Amazing Spider-Man #1000 hits shelves September 16. The thousandth issue of Marvel’s flagship title, the character that built the publisher. The main cover was drawn by John Romita Jr. and painted by Paolo Rivera. It was pulled by Marvel editorial after social media mockery spread. Then the comics industry pushed back and Marvel restored it within 72 hours.
The cover was designed to show Spider-Man from a pedestrian’s upward perspective, his body distorted by the G-forces of acceleration at high speed, webbing pulled taut, figure warped by inertia and momentum. The concept is kinetically ambitious, with Romita’s pencils rendered at maximum velocity, with Rivera’s painted finish giving the figure three-dimensional weight. Online, nobody engaged with the concept. The cover spread across social media with a single read: Spider-Man looked like he was shrugging. As if it were “one thousand issues? Really? Who cares?”
That description is how the mockery framed it. A TikTok video amplified the joke, and it spread far enough that Marvel editorial pulled the cover entirely and replaced it in the Penguin Random House catalog listings with a new Pepe Larraz piece. Marvel then issued a press release on June 18 describing the Larraz cover as “a main cover” rather than “the main cover” — language that suggested they were giving retailers two options rather than admitting they had yanked the Romita piece. The solicitation listings, however, confirmed the Romita/Rivera cover had been removed as the primary. The people who had mocked it celebrated online, with some specifically describing themselves as having “bullied” Marvel into pulling it.
What they had actually done was pressure a publisher into removing a 70-year-old legend’s farewell cover from the milestone issue he had spent his career building toward. That distinction matters because of who John Romita Jr. is, and what Amazing Spider-Man #1000 represents for him specifically.
JRJR’s father, John Romita Sr., took over Amazing Spider-Man from Steve Ditko in 1966 and spent years defining the character’s visual identity. The poses, the costume details, the weight and proportion of the figure — Romita Sr.’s design choices became the standard every Spider-Man artist since has referenced. John Romita Jr. grew up inside that legacy. He created his first Spider-Man character — the Prowler — at age 13. He began drawing the book professionally in his 20s. He is now 70. His collaboration with J.M. DeMatteis, his runs across multiple decades, his willingness to keep pushing the character into new visual territory — none of that is the work of someone with a casual relationship to Spider-Man. Amazing Spider-Man #1000 is his farewell. After this issue he steps away to work with Mark Millar at his new production company. The cover they briefly replaced his with was a perfectly competent piece by Pepe Larraz. Larraz is a talented artist. He is not the man whose family built this book.
The industry’s response to the pull was immediate and went in one direction.
Scott Snyder: “JRJR, Sale (RIP), Miller, they’re masters who’ve done every kind of classic design — they invented a lot — so in recent years we get to watch them experiment to find things they’ve never done. For a lot of us creators, the boldness is incredibly inspiring. Legends still pushing.” He added: “I REALLY like this cover because we so rarely see JR’s work rendered three dimensionally with a painterly approach.”
Jimmy Palmiotti: “I like this cover. The internet has now made it famous. If I was JRJR I would sell prints of this at every show.”
Declan Shalvey: “Art is subjective, tastes are varied but JrJr is one of the greatest living Spidey artists who is normally inked, then coloured. To have another iconic Spidey artist in Paolo Rivera collaborate by painting his pencils for a milestone issue is an objectively cool and suitable idea.”
Ivan Costa, responding directly to the TikTok video that spread the mockery: “John and Paolo deserve RESPECT from Marvel and from these so-called ‘fans’. SHAMEFUL.”
Fan @FkMySmPnsLife: “Nobody deserves the cover of Amazing Spider-Man #1000 more than John Romita Jr. He created his first Spider-Man character when he was 13. That character was the Prowler. He’s been drawing Spider-Man since he was in his 20s. The man is 70. His LIFE has been Spider-Man.”
@TheJamOfSteel: “I’m not even a big Romita Jr fan, but pulling his cover for ASM 1000 is absolute bullshit. The Romita family are so crucial in the legacy of Spider-Man — his cover belongs on this book.”
Marvel reversed course. Both the Romita/Rivera piece and the Larraz piece are now listed as main covers. The Penguin Random House listings updated Monday to reflect the restoration.
The mechanics of what happened here are worth sitting with. A cover was revealed. Social media decided it was funny. A TikTok video spread that joke widely enough that Marvel’s editorial team felt sufficient pressure to pull the work of a 70-year-old artist from his own farewell issue. The publisher of the thousandth issue of Amazing Spider-Man looked at a viral joke about the cover and concluded the right response was to remove it. That decision lasted 72 hours before the people who stand with the history of the industry told them what they had done.
The cover still doesn’t evoke excitement among fans like many in the past have done, but a lot of the pattern of modern covers has been like this. What do you think of ASM #1000?
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