FCBD 2025: Amazing Spider-Man / Ultimate Universe #1: No Cost, Nothing Lost

This year’s annual Free Comic Book Day issue of The Amazing Spider-Man is one that had some excitement behind it, as it not only promises to supplement the rather strong start to Joe Kelly’s core run on the title, but also includes a major first look at the upcoming Ultimate Universe event, Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion. As such, two stories and a special teaser were included in the issue.

Starting off with the first story, “When Death Strikes!“, Joe Kelly and John Romita Jr. reunite to pick up where they left off with the attempted assassination of Norman Osborn, as seen in this year’s The Amazing Spider-Man #1. While it may not tease anything particularly big for the title, there’s quite a bit of fun to be had. There’s some solid comedy wrapped within a classic Spider-Man conundrum that neatly sets up an ongoing plotline for Norman without interrupting the flow of the main title. Outside of that, however, it’s very run-of-the-mill.

The real weight of building hype falls on the second story, Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion Prelude. For the most part, Deniz Camp and Cody Ziglar do a solid job of catching up readers who may not be fully in the loop with Miles Morales’ current status quo, all while crafting a story that still stands on its own. It caps off with a direct setup for this major upcoming event and serves as an otherwise inoffensive, yet effective tease for what’s ahead. Jonas Scharf’s art is the biggest sticking point. While the dazzling color work helps, his pencils don’t quite sell the scale of Miles’ potential return to the Ultimate Universe. It might work fine month to month, but a story like this calls for a visual style with a bit more cinematic flair.

The final tease at the end of the issue hints at a major upcoming crossover between Spider-Man, Venom, and Carnage. While that’s nothing new, all three characters are currently in pretty strange places, and the potential for a crossover between them is more interesting than it’s been since the Donny Cates Venom days. Pair that strange potential with some delicious Cafu art, and you’ve got the only part of this entire release that actually manages to spark real excitement and intrigue for what’s coming next.