Spider-Boy #5
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeSpider-Boy #5 is the opening chapter of the series' first extended multi-part storyline, titled 'Best Friends ForNever,' which deepens the mythology of Bailey Briggs' rogues gallery and escalates his personal stakes by putting his closest friend, Christina Xu, directly in Madame Monstrosity's crosshairs. The issue carries the first appearance of Mr. Bobo, a Humanimal character who would go on to be named and play a larger role in subsequent arcs. Its backup story — a structural rarity at Marvel — functions not as filler but as a genuine narrative expansion, using a flashback to the High Evolutionary's rejection of Madame Monstrosity to clarify her deepest motivations and tie her to one of Marvel's most enduring mad-science figures. Together, the two stories mark this as a formative issue for the emotional architecture of Dan Slott's entire Spider-Boy run.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Written by Dan Slott with pencils by Paco Medina on the main story and Julian Shaw on the backup, the issue was released on March 20, 2024, under editor Ellie Pyle, with colors by Erick Arciniega (main) and Edgar Delgado (backup) and lettering by VC's Joe Caramagna. The series itself grew directly out of Slott's run on Amazing Spider-Man, where Bailey Briggs debuted in 2023 and proved popular enough to anchor his own ongoing title, its first monthly issue having shipped in November 2023. Slott would ultimately conclude the book after twenty issues when he departed Marvel for DC Comics in 2025.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Released March 20, 2024; cover-dated May 2024; rated T (13+); 32 pages.
- Written by Dan Slott; main story art by Paco Medina; backup art by Julian Shaw; cover by Humberto Ramos.
- First appearance of Mr. Bobo, a Humanimal character (unnamed at this point, named in issue #7).
- The backup story — written and drawn by a separate creative team (Slott/Shaw) — is set in flashback and reveals why Madame Monstrosity bears a personal vendetta against Spider-Boy: the High Evolutionary, her idol, rejected her work because Bailey escaped before she could display him, and severed contact with her entirely.
- Forbush Man (Irving Forbush) and Planet Terry appear only as parade balloons — background visual gags consistent with the series' affectionate nods to Marvel's humor-comics history.
- Captain Squirrel and the Squirrel Scouts appear in this issue, alongside Squirrel Girl (Doreen Green) and her squirrel companion Tippy-Toe.
- The issue's cliffhanger — Madame Monstrosity activating her hybridization machine on Christina Xu — directly launches the 'Fun & Games' arc collected in Spider-Boy Vol. 2 (issues #5–8).
- This issue is the first chapter of Spider-Boy's first true multi-part adventure, an arc that culminates in issue #7 with Captain America, Thor, Squirrel Girl, Miles Morales, and Peter Parker all guest-starring in the resolution.
Cast · 18 characters
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Reprinted in Spider-Boy #2 (2024)
Key issues in Spider-Boy
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