COMIC REVIEW: The Amazing Spider-Man #1001

I’m accustomed to writing review blurbs for films and pro wrestling segments, not comic books… so let’s see how this goes (after making you suffer through or skip past this next paragraph of particularly subjective contextualization). For multiple reasons I also find the application of ratings to be a detrimental complication when posting my typical reviews, but I don’t love seeing the suggestion of empty stars next to this write-up on League of Comic Geeks so I’ll deliver my first rating in nearly two decades here with a 4.5/5.

As I’ve entered another of this life’s waves of being more actively invested in comics, I’ve tried to talk myself out of subscribing to my guy Spider-Man. Unoriginal though it may be, Spidey’s always been my go-to comic book character since before I could convince my mother to snag the occasional Clone Saga issue at grocery store checkout, and as an adult I’ve mostly shifted to reading digitally while only collecting standout favorite issues. On one hand of the subscription there’s the obvious expense of purchasing every issue - extra biting for a bi-weekly title alongside other squeezes such as the occasional Red Sonja and the now Kickstarter-based "Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose", etcetera - and on the other hand there’s my general perception that I haven’t missed much across my more passive years. For all the milestones I’ve caught up on after the fact, there’s even more filler that may work beautifully on its own but doesn’t really advance Peter Parker’s status quo in an important manner (see Zeb Wells’ fun yet ultimately perfunctory “Dead Language Part 2” arc, for example). Enter writer Joe Kelly, who… wallops the web-slinger into space where he crosses over with Rocket Raccoon and meets a new alien girlfriend named Raelith the Wretched? Damnit, I’m hooked; gimme that subscription. I’ll even start reading these physically so I can try to somewhat recapture a the childhood sensation of being in the moment and not knowing what was coming next for weeks! Gah, gotta get used to putting my grubby mitts all over these fresh copies instead of immediately bagging, boarding, and boxing them away because I’m a maniac. So after catching up to speed and preserving those couple copies of issue #1000 that are definitely going to put my kids through a minute or two of college, here we are - my dive back in to an “Amazing Spider-Man” subscription begins with #1001, in the middle of whatever we’re calling this phase of the Ravage arc. Hey, I have a Marvel trading card from the early ‘90s featuring a different guy named Ravage… actually, nevermind.

I was eager to commence my new era of subscribing to Spider-Man - and at such a clean number to jump back in on - but also realistically worried the issues I’ll be shelling out for will force reconsideration upon my current resolve. Well, so far so (very) good. We begin here - or continue, rather - outside a hospital after last issue’s big fight, just like in “Rocky II”. Immediately the vibrant colors make each page sing, a practically giallo-esque visual choice that never lets up. The writing is classic Spider-Man. Every word bubble is firmly in its respective character’s voice, especially our hero’s as he forever struggles to do his best while keeping his loved ones close. Kelly even refrains from his one annoying habit of forcing fleeting modern lingo like "slaps" into peoples' mouths! Of particular note, several evocative pages that conclude our opening scene deliver everything this Spidey fan could ask from an individual issue. I’m also pleased to see the fascinatingly redeemed Norman Osborn resonantly popping up despite having more prominently migrated over to “Spider-Versity” for the time being. And the surprise guest star - showing up just like Piers Anthony’s Good Magician Humfrey - tickled me as a general fan of the character and one who has been keeping up with their title(s) via the soon-to-be-sunset Marvel Unlimited service.

I will voice that, especially as a Clone Saga kid, it does concern me a bit that the Cormac Crane character seems to simply be a remixed Ben Reilly. Not only is our wayward Reilly still right there, his whole deal also remains sorely unresolved at the moment. These two wannabe Peter Parker replacements are so similar it makes me wonder if a meeting of some sort between them - and/or a possible reveal - is on the horizon. Still, Crane has been a compelling presence thus far and I’m giving him the chance to press on as such.

