The Jackal is back! The madman who originally cloned Spider-Man returns with another insane plan. And this time, it’ll impact the entirety of Manhattan Island. The prequel to SPIDER-ISLAND begins here!
Spider-Man has recently become a member of the Future Foundation and recently lost his Spider-Sense in a clash with Alistair Smythe. Flash Thompson recently returned from military service having lost his legs. But Project Rebirth have offered Flash the chance to become host to the Symbiote as Agent Venom and carry out secret missions for them. Araña has chosen to take on the identity Spider-Girl, but since lost her father due to the actions of the Red Hulk. And Julia Carpenter has taken on the identity and abilities of seer Madame Web…
Largely appearing as a series of back-up features in ‘Amazing Spider-Man’, these stories set the scene for the upcoming crossover event. Though one more story set before these appear in ‘Spider-Island: Deadly Foes’ which is a SPIDER-ISLAND issue.
SCROLL DOWN to the bottom for the KEY COLLECTED EDITIONS for this event!
Related Events: The Jackal initiates his plan in ‘Infestation’ in a series of largely-standalone tales. Other tales simply set the scene for story elements that come into play during the ‘Spider-Island’ event.
Must Reads: Story arcs marked with a ✔are must-read stories from this time period, along with any key related stories and often-forgotten tales that are worth a read.
Anthology Issues: When an issue contains multiple stories, the relevant story is denoted with square brackets. For example, [2/5] refers to the second story of the five stories in that issue, so you don’t need to read the other four.
One-Shot: The ‘Infested stories’ from Amazing Spider-Man #659-660, 662-664 and the final story from #665 were also collected in the ‘Amazing Spider-Man: Infested’ one-shot.
See our comprehensive prior reading guide:
Previous events that directly impact this story:
- THE DELUSION CONSPIRACY (1974-1975) – Jackal pits Spider-Man against Spider-Man
- GRIM HUNT (2010) – Arachne becomes Madame Web
- BIG TIME (2011) – Spider-Man loses his spider-sense; death of Gil Corazon
Want to keep it simple? Here’s the chronological reading order without story descriptions, or spoilers; must-read stories are in bold:
- Amazing Spider-Man #659 [2/3]
- Amazing Spider-Man #660 [2/3]
- Amazing Spider-Man #662 [2/3]
- Amazing Spider-Man #663 [2/3]
- Free Comic Book Day: The Amazing Spider-Man #1 [1/2]
- Venom #5 (tie-in)
- Spider-Girl #6-7 (tie-in)
- Spider-Girl #8
- Amazing Spider-Man #664 [2/2]
- Amazing Spider-Man #665 [1/2] (tie-in)
- Amazing Spider-Man #665 [2/2]
| Must Reads | Title, Issue, Synopsis & First Appearances |
| ✔ | Amazing Spider-Man #659 [2/3] The Jackal has released genetically mutated bedbugs into Manhattan as part of his latest twisted science experiment… |
| Amazing Spider-Man #660 [2/3] A school bully exhibits spider-sense and enhanced strength, accidentally killing his victim when he tries to retaliate. | |
| Amazing Spider-Man #662 [2/3] A family man gains super-human strength and agility, but doesn’t use these abilities when his neighbour’s house catches fire. Spider-Man comes to the rescue, instead… | |
| ✔ | Free Comic Book Day: The Amazing Spider-Man #1 [1/2] (pp.1-16) The new Madame Web (former Spider-Woman/Arachne, Julia Carpenter) forces Shang-Chi to observe while Spider-Man tries to free the original Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) from the mutant Mandrill’s pheromone-control. Spidey uses multiple perfumes all at once to break the spell, then they take down Mandrill together. When Shang-Chi finally shows up, Spidey asks him for training. They begin the next day, with Spider-Man while wearing an inhibitor collar… |
| ✔ | Amazing Spider-Man #663 [2/3] Drug-dealer Mateo Caldron avoids Cloak & Dagger’s brand of justice when spider-sense and super-agility kick in, facilitating his escape. He’s approached by the Jackal… |
| Venom #5 (tie-in) Agent Venom (Flash Thompson) rescues a senator’s daughter from the cannibalistic Human Fly. Flash’s mother interrupts his evening with Betty Brant to ask him to find his drunken father, Harrison Thompson. Flash and Peter Parker find Harrison and take him to a hospital. He has cirrhosis of the liver. Flash finds comfort in Betty’s arms but quickly accepts a new mission to take the edge off. | |
| ✔ | Free Comic Book Day: The Amazing Spider-Man #1 [1/2] (pp.17-19) After weeks of training, Shang-Chi starts helping Spider-Man find his own fighting style… the Way of the Spider. Elsewhere, Madame Web senses the growing number of people with spider powers… |
