Amazing Spider-Man is celebrating its 975th issue, an uncommon milestone to celebrate, but it’s still a nice marker as we get closer to #1,000. Customary of Marvel, this issue is extra-sized with multiple stories, as well as a major jumping-on point reveal for the main one. Teased for months, there are two Spider-Men around, and one is going cosmic! Find out why in this issue, as there are twists galore!
Amazing Spider-Man #11 has pretty much everything you’d want in a milestone issue. It features two main stories, one titled “Broken Mirror” drawn by John Romita Jr. and the other “Broken Man” drawn by Pepe Larraz. Joe Kelly writes both, infusing the stories with key flashbacks to Peter’s youth, further developing the character from his past. Both stories set up where we go from here, reveal identities teased in last issue’s cliffhanger, and establish a very different kind of space tale for Peter Parker to navigate.
Starting with the main story, “Broken Mirror,” Romita Jr. and Kelly introduce another flashback, this time set when Peter was a preschooler and a superfan of Captain America. It’s a sort of reminder that Peter has always wanted to be a hero from the very start. It’s also nice to see Uncle Ben and Aunt May so young. This leads Aunt May to reflect on that family dynamic and seek some help from her new friend, Ric. Aside from it being 1:00am and the establishing shot looking like daytime, it’s an emotional start.
From there, the story dives right into the rooftop confrontation between Spider-Man and Peter Parker. This scene is heavily homaging the original Clone Saga, with the identity of Peter getting revealed, which throws into question who the guy in the Spider-Man suit is. Fear not, as it’s revealed by the end of the issue! The fight is entertaining, with Romita Jr.’s bone-crunching art style suiting the brutal forces at work. There’s enough here to hint at the bigger picture.
Has Peter lost it, in space?!
Credit: Marvel
Key scenes with Tombstone, as well as “Peter,” help carve out the situation. There’s even a fun idea of “clone sense” that is thrown into the mix. It’s fun because the stand-in for Peter Parker should be fun to track, as he’s got far more anger, and that probably won’t work so well as he manages a new life. Not to mention the drama that’ll spin out by the way Peter’s girlfriend, Shay, is going to be treated.
The story transitions from street level to space in “Broken Man,” featuring exceptional art by Larraz throughout. This story opens on a barren and scary-looking planet where Peter is shown barely surviving on rainwater and space rats. Thankfully, this thread doesn’t get dragged out over issues, as Kelly and Larraz take things to a spaceship and a mysterious alien who enjoys writing books.
The spaceship scenes are strong, with mystery, sci-fi stuff to dig into, and even action. It’s a real fish-out-of-water situation for Peter, which is fun to track, and once again, Kelly doesn’t skimp on plot progression. By the end of this story, there’s a whole new adventure to go on, making “Broken Man” read like it’s giving a lot more than dragging.
This issue also features three backups, one by Saladin Ahmed and Pere Perez continuing Chip Zdarsky’s Rapid story, a comic strip style story by Lee Gatlin titled “Spider-Mayonnaise,” and a quick double-page splash tale by Jason Loo. Each story adds a little something, like Rapid acting like an original self-doubt toting Spider-Man with his own problems. It’s tied just enough to Spider-Man to feel like it belongs, and the heroes’ powers are unique enough to make you want more. Gatlin’s art style and kookiness are a treat, while Loo’s double-page reads like a vignette from a prose novel with a montage of Spider-Man acts tied to a few paragraphs.
Amazing Spider-Man #11 rises to the occasion with a celebratory issue that feels both reverent and forward-looking. Joe Kelly’s scripts strike a balance between character history and new mysteries, while the dual art teams maintain visual quality across vastly different story settings. It’s a dense package, sometimes uneven, but rarely dull, that manages to honor Spider-Man’s past while pushing him into uncharted territory just in time for the road to #1,000. With cosmic stakes, bold new twists, and the promise of even bigger revelations, we’re entering a brand new, ultra-exciting era for Spider-Man.
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