Spider-Verse #5 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Costa delivers an OK -- if inconsistent -- ending to this series.

The Web Warriors discover that the Siege Perilous is a device created to channel their powers into the user (i.e., Norman).  Correspondingly, the Thor is there to destroy it -- and them -- since they all represent a threat to Doom.  (In an example of pet peeve #1, the intro page provided us this information about the chair before Costa did.)  The Warriors try to destroy the chair, but doing so somehow creates a feedback loop that knocks everyone in the room (including the Thor) unconscious.  Meanwhile, Peter confronts the Goblin at the Brooklyn Bridge.  Without his powers, Peter is mostly just distracting him, something that he eventually admits to the Goblin when he eventually captures him.  (I didn't get this part.  First, the Goblin says that he wants to kill Peter, but he doesn't actually do so.  Why not kill Peter once he captures him and then return to the tower to take out the Warriors?  Also, why would Peter admit that he was just trying to distract the Goblin?  Was he trying to save his own skin by selling out the Warriors?  It feels un-Peter-ish.)  Norman eventually returns to the tower (with a kidnapped Peter in tow) and claims the Siege Perilous.  However, the Warriors unplug it while he's using it, rendering him brain dead.  They then decide to stay in this domain to help its people.  End scene.

Again, this issue is OK, but I still can't give it three stars.  Norman not killing Peter, Costa not explaining how Peter lost his powers, the Warriors defeating Norman so easily:  it still left a lot to be desired.  Fairly or not, one of the challenges that Costa had was setting up the series that we already know will take place after "Secret Wars."  But, I'm not really sure if he accomplishes that here.  Sure, some people within the group have some affection for each other -- Anya and Spider-Ham, Spider-UK and Indian Spider-Man -- but it's hard to say that they coalesced into a team.  For example, I have no idea why Spider-Man Noir or Spider-Gwen would stay.  But, I'll leave that part to Costa in the new series.  For this series, I'd really only recommend it for someone that loved the "Web Warriors" TV show.  Everyone else should probably stick to "Amazing Spider-Man:  Renew Your Vows" for your "Secret Wars" Spider-Man story.

** (two of five stars)

Spider-Verse #4 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

OK, now we're getting somewhere.

We ended last issue with Gwen running into Peter Parker, despite the fact that he has a gravestone next to hers in the cemetery.  It turns out Peter lost his powers (it's apparently a long story, shockingly), but he's come out of hiding to warn her that Norman really is a villain.  As if Gwen needs more proof, Venom bounds at them from the shrubs:  Norman sent him to tail her, but his hatred of Peter got the better of him.  Gwen and Peter manage to flee to a music store where Gwen uses an amped up guitar to knock Venom unconscious.  Meanwhile, the scientifically minded members of the Web Warriors work with Norman and his staff to get to the bottom of the Web that connects them, while Ham brings Anya to the buffet.  There, he reveals that Norman occasionally sits on his "Caesars Palace chair" and rants about killing Doom.  Anya gets Ham to show it to her, while Gwen and Peter step up their game:  Peter Snapchats a photo of him on the Brooklyn Bridge to Pavitr, inviting Norman to come "talk."  They know that it will force Norman to go crazy (as Venom did), and they're right:  Norman gathers up the Six and heads to the bridge.  Meanwhile, Anya grabs the rest of the team to show them the chair.  It turns out that it's a Siege Perilous, but, before they can learn more, a Thor arrives to claim possession of it.

Honestly, I wasn't feeling this series, but I'm totally on board here.  Costa uses Ham's personality to explain why he seems so ambivalent about Norman.  I was expecting Costa to go with mind control to explain why Ham went with Gwen in issue #2 but seemed completely unperturbed by Norman's crazy in issue #3.  Instead, he does me one better:  Ham is resigned to humans doing ridiculous $^!*.  He just goes and gets some waffles whenever they do it.  Honestly, it's great.  It totally makes sense in the context of character that is, after all, a talking pig.  Plus, it's not like it only works in Norman's favor.  It's this disinterest in human motivations that leads Ham to show Anya the chair, since it's not like he's loyal to Norman or thought through the implications of it.  (More waffles anyone?)

