Spider- Verse
Crisis Of Infinite Spideys
Release Date: OUT NOW!!
Publisher: Marvel Writer: Dan Slott Artists: Oliver Copiel, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Cam Smith, Justin Ponsor
If there’s one
thing that writer Dan Slott has proved via his current run on Spider- Man, it’s that he isn’t afraid to think big. This is the man who put Otto Octavius into the role of Spider- Man for a whole year, and also gave everyone in Manhattan spiderpowers in the epic Spider Island saga. His latest blockbuster shows there are few limits on how far he will go in search of mind- scrambling plot twists.
Spider- Verse starts from an attention- grabbing concept: a tale that unites every alternate version of Spider- Man ever seen. And so far, Slott is mostly living up to that enjoyably ludicrous idea. Mixing lively action with Grant Morrisonesque conceptual weirdness, the story pitches Peter Parker against the Inheritors, a family of transdimensional, vampire- like adversaries with full access to the Multiverse.
They’re using this to hunt and kill every Spider- powered hero in all realities, but the remaining Alterna- Spideys have gathered together, and it looks like the Peter Parker of Universe 616 ( the everyday Marvel Universe) is central to the Inheritors’ plans. Throw in the reappearance of the Superior Spider- Man, alongside a roster of weird Spidey incarnations including Spider- Man 2099 and the Spectacular Spider- Ham, and you’ve got an action- packed saga that doesn’t stint on comic- book insanity.
Four issues into the core storyline ( currently running in Amazing Spider- Man), it’s helping that Slott has created a set of entertainingly nasty villains in the Inheritors, giving their twisted family enough depth to be truly scary. Slott keeps the pace lightning- fast and the tone at the correct level between daft lunacy and genuine drama, throwing in offbeat continuity references and making this a broad but undeniably entertaining slice of superhero nonsense. The main series also features brilliantly polished visuals from artists Oliver Copiel, Giuseppe Camuncoli and Justin Ponsor.
However, while Spider- Verse is more accessible to new readers than some recent Marvel event comics, it still suffers from a bad case of Too Many Crossover Issues. The core story regularly branches off into crossover titles when different teams of Spidey alternates head off for separate missions, resulting in moments where it occasionally reads more like an advert for other comics than a story in its own right.
The crossovers and spin- offs themselves are often fun, including the issue that introduced the now phenomenally popular alternate, Spidey- powered version of Gwen Stacy. Spider- Verse is a little too sprawling and crossover- dependent for its own good, but despite these flaws it’s still a rollicking good time, and proves there are few current writers with as good a grasp as Dan Slott on Spider- Man’s unique blend of emotive drama, quick- fire gags and superhero thrills. Saxon Bullock Spider- Verse’s version of Gwen Stacy got such a good reaction she’s already been given her own series; it kicks off on 25 February. McCloud’s first gig in comics was in production at DC, pasting in lettering and whiting out mistakes.