A new era for Spider-Man has brought the Beyond Corporation into Spidey’s world, including Misty Knight and Colleen Wing. The Daughters of the Dragon are now Ben Reilly’s Spider-Man trainers and while they’re usually cooped up at the Beyond Corp, this week Jed MacKay and Eleonora Carlini show they can fight crime too. Well, if by crime you mean giant robot monsters. Whatever you do, don’t pass on the antics of these two awesome heroes tying into the larger Spider-Man story.
As a spoiler-free review, don’t expect anything revealed beyond what is in the preview, which doesn’t show the meat of the adventure Misty and Colleen go on, but you get enough of the overall vibe. As you can see, Spider-Man is fighting horror-themed Avengers as he’s stuck in the Avengers’ Murder Mansion. It’s an incredibly fun setup because it offers Avengers redesigns with horror-icon twists and fast-paced action. The entire vibe of this book is about our heroes being a bit too carefree given the threat level, but that’s because they’re very good at their jobs.
Spider-Man may be a heavy hitter in the opening scene, but MacKay lets Misty and Colleen take the wheel for most of the book after the opening. They have a great rapport with each other and you can tell they’re practically sisters after the stuff they’ve seen over the years.
An Iron Man Jason? That’s cool!
Credit: Marvel
This issue also heavily aligns with the nature of Maxine, who is clearly less interested in her employee’s safety than she should be. From that angle, we’re gaining a bit more insight into the Beyond Corporation. We also get plenty of that via some technology reveals, which MacKay leans into heavily to add a lot of spark and fun.
The art by Carlini is super kinetic, lending to Spider-Man’s agility in the opening and the high-octane action of Misty and Colleen throughout the issue. Federico Blee supplies super bright color choices that add to the high-energy vibe of the title as well. Carlini is very good at using subtle changes between panels — like characters barely reacting between them — to create an attitude. Seeing as this book is heavily themed with horror homages, Carlini is also good at capturing the look of classics without straight-up ripping them off.
The Amazing Spider-Man #78.BEY is a super fun, high-energy thrill ride of a comic. It’s filled with ideas from horror movie icons popping up and smart tech innovations. It reads like a satisfying one-shot and yet comes with a “to be continued” at the end to make you want more. It perfectly captures the Spider-Man vibe, even though he’s not present for much of the adventure. Now that’s good comics.
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