The yo-yoing of Amazing Spider-Man continues this week as Joe Kelly’s series flips back to Earth after a space adventure with Peter Parker last issue. On Earth, Peter’s clone Ben Reilly is doing his best to prevent Peter from losing his job while Norman Osborn does his best to keep New York safe. Both are doing an okay job in their corners of Peter’s life, but if today’s issue is any indication, things may blow up fast for both.
Amazing Spider-Man #16 opens with a crosscutting of four lives: Tombstone, Norman, Aunt May, and Ben Reilly. Kelly does an excellent job of weaving dialogue between each of the scenes as if it’s one conversation. All four characters are affected by Peter’s disappearance, and some don’t even know it. With Aunt May, she’s getting a dire message from Jameson about how Peter isn’t right, while Tombstone knows something is up but doesn’t know what yet. Meanwhile, Ben is reeling from living Peter’s life, and Norman is similarly trying to get a handle on it after being told by Miles Morales and other Spider-characters to lay off. It’s a good way to show how each character and their world is a bit off.
From there, we dive into Spider-Man, aka Norman, saving a construction worker’s life, and how he’s embodying Spider-Man because it gives people hope. He’s doing the valiant thing, even if he doesn’t believe he deserves to be a hero. Norman ends up stealing the issue for most interesting, in part because Kelly digs up the traumas of his youth. There’s an interesting point made about the rage Norman feels, and how it augments his version of Spider-Man.
The crosscutting here is excellent.
Credit: Marvel
Another key scene is one involving Aunt May. Ever the loving parent, there’s a smart takeaway here as she reflects that when Peter is hurt, he pushes others away, but he’ll come back eventually.
And then there’s Tombstone, who is aided by the new villain Plague RX. Outside of an interesting new villain with a powerset befitting a villain, Kelly plucks out some wisdom from Tombstone here that Norman doesn’t want to hear.
Something apparent from the very first issue is how the scene changes add a lot to the issue, making it feel more packed with story and entertainment. By the end of the issue, it feels like you get more comic, even if it’s hard to figure out what Ben is up to. Something nefarious, I’m sure.
Romita Jr. draws a strong issue, bringing his dynamic, sometimes blocky style to the series. The choreography of Spider-Man saving the construction workers is exciting, and Spider-Man always looks great. In the scene with Norman and Maira, Romita Jr. uses some streaks to convey wind, adding a bit of tension between the two. I may not love how he draws blood spurting from a Spider-Man mask, but you can’t deny it’s dramatic as heck.
Amazing Spider-Man #16 is a tightly woven, emotionally charged issue that uses sharp scene transitions and character introspection to explore the ripple effects of Peter’s absence, delivering standout moments for Norman Osborn, intriguing new threats, and dynamic art that keeps the stakes high as the series barrels toward chaos.
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