Another concern is the absence of Raelith, now ongoing for two issues. I realize it may be foolhardy to lament the temporary disappearance of a new secondary character for such a brief period of storytelling that firstly hasn’t directly involved her and secondly included the celebratory thousandth issue that perhaps Marvel didn’t want to be flaunting too many recent additions in. But as a reader I have latched on to Raelith in a big way, and even though Mary Jane will always be the one in the end - rightly so - I am hoping we don’t see the current love interest merely swept aside due to that aforementioned Peter Parker status quo. Give me more to chew on than Raelith and Parker’s other new space pals simply ghosting because yet again the conflicting demands of Parker’s dual lives have unintentionally deprioritized them. And if/when Raelith does end up departing… hey, I hear the Guardians of the Galaxy have an opening.

So I am a happy Spider-Man subscriber once again, and (even without Raelith) issue #1001 has exceeded my expectations on literally every beautiful page. Thwippin’ thrilled to be back on board this sequential soap opera train, eagerly awaiting each next book.

Originally posted on League of Comic Geeks.

The Best Films of 2025

Honorable mentions: Train Dreams (Clint Bentley), Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music (Questlove), SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night (Robert Alexander), American Primeval (Peter Berg), The Minecraft Movie (Jared Hess), Is This Thing On? (Bradley Cooper)

10. The Fantastic 4: First Steps, Matt Shakman

9. One Battle After Another, Paul Thomas Anderson

8. Black Bag, Steven Soderbergh

7. Materialists, Celine Song

6. If I Had Legs I'd Kick You, Mary Bronstein

5. F1, Joseph Kosinski

4. The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, Peter Browngardt

3. Warfare, Alex Garland, Ray Mendoza

2. Bugonia, Giorgos Lanthimos

1. The Testament of Ann Lee, or: The Woman Clothed by the Sun, with the Moon Beneath Her Feet, Mona Norvold

Man, that elementary school field trip to Hancock Shaker Village didn’t cover the half of "The Testament of Ann Lee". Amanda Seyfried mesmerizes while Fastvold again paints engrossing living images of bygone lifestyles with enduring relevance, this time in unconventional musical form. The demonstrably studied and radar-worthy filmmaker renders the sheer humanity in one’s desperation for solace and understanding with such universal reverence, her understatedly revealing observation of the pious lengths that desperation can lead may be mistaken as mere graceful objectivity. Letterboxd.

Lanthimos at play with his muses is my favorite Lanthimos. His relatively smaller scale stories closer to the “Dogtooth” filmmaker we fell in love with have become some of the surest things in current cinema. “Bugonia”, like a feature running time for what could have been a “Kinds of Kindness” chapter, is a blast. Its volatile chemical compound is deeply funny, searingly tense, and about as satisfying as one can ask a movie to be in qualities both formal and basal. Letterboxd.

2025’s greatest opening scene plays porter to as legitimate and involving an Iraq War movie you’re going to see. "Warfare" is a treat to civilians and veterans alike as Garland proves in swift follow-up that his track record-busting “Civil War” wasn’t just a fluke. Now who wants me to compare the film to “Beau travail”? Anyone? Anyone? Fine. Letterboxd.

Years of watchful protection cease as timeless entertainment icons find themselves held down by cynical new bosses even though their celebratory lunacy could literally save the world. Well, Mark Twain did say to write what you know. Delightfully goofy lark "The Day the Earth Blew Up" is made by animation fanatics for animation fanatics, chock with reverence for Porky Pig’s and Daffy Duck’s first appearances and pairings in the ‘30s as well as more modern icons of the medium like “Ren & Stimpy”. It’s relatively minor removed from the context of its scrappy moment, but satisfyingly rewatchable and crafted with a lot of love captained by Browngardt of the similarly-minded “Uncle Grandpa” and its Giant Realistic Flying Tiger. If the characters’ expressive mouths were isolated on blank backdrops there would still be something wild to watch, yet with that standard in place the creators are considerate enough to give us BBL Daffy twerking for likes and that gift cannot be taken for granted. I would warmly anticipate more of these as a new biennial tradition keeping a storied institution and beloved form alive on the big screen for young and for old. Letterboxd.

