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Marvel has a 20+ year old Spider-Man comic by Jeph Loeb and J. Scott Campbell locked away until "the time is right"
The Astonishing Spider-Man, which Loeb and Campbell started work on in the early 2000s, is still very much alive. It's just also in a Marvel Comics file somewhere.
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Webhead devotees at New York Comic Con 2025 were hungry for news of what's next for Spider-Man, and at the Marvel Fanfare panel, they got it. Well... sort of. What attendees of the C.B. Cebulski-hosted, J. Scott Campbell-starring panel learned wasn't exactly the announcement of a new Spider-Man comic, but rather, the fact that a very old Spider-Man book that has never seen the light of day is still in the works. Let's talk about The Astonishing Spider-Man.
Drawn by Campbell and written by Batman: The Long Halloween legend Jeph Loeb, The Astonishing Spider-Man is an as-yet-unreleased comic that was first begun around the time that the famous Amazing Spider-Man #601 comic cover was released, says Campbell. However, for reasons unspecified at the panel, the production on the story was halted, and has remained dormant ever since. For specifics - the Amazing Spider-Man #601 came out in 1999, so if the pair was working on Astonishing around that time, then the comic has been in Marvel's backlog for around a quarter century.
But it hasn't been that long since there's been discussion of the Astonishing Spider-Man behind the scenes at the House of Ideas. In the course of the discussion, Cebulski revealed that the comic was handed to him as he took over the role as Marvel's Editor-in-Chief from Axel Alonso. Even more tantalizing, Campbell confirmed that there are two full issues of the comic completed.
So what's the deal? Will Marvel ever bring together the forces of Loeb and Campbell to finally give us a Spider-Man story in the works for longer than Tom Holland has been alive? (Kidding, but almost.) Speaking as someone who was in the Marvel Fanfare panel, the answer appears to be 'yes,' but not anytime soon. Why? Well, according to Campbell, the team is waiting "for the right time."
I mean, if "the right time" means "a time when people will buy the comic," then I have great news, Jeph and Scott.
Marvel's most reliable superhero has proven he can do a whole lot more than just 'whatever a spider can.' Swing into Spidey's history with Popverse's...
Just watch out for that radioactive blood.
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