‘Amazing Spider-Man’ returns to a ‘writer’s room’ approach in October

With Nick Spencer set to wrap up his run on Amazing Spider-Man this fall, Marvel has announced his replacement — well, make that replacements.

Marvel has announced five creators will take over the thrice-monthly title in October — Zeb Wells, Kelly Thompson, Saladin Ahmed, Cody Ziglar and Patrick Gleason.

“When Zeb Wells started building this story it became apparent that it needed a narrative velocity and a team of the best of the best to make it happen,” Editor Nick Lowe said. “So we gathered some of the greatest writers and artists in comics to join us and the story got even better and bigger and more surprising.”

Spider-fans are likely familiar with Wells, who was part of the Spider-Man “Brand New Day” era that saw several writers take over the title following the retconning of Peter Parker and Mary Jane’s marriage. Thompson and Ahmed have been writing various Marvel titles for awhile, while Ziglar is currently working on the She-Hulk TV series for Disney+. He also wrote the Siege Society one-shot as part of the Heroes Reborn event. And while Gleason is known more for his art, it sounds like he’ll be writing Amazing as well.

But Spencer isn’t the only one being replaced — starting with issue #75, Amazing Spider-Man will star Ben Reilly, aka the Spider-Man clone who took over the Spider-Man role from Peter Parker after the infamous Spider-Clone storyline from the 1990s.

“The whole point of working on Spider-Man is trying to put new unliftable weights on top of him—physical, metaphysical, emotional, psychological—and seeing if he can lift them. But what if that weight truly is too heavy?” Lowe said. “What if someone with the exact same skills and formative years could do better? Ben Reilly is back and, with Aunt May and Uncle Ben’s lessons in the back of HIS mind as well, he’s here to step in where Peter Parker failed. Can he accomplish things the original Spider-Man never could? These questions are what sold me on this story.”

The Spider-Man/Venom Free Comic Book Day issue will offer a preview of this new storyline in August. Amazing Spider-Man #75 is scheduled for October.