RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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The initial response to Spider-Man: Brand New Day is strong indeed, with the newest MCU film already beating out Avengers: Endgame in its opening day box office haul . Multiple Marvel Comics creators have already taken to social media to heap praise on the new movie, with none other than Frank Miller calling it "the fan's dream come true."
Miller praised Brand New Day on Twitter, highlighting the film's faithfulness to the work of Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko and geeking out over the fact that it includes the ninja cult The Hand (which Miller created during his legendary Daredevil run during the early '80s).
The most Ditko movie yet and with my Hand in it for all to celebrate. This fan’s dream come true. Tom Holland is my forever Spider-Man as romantic as he is heroic. Congratulations to Destin and the whole team. pic.twitter.com/6uCC67tX0w
— Frank Miller (@FrankMillerInk) July 30, 2026
"The most Ditko movie yet and with my Hand in it for all to celebrate," Miller writes. "This fan’s dream come true. Tom Holland is my forever Spider-Man as romantic as he is heroic. Congratulations to Destin and the whole team."
Echoing Miller, former The Amazing Spider-Man writer J. Michael Straczynski lauded Brand New Day as the "most authentically Peter, and Spider-Man." Straczynski also wrote, "It's a very human story, emotional without being slow or dull or self-indulgent. It feels like stepping into a really good Spidey comic."
To be clear I've enjoyed all the Spider-Man movies. But for my money, this latest iteration feels most authentically Peter, and Spider-Man. So many comic movies have fallen into MacGuffin plots, looking for the code, the stone, the box, the sword...this one is all about what --
— J. Michael Straczynski (@straczynski) July 30, 2026 It's worth noting that both Miller and Straczynski are among the dozens of comic book creators honored in a "With Special Thanks To" section of the Brand New Day end credits, suggesting their work inspired the film in one way or another.
IGN's Tom Jorgensen gave the film a 7 out of 10 in his Spider-Man: Brand New Day review , writing, "Spider-Man: Brand New Day sees Destin Daniel Cretton effectively refocus on the sturdiest pillars of the webslinger's iconography: struggling to find balance while swinging around New York City saving the day, and looking dang cool doing it. There’s more than a little déjà vu going on with a lot of Peter’s inner turmoil, and that does sometimes leave the 'brand new day' of the title feeling like Groundhog Day, but overall, it’s a refreshingly small-scale ride that gives Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sadie Sink, and the rest of the cast (a wasted Tramell Tillman aside) at least a few moments each to shine."
For more, check out IGN's newly updated list of the top 28 Spider-Man comics and graphic novels of all time .
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky .
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