Some kid at the comic store thought Venom’s kid-friendly stand-in here was an ant. Not kidding.
Spidey & His Amazing Friends Comic Giveaway Day
Marvel Comics (2026)
COVER ART: Paco Medina & Andrew Dalhouse
ASSISTANT EDITORS: Farah Javed & Katlyn Lindtvedt
EDITORS: Lauren Bisom & Nick Lowe
I didn’t pick this one up physically. I only got the digital version on ComiXology to finish off this week with Free Comic Book Giveaway Day offerings. I didn’t have the best offerings digitally and still none of the ones I really wanted, even from…those type of scan sites. Oddly, Globalcomix had the Flash Gordon but you have to pay to read the FREE comic? Was that their decision or Mad Cave’s?
Ah well, run with what you got. Let’s see if the younger readers got something cool for a change. Three stories, the last two with the same creative team.
Symbie Plays Chase-Chase
WRITER: Danielle Kreger | ARTIST: Goodman Yamada | COLORIST: Rachelle Rosenberg | LETTERER: Travis Lanham
Team Spidey is playing a keepaway game with Jeff The Land Shark (because that thing gets everywhere). Symbie, an elementary or preschool friendly stand-in for the Venom symbiote, wants to play, too, and takes the toy, which happens to be Jeff’s favorite, leading the others into some dangerous spots. Once they learn he just wants to join in they all play together. I don’t know anything about Symbie as I don’t watch the show with any regularity and Jeff I only know through cultural osmosis. It does avoid having to explain symbiotes and Venom’s backstory to young children and for the age group it’s a surprisingly good story. Given the mediocre comics this age group usually gets it’s a pleasant surprise for a change.
Light It Up and It’s A Puzzle (same creative team)
WRITER: Steve Behling | LAYOUTS: Antonello Dalena, Massimo Asaro, & Gianfranco Florio | INKER: Cristina Stella | COLORISTS: Dario Calabria & Stefania Santi | LETTERING: Arcana Studio
The first story has Sandman smashing a street light in the park and ruining a nighttime barbecue. It’s just an excuse to show off the “glow webs” suits and promote their corresponding toys. It’s short but not terrible given the age group and, again, what they usually get.
The second one has Team Spidey getting help from Ms. Marvel in solving a complex “connect the dots in a few lines” puzzles. It’s less interesting but I’ve seen worse in previous Free Comic Book Day offerings. I doubt the new distributors had anything to do with that.
overall
An improvement, but still very much for the Disney Junior kids. Given the quality of previous ones it’s still an improvement.
BW Media Spotlight 