Amazing Spider-Man #13 Review

The cast is assembled in Amazing Spider-Man #13, and the main pieces of the Inheritor’s chess board have been revealed. Does the penultimate issue of the Spider-Verse hold up to the series’ standards?

Amazing Spider-Man #13 serves to move the characters to where they need to be, as well as puts the final act into its climax. We learn about the Uncle Ben Spider Totem, who acts as a foil to most, if not all of the other Spider-Cast, in that he comes from a world that bore the worst possible outcome that each of the Spider-(Wo)Men could have experienced themselves. His shift from reluctance and defeatist attitude at the start of the issue, to the Superior Spider-Man of all people inspiring him to rise up and fight at the end of the comic shows one of the messages of the Spider-Verse (and dare I say Spider-Man himself), in that even at the lowest point possible of any universe, it’s still possible to stand up and keep going.

A lot of check-ins with the other characters are used to measure what everyone is doing and what causes them to converge on the Loomworld for the final fight; however, though a simple line of dialogue or two brings us up to speed- such as Jennix telling his father that the cloning facility was destroyed and the excerpt showing Kaine enraged by the losses during the same event, without having read the required side issues readers miss a lot of what happened that led to these moments.

The special totems conveniently going to the Loomworld does happen organically, and each one of them has an understandable reason to go there. Though this leads to one of the most underwhelming battles in the entire event…

(SPOILERS INCOMING)

Kaine vs. Lord Solus, Daemos, and Morlun. After witnessing the awe-inspiring might of Solus when he fought hand in hand with Cosmic Spider-Man, it was a bit of a let-down that a transformed Kaine one shot him in a one page sequence, only to be completely ravaged by Morlun in the next few panels. I know as the Other, and in his spider form, Kaine gains tremendous levels in terms of power; but Lord Solus certainly seemed way stronger than he was in this issue.

(SPOILER END)

But one thing that the issue presented well in its context, is two components of the “moral of the story,” so to speak. One is having the spirit to rise back up from defeat, and that the powers don’t make the man -seen through SpOck’s and Uncle Ben’s speeches. The other is revealed during an intimate aside between Spider-UK and Spider-Man India over identity and being a hero no matter who you are, something that Dan Slott himself alluded to in a recent interview with The Verge: the concept that there is no one true Spider-Man, but that every Spider-(Wo)Man is the real Spider-(Wo)Man to those that care about them.

Giuseppe Camuncoli’s art is detailed and sharp as usual, not much to add on that front, and I think its safe to say he and Oliver Coipel were top notch choices for the event. Amazing Spider-Man #13 held up to the quality we’ve expected from the event thus far, and I can only nitpick about a few misgivings that doesn’t take away from its quality as a whole. The conclusion here we come!

Check out Whatever a Spider Can’s other Spider-Verse comic book recaps and reviews

Amazing Spider-Man #12 Recap and Review
Amazing Spider-Man #11 Recap and Review
Amazing Spider-Man #10 Recap and Review

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