Published May 7, 2026, 10:49 PM EDT
CBR senior staff writer Brian Cronin has been writing professionally about comic books for over fifteen years now at CBR (primarily with his “Comics Should Be Good” series of columns, including Comic Book Legends Revealed). He has written two books about comics for Penguin-Random House – Was Superman a Spy? And Other Comic Book Legends Revealed and Why Does Batman Carry Shark Repellent? And Other Amazing Comic Book Trivia! and one book, 100 Things X-Men Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die, from Triumph Books. His writing has been featured at ESPN.com, the Los Angeles Times, About.com, the Huffington Post, Vulture and Gizmodo. He features legends about entertainment and sports at his website, Legends Revealed and other pop culture features at Pop Culture References. Follow him on Twitter at @Brian_Cronin and feel free to e-mail him suggestions for stories about comic books that you'd like to see featured at brianc@cbr.com!
The following contains spoilers for Spectacular Spider-Man: Brand New Day #1, on sale next week from Marvel Comics.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is about to have its own "Brand New Day" as Spider-Man returns to the silver screen in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which shows the new reality that Peter Parker is dealing with after having his identity magically wiped out across the universe. The term "Brand New Day," though, with regards to Spider-Man, is from the Marvel comic book universe.
That was the name of the era of Spider-Man stories that began in 2008 that were set after "One More Day," where Mary Jane and Peter sacrificed their marriage to Mephisto to save Aunt May's life. At the same time, Peter's secret identity, which had become public during Civil War, was now erased from history.
Marvel is launching a new series set during that time period, and CBR has an exclusive preview of the first issue!
SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY #1 (OF 5)
DAN SLOTT (W) • MARCUS TO & MARCOS MARTIN (A)
Cover by PHIL JIMENEZ • VARIANT COVER BY PAT GLEASON
HIDDEN GEM VARIANT COVER BY Phil Jimenez
HOMAGE VARIANT COVER BY JOSE MARIE CASANOVAS
VARIANT COVER BY SALVADOR LARROCA • VARIANT COVER BY MIKE MCKONE
VARIANT COVER BY TBA • VIRGIN VARIANT COVER BY TBA
BLANK VARIANT COVER ALSO AVAILABLE
SPECTACULAR BRAND NEW DAY!
Revisit one of the most transformative periods of Spider-Man history with some of the creators who made it happen! Spider-Man discovers one of the most valuable items the Kingpin, aka Wilson Fis,k possesses – THE LEXICON. This directory of the Kingpin’s criminal enterprise could destroy the criminal landscape of New York City, and that’s Spider-Man’s goal when he takes it. But Fisk isn’t the only person who wants the Lexicon… Mr. Negative would love his competitor’s secret information, but so would Frank Castle, A.K.A. THE PUNISHER. Taking the Lexicon sure seemed like a good idea to make the city safer, but it’s painted the biggest target ever on Spider-Man’s back! DO NOT MISS THIS IN-CONTINUITY ADVENTURE THAT WILL ECHO FROM SPIDER-MAN’S PAST INTO SPIDER-MAN’S PRESENT AND FUTURE!
In the preview pages, we see Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin of Crime, quickly trying to get out of town when he is accosted by Spider-Man, who was investigating whether there really was a mysterious Lexicon of Crime that various mob leaders had been using throughout history.
However, during their fight, the Kingpin actually remembered that he once knew who Spider-Man was, and that somehow he can't remember WHO Spider-Man is under the mask anymore, which is driving Kingpin nuts. If you want to see what the Kingpin does with this new knowledge (of his lack of knowledge), be sure to pick up a copy of Spectacular Spider-Man: Brand New Day #1 next week!
English (US) · 