Kosinski logically follows his prior Tony Scott footsteps (complete with giants Jerry Bruckheimer and Hans Zimmer) with "F1", turning the dogfight cinematography innovations for “Top Gun” to a 360° action cam-infused “Rocky IV”-on-wheels mixed with every masculine movie to ever feature a romantic interest who’s 70% exposition and 30% just-pretend-the-lead-shifted-your-loins-into-first-gear-when-I-call-action. The Formula 1 movie may be definitively formulaic, but its exhilarating presentation of scrappy technical strategy makes “Days of Thunder” look so much more like the Elvis flick “Speedway” by comparison that it ought to win over even some stubborn NASCAR fans understandably put off by Javier Bardem's “best in the world” line. Honestly, this is some of the purest one-and-done summer fun to be had in a movie theatre. Letterboxd.

"If I Had Legs I'd Kick You" is devastatingly hilarious and hilariously devastating. Like “Daisy Diamond” driven into a head-on collision with “Eraserhead” by a practically Julianne Moore-esque turn from Rose Byrne. Letterboxd.

On the welcome promise of a cute trifle, “Materialists” over-delivers at cruising altitude after the turbulent takeoff of its useless framing device - a lone glaring blemish. With her bangs the slender Dakota Johnson is like Judy Greer cosplaying Anne Hathaway. And Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal bring enough Clark Gable and Cary Grant to the affair I ended up wishing it was all in black & white. Vastly improving upon her similarly promising but wholly mediocre “Past Lives”, Strong sees through the fresh yet classic-feeling angle of a stubbornly analytical woman un-learning the business of love in order to find her true heart. This theme unfolds through conversation that comes off calculated but says much more in the thoughts it guides us to between the words, and something so cynical on the surface becomes an emotional affirmation significantly surmounting even optimistic expectation. Letterboxd.

Spies Wide Shut! "Black Bag" is dry enough that there’s a lid on just how much it can truly be loved, but steadily gorgeous and as engrossing as any celebrated Golden Age thriller. Koepp and Soderbergh respect their trusting audience enough to let the readily attentive feel we may be ahead, until of course it’s time to leave us in the dust for just a moment before the signature recontextualization. If there’s any notable blemish, it’s that the casting tips the hand just enough to get you figuring before any real figuring is intended. But if you’re too confused or confounded to follow at all, as with “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” before it, this wickedly funny film does at least let you get by on pure sumptuous vibes. Letterboxd.

Yeah, "One Battle After Another" is pretty darn representative of what it’s like raising a teenage daughter. The ever-morphing PTA we’ve known does occasionally remain evident here if you really look for him, but he’s otherwise disappeared into a Nixon-era Friedkin-like the setting of which manages to be pressingly modern. What could be drearily punishing subject matter gets stirred with a steady breeze of levity, making overconfident buffoons of contemporarily realistic villains we are led to cathartically pump our fists at when they get one-upped. All the while this solidly constructed thing clips along swiftly with more piano plinks than any recent “Legend of Zelda” game (or “Sydney’s Loop”, for that matter), and if its climax had been part of a film from that early ‘70s era it evokes we would still be discussing its classic ingenuity alongside the likes of “Bullitt” and “The French Connection”. Letterboxd.

Excelsior! Following James Gunn’s exit with “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” the MCU was in need of a new family unit for us to latch on to, and the iconic yet damaged Fantastic Four brand didn’t have to at last be done quite this right to have filled the void. “Fantastic 4: First Steps” is a piece so ingrained in modern mythos it is only possible at this point in a historic cinematic continuity that has over time become too easy to take for granted, its world so deeply imaginative we have no choice but to take it for granted in its moment to avoid becoming overwhelmed. Just in terms of dramatic storytelling, it is astounding how swift a pace the narrative maintains while utilizing pointedly broad characterization and the innate significance of anachronistic Americana to make even its exposition-heavy montage moments land with evocative heft. In a comparison that would be all too conveniently timed were it not so apt, like Gunn’s “Superman” the film gleefully gets away with being definitively geeky as it bypasses its characters’ overly familiar origin. Unlike with the new “Superman”, though, freshened takes on pop culture figures like Ben Grimm are effectively introduced a la Gunn’s Drax in the franchise’s best introductory entry since that first “Guardians”, all while leaving us wanting their collective arc’s second act. Also, add this next to “Shadow in the Cloud” in the motherhood-as-a-superpower canon. Letterboxd.

Complete 2025 rankings on Letterboxd (subject to change).