like Amazing Spider-Man, please no more Venom and Ben Riley. It’s beyond overdone.
Can this story line be over already? Boring, does not feel like Amazing Spider-Man, please no more Venom and Ben Riley. It’s beyond overdone.
May 8, 2023
A great story in the limbo.
March 10, 2023
Hey y'all, I'm back!
Originally I said I would review Zeb Wells’s run for the first ten or so issues and if it didn’t improve, I would stop. And no, it didn’t improve. But when I left off reviewing the moldy morass of sucky suckitude that is Zeb Wells's shitty scribblings, I honestly thought he could fall no further. I mean, this is a man whose three fans will indignantly remind you he was awarded an Emmy - along with a room full of other men - for a parody of Star Wars that derived nearly all its humor by being misogynist and racist (remember when that was all it took to be considered hipster funny? Better believe Wells does). An Emmy that was awarded thirteen years ago so, obviously, he's an up and coming star talent of today *snerk*. But still. He has to have some reservoir of writing skills, right?
But alas, I was wrong. So wrong. So painfully, terribly wrong.
Zeb Wells had not even approached the bottom. And I fear he has even more mid in him. Sigh.
So let's get to it. Here there be spoilers, etc, etc, proceed at your own caution.
Remember waaaaaay back in during the Beyond arc, a year ago, when we were young and full of optimism that the horrid BND/Slott years were finally behind us and a glorious bright future for Spider-Man comics seemed within our grasp?
Yeah, I know, it's hard to believe we were ever that foolish and naive.
Beyond ended with a whimper as Peter Parker's clone Ben Reilly fell into psychoreactive goo - yes, that is the scientific term, stop guffawing - and turned into the edgelord Charm for, reasons. Like that Ben was super super super sad that Peter would not put on the mind stealing helmet the evil Beyond corporation, who stole Ben's memories to begin, gave him to steal Peter’s memories with. So Ben, just, like, turned 3v!L. And his girlfriend Janine, who'd been illegally broken out of jail, decided not to fill Ben in that the Beyond corporation, not Peter, was responsible for all the bad things done to him even though Janine knew full well Beyond was to blame. No, instead Janine decided to become 3v!L herself for, reasons.
3v!L Ben and Janine then team up with Madelyne Pryor, a clone of Jean Grey who just spent an entire arc in Young Mutants finally taking responsibility for her own actions when Zeb Wells decided to wipe out Vita Ayala's hard work in that series and turn Maddie back to 3v!L for, reasons. No, strike that, I guess the reason is Zeb decided that being clones meant Maddie and Ben would be compatible companions in wrongdoing, even though that's like saying two random kids born in a hospital should team up and commit crimes because they were born of mothers instead of in a supervillain’s cloning vat.
Ben and Maddie decide it would be fun to unleash the demons of Limbo on New York City because somehow this would bring about revenge on Peter and Jean Grey. How and why they think having the citizens of NYC eaten by taxis turned carnivorous will entice Peter and Jean to give Ben and Maddie their lives/souls is not really explained, because there is no possible explanation that isn’t the height of nonsensical stupidness.
I'm not reading the X-Men tie-ins so perhaps Maddie fares better. But Ben - *falls out of chair, rolls on the ground laughing* - oh man, Ben - *can't type because out of breath from laughing so hard, give me a minute* - anyway, Ben - *nope, now I have hiccups from laughter. Excuse me while I get some water.*
Okay, I'm back. Where was I? Oh right, Ben. So Ben *god, I can't stop laughing. ASM is such a shit show, y'all* Ben in a previous issue somehow kidnaps Jonah and Robbie and sends them to Limbo, then tricks Peter into wishing he was in Limbo to save them.
And that's where we pick up.
(What, you're here to see if Wells has made any forward progress on the "What Did Peter Do?" and "Why does MJ have two kids and is living with some guy named Paul?" mystery boxes? No, of course there is zero movement on these stories and absolutely no clues dropped. Wells sucks at sustaining a mystery, which isn’t really a mystery because the only people who don’t know what happened are the readers. But we knew that.)
So as the issue opens, two goblins are going to "work" in human clothes. One goblin - let's call him Pink Eyeballs - is super into roleplaying office drones and thinks saying the word "butt" is the height of humor. His companion - let's call him Shark Head - is not amused and threatens to bite his head off. Peter Parker then appears and reminds the demons he's told them to knock off the head biting talk. Shark Head objects so Peter wallops him, sending blood flying (gotta have your gratuitous graphic violence in a Zeb Wells books). Pink Eyeballs is now in love with "Parker Pete Man" because the demons aren't supposed to be very smart so they talk backwards and get names wrong, this is apparently what passes for high comedy at Marvel.