| Must Reads | Title, Issue, Synopsis & First Appearances |
| Spider-Girl #6 (tie-in) General ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross gives Anya Corazon information about the Raven Society who had a hand in her father’s death, though he refuses to acknowledge his own involvement. As Spider-Girl, she’s interviewed by Nora Winters and Phil Urich of the Daily Bugle. Phil later dons his Hobgoblin identity and draws Spider-Girl out to kill her. But Spider-Man intervenes and the Hobgoblin flees. | |
| Spider-Girl #7 (tie-in) The next day, Spider-Girl and Spider-Man raid Raven Society bases and face their brainwashed American Ninjas. She learns of their plans to indoctrinate her. Kurt Godwin kidnaps Rocky Flint. When Spider-Girl finds out Godwin works for the Raven Society, she rushes home. Emeline Foster is waiting to offer her membership in the Raven Society. | |
| ✔ | Spider-Girl #8 Spider-Girl suddenly regains her spider-powers and fights back against Kurt Godwin’s daughter, Emeline, and the Raven agents. She’s given the location of the main Raven base and faces Godwin. Red Hulk and Spider-Man arrive in time to arrest him while Spider-Girl frees Rocky and reveals her secret identity to her. It was Godwin who killed Anya’s father, not Red Hulk. |
| ✔ | Amazing Spider-Man #664 [2/2] (pp.1-2) A few days after his clash with Anti-Venom, Shang-Chi devises a method of developing the Way of the Spider… |
| ✔ | Amazing Spider-Man #665 [1/2] (tie-in) Betty Brant gets fed up with Peter Parker standing her up on movie night for four months in a row. With her boyfriend Flash Thompson at a conference in Washington, Betty goes alone and gets mugged. While everyone rushes to the hospital, Peter hunts the mugger as Spider-Man. Guilt-tripped by May Parker-Jameson, Peter gives up the search to be there for Betty when she wakes up. Though, he does go back and catch the mugger, later… |
| ✔ | Amazing Spider-Man #664 [2/2] (p.3) Days later, Shang-Chi declares Spider-Man is ready. But Madame Web reserves her judgement… |
| ✔ | Amazing Spider-Man #665 [2/2] Aunt May and Jay Jameson announce their plans to leave New York and move to Boston. No one notices Carlie Cooper leaking webbing from her wrists. Peter helps May and Jay pack their stuff, emptying the house he grew up in… |
| Must Reads | Issue & Fallout | Event/Crossover |
| ✔ | Spider-Island: Deadly Foes #1 (2011) A tale set before ‘Infested’ reveals the Jackal has a mystery benefactor. Amazing Spider-Man #666 (2011) More New Yorkers exhibit spider-powers as the Jackal’s machinations begin to bear fruit. Amazing Spider-Man #669 (2011) Spider-Man uses his Way of the Spider Kung Fu to save Carlie Cooper from super-villains. | SPIDER-ISLAND |
| Venom #7 (2011) Flash Thompson chooses to spend time with his father in the last moments of his life. | SPIDER-ISLAND | |
| ✔ | Spider-Island: Spider-Girl #3 (2011) Spider-Girl returns some of her spider-powers after Manhattan is cured. | SPIDER-ISLAND |
| Venom #22 (2012) Betty Brant ends her relationship with Betty Brant, having learned he was secretly Agent Venom. | ||
| New Avengers #34 (2013) Red Hulk ends his association with the Avengers. | END TIMES | |
| ✔ | Superior Spider-Man #15-16 (2013) Spider-Man (Otto Octavius) publically unmasks Phil Urich as the Hobgoblin; he takes Norah captive in an effort to save himself; Noah is saved by Spider-Man, but is later fired for her connection to Phil. | MARVEL NOW! |
| Edge of Spider-Verse #1 (2022) Anya Corazon returns to her Araña identity. | END OF THE SPIDER-VERSE |
| Collected Edition Title | Includes… |
| Spider-Man: Spider-Island | Amazing Spider-Man #659-660, 662-664 [part] Amazing Spider-Man #665-673 Spider-Island: Deadly Foes Venom #6-8 |
| Spider-Man: Big Time – The Complete Collection vol.1 | Amazing Spider-Man #648-654, 654.1, 655-662 |
| Spider-Man: Big Time – The Complete Collection vol.2 | Amazing Spider-Man #663-676 Free Comic Book Day: The Amazing Spider-Man #1 Spider-Island: Deadly Foes #1 |
| Spider-Man: The Return of Anti-Venom | Amazing Spider-Man #663-6665 Free Comic Book Day: The Amazing Spider-Man #1 |
| Spider-Girl: Family Values | Amazing Spider-Man #648 Spider-Girl #1-8 |
| Collected Edition Title | Includes… |
| Venom by Rick Remender vol.1 | Venom #5 |
| Venom by Rick Remender: The Complete Collection vol.1 | Venom #5 |
| Venom Epic Collection – The Modern Era vol.4: Agent Venom | Venom #5 |
Reading Order ©OmniverseComicsGuide 2023
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