Edge of Spider-Verse #4

History

The 2024 Edge of Spider-Verse was announced in October 2023 as a four-issue limited series intended to build toward what Marvel described as its biggest Spider-Verse publishing event, with editor Nick Lowe overseeing the line. Issue #4, released May 29, 2024, was written by Nilah Magruder (who also wrote the Jessica Drew thread in earlier issues of the run), Karla Pacheco, and Alex Segura, with art by Marcus Williams (with Eric Gapstur), Pere Pérez, and Salvador Larroca respectively, and a main cover by Chad Hardin. Marvel's promotional materials specifically noted that Magruder and Williams developed the Jessica Drew story working in concert with the Across the Spider-Verse filmmakers, making it a rare instance of the comic branch actively co-developing a character's print identity alongside an animation production team.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First comic-book appearance of Jessica Drew (Earth-332), the pregnant Spider-Woman variant who became a standout character in Sony's Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023), written by Nilah Magruder and drawn by Marcus Williams in the story titled 'The Hard Road.'
• The story for Jessica Drew was developed with direct involvement of the Across the Spider-Verse filmmakers, per Marvel's official solicitation — an unusually collaborative arrangement between the animation production and comics editorial.
• First team appearance of the Spider-Society, whose roster as shown in the issue includes Ghost-Spider (Gwen Stacy, Earth-65), Miles Morales (Earth-1610), Spider-Girl (May Parker, Earth-982), Spider-Ham (Peter Porker, Earth-8311), Spider-Boy (Bailey Briggs), Spider-Man India (Pavitr Prabhakar, Earth-50101), Spider-Punk (Hobie Brown, Earth-138), Spider-UK, Kraven the Hunter-Spider (Sergei Kravinoff, Earth-31), Madame Web (Julia Carpenter), Night-Spider (Felicia Hardy, Earth-194), Spider-Rex (Pter Ptarker), Spider-Ramen (Peter Potnoodle, Earth-54202), and others.
• First full appearance of Spider-Ramen (Peter Potnoodle, Earth-54202), depicted memorably as a floating Spider-Man-themed bowl of ramen among the Spider-Society's assembled members.
• First appearance of Yelena Belova's Black Widow variant in the Weapon VIII story, 'In the Crosshairs,' written by Alex Segura with art by Salvador Larroca; this segment functions as a direct lead-in to the Spider-Society (2024) miniseries, ending with Madame Web recruiting Weapon VIII to the team.
• The issue's second story, 'The Lizard's Tale,' written by Karla Pacheco with art by Pere Pérez, continues the comedic dinosaur-world adventures of Spider-Rex (Pter Ptarker) and features Mary Jane Watsaur and the first appearance of a Lizard analogue in that reality.
• The issue is the fourth and final chapter of Edge of Spider-Verse Vol. 4 (2024), a series operating under editor Nick Lowe and editor-in-chief C.B. Cebulski, with a cover date of July 2024 and an in-store date of May 29, 2024.
• The standard cover was provided by Chad Hardin; variant covers were produced by Nicoletta Baldari (1:25 incentive), Pete Woods (homage variant), and W. Scott Forbes (Spider-Woman variant and Spider-Woman virgin variant).

Cast · 31 characters

Full credits

Key issues in Edge of Spider-Verse

★

#3 1st appearance — Christina Xu

Variants (4)