Joe Kelly’s latest chapter, Amazing Spider-Man #15, is a phenomenal piece of Spidey storytelling. It takes Peter Parker’s reluctant cosmic journey (miles away from Earth after his defeat by Hellgate) and turns it into a surprisingly heartfelt and hilarious character study. Guest artist Emilio Laiso steps in to deliver a visually dynamic issue that proves Peter Parker’s greatest strength will never be proportional to anything but his own inherent goodness.
The story picks up with Peter trying to wrangle a chaotic crew of rescued “lab rats” who were experimented on by the villainous Dr. Xanto Starblood. The whole situation is classic Peter: he’s light-years from home, trying to get stronger so he can go back, but he immediately gets sidetracked by his need to help others.
His good intentions are quickly tested when one of his new comrades, the perpetually grumpy Rocket Raccoon, gets them all in hot water over a gambling debt. This lands Peter on the alien planet Galagus Otra, facing a pay-per-view exhibition match to clear the debt. The opponent? Betty, a massive, titanic alien.
What follows is a fantastic sequence of classic Spidey action: relying on wits and agility rather than brute force. Another win of this issue is the dialogue. The dialogue is sharp, especially the zingers. Rocket’s line, “he’s a human, so I figured he was just a hypocrite,” is an instant classic that shows Kelly has a perfect handle on both characters.
The heart of this issue isn’t the space wrestling but the secret of Peter’s new “technarachnid” suit. Developed by Dr. Starblood, the big surprise reveal is that the suit is a sentient being! It’s a Technarch (a powerful alien being) whose cognitive function was suppressed to act as a mere husk.
Peter, driven by the irony of fighting to free lab animals while wearing a prisoner (named Glitch), chooses to factory-reset the suit. This means giving up the exponential strength and protection the technarachnid offered. This decision to sacrifice power for the freedom of another life-form is pure, unadulterated Spider-Man. Yet it also directly and powerfully contradicts the central premise of his current arc: his obsession with needing more power to beat Hellgate. So if not with a powerful new suit, then how?
Ultimately, Joe Kelly’s writing truly shines here, using the out-of-this-world environment to brilliantly mirror and confront Peter’s deepest psychological baggage.
While Pepe Larraz handles the main art duties for the arc, Emilio Laiso steps in for #15 and delivers. His character work is superb, capturing Peter’s frantic energy and Rocket Raccoon’s exasperated expressions with perfect accuracy. The action against Betty is suitably monstrous and colorful, but the real visual highlight is the trippy splash pages during Peter’s suit reboot sequence, which merges his classic origin with Technarch memories of the terrifying Magus.
The colors (by Marcio Menyz, Marte Gracia, and Erick Arciniega) are critical here, giving Skridd City the necessary cosmic pop and making the Technarch’s golden-black suit suitably vibrant.
Amazing Spider-Man #15 is a win. It uses a wild, Guardians of the Galaxy-esque backdrop to force Peter to re-examine his core philosophy. It’s a fun, surprisingly heartfelt, and thematically rich issue that reminds us that Peter’s truest power is his unwavering sense of responsibility. The story ends with Peter having a new, less-powerful suit and an opinionated Technarch companion who is (hilariously) disgusted by spiders. You don’t want to miss this one.
‘Amazing Spider-Man’ #15 Review: Peter Parker’s Cosmic Brawl with a Sentient Suit
Amazing Spider-Man #15 is a win. It uses a wild, Guardians of the Galaxy-esque backdrop to force Peter to re-examine his core philosophy. It’s a fun, surprisingly heartfelt, and thematically rich issue that reminds us that Peter’s truest power is his unwavering sense of responsibility.
