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Spider-Man Noir (2025) #1-5
Spider-Man Noir: The Gwen Stacy Affair
120 pages, Paperback
Published June 2, 2026
About the author
Erik Larsen
962 books78 followersAs a child growing up in Bellingham, Washington and Albion, California, Erik Larsen created seveal comic books featuring versions of a character named 'Dragon.' He eventually published a fanzine, which led to his doing professional work on a comic book called Megaton for creator Gary Carlson. It was here that he introduced the Dragon, a super powered superhero, to the comic-reading masses.
After a multitude of mailings, showing his work, Erik became aquainted with Jim Shooter, who was, at that point, Marvel's Editor-in-Chief. Erik eventually met Jim at a convention in Chicago and Jim was impressed enough with Erik's work that he consented to co-plot a story with him on the spot. That story was a battle between Marvel Comics characters Hulk & Thor. Although it wasn't actually published until years later, it did impress a variety of Editors enough to get Larsen some more high-profile work in the funnybook field.
Erik jumped around various books in this part of his career. He did an Amazing Spider-Man fill-in story at Marvel, a few issues of DNAgents for Eclipse, and he eventually took over the art chores on DC's Doom Patrol. Soon afterwards, he left DC and moved on to the Punisher for Marvel. Five issues of that book was about as much pain as that poor Minnesota boy could stand. Erik wanted to write and when a Nova serial was given the thumbs up to run in Marvel Comics Presents with Erik as the writer/artist, he gladly left the Punisher. But it was not to be! The powers that be had other plans for Nova and Erik's yarn didn't fit in with the impending New Warriors series. Editor Terry Kavanaugh gave Larsen an Excalibur serial to draw for Marvel Comics Presents while the poor bastard waited for his big break.
When ever-popular artist Todd McFarlane left his artistic duties on Amazing Spider-Man, Larsen was chosen to be his successor. That run was astoundingly well-recieved, and included popular stories like 'The Return of the Sinister Six', 'The Cosmic Spider-Man', and 'The Powerless Spider-Man'. Although he was comfortable with his position as Amazing Spider-Man penciller, he was frustrated drawing other people's stories. Larsen found that his ravenous desire to write had only gotten stronger. He left Amazing Spider-Man, quite pooped.
By this time, the New Warriors was going full tilt and Erik tossed together a proposal for a Nova ongoing series. While he waited for it to get the nod, Todd McFarlane left the new Spider-Man title that he had launched. Erik was called upon once again picked up the torch - and he ran with it. Larsen created a memorable albeit brief run on that title, despite a traumatic event in his personal life - his house burned to the ground, destroying all of his childhood drawings and comic books.
After this period, creator Rob Liefeld invited Larsen to help found a new comic book imprint called 'Image' at Malibu comics, alongside notorious creators Todd McFarlane, Rob Liefeld, Jim Lee, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino. Erik's flagship comic book at Image (which soon left Malibu and became the third lagest comic book publisher in the United States) was an updated version of his childhood creation -- 'The Savage Dragon.' Larsen has been succeeding with his ideas ever since, through his creations Freak Force, Star, SuperPatriot and the Deadly Duo as well as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which he helped revitalize and bring to Image.
As of 2004, Erik Larsen became the Publisher of Image Comics and shows no sign of slowing down.
After a multitude of mailings, showing his work, Erik became aquainted with Jim Shooter, who was, at that point, Marvel's Editor-in-Chief. Erik eventually met Jim at a convention in Chicago and Jim was impressed enough with Erik's work that he consented to co-plot a story with him on the spot. That story was a battle between Marvel Comics characters Hulk & Thor. Although it wasn't actually published until years later, it did impress a variety of Editors enough to get Larsen some more high-profile work in the funnybook field.
Erik jumped around various books in this part of his career. He did an Amazing Spider-Man fill-in story at Marvel, a few issues of DNAgents for Eclipse, and he eventually took over the art chores on DC's Doom Patrol. Soon afterwards, he left DC and moved on to the Punisher for Marvel. Five issues of that book was about as much pain as that poor Minnesota boy could stand. Erik wanted to write and when a Nova serial was given the thumbs up to run in Marvel Comics Presents with Erik as the writer/artist, he gladly left the Punisher. But it was not to be! The powers that be had other plans for Nova and Erik's yarn didn't fit in with the impending New Warriors series. Editor Terry Kavanaugh gave Larsen an Excalibur serial to draw for Marvel Comics Presents while the poor bastard waited for his big break.
