Last week Marvel Comics announced that a team of five writers will be taking over the reins of Amazing Spider-Man for a new storyline dubbed “Spider-Man Beyond,” following the departure of current scribe Nick Spencer. Today the publisher revealed more details on who will be joining Kelly Thompson, Saladin Ahmed, Cody Ziglar, Patrick Gleason, and Zeb Wells on the thrice-monthly series, as well as how the writing chores will be split amongst the quintet of creators.
Of the three issues of Amazing Spider-Man coming in October, issues #75 and 76 will be written by Wells, while ASM #77 will be written by Thompson, though all five writers are credited on each issue as the “Beyond Board.” The two Wells-written issues will feature art by Gleason, and Thompson will be joined by Sara Pichelli on art for ASM #77. All three issues will sport covers by the legendary Arthur Adams. Future issues of the series will also see Michael Dowling provide interior art.
Pichelli is best known as the co-creator with Brian Michael Bendis of Spider-Man Miles Morales. She’s also drawn another alternate universe Spidey in the JJ Abrams & Henry Abrams-penned Spider-Man: Bloodline miniseries. ASM #77 will be Pichelli’s first time on the flagship Spider-Man title. Adams appears to have only worked on Spidey a handful of times, with interiors for a Web of Spider-Man annual and an Untold Tales of Spider-Man cover on his bibliography. Dowling has been slightly more Spider-Man-adjacent of late, illustrating issues of the Jed MacKay-written Black Cat series.
In a statement announcing the art team additions, editor Nick Lowe praised all three artists, as well as Gleason for pulling double duty as both writer and artist:
“When we started building ‘Beyond’ we knew we had to pull out all the stops from the artistic side. That began with making sure Patrick Gleason was with us from the get-go as a writer AND an artist. His recent webhead covers have rocked the industry showing yet another element to the incredible career that we all saw on display during his run on Amazing Spider-Man. He quickly stepped up to be our artistic cornerstone, but we also needed to make sure that whoever else joined him were elite talents.
“Sara Pichelli is an absolute legend, creating some of the most impactful work of the last ten years. It’s crazy to think this will be her first time drawing Amazing Spider-Man, and she’s already blown us away with her masterful work. Michael Dowling’s work on Unfollow and other works got him hired for Black Cat, but his work there showed us that he would be an absolute superstar, and his issues are already blowing our minds. And then, to be able to land Arthur Adams as our cover artist. I mean, from his classic X-Men Annuals to today, Arthur has defined the Marvel Universe visually as much as almost anyone. So to have him here? I’m beyond excited. And wait until we reveal the rest of our all-star roster!”
Check out variant covers for Amazing Spider-Man #75 and 76 by Gleason (with colors on the #76 cover by Alejandro Sánchez), as well as uncolored interior pages by Gleason, Pichelli, and Dowling and another look at Gleason’s design for the “Spider-Man Beyond” suit, below.