Jailbreak: A Review of The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 (2023)

 written by Erica Schultz

drawn by Julian Shaw

colored by Andrew Dalhouse

Following the events of "Dark Web" from earlier this year, Peter Parker aka Spider-Man finds himself chasing down Janine Godbe, aka Hallow's Eve, as she attempts to free her lover Ben Reilly aka Chasm from the Madelyne Pryor's realm of Limbo, where he has been imprisoned since failing in his attempt to conquer New York with an army of demons. While Janine's powers of disguise get her pretty far in her mission, ultimately she learns the hard way that she's dealing with the Goblin Queen.

I remember when annuals were an event, written and illustrated by some the most talented creators in the business, often people who couldn't really be counted on to put out monthly work on a timely basis but whose talent could really shine in this annual one-shots. 

In this context, I honestly don't understand what is even remotely special about this story, which is only twenty pages long, doesn't feature any new characters or any auspicious events, or even particularly talented creators. This could basically have been a one-shot issue of the main title, yet it found its way into an overpriced one-shot like this.  

6/10

Backup story: 

written by Celeste Bronfman

drawn by David Lopez

colored by KC Diaz

This marked a slightly different approach to an annual; this story is a teaser of things to come. When Peter, MJ and (ugh) her new boyfriend Paul throw a party for MJ's aunt Anna, the normally sweet old lady suddenly turns savage and starts punching everyone present. Can Peter and MJ get to the bottom of what has afflicted her aunt, and apparently many other people?  Well, not in this issue.

Not that it needs reiterating, but I loathe the current status quo between Peter and MJ, which has been nothing but mean-spirited and lazily-written, and anything that reminds me of it automatically pisses me off, especially a story like this that doesn't seem to have anything to offer. I will admit to liking David Lopez's art a little bit but that's about it. 

4/10

Marvel, if you're going to do "annuals" like this again, please don't bother.