Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection, Vol. 24: Invasion of the Spider-Slayers

Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection

by David Michelinie, Mark Bagley (Illustrator), Roy Thomas

The Spider-Slayers are back! Spider-Man is under siege when deadly robots start attacking every time he appears in public. Who is behind their unrelenting assaults? Can Spidey uncover the truth with Electro and the Scorpion standing in his way? And what side deal has Felicia Hardy, the former Black Cat, made with the Tinkerer? Meanwhile, Peter Parker’s parents have recently returned home, but a mysterious man is watching their every move. And Venom goes on trial for his crimes — but after an eye-opening battle with Spider-Man, will he turn over a new leaf? Plus: Styx and Stone strike! Annex attacks! And Spider-Man and Doctor Strange duke it out with demons in the Death Dimension!

COLLECTING: Vol. 24: Amazing Spider-Man (1963) 368-377, Amazing Spider-Man Annual (1964) 27, Spider-Man/Dr. Strange: The Way to Dusty Death (1992) 1, Spider-Man Special Edition: The Trial of Venom (1992) 1

Genres: Comics, Spider Man, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Collections, Superheroes

424 pages, Paperback

First published January 3, 2023

Reviews

[Harrison Delahunty · Rating 3 out of 5]

The highlights here for me were the Trial of Venom special and Mark Bagley’s art. The guest penciler for issues 376 and 377 is quite good too. Michelinie’s writing is serviceable and the Spider-Slayer storyline is cute and very 90’s. Other than all that, there isn’t a ton of note here and the 375 issue followed by the annual ends up making the collection feel a bit repetitive.

[Cameron Fraser · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some stories are better than others, but the art is generally solid and features some iconic Spider-Man stories and characters.

[Shannon Appelcline]

The Way to Dusty Death GN. This graphic novel feels like it has some potential, since it follows up on threads from MTU with Strange and Spider-Man. It's also got very attractive art. But it suffers from the frequent problem with longer comic stories: it just goes on for way too long, particularly with what feels like 30-40 pages of Spider-Man and Strange punching each other. It also shows the weakness of the huge glut of graphic novels and other spin-offs, as it's one of two Spider-Man GNs of the year focusing on death (the other being Amazing Spider-Man: Soul of the Hunter), but there's no reference between the two. [3/5].

The Trial of Venom. It's yet another one-off not connected to ongoing continuity. Super. This one is well written, because it's PAD, but the Venom here doesn't seem well connected to the Venom who decided to pay for his crimes at the end of the Carnage arc. And I suspect the whole moral of the story (Brock might not be responsible for Venom's actions) will soon be forgotten. So, basically, 100 pages in and it all feels like a waste so far [3/5].

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great read, the regular series furing the 90's has been a lot of fun so far and it carries on in the same vein in this collection. The added graphic novel and the annual dont add a lot, in fact the short stories in the annual are better than the attempt to create a new hero for the Marvel Universe that is the main story.

[Richard Burley · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art screams 90s for sure. The stories are decent. Not the best but not the worst either.

[Steve Howells · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good Spider-Man read.

[Максим Степанюк · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not good. Not bad. Typical 90s

[Bob · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fun Dr. Strange & Daredevil crossovers but the Spider-Slayer arc is utterly compromised by the Spider-parents

[Mistress of the Weird]

My husband's book, keeping it on my list for record keeping.

[Carson · Rating 4 out of 5]

wish i liked the dr. strange story more than i did. and i did like the spider slayers way more than i thought i would so i was happy for that. styx and stone are a good duo, and shout out venom!

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was alright. It's mainly about the return of Peter's parents after being locked away in a Russian prison for 20 years while everyone thought they were dead. It's not in this volume, but their ultimate story is pretty dumb. There's a bad subplot about Mary Jane starting to smoke. This is the era where MJ becomes a nonstop worry wort who can't stand the stress of Peter being Spider-Man. It's a story that gets old real fast and runs for a decade or so. It's the whole reason I don't like the two of them together. Then there's the Black Cat. She gets a new costume that belongs more in a porno than a comic.


Gotta love the 90s. And so many pointless backup stories. I think the best part of this is longtime Spider-Man artist Mark Bagley's art.