Amazing Spider-Man #18 Recap

Hey all, it’s been awhile but let’s jump right in to the recap of Amazing Spider-Man #18, the last issue before the Secret Wars!

We open to the security room of Parker Industries, where Peter has stumbled upon the saboteur Ghost, who currently has his hand phased through Sajani’s chest. He leaps in to try and stop him, but the Ghost’s intangibility prevents any of Spidey’s shots from connecting. Pete shows his intelligence by aiming for Sajani instead, and pulling her out of the villain’s grasp. Realizing that Ghost’s energy field disrupts technology, and probably only affects a heart’s electrical impulses, he discovers that the Guard taken out in issue #17 and Sajani are both alive. Ghost is hell bent on destroying the building, and begins by blowing up the floor beneath them with some well placed bombs.

Meanwhile, in Peter Parker’s private lab; Anna, Clayton, the Living Brain, and the rest of Pete’s employees are hiding out. While Clayton is admiring the stealth Spider-Man suit, the Living Brain begins to repair and upgrade itself with the nanites Anna stored in him.

Peter may be having a tough time with Ghost, but Clayton and Anna have the sonic suit, webshooters (the models designed to defeat Venom with flaming and sonic webs, and the Superior Spider-Man version with a foreshadowing Anna robot lurking within), and scientific know how needed to use them properly.

We return to the lower levels where Spider-Man and Ghost are still fighting, where Spider-Man is explaining that eventually the Ghost’s suit will power down and he’ll lose the resulting 1v1. Except the Ghost doesn’t want to fight, he wants to raze the place to the ground with the bombs he placed around the structural beams. As the building begins to explode around him, Spider-Man gets trapped under the wreckage, and Ghost floats in, ready to unmask him.

Clayton isn’t having any of that though, as he suddenly appears with a resounding sonic strike with the clap of his hands. Anna follows that up with some flaming webs and the combination of sonic vibrations and webs leads to a wrapped up Ghost burrito. Spider-Man thanks them and swings off to save Sajani and the guard, but only after Anna covers for him again by tossing him a bag of his clothes.

Outside, Peter exits the building, as Paramedics, NYPD, and his staff wait outside. He quickly gets into an argument with Sajani over the fact that he’s still working with Spider-Man, and the fact that she had a secret project behind his back. The first part of the issue ends with the collapse of Parker Industries, a demoralized staff, and Peter, with a lack of confidence, saying that they can definitely come back from this… right?

This issue also concludes the Black Cat arc, starting with Peter finding out that Aunt May and John have been kidnapped. It cuts to the Black Cat, and a tied up Aunt May, John, and the socialite she had kidnapped in the last issue. On her journey to set herself free from her past and chains, she decides that the best way to do just that is to burn everything. Her past possessions, and those that dared to take them. Peter arrives in the nick of time and implores the Black Cat to help him, but she’s done with him and being good, and she fades away.

The issue concludes with Pete swinging his family to safety, Aunt May reaffirming that she still has faith in him, and Black Cat delivering a speech to her new villain congolmerate, with a promise that there’s nothing holding her back from getting results. Add a stamp at the end for Secret Wars and you got a comic!

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

Amazing Spider-Man #17 Recap and Review
Amazing Spider-Man #16 Recap and Review
Amazing Spider-Man #15 Recap and Review