Amazing Spider-Man 14 review

With today’s issue, Spider-Verse comes to a close. It’s been an intense event, including as many alternate dimension Spider-Men as possible while they struggled against the Inheritors. At times, the event was bogged down with a few too many editor boxes telling readers to “see what happens to this group by reading this tie-in”, and a number of sub-plots. These sub-plots do add to the main story though, and the tie-ins I’ve read are at least entertaining. So how does the final issue turn out?

Amazing Spider-Man 14 is entertaining. With the Inheritors about to enact a ritual that will not only kill every Spider-Man ever, but will stop any new ones from being born, time is of the essence. Despite that, this final issue feels a bit anti-climatic in a few ways. The Inheritors are completely overwhelmed by the Spider army, especially when new ones keep popping in with more warriors, giant machines and even a spider-car. But the real fun is watching the Spider plan come into play, with all the twists and turns the various Peters planned ahead of time. And with so many Spider-Men killed over the course of the event, it feels justified that they walk all over the villains in the end.

With such a large battle, you’d think there’s no room for any dramatic moments. While that’s not completely true, most of the dramatic moments feel a bit rushed. Mayday Parker’s arc is concluded with a couple lines here and there, and Spider-Gwen’s big fight only lasts several panels. Thankfully 616 Peter’s conclusion is saved for the next issue, because there’s simply no room for it here. The way they deal with the villains is explored in full though, and it works.

The art by Giuseppe Camuncoli and Olivier Coipel might just be the highlight of this issue. All of the action flows smooth and the detail is always impressive. Even with so many different Spider-Men and women, everyone has a slightly different appearance to help us tell them apart. Of the few faces we see, everyone’s emotions are captured perfectly in their expressions.

This event is by no means Dan Slott’s best Spider-Man story, nor will it end up on my favourite comics of the year list in December if I do one, but it’s satisfying overall. Most of the event ended up being fairly dark and intense, and the final issue ends with a giant fight and several twists to keep things fun. And with every single Spider-Man ever, how could you go wrong. Thanks to that, this event is at least worth reading for Spider-man fans.