An often-underused villain from Spider-Man’s rogues’ gallery is returning even scarier than ever before. One recurring theme of the current run of The Amazing Spider-Man has been the attempt to re-brand certain characters—both heroes and villains—in entirely new ways. Such attempts have seen Mary Jane and Norman Osborn become superheroes, and now, Beetle is set to get a scary recontextualization.
The Amazing Spider-Man #42 by Zeb Wells and John Romita Jr. will mark the return of Beetle aka Janice Lincoln, daughter of Tombstone, in scarier fashion than she’s ever had before. John Romita Jr’s cover art can be viewed below and shows Beetle in an all-new menacing light, holding her own unconscious father as she squares off against Spider-Man. The Amazing Spider-Man #42 is currently slated for a January 17, 2024 release date.
The return of Janice Lincoln coincides with the launch of the “Gang War” story arc. The event kicked off recently with The Amazing Spider-Man: Gang War First Strike by Zeb Wells, Cody Ziglar and Joey Vazquez. Janice’s father Tombstone is a focal point in the Gang War, and her actions could create a massive domino effect for the course of the arc moving forward.
Janice Lincoln is Back
The first Beetle debuted 59 years ago in the pages of the story “The Birth of the Beetle!” by Stan Lee and Carl Burgos, which appeared in 1964’s Strange Tales #123. As Beetle, Abner Jenkins became a mech suit-wielding recurring villain for Spider-Man, typically as a henchman who was easily disposed of more often than not. After him, the second Beetle was Leila Davis, the widow of fellow villain Ringer. Leila would debut in Deadly Foes of Spider-Man #1 by Danny Fingeroth, Al Milgrom and Kerry Gammill, vowing revenge after Jenkins’ manipulated Ringer into becoming a criminal, leading to his murder at the hands of Scourge.
Finally, Janice Lincoln was introduced in 2010’s Captain America #607 by Ed Brubaker and Mitch Breitweiser. Despite the adoration she held for her father and the success he found in the criminal underworld, she was forbidden from joining him, so settled on becoming a criminal attorney, defending the likes of Baron Zemo. Her connections to Zemo led to her volunteering to become his Beetle in hopes of finally becoming a supervillain. She’s proven herself in recent years as a recurring villain for Spider-Man, and compared to her predecessors, an extremely effective one at that.
The Scariest Beetle Yet
As seen in the above cover art, Janice Lincoln’s Beetle suit gets a drastic makeover. Her suit’s color scheme is switched from purple to all black while the mask and sharp hands have become something far more monstrous. If the cover is anything to judge the story by, something must be happening to Tombstone to warrant such a drastic change. Either Tombstone is fatally wounded or slain altogether, but whatever happens to him, it looks as if Janice will be targeting one man to blame: Spider-Man.
