Amazing Spider-Man: Get Back Up (Comics) | Review

Years of editorial turbulence, a divisive run and a fan-base running on fumes. Peter Parker is jobless, hallucinating and outgunned– and somehow, that is exactly where Marvel decisively chose to start the freshest era of Spider-Man. This new chapter hits like a web straight to the face and it wastes absolutely no time proving it.

Collecting Amazing Spider-Man (2025) #1-5 alongside bonus material from the 2022 run and Free Comic Book Day 2025, this volume works as both a clean entry point for newer readers and a meaningful payoff for longtime dedicated fans who never gave up on the title.

Joe Kelly (Superman: Emperor Joker, Superman: Ending Battle) is the writer driving the latest chapter. He brings wit, sharp character instincts and a remarkably deep familiarity with Peter Parker's voice that makes every single page of this volume feel lived-in and well-earned.

Pepe Larraz (Avengers: No Surrender, Uncanny Avengers: Red Skull) leads the artwork on the main story. John Romita Jr. (Superman: Before Truth, The Sentry: Reborn) handles the backup and bonus material. Both artists bring distinctly different visual styles that give this volume more depth and range than a single artist could.

This volume picks up after the Eight Deaths of Spider-Man arc by Zeb Wells (Dark Reign: Elektra, Nova: Rookie Season), which closed out the Volume 6 run. Kelly had already quietly assumed scripting duties from issue #61, making the transition feel intentional rather than abrupt.

Peter Parker is jobless when this volume opens. Norman Osborn shut down Oscorp in ASM (2022) #62, leaving Peter without any stable income. His long and troubled work history– Parker Industries, the Bugle– follows him into every new job interview now like a shadow.

The job search leads Peter to a company where a colleague is an old childhood friend– and not a good influence. Kelly uses this to dig into rarely covered territory: Peter Parker's pre-Spider-Man teenage years. These scenes carry real weight and quietly become some of the most compelling material found in the entire volume.

Before Peter can settle into his new routine, Rhino goes on a destructive, entirely out-of-character rampage across the city. This is not the mellowed Aleksei Sytsevich readers know–something has clearly pushed him over the edge and Spider-Man senses it immediately.

The answer is hallucinogenic drugs– Hobgoblin-spiked cola deliberately flooding East Harlem. Roderick Kingsley, the original Hobgoblin, is back and boldly positioning himself as a puppet-master with far greater ambition than his recent Ravencroft-era appearances suggested.

Kingsley is not acting alone. A shadowy figure lurks behind his schemes– a new villain named Hellgate, already seeded in ASM (2022) #65, whom Marvel is clearly positioning as a defining long-term adversary for this run. His presence here is deliberately minimal and carefully controlled, which only makes it more unsettling.

Spider-Man gets dosed early and the arc's midsection follows Peter fighting through warped senses and rapidly diminishing physical control– all while racing desperately to protect the people closest to him before Kingsley can ultimately finish what he started in East Harlem.

Norman Osborn plays a significant supporting role and Kelly uses him very well throughout. His redemption arc– built across the Wells run after the Sin-Eater cleansed him– continues here. He assists Peter, takes partial blame for Hobgoblin's existence and acts on it without hesitation.

Kelly also pulls in Itsy Bitsy, a villain he created for the third Spider-Man/Deadpool arc. Her reappearance as Hobgoblin's enforcer drew mixed reactions, with some fans wary of writers reintroducing personal deep cuts to service a new arc and others simply unconvinced she belongs anywhere near this particular narrative.

The climax resolves the Hobgoblin threat through actual collaboration between Peter and his childhood friend Brian. He uses Kingsley's own spiked cola against him– a satisfying reversal that feels earned rather than convenient, which is a clear trademark of Kelly's stronger work.

The closing threads look deliberately forward and none resolve cleanly. Hellgate's motives stay unrevealed. Hobgoblin escapes full consequence. Norman's redemption arc deepens further. Kelly is constructing a long game and this first volume lays its foundation with real patience.

Pepe Larraz is the clear visual standout of this volume without question. His take on Hobgoblin is viscerally terrifying– angular, predatory and radiating pure menace in every single panel. The hallucinogenic sequences are especially strong and distinctly unsettling, showcasing exactly why Marvel brought him here to headline this series.

John Romita Jr.'s pages carry a noticeably different weight– heavier lines and classical urgency. Where Larraz is cinematic, JRJR is raw and grounded, matching Peter's emotional and street-level moments across the backup and bonus material in ways that feel distinctly his own.

Kelly's writing shines most when it intentionally slows the story down completely. The teenage flashback sequences exploring bad choices, peer pressure and rebellion against May and Ben feel fresh, character-specific and quietly revelatory in ways that Spider-Man's incredibly well-mined canon has curiously overlooked for years.

The pacing is deliberate and well-constructed. Kelly distributes character history, active villain scheming and measured action evenly across five issues without ever crowding any single chapter, giving both artists enough room to land their moments effectively and leave a mark.

Amazing Spider-Man: Get Back Up is not flawless and makes no attempt to hide it. The Itsy Bitsy sub-plot feels shoehorned and several plot leaps ask readers to accept just a bit too much. As a re-launch statement, it earns its place without question and largely delivers where it counts.

Joe Kelly clearly gets Peter Parker– not just the quips and costume but the deeply specific guilt-ridden persistence that defines him as a character. This volume confirms why Kelly was the right choice for this precise moment in Spider-Man's history and why that choice will likely pay dividends across multiple volumes in the future.

With Hellgate looming on the horizon and Norman Osborn's redemption arc carrying real consequence, the groundwork here promises a run with authentic ambition. Whether future volumes can fully deliver on that promise is the question– but early signs are very strong.

If you walked away during the Wells era and need a solid reason to return, this volume hands it to you directly. Accessible, character-driven and backed by exceptional art– Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1: Get Back Up makes caring feel worthwhile again and proves that Peter Parker still has plenty of great compelling stories left to tell.