The Incredible Spider-Man Annual #1

Written by: Derek Landy

Art by: Ron Lim, Don Ho

Colors by: Israel Silva

Letters by: VC’s Joe Caramagna

Cover art by: Salvador Larroca, Edgar Delgado

Cover price: $4.99

Release date: July 3, 2024

Is Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 Good?

Let’s clear the air, my friendly neighborhood comic reader. Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 isn’t a Spider-Man comic. It’s an Infinity Watch comic guest-starring Spider-Man. Marvel is smack dab in the middle of the Blood Hunt event, and Zdarsky is officially winding down his tenure on ASM, so the creative choice to go this route is a mystery, but it is what it is. Reader beware.

Genre author Derek Landy begins our tale of timestream shenanigans with Spider-Man swinging by the scene of an armored truck robbery in progress. Coincidentally, the location of the robbery is the same spot where Spider-Man witnessed a supervillain die the day before, and he’s pretty bummed about it.

Spidey swings down to confront the robber, a powered individual who blips around to evade capture. After rapid-fire Spidey banter in the form of Q&A, we learn the robber’s name is Hector, and he calls himself Overtime. His power stems from the Time Stone embedded in his chest, giving him the ability to teleport to different moments in Time.

Fair warning. The opening sequence and setup of this issue are exceptionally jarring. Spidey laments the death of a supervillain the day before, but there’s no setup, no preface page that explains Spidey’s situation, or any background concerning Hector. There is a preface page, but it’s solely devoted to giving readers a brief primer on Infinity Watch, the team Hector will eventually join as its newest member.

Hector uses a combination of time jumps and regular boxing moves to land a haymaker on Spidey, but he’s no match for Spidey’s spider sense. When Spidey vents his frustration about dealing with a robber on the same spot where her “let” a villain die, Hector senses Spidey’s upset about the death and decides to jump back 24 hours to prevent the death.

“Huh? What? How did a guy with time powers who robs armored cars suddenly decide to be a hero?” you might ask. That’s a good question that Landry doesn’t really answer. You get whiplash from the suddenness of Hector’s turn from committing a crime to doing good.

What follows is a Groundhog Day-inspired series of Time loops when Hector goes back in time by one day and eventually eeks out a way to stop the villain from dying in an explosion. The story ends with Spidey thanking Hector first before giving him a variation on the “With Great Power…” speech, the arrival of Star and Quantum via a message from future Hector, and the early formation of the new Infinity Watch.

Yep, that’s it. In a nutshell, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 technically has Spider-Man in it, but the story is all about Hector, aka Overtime, learning a valuable lesson through his encounter with Spider-Man. Is it worth the $4.99 cover price? No, unless you’re super-starving for Infinity Watch content.

Backup Story

We catch up with Nick Fury, who wakes up from a dream about Phil Coulson. Previously, Fury’s dreams about Coulson have always ended in the SHIELD agent’s death. This time, Coulson lives.

Elsewhere, we see Nighthawk as he speaks with the recently resurrected Phil Coulson in a cemetery. When, how, or why someone used the Death Stone to resurrect Coulson isn’t explained. Nighthawk questions Coulson about what he remembers, including his life as the President who formed a team of heroes on the version of Earth where this version of Nighthawk comes from.

From the preface page, we know that Nighthawk is on a mission to gather the Infinity Stones, and somehow, Nighthawk needs the Death Stone, which may or may not be inside Coulson, to help him do it. The backup ends with Nighthawk attacking Coulson.

I have no idea why this backup is here or what’s going on. You get the impression you need to be heavily invested in Infinity Watch, and this version of Nighthawk, to get the context, even with the preface page. This is the kind of backup that “justifies” the higher cover price but doesn’t really add value. Plus, the art by Sara Pichelli is not up to median Marvel standards.

About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.

Follow @ComicalOpinions on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter

Final Thoughts

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 recounts a jarring one-and-done story about the newest member to join Infinity Watch, with an incidental cameo by Spider-Man. If you’ve been hankerin’ to get a feel for Hector, aka Overtime, this is the annual for you. For Spider-Man fans, you could skip this issue and not miss a thing.

5/10

We hope you found this article interesting. Come back for more reviews, previews, and opinions on comics, and don’t forget to follow us on social media:

Connect With Us Here: Weird Science DC Comics / Weird Science Marvel Comics

If you’re interested in this creator’s works, remember to let your Local Comic Shop know to find more of their work for you. They would appreciate the call, and so would we.

Click here to find your Local Comic Shop: www.ComicShopLocator.com

As an Amazon Associate, we earn revenue from qualifying purchases to help fund this site. Links to Blu-Rays, DVDs, Books, Movies, and more contained in this article are affiliate links. Please consider purchasing if you find something interesting, and thank you for your support.