Peter then enters the Limbo version of the Daily Bugle where the real Jonah is being yelled at demons because Jonah keeps messing up his lines. He says "Get me picture of Spider-Man" when he's supposed to yell "Get me TASTY pictures of Spider-Man!" Wells spends two whole pages on this so I guess we're supposed to find this hilarious but it's just sad. Peter vows vengeance on Ben for making Jonah suffer (Robbie is there, too, but who cares about the Black man and that he's being tortured, too? Not Wells, that's for sure).
Peter goes to confront Ben/Chasm, who went to all the trouble of sending demons to overrun Manhattan but is just chilling (like a villain - oh look, Wells has infected me with his unfunny) in Limbo. He tells Peter everything will be put right if Peter would only eat Chasm's apple (and sadly, that's not a clever euphemism, Wells is straight out going for on-the-nose Evil Queen/Snow White apple). Peter, because he's seen old Disney cartoons, refuses to eat. Chasm says he'll never let Peter leave, to which Peter says he's not asking permission. Wow, much clever dialogue. Not cliched at all.
Later, Ben is having fun transforming demons into versions of the Sinister Six. Maddie isn't happy that Ben is using her resources frivolously and starts to wonder why the hell is she even in this fakakta story. While Maddie is wearily regretting the life choices that led to being involved with a loser like Chasm, Pink Eyeballs shows up wearing a Spider-Man t-shirt and his tighty whities (very humor. Much funny). He heard there were more opportunities for cosplay and he wants to be "Parker Man." Chasm yells at Pink Eyeballs that they don't need a Parker and that Pink Eyeballs "has it backwards."
We cut to Jonah in his "apartment" where the demons like watching him go to the bathroom (oh, that Zeb! And the comedic zingers keep coming!) and sexually harass him. A bed with bedroom eyes and Kim Kardashian lips wants Jonah between her sheets, hubba hubba. A tap on the window interrupts this trying way far too hard scene. Peter is wallcrawling to tell Jonah he's figured out the demons must have a way to get to Manhattan and he and Jonah are going to find out where and use it. But first, he needs his costume and asks Jonah for a thimble, because I guess Limbo has fabric stores that sells blue and red lycra? The whole thing is stupid and an example of plugging up plot holes that don't exist (Peter had his costume on when he went to Limbo: easy and already on the page) only to create even bigger plot holes, like where is Peter going to find the supplies to make a costume?! Meanwhile, see a real plot hole re: Pink Eyeballs, above.
Also, does anyone think to check in on Robbie? No. of course not.
Meanwhile, Pink Eyeballs is super super sad because he can't be a hero like Parker Man. He fortuitously happens to stumble across another demon - let's call him Snaggle Fangs, and he might have a real name because he appeared in Venom 13 but I'm not looking it up - who may conveniently have a solution for Pink Eyeballs. So many happy coincidences! That's not lazy storytelling at all.
See, Snaggle Fangs just happens to possess a little bit of Venom's symbiote, hanging around in a flask. Into that flask he drops in Pink Eyeballs's Spidey t-shirt (thankfully, Pink Eyeballs gets to keep his tighty whities - and why do demons care about wearing underwear in the first place? They're demons!). The symbiote does what a symbiote does and envelopes Pink Eyeballs, who is not exactly happy about it.
Meanwhile, at the Limbo Daily Bugle, Jonah tells his demon reporters that the real story is up above, in Manhattan, where demons get to be real demons and none of this fake, non-demon stuff, pretending to be undemonly humans. The demons stampede as planned (Oh, hi, stunned Robbie who no one thought to clue in) and Spider-Man appears, saying Peter already escaped Limbo but sent him to save them in his stead.
The three men follow the demons, but...who is that lurking in the shadows? Could it be...the Indidious Six?!?!? They invite Peter to fight.
Peter responds with weariness, because he's also tired of being in this ridiculous, hamfisted sad excuse to suck $3.99 out of readers' wallets: "Oh Boy. Sigh. Sure."
There is one page of fighting. Because this is a Zeb Wells book, Peter is easily beaten and left lying helpless on the ground, with "Kraken the Hunter"about to put his eye out (since a kraken is an octopus-type creature, shouldn't the kraken be a Doc Ock analog? Oh, never mind, I just put more thought into this story than Wells has spent on this entire arc).
