This is a very weird anthology. It honestly shows me a Spider-Office that doesn't really know what it wants. The entire thing is an exercise in synergy, with Madame Web haphazardly being the impetus for the anthology. It gives me the same vibes as when Black Adam got a full page splash in Dark Crisis along with an extended sequence showing just how great and heroic he was, because he and his movie were definitely going to be a smash hit. Luckily, Marvel didn't commit quite so hard to Madame Web, at least. We also get some weird synergy with Loki. I really just want Spider-Gwen to be in her own universe. Half the fun of the original run was exploring Earth-65 and seeing how different it was from 616. You take that away and Spider-Gwen gets lost in the sea of ancillary Spider-Characters with nothing to truly define her besides the memory of her counterpart's death 50 years ago. Now tying her to the off-brand comics-catching-up versions of the MCU's Ouroboros and Mobius, it seems like Marvel simply wants her brand to continue to diminish. The synergy might run even deeper with Spider-Man 2099 taking the lead role in whatever the next Spider-Verse event is, but who knows if he will be by the time issue 1 of End of the Spider-Verse, For Real This Time, comes out. My point with the synergy is that it feels like so much of the creative side of editorial, specifically Spider-Editorial, is being driven by whatever the latest creative flaunt is. That tells me that the editors don't really have a direction or directive, or drive, for how they want to shape Spider-Man and his extended cast's books for the foreseeable future. They're just latching onto whatever might work.

I'm behind on every Spidey book that isn't Amazing, so I know I'm missing context for certain things, but never so much that I felt lost. However, this anthology does not make me want to rush and catch up. The standout story for me was literally the first one. It's Wells and Romita, and it's about Tombstone. As much as Gang War bummed me out, I still really enjoyed the first arc of Wells' ASM run and this brief story has the vibes of that rather than what Gang War was like. The tone feels more consistent, Spidey is turning the tables on Tombstone somewhat... As an incredibly stupid man once said, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." I am extremely hesitant here, but I'm looking for something in this anthology. Miles' story was fine, but too caught up in its lore for me to latch onto anything. I haven't read that arc yet, why do I care about whether this vampire guy gets out? Spider-Woman had me interested, until Nick Lowe spoiled it for me in the back matter, and now I'm kinda dreading that one. The second Wells story did *look* fantastic, but it did nothing for me. Green Goblin is coming back, we know. The Chasm/Kaine stories are ones I want to enjoy, but the absurdly awful Greg Land art really took me out of it. Whenever I see artists that *I know* are hired for their speed rather than their ability, it tells me that Marvel doesn't actually care about this story and selling it. So why should I care? The Spectacular Spider-Men story was cute but I wasn't super invested in it either.

It's weird that there are two major elements of the Spider-Comics at the moment that weren't represented here: Ultimate and Slott. Ultimate is edited by a separate group (which is why it's better), I know, but this is supposed to be the grand opening statement of all things Spidey come 2024, so why not include an incredibly brief story by Hickman to grab the 2 and a half people who aren't yet reading that book? Hell, maybe its inclusion would boost sales for this anthology. The Slott stuff being absent is much more perplexing. He's writing two separate titles right now, that's a big chunk. And I assume those stories are building to something in the near-ish future. And Slott participated in the last big anthology issue, so why not here? I don't know about you, but this web feels pretty incomplete!

I wish I could say this book is exciting, or serves a purpose, or feels important. It's not any of these things. You can skip it, in fact, *do* skip it. It's a waste of your money and your time. I only rated it a 5 because nothing is really bad, it's just bland as hell. This book is a statement on editorial's failures. Eight dollars of non-excitement.