When ever-popular artist Todd McFarlane left his artistic duties on Amazing Spider-Man, Larsen was chosen to be his successor. That run was astoundingly well-recieved, and included popular stories like 'The Return of the Sinister Six', 'The Cosmic Spider-Man', and 'The Powerless Spider-Man'. Although he was comfortable with his position as Amazing Spider-Man penciller, he was frustrated drawing other people's stories. Larsen found that his ravenous desire to write had only gotten stronger. He left Amazing Spider-Man, quite pooped.
By this time, the New Warriors was going full tilt and Erik tossed together a proposal for a Nova ongoing series. While he waited for it to get the nod, Todd McFarlane left the new Spider-Man title that he had launched. Erik was called upon once again picked up the torch - and he ran with it. Larsen created a memorable albeit brief run on that title, despite a traumatic event in his personal life - his house burned to the ground, destroying all of his childhood drawings and comic books.
After this period, creator Rob Liefeld invited Larsen to help found a new comic book imprint called 'Image' at Malibu comics, alongside notorious creators Todd McFarlane, Rob Liefeld, Jim Lee, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino. Erik's flagship comic book at Image (which soon left Malibu and became the third lagest comic book publisher in the United States) was an updated version of his childhood creation -- 'The Savage Dragon.' Larsen has been succeeding with his ideas ever since, through his creations Freak Force, Star, SuperPatriot and the Deadly Duo as well as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which he helped revitalize and bring to Image.
As of 2004, Erik Larsen became the Publisher of Image Comics and shows no sign of slowing down.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 24, 2026
I really enjoyed this book. I like this tougher more gritty Spider-man/Peter Parker. I would have given this book 4.5 stars i just vould not round it down.
Because of his time in the Spider-verse Peter/Spider-man's life has been left with many holes both personal and financial. However a new case and client might be the answer to both, but as usual Spider-man might get in the way of Peter Parker's life.
This Spider-man might not like guns but will move with the times and use them. I like Peter as a detective as well. I can't wait for more of this series. The book finishes with a variant cover gallery.
Because of his time in the Spider-verse Peter/Spider-man's life has been left with many holes both personal and financial. However a new case and client might be the answer to both, but as usual Spider-man might get in the way of Peter Parker's life.
This Spider-man might not like guns but will move with the times and use them. I like Peter as a detective as well. I can't wait for more of this series. The book finishes with a variant cover gallery.
June 6, 2026
In and of itself, this is fine, but it feels like modern Spidey with a lick of paint, like Larsen didn't read the first two Spider-Man Noir miniseries. It feels like a standard super hero book.
June 10, 2026
Just in time for the Spider-Noir show to drop, here's a new Spider-Man Noir mini-series. Synergy!
The core 'Gwen Stacy Affair' of the title here is kind of a moot point. It gets introduced and resolved in mostly the first issue, and while it informs some of the final one, Gwen herself feels kind of incidental, which I guess is fair for women in this genre, if a little disappointing.
The rest of the book's solid though. Erik Larsen addresses the fact that Noir has been elsewhere for a while, with Spider-Verse and his other solo adventures taking him away from New York. There are consequences to that, and while Peter tries to pick up the pieces, the Nazis are trying to get a foothold in the US and that brings some new supervillains into the mix for him to punch. I hate that this kind of rhetoric is as relevant now as it was in the days that this comic is set.
Artwise, it's very good. Andrea Broccardo draws four of the five issues, while Marika Cresta takes issue 3. Cresta's is a little rougher than the other four for the civilian portions, but they both do a bang
up job on the action scenes.
Yeah, this may only exist to capitalize on the (surprisingly good) Spider-Noir TV series, but it's a solid addition to Noir's (very small) canon of stories. Erik Larsen's still got it, mostly.
The core 'Gwen Stacy Affair' of the title here is kind of a moot point. It gets introduced and resolved in mostly the first issue, and while it informs some of the final one, Gwen herself feels kind of incidental, which I guess is fair for women in this genre, if a little disappointing.
The rest of the book's solid though. Erik Larsen addresses the fact that Noir has been elsewhere for a while, with Spider-Verse and his other solo adventures taking him away from New York. There are consequences to that, and while Peter tries to pick up the pieces, the Nazis are trying to get a foothold in the US and that brings some new supervillains into the mix for him to punch. I hate that this kind of rhetoric is as relevant now as it was in the days that this comic is set.
Artwise, it's very good. Andrea Broccardo draws four of the five issues, while Marika Cresta takes issue 3. Cresta's is a little rougher than the other four for the civilian portions, but they both do a bang
up job on the action scenes.
Yeah, this may only exist to capitalize on the (surprisingly good) Spider-Noir TV series, but it's a solid addition to Noir's (very small) canon of stories. Erik Larsen's still got it, mostly.
