OK, I'll admit that I totally teared up a bit when Spidey told Kamala that she was doing great, as one teen hero to another one.
In fact, this whole issue was pretty great. Sure, it's kind of a dopey ending, with Clash (more on him in a minute) and Kamala realizing that the Kree hadn't actually sanctioned Minerva's mission (since she didn't have any actual Kree henchmen on hand) and Spidey pretending to call the Kree to spook her. But, it was fun in an innocent way. I mean, every outing doesn't have to be a life-and-death struggle. It reminded me of issues like "Amazing Spider-Man" #267. I wasn't a huge fan of that issue when I first read it, but it had the same hokey charm that this issue has. (Slott just pulls it off a bit better than DeFalco did, to be honest.) Moreover, I loved seeing Clayton again. Although Peter doesn't fully acknowledge it here, I do feel like he really owes Clayton. As I said in my review of "Amazing Spider-Man" #1.5, he pretty nonchalantly ruined Clayton's life when he exposed his identity to the public. Giving him a job (something that Clayton couldn't get with his record) seems the least that he could do.
The "Edge of Spider-Verse" story is decidedly less innocent than the main story. Daemos, one of the brothers of Karn and Morlun, gets into the action, killing off Spider-Girl's parents and boyfriend. It's pretty grim, particularly when May ends it swearing to break every vow she made to her father and pledging to kill Daemos. But, it also raises an interesting question. Most of the characters whose lives we've seen ended or ruined so far aren't really characters that we'd expect to see again. The closest have probably been the Marvel 1602 Spider-Man and the Exiles' Spider-Man 2099. However, Spider-Girl is a pretty well established character. She did appear in her own series, even if it was short-lived. Daemos does a number on her life here, and it makes me wonder if we really aren't going to see the events of "Spider-Verse" ret-conned in the end. We still have the fact that Otto disappeared from "Superior Spider-Man" #19, setting up the events of "Spider-Verse." It seems like the event has to end with Otto returning to where he left, implying that everyone else (like May) would also return to where they were. I guess we'll see. If not, Slott is definitely breaking a lot of china.
*** (three of five stars)
No comments:
Post a Comment