In the first two issues of Joe Kelly and Pepe Larraz’s run, Spider-Man was already neck-deep in chaos, hallucinating from a mystery drug, emotionally fractured, and tangled up with both Norman Osborn and a reimagined Rhino. By the end of issue #2, Peter was barely clinging to his sanity after a brutal fight and a near-death moment. Amazing Spider-Man #3 picks up right where things left off, throwing Peter into even more psychological and physical torment, with a love-sick, murderous new villain complicating things even further.
Amazing Spider-Man #3 is a whiplash-inducing, mood-swinging fever dream that refuses to slow down. It opens with Spider-Man stumbling back into battle while still fighting off the effects of a mind-warping hallucinogen. His opponent? Itsy Bitsy—a genetically engineered psychopath with a twisted crush on our webhead. In a fight scene that’s both visually dazzling and deeply uncomfortable, she spares Spidey not out of mercy, but because she’s into him. Gross. Meanwhile, Peter’s body is failing him, his mind is fraying, and Aunt May is clearly picking up on something being very wrong. The issue barrels through flashbacks, emotional visits to familiar faces, and a half-baked investigation into a soda company, because, of course, a Spider-Man comic in 2025 ties a city-wide poisoning to a cola brand. Just as Peter starts to connect the dots, Hobgoblin shows up to blow the story wide open.
Credit: Marvel Comics
Amazing Spider-Man #3 isn’t something you just follow panel by panel. It’s like being strapped to the front of a rollercoaster that’s glitching. There are high points: Pepe Larraz’s art continues to be stunning. Seriously, this guy could make a tax audit look kinetic. Every action panel explodes with motion, and the flashbacks to Peter’s youth (rendered in moody blues) add a layer of melancholy that’s honestly the emotional core of the comic. That stuff hits.
But then the rest of the story swings between inspired and just… baffling. Joe Kelly has ideas, some great, some half-baked, but he’s throwing them at the wall so fast that none of them stick. The whole Itsy Bitsy thing? Creepy. And not in a cool “villain you love to hate” way. More like “why are we doing this?” She’s genetically related to Peter in some way, and yet here she is playing out a twisted rom-com with him. It doesn’t work. It’s weird, it’s gross, and it undermines the stakes.
And the plot? It’s getting harder to follow. The mystery about the poison is potentially interesting, if it gets somewhere, but right now it just feels like Peter’s guessing his way through coincidences. There’s no tension because nothing feels earned. One moment, he’s hallucinating in a sewer; the next, he’s got a detailed theory about soda companies. We’re asked to leap with him, but the story never lays down enough groundwork to make those jumps feel logical.
Credit: Marvel Comics
Still, Spider-Man #3 isn’t a total bust. There’s good here. Larraz is an MVP, and Kelly’s exploration of Peter’s trauma, especially through flashbacks with Uncle Ben, is deeply humanizing. Even the idea that Peter’s superhuman stamina is cracking under the weight of psychological pain and literal drugs is compelling. The bones of a great Spider-Man story are here, buried under some strange decisions and a narrative that hasn’t quite found its rhythm yet.
The downside? The issue leans way too hard on shock and chaos without anchoring it in a coherent emotional through-line. That’s not a deal-breaker if it all ties together in the next issue or two, but right now, it’s like reading three different comics smashed together.
Spider-Man #3 is a chaotic mess in the best and worst ways. It’s visually breathtaking, emotionally ambitious, and occasionally thrilling, but it also veers into off-putting weirdness and suffers from messy plotting. The ideas are strong, but the execution stumbles. If Kelly can pull these threads together soon, this arc could still deliver. But for now, it’s more frustrating than satisfying.
‘Amazing Spider-Man’ #3 Review: Visually Stunning, Narratively Stumbling
Amazing Spider-Man #3 is a chaotic mess in the best and worst ways. It’s visually breathtaking, emotionally ambitious, and occasionally thrilling, but it also veers into off-putting weirdness and suffers from messy plotting. The ideas are strong, but the execution stumbles. If Kelly can pull these threads together soon, this arc could still deliver. But for now, it’s more frustrating than satisfying.
