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Spider-Man Back in Your Friendly Neighborhood Newspaper – Updated

I don’t know that I should call USA Today your neighborhood newspaper but tomorrow June 16 it will be friendly to Spider-Man and Marvel Comics fans as a Spider-Man comic returns to a newspaper.*

USA Today/Marvel Comics promo

They are playing it close to the vest but the promotional material is coming through the USA Today Play setup. That sneak peek concentrates on the promise of coming games. Yeah, I signed up so you don’t have to:

USA Today Play/Marvel Comics promo

With this accompanying blurb:

“Superstar writer Al Ewing (Immortal Hulk, Venom) and fan-favorite artist Todd Nauck (Amazing Spider-Man, Gambit) are going to take Spidey on a journey all around the Marvel Universe just for people on USA TODAY PLAY, which should thrill newcomers but also Marvel Comics superfans!”

— Nick Lowe, Marvel Editor

Which seems to be a promo for the USA Today Play online games and not tomorrow’s print edition.

The USA Today Threads promo promises more – something in print:

A special web-slinging surprise is taking over the front page of USA Today’s print edition tomorrow.

And an image above promises a “Limited Edition Comic Inside.” Whether that will be a small comic book or a one page (or more or less) comic strip will not be revealed until tomorrow.

Now you know as much as I do.

Anyway – Marvel Comics and Spidey fans may want to pick up a copy of the June 16, 2026 USA Today.

*The Amazing Spider-Man syndicated comic strip ran from January 3, 1977 to March 23, 2019.

June 16 Update

Here is page one of the June 16, 2026 USA Today and the article from the front page:

USA Today front page for June 16, 2026
USA Today front page Spider-Man article for 20260616

This first part of the article touts Marvel Comics as a new part of their “digital entertainment hub,” but nothing about a comic strip or comic book inside. Neither does the rest of the article.

More concise about the new “Spider-Man Today” is the Business Wire lead:

New York, NY–(BUSINESS WIRE)–USA TODAY PLAY, a unified digital hub for casual entertainment and gaming, part of USA TODAY Co., Inc. (NYSE: TDAY), announced a collaboration with Marvel Comics to provide an exclusive vertically-formatted Marvel Infinity “Spider-Man TODAY” Comic series to USA TODAY PLAY. The all-new specially created comic “Spider-Man TODAY” weekly subscriber series written by Al Ewing and illustrated by Todd Nauck will publish every Wednesday for the next 47 weeks showcasing the adventures of the web-slinger teaming up with heroes from across the Marvel Universe.

But the last pages in today’s USA Today paper features a four page preview/advertisement for the new USA Today Play comic feature with two pages of the new vertical webcomic:

USA Today preview of the new USA Today Play digital feature

Another update:

Spider-Man: Today by Al Ewing and Todd Nauck, USA Today

Rich Johnston at Bleeding Coll has hi-res images of those blurry USA Today Play Press Reader images.

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Comments 8

  1. Tomorrow is “Marvel 616” Day, 616 being the designation of the main Marvel Earth. I’m sure it has something to do with that.

  2. I haven’t seen a copy of USA Today in several decades (not even at the airports I’ve been through). Does anyone know whether they normally print comics? (and if so, how many?) I would be very surprised if their comic “section” is more than half a page.

    1. No; historically, USA Today couldn’t run comics lest it clash with local newspapers’ exclusivity rights to various comic strips.

      These days, with all three dozen newspapers owned by USA Today’s corporate overlords or not running comics at all this could change but since USA Today is doing okay enough selling to hotels that will refund the cost of the paper if you think to mention you never picked one up during your stay, they don’t have much reason to change.

  3. That layout. So much real estate wasted that could have gone to art and storytelling.
    And vertical format? The format best for phones/screens? For a 47 weeks run in a newspaper?

    1. No just today for the print newspaper. The 47 weeks of comic will be an online exclusive at USA Today Play.

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