But never fear. Because this is a Zeb Wells book where Peter Parker is an ineffectual quitter who gives up after a few punches and needs rescue, here comes our pal Pink Eyeballs to save the day! The symbiote has turned Pink Eyeballs into a 'roided up version of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle wearing a Spider-Man costume - only...dum dum DAH!...the spider on the front is the fat bodied spider that is normally seen on the back of Spider-Man's costume. Because our pal is NOT Pink Eyeballs, but "REK-RAP!" Get it? He was told by Ben he had things backwards so now he's "REK-RAP?" Y'know, PARKER spelled backwards? HA HA HA. Another knee-slapper from Wells! You know what's even funnier? If they moved the hyphen over, the character would be Re-Krap. So now Peter has his own Bizarro, apparently. Gee, very awesome. Much cool.
And that's it. That's the entire go absolutely nowhere story. The story Wells was supposedly building up to for the entire first year of his run. This is why they heel turned Ben. That's what Wells decided he had to tell rather than explain anything about What Peter Did, or where MJ's kids came from, or why Aunt May had to move to a smaller place, or what Peter stole from the Fantastic Four, or why Peter is bestest buddies with the murderer of Gwen Stacy, or doing anything about the relationship with Felicia Hardy that is supposedly "heating up" according to the recaps in earlier issues but on the page the "romance" is colder than a freezer packed with ice buried in the permafrost at the Artic Circle.
Wells is woefully the one of worst writer we've seen on Spider-Man. I mean, when a run makes a Dan Slott story look somewhat sophisticated and well-plotted by comparison, you have a problem. A big one.
Ed McGuinness’s art is gorgeous but wasted on a shitty script.
Save your money. Run. Run far away from this benighted run until there is a change in writer - and it might require a change in editor before the book improves.
Comment on original review: https://imgur.com/rTnpUIU
Originally I said I would review Zeb Wells’s run for the first ten or so issues and if it didn’t improve, I would stop. And no, it didn’t improve. But when I left off reviewing the moldy morass of sucky suckitude that is Zeb Wells's shitty scribblings, I honestly thought he could fall no further. I mean, this is a man whose three fans will indignantly remind you he was awarded an Emmy - along with a room full of other men - for a parody of Star Wars that derived nearly all its humor by being misogynist and racist (remember when that was all it took to be considered hipster funny? Better believe Wells does). An Emmy that was awarded thirteen years ago so, obviously, he's an up and coming star talent of today *snerk*. But still. He has to have some reservoir of writing skills, right?
But alas, I was wrong. So wrong. So painfully, terribly wrong.
Zeb Wells had not even approached the bottom. And I fear he has even more mid in him. Sigh.
So let's get to it. Here there be spoilers, etc, etc, proceed at your own caution.
Remember waaaaaay back in during the Beyond arc, a year ago, when we were young and full of optimism that the horrid BND/Slott years were finally behind us and a glorious bright future for Spider-Man comics seemed within our grasp?
Yeah, I know, it's hard to believe we were ever that foolish and naive.
Beyond ended with a whimper as Peter Parker's clone Ben Reilly fell into psychoreactive goo - yes, that is the scientific term, stop guffawing - and turned into the edgelord Charm for, reasons. Like that Ben was super super super sad that Peter would not put on the mind stealing helmet the evil Beyond corporation, who stole Ben's memories to begin, gave him to steal Peter’s memories with. So Ben, just, like, turned 3v!L. And his girlfriend Janine, who'd been illegally broken out of jail, decided not to fill Ben in that the Beyond corporation, not Peter, was responsible for all the bad things done to him even though Janine knew full well Beyond was to blame. No, instead Janine decided to become 3v!L herself for, reasons.
3v!L Ben and Janine then team up with Madelyne Pryor, a clone of Jean Grey who just spent an entire arc in Young Mutants finally taking responsibility for her own actions when Zeb Wells decided to wipe out Vita Ayala's hard work in that series and turn Maddie back to 3v!L for, reasons. No, strike that, I guess the reason is Zeb decided that being clones meant Maddie and Ben would be compatible companions in wrongdoing, even though that's like saying two random kids born in a hospital should team up and commit crimes because they were born of mothers instead of in a supervillain’s cloning vat.
Ben and Maddie decide it would be fun to unleash the demons of Limbo on New York City because somehow this would bring about revenge on Peter and Jean Grey. How and why they think having the citizens of NYC eaten by taxis turned carnivorous will entice Peter and Jean to give Ben and Maddie their lives/souls is not really explained, because there is no possible explanation that isn’t the height of nonsensical stupidness.
