#which is why my guess is back in black era rather than original alien costume arc era

[softgrungeprophet]

Was not expecting Jimmy the Mouth in 2024, lol — I assume this is set in the Back in Black era? or thereabouts.

Cute ending. No super strong feelings about it either way. Off the cuff, I'd say it's not JMD's most interesting writing, but that doesn't make it bad. It's a decent, concise 10 page comic with clear writing and solid pacing, which I can definitely appreciate.

I do like the line about not having handcuffs.

I really like the art and compositions here. Casagrande clearly knows her way around a black costume which is always a plus in my book, and her layouts are really solid. Letting the action speak for itself and allowing Spidey to be silent during a fight is basically always something I love, and the team here definitely nailed that. Dude can be brutal when he wants, and the action panels in this comic are really visually bold and striking. Fantastic look all around, would frame that 6-panel fight and hang it on the wall.

Black costume is always hot. Peter slipping his binds and slinking around in general is also always hot. Appreciate him generally being capable and confident, which is another big plus. Leaning on Peter's soft spot for kids/protective nature is also always good.

In the broader context of Spider-Man #lore I find it faintly intriguing? I think it carries some underlying wrinkles that are more meaningful if you have familiarity with Peter's supporting cast and their interpersonal issues, recurring themes of alcoholism, addiction, poverty and child abuse, etc. Not in a strong way, but to me this elicited a kind of "Huh," and if I wasn't already familiar w/ these themes as they exist in Peter and his friends' and family members' lives, I think the backstory here would come across as more generic/basic. Which is fine, it's 10 pages. It's just interesting to me in a lightweight kind of way where it's not clear if it was meant to connect to any that at all or if it's just a quick + simple setup for DeMatteis to write about what DeMatteis likes to write about lol

(not to over-analyze a 10 page comic or be like ''Flash Thompson Implication!'' but— lmao)

anyway tl;dr: not bad, very nice art

Spider-Man: Black Suit & Blood #1 - "Losing Face" (2024)

written by J.M. DeMatteis art by Elena Casagrande