- Written by: Justina Ireland
- Art by: Gleb Melnikov
- Colors by: Marcio Menyz
- Letters by: VC’s Joe Caramagna
- Cover art by: Ed McGuinness (cover A)
- Cover price: $4.99
- Release date: December 11, 2024
Amazing Spider-Man #63, by Marvel Comics on 12/11/24, introduces readers to the next Cyttorak challenger, Cyrios, who inflicts pain by dragging Spider-Man through time to every tragic event of his life.
Is Amazing Spider-Man #63 Good?
First Impressions
Well, here we go. Star Wars: High Republic writer Justina Ireland hops onto the flagship title for the next entry in the 8 Deaths arc to put Peter through an emotional rollercoaster of a challenge. What’s the verdict? Amazing Spider-Man #63 is just okay with some caveats.
Recap
When last we left the not-so-amazing Peter Parker in Amazing Spider-Man #62, Peter struggled to keep his personal life in balance while getting a crash course in magic and learning that Norman Osborn shut down Oscorp. The magic lessons came in handy when the next scion of Cyttorak arrived for the challenge to defeat Spider-Man with the power to bend space. The issue ended with the second challenger defeated and the second resurrection reed used.
Plot Synopsis
In Amazing Spider-Man #63, the story continues the cliffhanger from the last issue. A demonic little girl shows up in the restaurant where Peter, Shay, and Randy are having a lively dinner. The girl, Cyrios, can manipulate and travel through time. Cyrios freezes everyone in the restaurant except Peter and drags Peter through a portal to the past. Cyrios’s plan? Drag Peter to all the tragic events in his life until the pain forces him to quit the contest.
Spider-Man can’t defeat any of the moments of the past, such as the deaths of Uncle Ben or Gwen Stacy, so he takes the direct approach by trying to knock out Cyrios. Unfortunately, a demon who knows every moment in time easily evades every swing. To counter, Cyrios pops them both to another moment in time to throw Spider-Man off.
However, Spider-Man figures out that the best way to surprise an omniscient demon is to team up with himself when she doesn’t see it coming. (see Bill & Ted’s Big Adventure (1989) for the how). In retribution for getting punched and thus ending the contest, Cyrios kills Spider-Man by shattering his mind with all moments of his life at once… maybe.
The issue snaps back to the moment the little demon girl showed up in the restaurant. Peter decides to cut the dinner short and walk Shay home to chat. Shay is supportive but knows Peter is covering. When Peter gets home, he finds a disappointed Aunt May waiting. She’s disappointed because Peter missed out on more F.E.A.S.T. obligations, and she’s concerned that Peter seems more on edge lately.
To help with the stress, Peter seeks out Black Cat for a rooftop chit-chat. The issue concludes with Peter and Shay enjoying a picnic in the park while two more scions invisibly study Earth’s new champion. Lastly, the Alaska-based X-Men enjoy an afternoon of video games when Juggernaut suddenly receives a call to “prepare.”
What’s great about Amazing Spider-Man #63?
After several years of witnessing Peter Parker getting beaten into the dirt with “Parker Luck,” it’s nice to see that there are people around him expressing genuine care and concern for his well-being. Every personal interaction Peter has with Aunt May, Shay, and Felicia is heartwarming and sweet in varying degrees.
What’s not great about Amazing Spider-Man #63?
Unfortunately, the main crux of the issue, the fight with Cyrios to reattain the contract with Cyttorak, gets shortchanged by a lot.
Cyrios never establishes the rules of the fight, so Spider-Man (and the readers) are simply expected to assume that punching her would mean victory.
When a boy falls off his bike while his uncle is there to witness it, is it normal or natural for the boy to leave his bike to let some stranger walk away with it? No, that doesn’t happen, and it puts you off on the first page.
We never see Peter’s death and subsequent resurrection. It’s “implied.” As a result, the loosely executed fight, which indeed resolves by borrowing from Bill & Ted’s Big Adventure (1989), is over at the midway point in the comic. The rest of the issue is slice-of-life chit-chats, which last for nine pages.
On the whole, Ireland’s personal moments with Peter are good, and the issue gets the job done in a wholly predictable arc, but a superhero comic’s focus should be on a superhero doing superhero things. If Ireland’s approach is to shortchange the superheroics with slice-of-life drama, that doesn’t bode well for the future.
How’s the Art?
Gleb Melnikov is back on art duties, and the net result looks amazing (heh). Melnikov has a tendency to overdo the beefiness of his characters, especially in the shapes of the head and face. Here, Melnikov employs some restraint and gives readers an excellent set of visuals with more natural-looking figure work.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
Follow @ComicalOpinions on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
Final Thoughts
Amazing Spider-Man #63 pits Spider-Man against the third scion of Cyttorak for a time-hopping battle designed to crush Spidey’s spirit. Justine Ireland joins the title to deliver an issue with a solid plot at a high level and strong personal moments between Peter and his circle of friends and family. Unfortunately, the main event gets shortchanged with a poor setup, poor resolution, and too little page space in favor of slice-of-life drama.
6/10
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So then, they continue with the 8-for-8 even after he’s won by simply… cheating? Makes the stakes of this farce feel even less than before; why bother reading anything until the 8th fight?
…Also, though, if she’d just taken Peter to the One More Day event, and added the pain of discovering his deal with Mephisto- especially by taunting Peter with the fact that MJ is now ‘out of reach’ with Paul… this could’ve been a HUGE and impactful event for Spider-man.
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