I'm not reading the X-Men tie-ins so perhaps Maddie fares better. But Ben - *falls out of chair, rolls on the ground laughing* - oh man, Ben - *can't type because out of breath from laughing so hard, give me a minute* - anyway, Ben - *nope, now I have hiccups from laughter. Excuse me while I get some water.*
Okay, I'm back. Where was I? Oh right, Ben. So Ben *god, I can't stop laughing. ASM is such a shit show, y'all* Ben in a previous issue somehow kidnaps Jonah and Robbie and sends them to Limbo, then tricks Peter into wishing he was in Limbo to save them.
And that's where we pick up.
(What, you're here to see if Wells has made any forward progress on the "What Did Peter Do?" and "Why does MJ have two kids and is living with some guy named Paul?" mystery boxes? No, of course there is zero movement on these stories and absolutely no clues dropped. Wells sucks at sustaining a mystery, which isn’t really a mystery because the only people who don’t know what happened are the readers. But we knew that.)
So as the issue opens, two goblins are going to "work" in human clothes. One goblin - let's call him Pink Eyeballs - is super into roleplaying office drones and thinks saying the word "butt" is the height of humor. His companion - let's call him Shark Head - is not amused and threatens to bite his head off. Peter Parker then appears and reminds the demons he's told them to knock off the head biting talk. Shark Head objects so Peter wallops him, sending blood flying (gotta have your gratuitous graphic violence in a Zeb Wells books). Pink Eyeballs is now in love with "Parker Pete Man" because the demons aren't supposed to be very smart so they talk backwards and get names wrong, this is apparently what passes for high comedy at Marvel.
Peter then enters the Limbo version of the Daily Bugle where the real Jonah is being yelled at demons because Jonah keeps messing up his lines. He says "Get me picture of Spider-Man" when he's supposed to yell "Get me TASTY pictures of Spider-Man!" Wells spends two whole pages on this so I guess we're supposed to find this hilarious but it's just sad. Peter vows vengeance on Ben for making Jonah suffer (Robbie is there, too, but who cares about the Black man and that he's being tortured, too? Not Wells, that's for sure).
Peter goes to confront Ben/Chasm, who went to all the trouble of sending demons to overrun Manhattan but is just chilling (like a villain - oh look, Wells has infected me with his unfunny) in Limbo. He tells Peter everything will be put right if Peter would only eat Chasm's apple (and sadly, that's not a clever euphemism, Wells is straight out going for on-the-nose Evil Queen/Snow White apple). Peter, because he's seen old Disney cartoons, refuses to eat. Chasm says he'll never let Peter leave, to which Peter says he's not asking permission. Wow, much clever dialogue. Not cliched at all.
Later, Ben is having fun transforming demons into versions of the Sinister Six. Maddie isn't happy that Ben is using her resources frivolously and starts to wonder why the hell is she even in this fakakta story. While Maddie is wearily regretting the life choices that led to being involved with a loser like Chasm, Pink Eyeballs shows up wearing a Spider-Man t-shirt and his tighty whities (very humor. Much funny). He heard there were more opportunities for cosplay and he wants to be "Parker Man." Chasm yells at Pink Eyeballs that they don't need a Parker and that Pink Eyeballs "has it backwards."
We cut to Jonah in his "apartment" where the demons like watching him go to the bathroom (oh, that Zeb! And the comedic zingers keep coming!) and sexually harass him. A bed with bedroom eyes and Kim Kardashian lips wants Jonah between her sheets, hubba hubba. A tap on the window interrupts this trying way far too hard scene. Peter is wallcrawling to tell Jonah he's figured out the demons must have a way to get to Manhattan and he and Jonah are going to find out where and use it. But first, he needs his costume and asks Jonah for a thimble, because I guess Limbo has fabric stores that sells blue and red lycra? The whole thing is stupid and an example of plugging up plot holes that don't exist (Peter had his costume on when he went to Limbo: easy and already on the page) only to create even bigger plot holes, like where is Peter going to find the supplies to make a costume?! Meanwhile, see a real plot hole re: Pink Eyeballs, above.
Also, does anyone think to check in on Robbie? No. of course not.
Meanwhile, Pink Eyeballs is super super sad because he can't be a hero like Parker Man. He fortuitously happens to stumble across another demon - let's call him Snaggle Fangs, and he might have a real name because he appeared in Venom 13 but I'm not looking it up - who may conveniently have a solution for Pink Eyeballs. So many happy coincidences! That's not lazy storytelling at all.
See, Snaggle Fangs just happens to possess a little bit of Venom's symbiote, hanging around in a flask. Into that flask he drops in Pink Eyeballs's Spidey t-shirt (thankfully, Pink Eyeballs gets to keep his tighty whities - and why do demons care about wearing underwear in the first place? They're demons!). The symbiote does what a symbiote does and envelopes Pink Eyeballs, who is not exactly happy about it.