Beyond Ham, the issue is interesting because it's another villain trying to take on Doom.  As the cracks in Doom's facade appear in the main title, they're appearing in the tie-in issues.  Regent in "Amazing Spider-Man:  Renew Your Vows" is also hoping to take down Doom, and I feel like Korvac in the "Korvac Saga" is also a candidate if he keeps his cosmic powers.  Costa does a great job of using this development to further the overall plot of the event, reminding us that Doom's control has never been as great as it may have appeared.

All in all, it's definitely an improvement over the previous issue or two, and I'm excited to see how it all ends.  (It better at least involve everyone apologizing to Gwen for being wrong about Norman.)

*** (three of five stars)

Spider-Verse #3 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

OK, I'm thoroughly confused here.  Costa wants us to believe that everyone other than Gwen doesn't see Norman Osborn as a villain.  It's all just a big misunderstanding, apparently.  The problem is that you don't have to know that Norman is a bad guy in other realities to know that he is one here.  First, Gwen seems pretty sure that he killed the Gwen Stacy of this reality, and Norman so far hasn't done anything to disabuse her of that notion.  It's hard to see how a CEO of a corporation could innocently kill a young woman.  Second, he employs a goon squad, this reality's version of the Sinister Six, to "collect" the Spider-People after Spider-Ham calls in their location.  OK, sure, maybe Osborn's doing something to help Ham, but no one raises an eyebrow at the fact that he hires known criminals to be his enforcers?  This lack of curiosity is particularly odd when you consider the fact that he claims that he was initially antagonistic towards the Spider-People because he wasn't sure if they were criminals or not.  So, it wouldn't be OK for them to be criminals, but it's OK for him to hire them?  Finally, if Osborn really was helping Ham, why did Ham more or less willingly go with Gwen in issue #2?  I think that Costa is going to eventually reveal that it's all a ruse, possibly due to some sort of mind control, but, until then, I really don't get where we're going here.

** (two of five stars)

Spider-Verse #2 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

I don't have a ton to say about this issue, though that's not necessarily a bad thing.  Costa takes us pretty clearly through the paces to get to the conclusion, leaving enough mystery along the way to keep us interested.

The biggest mystery is Norman Osborn himself.  His comments to Gwen have an almost fatherly bent to them, an impression seemingly confirmed when he orders his troops not to open fire on her while she's escaping and refers to her as a "poor girl."  Of course, the only problem with the argument that he's just a misunderstood good guy is that he's already killed a Gwen Stacy on this world and that he was keeping Peter Porker hooked to some sort of machine.  How nice can he be?

But, Gwen escapes with Peter, and they're quickly intercepted by Pavitr, Anya, and Spider-UK.  They barely have time to introduce themselves when Pavitr's tracking device discovers the whereabouts of Spider-Man Noir.  We learn that he had escaped detection by breaking into Pavitr's apartment and stealing tools to block the tracking device.  Clever!  He was at the waterfront to try to get some information on Carnage and Tombstone, but the Webbies ruined his plan and now they've got to face the Sinister Six.

Once again, this tie-in series continues to be the one most connected to the overall "Secret Wars" plot, since all the Spider-People here are aware that they don't belong on Battleworld.  The Sinister Six will serve as a distraction, but, at some point, I wonder if the team is going to play a major role in revealing the truth in the main series.

*** (three of five stars)

Spider-Verse #1 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

I mentioned in my review of "Secret Wars" #2 that Hickman took a matter-of-fact approach to Battleworld in that issue, with only Dragon Man expressing the sense that it might not be what it seems.  However, Costa makes it clear that some people do have the sense that Battleworld might not be real.  Spider-Gwen realizes that she's theoretically deceased in this world, and Anya, Indian Spider-Man, and Spider-UK all discuss a nagging sense that something is wrong.  Costa holds out the possibility that the four of them are able to sense reality due to their connection to the Web; in fact, Indian Spider-Man used this connection to track down Anya and Billy in the first place.  Moreover, they're not from the Marvel or Ultimate Universes, meaning that they might be able to see through the ruse more easily.  (Costa does probably have to explain why they're here in the first place.)  I guess we'll see where we go from here.

*** (three of five stars)