Amazing Spider-Man 16 (2025) Review
Summary: Joe Kelly has crafted yet another great issue. If you are looking for an action adventure book, go read the odd numbered issues of Spider-Man. If you are looking for character growth and development, self sabotage, and pretty much a Days of Our Lives style book, pick up the even numbered issues. You won’t be disappointed.
4
Peter's going to have SO many problems.
Background – May sticks up for Peter, Norman starts a doomed relationship, Ben does something not cool, and Tombstone stages an intervention. WHAT??!!
Writing –
May, Jonah, and Ricardo – Jonah has taken it upon himself to approach May and suggest they schedule an intervention for Peter. May’s new boyfriend Ricardo agrees. I’m sorry… what? I’m willing to cut JJJ a little slack because he is still fairly new to being on the Peter bandwagon, but it’s also preposterous for him to think that he can be of help in this situation. He’s just spent almost the last 62 years demolishing Peter’s character, reputation, and life. Joe Kelly is great at showing Jonah’s ego at play. Ricardo is… Look, I know he means well and he’s attempting to help because he loves May, but the guy needs to chill out a bit. He just got there. He doesn’t know ANYTHING about May and Peter’s relationship.
May, on the other hand, shows just why she might as well be Peter’s mom (or grandmother at least). She can tell Peter’s suffering (mind you, it’s not him, but she doesn’t know that). She is willing to let Peter work his own stuff out, and when he is ready, she’d be willing to give him a quick spanking and then get back to the business of feeding him wheatcakes.
Benjamin “Peter” Reilly – Ben is just… confused. Brian and he have finally cracked the code on their experiment and have pretty much cured cancer (or something—I honestly can’t remember what their experiment is about). Ben should be thrilled, but it’s Peter’s name on the dotted line, not Ben’s. Ben has been written as a man torn between wanting to be just like Peter and have his memories back, and wanting to be his own man with his own experiences. At the end of the issue, we see that Ben goes back and changes something about the experiment. I have no doubt that leads to Brian becoming a villain of some sort, but I also think this is the first major step for Ben in terms of being his own person. As much as I shouldn’t be, I’m kind of rooting for him to do his own thing.
Tombstone – Of all the people who wouldn’t make my list of “People who want to help Spider-Man,” Tombstone would be at the very top, but here he is asking Spider-Man if he’s okay. I guess this could be his way of repaying him for keeping Janice alive at the end of the last run, but I also love the way he immediately goes from being Lonnie to Tombstone the instant he realizes it’s not Peter under the mask. He’s worried about Spider-Man, not some chump who thinks he can be Spider-Man.
As for the new villain Plague RX, his overall power set is cool (he can store other people’s pain and send it to someone else later), and he has some nice dialogue, but I can see him going the way of Cardiac and The Fly within a few years.
The chump – I’m pretty sure Norman has developed actual romantic feelings for the first time in his life, and they have immediately made him do something stupid. Look, I know Norman is trying to be a better person, and being Spider-Man is a way to do that. But why would he ever think starting a relationship with Maira is a good idea? This is like those couples who are on the rocks and have decided to have a kid to make things “better.” That literally never works, and neither will this. As I was writing this, I just now had a terrible thought. Joe Kelly is going to kill her, isn’t he? Peter lost Gwen as Spider-Man, Miles temporarily lost his mom, Bentley lost his childhood. It’s a requisite for all Spider-Men/Women to suffer some kind of personal loss AFTER they put on the costume. In Norman’s case, Harry doesn’t count because his death(s) happened before all of this.
Dear Mr. Kelly, if you happen to read this review, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don’t kill her. Have them break up eventually, maybe even when Norman goes green again. But please give somebody in this story a slight happy ending.
Speaking of going green, we get the first reference in quite a while of Norman hearing laughter. Yes, I know it’s comics and stuff happens in cycles, but it’s much too soon for Norman to be on the love train and to start hearing goblin voices.
Artwork – As I’ve stated repeatedly when I review his books, I do not mind John Romita’s artwork. His style is simply one of those things that either is your bag or it isn’t. Everything about this book is pure JRJ. Everybody’s faces are expressive, Norman’s costume looks well-defined (even when it falls apart), and even Tombstone, a man who is normally not that expressive, is shown to crack a smile or two.
That being said, Plague RX might have the worst villain design I’ve ever seen. Even the most awful Spider-Man villains (Hypno Hustler & Razorback, to name a few) have a certain charm to their designs. Plague RX is a mummy who wears a lab coat and carries a stethoscope while wearing work boots. That’s it. There’s no bright color anywhere on him. There’s no green, no purple—hell, I’d settle for red in this case. But to have off-white bandages covered in a white lab coat with brown gloves is just lazy. I’m not sure who designed him, but if it does happen to be JRJ, I have a strong urge to ask him if he is feeling okay.
Final Thoughts – Joe Kelly is on a roll! Excluding the design of this new villain, the book is another win. Norman is trying his best not to unravel while building a new doomed life for himself. Ben Reilly can’t figure out who he is, and that’s going to cause a lot of heartache and pain for all involved, including Peter himself when he gets back. May’s just waiting for Peter to come around, and Tombstone might actually have a heart. It’s his best character development in decades. If you are looking for an action-adventure book, go read the odd-numbered issues of Spider-Man. If you are looking for character growth and development, self-sabotage, and pretty much a Days of Our Lives style book, pick up the even-numbered issues. You won’t be disappointed.
4/5
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Joe Kelly
Penciler: John Romita Jr.
Inker: Scott Hanna
Colorist: Marcio Menyz
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Cover Artists: John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna, Marcio Menyz
Genre: Superhero
Format: Monthly
Release Date: 11/19/2025
About the Author
Matt Fischer Lover of all things nerdy. Reader of Comics for over 25 years. DC encyclopedia. X-Men historian. Spider-Man and Marvel lover. Indie side guy.
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