This week we take a look at The Amazing Spider-Man #1002, the continuation of the Ravage villain plotline penned by Joe Kelly and artist Pepe Larraz. In the Rapid Rundown, we take a quick look at Daredevil #8!

The Amazing Spider-Man (2025) #1002 Cover by Pepe Larraz

The Amazing Spider-Man #1002

Writer: Joe Kelly
Artist: Pepe Larraz
Color Artist: Federico Blee
Letterer: VC’s Joe Carmanga

Honestly, I’m impressed. I really had little expectations or hope for anything in The Amazing Spider-Man. But after issue #1001, I was actually kind of excited for Ravage, Cormac, and all the drama that comes with Peter having a secret family member. And this was a good issue, a really good issue. Where we last left Peter he was about to go toe to toe with Ravage and issue #1002 is the fight in its entirety.

What really intrigues me about this fight, and about Cormac, is his memory powers. Writer Joe Kelly uses these powers in a really interesting way from being emotionally manipulative to being a physical threat in combat. And while I wasn’t a fan of Cormac’s villain design, Pepe Larraz does some neat things with his design and colors to show him off. One panel that really spoke to me was how his memory powers took the form of angelic wings but horribly disfigured, representing how Cormac believes himself to be May’s savior but is instead just a selfish needy boy. Even the turnabout in the fight, where Peter manages to get the upper hand is really interesting, for better and for worse. Kelly decides to utilize Peter’s spider-sense in a way that’s a bit confusing. Spider-Sense has always been a “get out of jail” free card, so I’m not too surprised that it came up, but I hope in a future issue this is better explained. Luckily, while this is a big moment it doesn’t damper the fight nor does it damper how the fight ends.

The Amazing Spider-Man (2025) #1002 Preview

I don’t want to give spoilers, but the ending of the fight is interesting. And sets up Cormac and Peter at a weird stalemate. It’ll be extremely interesting to see how this whole thing wraps up in future issues. That is if Marvel events and the strange side plot featured in the story don’t get in the way. Because it wouldn’t be a current running Spider-Man book if there wasn’t something else going on with Norman Osborn. I’m not sure what editorial’s hyperfixation on him is at the moment but his side plot with Gwen Stacy feels like a real momentum stopper. The action stops just so audiences can experience Osborn and Gwen Stacy being friendly around each other? Norman apparently watches animal rehab videos? It’s really difficult to care and honestly makes me concerned as to what the eventual plan is for these two. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

At the end of the day, this is a great “finale” to the Ravage plotline before Spider-Man gets whisked away to other events. I’d say this is a pretty solid purchase, especially if you’ve been reading the Ravage story line. And if you haven’t, maybe give the previous two issues a shot to see if you’ve at least got some interest.

The Amazing Spider-Man (2025) #1002 Preview

FINAL VERDICT: Buy

Rapid Rundown

  • Daredevil #8

    • Daredevil #8 2026 Cover by Lee Garbett
 
This eighth issue of Daredevil starts a new run of the excellent Stephanie Phillips-penned run on the series and sees the return of Lee Garbett as artist. It’s a strong kickoff to a reinvention of third string Daredevil villain Mr. Fear, a skull-faced knockoff of DC’s Scarecrow. The new Garbett design mostly eschews the phantasm iconography in favor of a goggled, pale faced evil doctor look. It fits the general story here, which revisits a classic Scarecrow concept—the pivot from inflicting fear to stripping it away. Phillips and Garbett makes the idea tremendously relevant, opening the issue with flickering newsfeeds of the endless anxieties and fear mongering of the media. The idea that we are constantly inundated by algorithms and platforms that are designed to make us anxious and scared at all times to coerce us into consuming more products is central to this Mr. Fear reinvention and all too relevant. We are already frightened, he says, real power is in offering people escape from that fear. He runs a new drug trade selling his pills to save people from their anxieties. Garbett displays the horrors and victories this can result in through a stirring double page spread, panels tumbling to the ground alongside a fistful of pills. All of this intersects with Matt Murdock’s personal life and his struggles trying to fit into academia. Frank Martin gives the red of Daredevil’s costume a vibrant pop that intentionally contrasts the cold, muted backgrounds like a flame of hope in the dark. For this character-forward approach to superheroics, subtlety is so important and VC’s Ariana Maher’s lettering lends a sense of pace and emphasis on the dialogue through small choices in word balloons. It’s a perfectly formulated superhero comic and Daredevil continues to be one of Marvel’s best. – Tim Rooney
 

Read past installments of the Marvel Rundown here! And check out the Beat’s other recent comics reviews! 

Next week? Friendly Neighborhood Mary Jane #1 Debuts and Zdarsky takes on Avengers (2026) #1! 

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