June 2, 2026
Kisah ini membawa pembaca ke New York pada tahun 1930-an, saat Peter Parker menjalani hidup sebagai detektif di siang hari dan sosok Spider-Man di malam hari. Hidupnya mulai berubah ketika seorang perempuan bernama Gwen Stacy datang meminta bantuan untuk menyelidiki pembunuhan ayahnya. Kasus tersebut ternyata jauh lebih rumit dari yang terlihat, karena melibatkan jaringan kejahatan dan kemungkinan adanya korupsi di dalam kepolisian. Semakin dalam penyelidikan dilakukan, semakin besar pula risiko yang harus dihadapi Peter, baik sebagai detektif maupun sebagai Spider-Man. Situasi ini memaksanya berhadapan dengan ancaman yang bisa menghancurkan karier dan kehidupannya. Cerita berkembang dengan penuh ketegangan, menghadirkan misteri yang perlahan terungkap. Setiap petunjuk membawa Peter semakin dekat pada kebenaran yang tidak mudah diterima. Di sisi lain, ia juga harus menghadapi konflik batin dalam menentukan mana yang benar. https://www.periplus.com/p/9781302967...
June 8, 2026
Pues no sé lo que esperaba de un tebeo guionizado por Erik Larsen, pero esto no. ¿Debería? Probablemente.
A ver, este tío es Spiderman Noir como podía haber sido el de toda la vida en una aventura en la que viajara al pasado a pelear con nazis y con algún supervillano de cuarta. Larsen no le ha dado la más mínima personalidad a su Peter, se ha limitado a trasladarlo de época y sanseacabó. Todo lo demás, es lo mismo de siempre: tiene problemas para pagar el alquiler, May le hace la comidita (vale, sabe que es Spiderman... ¿y?), MJ se ha cansado de él y ya no es su novia, y suma y sigue. Cambian detalles, cierto, pero no es el de las pelis ni el de la serie. No es nada, salvo un Ben Reilly de segunda, un clon de Peter más. Larsen nunca fue gran cosa, pero tampoco nunca fue tan poca.
El dibujo, bastante bien, por cierto. De ahí las dos estrellas.
A ver, este tío es Spiderman Noir como podía haber sido el de toda la vida en una aventura en la que viajara al pasado a pelear con nazis y con algún supervillano de cuarta. Larsen no le ha dado la más mínima personalidad a su Peter, se ha limitado a trasladarlo de época y sanseacabó. Todo lo demás, es lo mismo de siempre: tiene problemas para pagar el alquiler, May le hace la comidita (vale, sabe que es Spiderman... ¿y?), MJ se ha cansado de él y ya no es su novia, y suma y sigue. Cambian detalles, cierto, pero no es el de las pelis ni el de la serie. No es nada, salvo un Ben Reilly de segunda, un clon de Peter más. Larsen nunca fue gran cosa, pero tampoco nunca fue tan poca.
El dibujo, bastante bien, por cierto. De ahí las dos estrellas.
Read
April 19, 2026It's good to see Spider-Noir back! I really like the 1930s world with a Spider-Man twist and I think this was a compelling mystery that managed to wrap things up pretty well at the end. Loved the twist that Spider-Man kills someone whose daughter then comes to Peter Parker to ask to figure out who Spider-Man is. I think it could've been maybe an issue shorter because it starts to feel like it's going a little all over the place by issue #4's end but I don't think that takes away from it being a pretty entertaining ride throughout.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 9, 2026
This was okay. Not much noir in it. Read like a typical normal spidey comic with different silly villains. Little much to do with the time period. The scorpion gang felt a bit rushed with the key father character. This is also a soft introduction for Gwen Stacy. Not a strong intro to this classic Spidey.
Review of advance copy
Larson doesn’t appear to understand the character or the assignment
A noir book with very little noir about it.
Very little is made of the time period either.
For much of it just reads like a normal spiderman book.
DNF.
A noir book with very little noir about it.
Very little is made of the time period either.
For much of it just reads like a normal spiderman book.
DNF.
June 22, 2026
Príbeh má pekné noir momenty, dobre vystavané dobové kulisy ale príbehu chýba akákoľvek nadstavba. Niečo, čo by dráždilo moju zvedavosť a nútilo ma to čítať ďalej. Takto čitateľ dostáva len priemerný príbeh v peknom kabáte.
Want to Read
December 5, 2025NEW SPIDER-MAN NOIR COMIC!!!!! MY GOAT IS BACK!!!!!!!
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Just amazingly good fun
Review of advance copy
so camp
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
3.4 stars
June 15, 2026
A smaller adventure of Spider-Man or the Gwen Stacy fair does not follow the original story, but your father is killed
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews