Oh wow, so when people said this was really good, they meant it was really good. I can’t count on one hand the number of Spidey books I’ve picked up, but having recently read Hickman’s run on X-Men and hearing so much good stuff about his take on Spider-Man, I had to give it a go. And Hickman killed it. He makes this stuff look so easy when I know it’s not, but the biggest takeaway from this first volume is that it makes being a superhero feel fresh, fun, and breezy in ways I didn’t know I was missing. It might not be a revelatory twist on his origin story or character, but the iterations are universally smart and play to our preconceived notions of these characters and their world in so many clever ways that always feel authentic. I also can’t overstate how neat it is to read a major superhero comic where action scenes aren’t the point of any issue. Instead, all the tension comes from the character dynamics and the anxiety of seeing Peter learn how to use his powers and deal with the dilemmas they’ve introduced into his life.

Checchetto’s art is predictably great, especially with the character designs. I might’ve liked to see him do something more original with the suit, but he does the classic style very well. I’ve always loved the texture he brings to a book, and this doesn’t change that, especially with Wilson on coloring duty, who always delivers the goods. I liked Messina’s work, also, and I thankfully didn’t find the shift between his and Checchetto’s work jarring. Messina is a little stiffer in places, but he also does some cool things with the compositions that I dug. It’s an appropriately good-looking read I’m very eager to get more of. Here’s hoping Hickman and company keep it going for a good long while.