Black suit, bad guys, and one very unhappy Punisher
There are Spider-Man issues that begin with Peter worrying about rent.
And then there are Spider-Man issues where he puts on the black suit, crashes a secret supervillain party hidden inside the Metropolitan Museum, brings the Avengers as backup, and somehow ends the night giving Frank Castle an impromptu therapy session in Central Park.
Thankfully, Spectacular Spider-Man: Brand New Day #4 is very much the latter.
Dan Slott continues “Kill Switch” with Marcus To on art and Alex Sinclair on colors, picking up after Mr. Negative corrupted the Punisher and got his hands on the Lexicon—the criminal underworld’s extremely inconvenient little black book. What follows is fast, funny, surprisingly thoughtful in places, and exactly the kind of slightly bonkers Spider-Man adventure this series does well.
PROS
First: black-suit Spider-Man crashing a supervillain cocktail party.
That sentence basically sells itself.
Peter and Yuri Watanabe cook up a plan to infiltrate the Underworld Gallery, where Mr. Negative is preparing to claim the title of Kingpin. Peter insists on going alone while Yuri reluctantly hangs back, and Slott immediately gives us some nice Spidey/Yuri chemistry—especially Peter being genuinely delighted to discover Yuri considers him a friend.
Then Peter arrives fashionably late by smashing through the ceiling.
Even better, he hasn’t actually come alone.
The Avengers bursting into the gathering behind him is such a wonderfully excessive Spider-Man solution that I laughed. Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Spider-Woman, Wolverine and company turn what was supposed to be an intimidating criminal coronation into the superhero equivalent of somebody calling the cops on a house party. Marcus To gets to go big with the chaos, and the black costume looks fantastic throughout the whole sequence.
I also loved the little “Spectacular Spider-Tech” detour explaining Peter’s utility belt. It is completely unnecessary…and therefore completely welcome. Web-shooters, Spider-Tracers, magnetic inverter, mini-camera, a walkie-talkie for Yuri and—most importantly—Aunt May getting her own dedicated phone button. Classic Peter Parker engineering: half genius laboratory, half something assembled five minutes before leaving the apartment.
The real surprise, though, is how much mileage the issue gets from Frank Castle.
Mr. Negative sends his corrupted Punisher after Peter, but rather than simply turning this into another Spider-Man/Punisher slugfest, Peter figures out that Frank’s enhanced Darkforce abilities need time to recharge. That lets the conflict shift from punches to something more personal.
As Frank begins slipping back toward himself, Peter forces him to confront what he has done while corrupted: fighting Yuri, firing into a building and putting civilians in danger. Frank’s immediate response isn’t anger.
It’s fear.
“Did anyone…?”
Peter tells him nobody died because Peter made sure of it.
That tiny exchange might be my favorite moment of the issue. Frank Castle lives by an incredibly rigid moral code, so the possibility that he became the thing he hunts cuts deeper than any punch Spider-Man could throw. Pages 18–21 turn what could have been a gimmicky “evil Punisher” storyline into something much more interesting.
And then, because this comic refuses to stay serious for too long, Peter’s solution to Frank picking up the Lexicon is basically:
Please put the evil murder-book down, Frank.
Maybe we can rent the movie instead.
Perfect Spider-Man.
CONS
My biggest problem is actually one of the issue’s coolest ideas: the Avengers crashing the party almost works too well.
It’s such a fun visual and such an entertaining escalation that I wanted a little more from it. These characters arrive, immediately turn the Underworld Gallery upside down…and then the story quickly pivots back toward Peter, Mr. Negative and Frank. I understand why—the emotional meat is elsewhere—but bringing that much superhero firepower into a room and then moving past it feels a bit like ordering the entire dessert menu and taking one bite of each.
Also, the Lexicon is rapidly becoming Marvel’s most dangerous game of hot potato.
Everybody wants it. Nobody should have it. Somehow someone always picks it up anyway.
At this point Peter may want to consider a shredder.
FINAL THOUGHTS: S FOR SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN!!!
Spectacular Spider-Man: Brand New Day #4 is a terrific example of how to make a packed issue feel breezy rather than exhausting.
We get black-suit Spidey, Yuri banter, supervillain society politics, Avengers backup, Spider-gadgets, Mr. Negative, Frank Castle and an unexpectedly human conversation about guilt—all without losing that slightly goofy Spider-Man energy.
And just when Peter appears to have survived the evening?
Frank Castle is holding the Lexicon.
Next issue: Crime & Punishment.
Yeah.
Peter should probably cancel whatever plans he had tomorrow.