Meanwhile, at the Limbo Daily Bugle, Jonah tells his demon reporters that the real story is up above, in Manhattan, where demons get to be real demons and none of this fake, non-demon stuff, pretending to be undemonly humans. The demons stampede as planned (Oh, hi, stunned Robbie who no one thought to clue in) and Spider-Man appears, saying Peter already escaped Limbo but sent him to save them in his stead.
The three men follow the demons, but...who is that lurking in the shadows? Could it be...the Indidious Six?!?!? They invite Peter to fight.
Peter responds with weariness, because he's also tired of being in this ridiculous, hamfisted sad excuse to suck $3.99 out of readers' wallets: "Oh Boy. Sigh. Sure."
There is one page of fighting. Because this is a Zeb Wells book, Peter is easily beaten and left lying helpless on the ground, with "Kraken the Hunter"about to put his eye out (since a kraken is an octopus-type creature, shouldn't the kraken be a Doc Ock analog? Oh, never mind, I just put more thought into this story than Wells has spent on this entire arc).
But never fear. Because this is a Zeb Wells book where Peter Parker is an ineffectual quitter who gives up after a few punches and needs rescue, here comes our pal Pink Eyeballs to save the day! The symbiote has turned Pink Eyeballs into a 'roided up version of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle wearing a Spider-Man costume - only...dum dum DAH!...the spider on the front is the fat bodied spider that is normally seen on the back of Spider-Man's costume. Because our pal is NOT Pink Eyeballs, but "REK-RAP!" Get it? He was told by Ben he had things backwards so now he's "REK-RAP?" Y'know, PARKER spelled backwards? HA HA HA. Another knee-slapper from Wells! You know what's even funnier? If they moved the hyphen over, the character would be Re-Krap. So now Peter has his own Bizarro, apparently. Gee, very awesome. Much cool.
And that's it. That's the entire go absolutely nowhere story. The story Wells was supposedly building up to for the entire first year of his run. This is why they heel turned Ben. That's what Wells decided he had to tell rather than explain anything about What Peter Did, or where MJ's kids came from, or why Aunt May had to move to a smaller place, or what Peter stole from the Fantastic Four, or why Peter is bestest buddies with the murderer of Gwen Stacy, or doing anything about the relationship with Felicia Hardy that is supposedly "heating up" according to the recaps in earlier issues but on the page the "romance" is colder than a freezer packed with ice buried in the permafrost at the Artic Circle.
Wells is woefully the one of worst writer we've seen on Spider-Man. I mean, when a run makes a Dan Slott story look somewhat sophisticated and well-plotted by comparison, you have a problem. A big one.
Ed McGuinness’s art is gorgeous but wasted on a shitty script.
Save your money. Run. Run far away from this benighted run until there is a change in writer - and it might require a change in editor before the book improves.
Comment on original review: https://imgur.com/rTnpUIU
January 11, 2023
Easily the most stupidly fun issue of this event so far.
January 11, 2023
The cover story was better than the actual story.
January 12, 2023
Where it the monthly Amazing Spider-Man I was reading?
February 18, 2023
So I got ahold of the Disney variant cover of this one and then had a hard time locating the right comic on here. Not sure I like the whole new system.
That being said I am a big Spider-Man fan of old and I was thrilled to get this one to read. It is an odd concept but I actually enjoyed the story so far and would love to read the whole thing. I enjoyed the portrayal of the old characters remade in Limbo for Spider-Man to fight. The names were well thought out.
That being said I am a big Spider-Man fan of old and I was thrilled to get this one to read. It is an odd concept but I actually enjoyed the story so far and would love to read the whole thing. I enjoyed the portrayal of the old characters remade in Limbo for Spider-Man to fight. The names were well thought out.
April 30, 2023
Though it is sunk by being VERY derivative of the X Men Inferno from the Eighties, Zeb Wells gives us an interesting fight with Chasam aka Ben Reilly that does end predictabilty with Peter Parker going to Limbo.
January 16, 2023
Rek-Rap is my new favorite Marvel character, he is precious and must be protected at all costs.
January 22, 2023
This issue was crazy af.
January 26, 2023
In love with this comic books 💗💗.
October 9, 2023
I love Ed's art.
November 25, 2023
I really don’t gaf about spiderman
January 1, 2024
Wow this is a weird one. The demons are hilarious and gross looking. Why is this a Spider-Man comic and not Dr Strange or something else a bit more occult
January 11, 2025
Ehh…this one lacked a bit. Artwork was pretty good, but the story got a bit too goofy. Interested to see how it all turns out though.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews