Written by: Dan Slott
Art by: Paco Medina, Julian Shaw (backup)
Colors by: Erick Arciniega, Edgar Delgado (backup)
Letters by: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Cover art by: Humberto Ramos, Edgar Delgado
Cover price: $4.99
Release date: March 20, 2024
Spider-Boy #5 is lured deeper into Madam Monstrosity’s evil vendetta when she sends her minions to draw out Spider-Boy through Christina.
Is Spider-Boy #5 Good?
Generally, Spider-Boy #5 is okay. Dan Slott gets several things right (including the informationally helpful backup), but the one thing he gets wrong puts a damper on the satisfaction level.
When last we left Bailey Briggs, aka Spider-Boy, Madam Monstrosity sent Bailey’s more monstrous twin, Boy-Spider, out into the world to commit mayhem and besmirch Spider-Boy’s burgeoning reputation. When it seemed Bailey’s friends and allies were starting to believe he was responsible for the chaos, the seeds of mistrust flourished. Eventually, Bailey caught up to Boy-Spider in front of Bailey’s allies, but he decided to release the monstrous doppelganger rather than let him be captured by his mistrustful friends.
Now, Bailey sleeps and eats on the lamb until he can figure out what to do. Elsewhere, Madam Monstrosity scans Boy-Spider’s memories (why didn’t she do that the first time?) to find out who Bailey is and how she can get to him. When the Madam sees Bailey has an emotional connection to Christina, she sends Hellifino (pronounced “Hell If I Know”) to stealthily (???) follow Christina, leading to a run-in with Spider-Boy, a fight, and subsequent capture of the adolescent hero.
What’s great about Spider-Boy #5? Slott puts Bailey through the wringer, which humbles the boy and gives him the opportunity to grow as a hero. One of the bigger criticisms about Spider-Boy is his obnoxiously annoying personality, but the current trajectory Slott is taking starts to polish those rough edges and introduce an element of sympathy for Bailey, which is paramount for getting a new character over.
![](https://weirdsciencemarvelcomics.files.wordpress.com/2024/03/spider-boy-5-p2.jpg?w=527)
What’s not so great about Spider-Boy #5? There’s no circumstance where a 7-foot-tall, 1,000-ish pound, sentient human-rhino-elephant hybrid creature can stealthily follow a girl around the streets of NYC without getting noticed. That’s just plain dumb, and it takes you out of the story.
How’s the Art? Good to great. Medina and Arciniega give readers plenty of visual interest in the sets and design, more than enough action, and strong character designs.
The Backup
Madam Monstrosity is a High Evolutionary superfan, so she invited him to inspect her work. When the events of Bailey’s original disappearance take him out of the lineup of hybrid displays, the High Evolutionary is incensed that Madam Monstrosity is unable to produce a hybrid that could evolve and devolve at will. Consequently, the High Evolutionary never wants to be contacted by his biggest superfan again, and the Madam is left mortified.
This backup is a rarity for most comics from the Big 2 in that it supplements and expands on the main story in a meaningful way. The epilogue/prologue of the short briefly continues from the main story, and the flashback concerning the High Evolutionary greatly informs readers about Madam Monstrosity’s motivation to hate Spider-Boy. Further, I like Shaw’s art better in the backup than Medina’s in the main story.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
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Bits and Pieces
Spider-Boy #5 goes a long way toward furthering Bailey’s conflict with Madam Monstrosity, giving the young hero some emotional depth, and using the backup to enhance the main story. But for a boneheaded creative decision in the plot, this is an otherwise solid issue in both writing and art.
7.5/10