ICYMI! The Amazing Spider-Man #19 – The High Road Home

The Amazing Spider-Man #19 marks the beginning of the end for Joe Kelly’s science-fiction epic that has overtaken the pages of this title, and it loses no steam in either plot or character writing as it does so. There are so many compelling character dynamics and prevalent themes at play that I almost wish this were the new status quo for even longer. Whether it’s the introduction of a new bio-enhancing chemical that threatens to tip the balance of power and responsibility, or the second confrontation between Hellgate and Spider-Man, there isn’t a single page in this issue that doesn’t have something simmering beneath the surface. What ultimately unfolds is a tense and meaningful step forward for the arc.

What’s even more surprising is how well-paced the issue is, considering how much ground it has to cover in tying together Peter’s time in space. The elephant in the room is Hellgate, whose presence looms over the issue, with the ensuing fight serving as an epic blend of thematic weight and raw visual beauty. Pepe Larraz finally gets the chance to put his stamp on this new antagonist beyond cover work, and the result is striking. This second round does a great deal to showcase Peter’s growth, while also framing Hellgate’s villainy as something primordial, his godlike ego rendering him incapable of the compassion that elevates Spider-Man beyond the sum of his faults.

At the same time, the issue continues to deliver on the character banter and relationships that endeared so many readers to this delightfully wacky shift in genre and setting for the web-slinger. While Symbie, Rocket, and Nial provide excellent moments of warm comic relief, Xantos and Raelith steal the show. Their individual arcs—and moral fragility—do tremendous work in illustrating how Peter has found himself throughout this adventure. His unending devotion to the greater good, pursued for its own sake, has earned him both respect and adoration, as well as inspired the crew around him to strive toward that same ideal. Raelith has grown into herself as a being of choice and strength. Xantos, while still a slimy bastard, has learned to care for others by forming relationships beyond his own hubris.

Hellgate stands as the antithesis of this growth: a rigid framework for a mythological “hero,” one with no room for faults or change. While it’s difficult to be definitive in the thick of an ongoing story, several powerful lines of dialogue in this issue feel poised to define the run in deeply thematic ways, such that it inspires hope and triumph in a time when political darkness has drained many people of those feelings.

Larraz’s art ultimately sells the issue through a careful balance of tight intimacy and grandiose spectacle, sometimes within the same sequence, without ever shattering the tone or scope of what Kelly is aiming to accomplish. In many ways, this issue echoes the tonal weight of The Empire Strikes Back within the framework of the original Star Wars trilogy, and I couldn’t be more impressed with how both sides of the creative team pull it off. This is not the last we’ll see of Hellgate, and while there’s no resolution yet to Peter’s internal struggles, the escalation here sets the scale for a brutal and emotionally resonant finale to come.