Writer: Joe Kelly
Penciler: John Romita Jr.
Inker: Scott Hanna
Colorist: Marcio Menyz & Erick Arciniega
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Cover Artist: John Romita Jr. (Cover A)
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: July 2nd 2025

Recap

At the end of the previous issue, Spider-Man and Black Cat were about to take down a group of Hobgoblin’s goons when Hellgate suddenly appeared before them. Who is he and what does he want with Spidey?

Legacy issue #971

Plot Summary

We open with Spidey and Black Cat facing the recently materialized Hellgate. He’s a big lad! Felicia is surprised to hear that Peter’s spider-sense is NOT tingling. Just his “common sense is freaking out a little.” Hellgate is talking about an alliance with “the prince of steelsilk” as he calls Spidey. We get some Joe Kelly “comedy” dialogue including this little beauty: “We’re just talking in D&Deese Cat…all good.” No comment.

Spidey is trying to stall Hellgate while he and Black Cat deal with Hobgoblin’s minions. But Hellgate takes matters into his own hands and performs some kind of jumping energy attack that pretty much destroys the gang. Spidey goes to check the men but they’re all dead. Now he’s angry. He charges at Hellgate and gets pushed away with extreme prejudice. But he’s okay because a parked car’s windscreeen halts his momentum. Ouch!

The scene shifts to a bus station where we see Hermes Crenshaw arriving in the city. WHO? I hear you cry. Remember the guy in the desert in issue 1? He seemed to know that Hellgate was about to appear from a portal in the rocks. Well, he’s back and trying to contact both the Avengers and the Fantastic Four to warn them about Hellgate.

Back to Spider-Man and Hellgate and it’s one long fight scene from here until the end of the issue. One of my favourite moments is when we see Black Cat firing a pair of uzis at the giant. Never mind where she got them from, I’m surprised she didn’t hit Spidey as well! At this point I have to comment on the art. It’s hit or miss throughout the issue with some panels appearing unfinished and lacking basic details. You get the feeing John Romita Jr. was in a rush to finish it. The crazy two-issues-a-month release schedule for ASM has a serious effect on the quality of the art. It’s even more noticeable after Pepe Larraz’s excellent work on the first five issues. If Marvel truly cared about the quality of their flagship book then they would return it to a monthly release. They’re milking all the loyal ASM readers in my opinion. What do you think?

We get two more single page interludes. The first shows J. Jonah Jameson reading the morning papers and grumbling about typos. He sees the flash from an explosion out the window. It’s from the Spidey Hellgate fight. We also see a mysterious figure listening to the police radio and when they hear about Spider-Man fighting downtown, they drive off on a moped towards the fight. I’m not sure who this is. If you know, please tell me in the comments below. The issue ends on a cliffhanger with Spider-Man unable to take Hellgate down. It looks like we will be getting more of this fight next issue.

Sharp Points!

If you enjoy issue-long Spidey fight scenes, then you will probably appreciate this issue. There are some funny and cool moments, but they are the exception rather than the norm.

Dull Points!

The poor quality of some of the art is very noticeable at times. It’s hit and miss throughout the issue. Joe Kelly’s voice for Spider-Man is all over the place with some truly bizarre lines from the webcrawler. I think Kelly believes he’s being really funny but most of the humour does not land. The plot hardly advances and we still have no idea who or what Hellgate is.

Final Thoughts

Amazing Spider-Man #7 is an action-packed issue that may appeal to Spidey fans who enjoy a good fight scene, but it hardly progresses the plot. We still don’t know who or what Hellgate is, just that he’s powerful and wants to form an alliance with Spider-Man. Why? I don’t know. Maybe we’ll find out next issue. The art is a mixed bag with some of the panels looking rushed or unfinished. This is no doubt due to Marvel’s seemingly greedy policy of publishing two issues of ASM each month. Spider-Man fans deserve a better quality book than this.

5.5/10

---

NOTE: My score has dropped half a point since I made my video review. The more I thought about this issue, the lower my score became. Here’s my video review if you’d like to see more of the art:

About the reviewer: Wakizashi Gray has a YouTube channel where he reviews comics. It has the rather bizarre name of Wakizashi’s Teahouse. He also keeps a WordPress blog called Wakizashi Teahouse Blog.

Thanks for reading!