Last week Marvel announced that writer Nick Spencer would be concluding his run on Amazing Spider-Man after writing the title for over three years with the upcoming #75. Fans wondered which writer would be taking over the title from Spencer. Well wonder no more as today Marvel revealed that not one creator would be taking over but rather a team consisting of Kelly Thompson, Saladin Ahmed, Cody Ziglar, Patrick Gleason, and Zeb Wells. Moreover, the title will be bumped up from being released 2x a month to thrice a month.

It’s not too dissimilar to the “Brand New Day” publishing initiative for the title back in 2008, which Zeb Wells was part of along with writer Dan Slott, Marc Guggenheim, and Bob Gale.

Perhaps the biggest news however is the return of Spider-Man clone Ben Reilly as teased yesterday in a series of tweets.

https://twitter.com/SpiderMan/status/1407795386798931969?s=20

https://twitter.com/SpiderMan/status/1407778659327307777?s=20

https://twitter.com/SpiderMan/status/1407761085122318338?s=20

Since the cancellation of his ongoing series, Ben Reilly has appeared sporadically through the Marvel Universe, most recently in the current Iron Man ongoing book.

Fans can get a sneak peek of this new era of Spider-Man in the upcoming FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2021: AVENGERS/HULK issue available on August 14.

Take a look at the Patrick Gleason artwork as well as the full text of the announcement, below and look for Amazing Spider-Man #75 to arrive in October.

Ben Reilly

A bold new age of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN is on the horizon! Starting in October, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN will return with a story so bombastic that it will take greatest team of web-writers and arachnid-artists ever assembled to tell it. Kelly Thompson, Saladin Ahmed, Cody Ziglar, Patrick Gleason, and Zeb Wells will team up on the thrice-monthly title to shake up the Spider-Man mythos in ways no one will see coming… The saga will kick off in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #75 where Ben Reilly will return to take back the mantle of Spider-Man. Backed by the Beyond Corporation, the captivating clone of Peter Parker is determined to be the best version of Spider-Man there ever was. And as yesterday’s teasers showed, this could have fatal consequences for Peter Parker…

Here’s what Editor Nick Lowe had to say about this daring new era of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN:

“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? 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.

“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. 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.

“Zeb has proven through Amazing Spider-Man “Shed”, Spider-Man/Doc Ock: Year One, and Hellions that he will bring the balance of hilarity and emotional devastation. Kelly Thompson’s work on Captain Marvel and Black Widow shows her to be the best mind for character work along with a fearless creativity that will keep you guessing. Saladin Ahmed is the rare writer who walks the tightrope of a book like his Eisner-Winning Black Bolt to his smash hit “Clone Saga” arc of Miles Morales: Spider-Man and his contributions shook us all. Fans from his time at the Distinguished Competition know Patrick Gleason isn’t only an artistic visionary (as proven recently from his Webhead covers) but also a highly-skilled writer whose Marvel debut is going to be the shot heard round the comics world. Cody Ziglar is a new name in comics, but the work he did for the upcoming Disney+ She-Hulk show and Rick and Morty showed us at Marvel that he is part of the next generation of Marvel superstar writers and he has not disappointed here.”

Fans will be able to get their first glimpse at what’s to come on August 14th in FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2021: SPIDER-MAN/VENOM. Check out artwork below and stay tuned for an upcoming announcement revealing which incredible artists will be joining this talented group of writers in what promises to be one of the most unpredictable runs in Spider-Man history! For more information, visit Marvel.com.