The Amazing Spider-Man #440
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeAmazing Spider-Man #440 is the second chapter of 'The Gathering of Five,' the crossover that functioned as the closing act of the entire post-Clone Saga era of Spider-Man comics. It carries the structural weight of drawing together the dangling threads of Norman Osborn's scheme — the mind-controlled Molten Man, the fugitive Alison Mongrain, and the recruitment of pawnshop antiquarian Morris Maxwell (making his first appearance here) into the mystical ritual that would reshape the Spider-Man line. The issue is historically significant as part of the arc that directly precipitated the cancellation of both The Spectacular Spider-Man and The Sensational Spider-Man, and triggered the full relaunch of the core Spider-Man titles as new Volume 1 series — making it a genuine turning-point issue within the 35-year run of the original Amazing Spider-Man volume.
In "The Gathering of Five, Part Two: A Hot Time in the Old Town," Spider-Man races to protect civilians as the rampaging Molten Man targets Alison Mongrain, setting the stage for escalating chaos. Written by John Byrne and illustrated by Rafael Kayanan, with inks by LaRosa, Palmiotti, Ramos, and Kayanan himself, the issue delivers intense action and emotional stakes. Mike Wieringo’s cover captures the fiery tension of the moment, a 1.99 USD comic from 1998 that remains a standout in the series.
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The issue was written by John Byrne — credited as 'Guest Writer,' a detail that collector-blogger Chris Hernandez flagged as unusual, possibly indicating a last-minute handoff from regular ASM writer Tom DeFalco — with pencils by Rafael Kayanan and a crowded inking bench of Bud LaRosa, Jimmy Palmiotti, Rodney Ramos, and Kayanan himself, suggesting production pressure on a tight crossover schedule. Editor Ralph Macchio and assistant editor Matt Hicks shepherded the issue under editor-in-chief Bob Harras, whose mandate drove the franchise restructuring that the 'Gathering of Five' crossover was designed to execute. The story picks up directly from Sensational Spider-Man #32 (also on-sale October 1998) and continues immediately into Spider-Man #96, part of the tightly coordinated weekly-ish release cadence Marvel used for the event.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Title of the story chapter: 'The Gathering of Five, Part Two: A Hot Time in the Old Town' (October 1998, on-sale August 12, 1998).
- Written by John Byrne (credited as Guest Writer); pencils by Rafael Kayanan; inks by Bud LaRosa, Jimmy Palmiotti, Rodney Ramos, and Rafael Kayanan; colors by Mike Rockwitz and Mark Bernardo; letters by Richard Starkings and Comicraft's Liz Agraphiotis; edited by Ralph Macchio.
- First appearance of Morris Maxwell, an antiquarian pawnshop owner who holds one of the mystical shards required for the Gathering of Five ritual — he later receives the 'gift' of omniscience from the ceremony and goes on to appear in the John Byrne-written Spider-Woman series (1999).
- Norman Osborn is revealed to have implanted a mind-control microchip in Mark Raxton (Molten Man), compelling him to hunt down and kill Alison Mongrain before she can reveal what she knows about the Parker baby, linking the Molten Man's rampage directly to Osborn's macro-scheme.
- The issue is Part 2 of the 'Gathering of Five' crossover, which ran across all four Spider-Man monthly titles simultaneously: Amazing Spider-Man, Spider-Man (1990 series), Sensational Spider-Man, and Spectacular Spider-Man; the story thread here continues from Sensational Spider-Man #32 and picks up in Spider-Man #96.
- The 'Gathering of Five' / 'Final Chapter' arc that this issue anchors directly caused the cancellation of The Spectacular Spider-Man and The Sensational Spider-Man, and relaunched Amazing Spider-Man and Peter Parker: Spider-Man as new #1 issues in January 1999, as mandated by editor-in-chief Bob Harras.
- The full story arc — including this issue — was collected in the trade paperback Spider-Man: The Gathering of Five (Marvel, 2013), which reprints Amazing Spider-Man #440–441, Spider-Man (1990) #96–98, Sensational Spider-Man #32–33, and Spectacular Spider-Man #262–263.
- Alison Mongrain, the Osborn operative who abducted the Parker baby at birth (introduced in Amazing Spider-Man #418), plays a pivotal supporting role here; her storyline in this arc ultimately feeds into the revelation — delivered in the immediately following issue #441 — that the baby 'May' may still be alive.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Spider-Man: The Gathering of Five #[nn] (2013)
Key issues in The Amazing Spider-Man
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