I don't think Dan Slott was going to say "Hey, don't worry about any comic till issue #14, the rest are just leading up to that."
Solicit for the second Spider-man TPB gives us a good idea:
spoilers:end of spoilers
The Spider-Verse is no more...and Spider-Man has to pick up the pieces. But the mysterious figure who appeared at the end of his recent climactic multiversal adventure hasn’t gone away! What is Peter Parker to do?!
COLLECTING: Spider-Man (2022) 8-10, TBD
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Last edited by CaptainUniverse; 03-18-2023 at 07:09 PM.
"The Enigma Force is not a tool to be manipulated by mortals. The Enigma Force comes to those it deems worthy. What temerity, what arrogance, makes you think you are worthy? Have you not all made mistakes? Unforgiveable ones?" - Captain Universe
"Call me an Avenging Angel, Baron, come to safeguard Earth...call me CAPTAIN UNIVERSE!" - Ray Coffin
"You're my heart, Mary Jane Watson...you're my jackpot." - Peter Parker
I've been trying to figure who could appear that would make Dan Slott sufficiently excited to pump up this last issue. Even in a new costume, none of the existing characters (Mayday, Annie, etc) would warrant this. We've seen the introduction of plenty of firsts (e.g. first gay spider, etc) in various Edge of books so another (probably overdue) first type of character seems unlikely to generate huge hype or sales. We've seen various cast members have spider powers (Spider Ma'am, Ghost Spider, Norman), so that's not particularly new. I have two guesses, one normal-ish, one WAY out there.
1. Benjy Parker, aged up a bit, as 616's sidekick and protege. It's not technically our Peter's kid, so it doesn't age him up the same, and he can always be returned to his universe without much fanfare.
2. Marvel somehow got the rights/permission to use Amalgam Spiderboy. That'd be so far outside what we've been given to expect of the DC/Marvel relationship that I think it'd warrant the hype, especially if it was the first of many crossover type stories.
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I don't remember the tweet word for word, but if I remember the gist well enough, Slott's claiming ownership (in a sense) of the character being introduced - so I think it's going to be a new face, and I'd expect it to be tied to the whole 'reweaving of the web' that happened in the latest issue.
Discovering/CONFESSING! the nature of evil... one retcon at a time.
It's been said elsewhere...
This will be the first appearance of a new character.
Also...
I wouldn't go by that partial solicit for the 2nd SPIDER-MAN trade. Our next ARC is three issues, not the trade. SPIDER-MAN #8-#10 will be in that trade ALONG with more of Bagley & my ongoing SPIDER-MAN title.
I hope this isn't another attempt to build up a "Spider-Family."