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Silk #1

Silk #1

Jan 7

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SILK #1

Capsule Review

I gave the new Amazing Spider-Man poor marks because so much of what made Peter Parker into Peter Parker had gone missing. I think I found those missing elements — they’re at the core of Silk. This spider-hero is a penniless young person making their way in the big city with a low-paying media job, covering up her core insecurities by quipping with the villains, and facing family issues that would challenge someone several years her senior. Sound familiar? I’m still not sold on the need for multiple spider-characters, but I liked Cindy Moon well enough. The credits page slug told me she was bitten by the same radioactive spider that nailed Peter Parker (hey, it’s comics), and that she was raised in a sealed bunker, which sounded interesting but didn’t really pay off in this issue. Her powers are broadly similar to Spidey’s. There’s also some espionage and double-crossing stuff going on that adds a dollop of intrigue. The tone and pace were similar to Spider-Gwen, but with less teen angst, and because we aren’t literally going over the same ground as classic Spider-Man stories, Silk’s running battle with a Green Goblin cult felt fresher. Writer Robbie Thompson’s script was breezy and fast-moving. I wish colorist Ian Herring had used the same rich palette on display in Silk’s back-up story from Amazing Spider-Man #1. This particular outing didn’t look as warm, failing to round the rougher edges off of Stacey Lee’s art (which shows a little manga influence, for better or worse). It all holds together. Entertaining book.

Approachability For New Readers

Slightly better than the other rebooted spider-books, which is to say not very good. But captions from Cindy’s point of view pull us into the character, and we get to discover the world through her eyes, which helps a bit with onboarding. Would be nice to have had more whys and hows about Cindy’s early life in a “hermetically sealed bunker,” but I’m willing to be patient.

Read #2?

Yes.

Sales Rank

#33 November

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Silk #1

 

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Web-Warriors #1

Web-Warriors #1

Dec 22

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WEB-WARRIORS #1

Capsule Review

I’m tepid on these re-launched Spider-books, and utterly indifferent to the whole notion of a “Spider-Verse,” but I kinda liked Web-Warriors. I think having dozens of Spider-Men running around is a hot mess, but this book so completely steers into the skid that it is hard to resist. If we must have a Spider-Verse, then this book does it proud. The premise here is that there are dozens (hundreds? thousands?) of Spider-People spread across a web of universes, and even more Spidey villains, and they are all intent on crossing into each other’s timelines to punch each other in the face. Our particular band of Spider-Folk have banded together to protect those worlds that have lost their own native Spider-Guy … and while I can’t get worked up about the intricacies of a Spider-World that has abolished the Earned Income Tax Credit (or whatever nonsense distinguishes one world from the next), I was charmed with an opening sequence that saw the Web-Warriors battling baddies in a world drawn directly from the 1967 Spider-Man cartoon series, complete with meta-observations about swinging through the sky on webs that aren’t anchored to anything, and a meme-acknowledging cameo of the animated Web-Head sitting behind a desk. David Baldeon’s art is bouncy and versatile, and writer Mike Costa wrings good characterization out of the disparate cast, playing the many Spider-People off against each other and hanging a lampshade on the ridiculousness of it all by having his characters talk to one another about the ridiculousness of it all. By the end I decided to stop being a fuddy-duddy and just embrace it.

Approachability For New Readers

Pretty hopeless, but the whole point of the book is to whip us from world to world and character to character, so maybe it doesn’t matter if you don’t know what the heck is going on.

Read #2?

All right, all right already! I’ll read another.

Sales Rank

#26 November

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Web-Warriors #1

 

 

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Carnage #1

Carnage #1

Dec 17

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CARNAGE #1

Capsule Review

Writer Gerry Conway doesn’t sugarcoat a thing in this story — Carnage commits mass-murder by the third page, and artist Mike Perkins makes sure we don’t miss a detail. What follows is murder of another kind — a half-dozen pages of talking head backstory set around the lip of an old mine, which is every bit as visually riveting as it sounds. But you know what? Conway pulls it off, showing how the authorities are setting a trap for Carnage, while introducing the supporting cast and offering up an explanation of the Spider-Man/Venom/Toxin/Carnage relationship that couldn’t be more clear, but still set my head spinning. The carefully constructed plan goes wrong, of course, reminding a bit of military vs. monsters movies like Alien 2, and Perkins pushes our horror buttons with page constructions that are all jumbled panels of panicking soldiers and swirling red tentacles. It is true that this issue is largely scene-setting, but I was entertained along the way, and the scene that is set has promise. As Colonel John Jameson says at the end of the book (yep, that John Jameson), “Alone, underground, in the dark, with a super-powered mass murderer … what’s the worst that could happen?” I’m ready to find out.

Approachability For New Readers

Pretty good. The background is complex but it’s all laid out for us.

Read #2?

Sure. I wonder what will happen down in that mine?

Sales Rank

(#19 November)

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Carnage #1

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