Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man, Vol. 5: Spider-Geddon

Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man (2017)

by Sean Ryan, Juan Frigeri (Artist), Philip Tan (Cover Artist)

SPIDER-GEDDON overwhelms the life of Peter Parker! Only a few of his deadly foes fill the spectacular Spider-Man with fear at the mere mention of their name, but Morlun and his family of Inheritors top the list! Now they're back, and Morlun has set his sights on Peter — and Peter alone! The relentless killer won't rest until he has destroyed the one Spider who has ever bested him. There's no cavalry coming for our friendly neighborhood hero, and desperate times call for desperate measures — but how bad must it be for Spidey to ask J. Jonah Jameson for help? And can his last-ditch plan possibly be enough to prevent Morlun from bringing Peter Parker to the end of his road?

Collects Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #311-313, Spider-Geddon: Spider-Man Noir Video Comic #1, and Spider-Geddon: Animated Video Comic #1.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Spider Man, Superheroes, Comic Book, Sequential Art

112 pages, Paperback

First published February 13, 2019

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sean Ryan writes a great Spider-Man. This was fun with a lot of heart. Juan Fregori's art is fantastic now that he's no longer saddled to Kubert. Marvel, give this guy his own book. The animated motion comics put to paper are just weird. They were basically cartoon shorts pasted onto paper. I wouldn't even bother to read them. They are nothing but filler.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Preamble: This actually collects the three issue Spider-Geddon tie-in, and the Noir and Animated Spider-Geddon motion comics, in print for the first time.

Spectacular's Spider-Geddon tie-in focuses, oddly enough, on Peter Parker. Since Pete's basically absent from the main book, these three issues pit him against Morlun with some help from Miles Morales and JJJ (of all people!). The desperation and struggle that Pete goes through, even having defeated Morlun more than once before, is really well realised by writer Sean Ryan, and although this isn't going to stand up against JMS's first Morlun story or The Other, it's a nice contribution to the Inheritor canon, and I like the always-evolving Spidey/JJJ relationship.

Also included here (for padding, mostly) are the two motion comics for Spider-Man Noir and Ultimate Spider-Man (the cartoon, not Miles) which read funny because they're meant to be animated, but aren't particularly offensive or anything, just kind of middle of the road. It's nice that David Fabrice came back for the Noir story though.

I said as soon as Juan Frigeri started helping out Adam Kubert during Zdarsky's run that he'd be a brilliant artist on his own, and I was right - these three issues of his are gorgeous. The Noir story has art by Paco Diaz, while the Animated story is by Dario Brizuela (who I've never heard of before) but both of them personify the universes that their Spider-Men inhabit very well.

[Khurram · Rating 5 out of 5]

I admit I am a biased Peter Parker fan. This was one of the reason I did not enjoy Spider-Geddon. Yes I admit this is the story I really cared about in the Spider-Geddon.

What was Peter Parker 616 doing during Spider-Geddon? Taking on Morlun. This is a knockdown dragout affair. This is the Spider-man I love. Bettered but never beaten, never giving up out fighting and out thinking jus opponent. Also got to say I do like the almost ninja battle damaged costume.

A great action packed book. As I said I enjoyed this more ths book more than the main story. The book finishes with the recruitment story of Spider-man Noir, and the Animated Video Spider-man and a sketch book.

[SB Senpai Manga · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m of a mixed mind about this. On the one hand the action is top notch and well constructed, but on the other hand it really seems like setup for Spider Verse. That’s not bad, if you have more of the story but this book alone doesn’t answer anything or have a decent conclusion. Still well written and drawn, plus it has a nice side story with Spider Noir (my personal fave)

[Oneirosophos · Rating 3 out of 5]

And thus Spectacular ends with a cool short Spider-Geddon spin-off tome.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected this to be full on garbo but this was really fun.

Murlen is back. Isn't he always? Such a nice fellow. He's a soul sucking vampire like creature who really hates Spider-man since he keeps escaping his grasp. This is really a 3 issue (and some other dumb mini-series thrown in) to lead up to Spider-Geddon. But unlike Spider-geddon, which was just okay, this story was pretty fun.

Watching Peter trying to surive and nearly getting murdered is always fun. Why? Because get to see him use his brain to survive and tactics that aren't normally applied since he's fighting a nearly unstoppable force. So he can finally go all out. You also got a fun supporting cast with both Miles and J.J. The art is pretty solid too.

The bad part is it's so short. 3 issues fly by then get two crappy side issue that both suck. So while not the greatest story the pacing and fun action set pieces were all solid. A 3 out of 5.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had this in single issues so this review is only for issues 311-313. Didn’t feel like reviewing them separately. Lol. Anyway, this was absolutely better than the main Spider-Geddon story. In that story, when the vampire folk come back, Morlun immediately wants to go after Peter and that’s what this volume entails. It’s really well done. Spider-man is stretched to the limits of his abilities trying to handle this foe. At points in the book I was like how is Spidey going to get through this? Also we get some nice team up action with Miles and JJJ. That relationship between JJJ and Peter has been evolving nicely thru Zdarskys run and here as well. Add in the gorgeous art and you have one hell of a book!

[Blindzider · Rating 2 out of 5]

The listing for this is actually incorrect. It is NOT written by Chip Zdarsky and the cover is wrong as well. It's written by Sean Ryan and is a setup for yet another Spider event: Spider-Geddon. It contains a 3 part fight with Morlun, which has all the hallmarks of a fantastic battle between the two: Spidey being exhausted and overpowered, uses his smarts (and friends) to win (sorry, but not really a spoiler), BUT it all feels like it's happened before and it has in the "Spider-Verse" crossover if I'm not mistaken.

Seems like Marvel is trying to capitalize on the "Into the Spider-Verse" movie because this volume also includes a Spider-Man noir tale and a separate Animated Spider-Man tale, both of which lead to a "bringing the band back together situation."

The art is actually pretty good. Drawn by Frigeri and it looks very similar to Larocca's art which I loved on Amazing Spider-Man.

[Alex Sarll]

Sometimes, even a terrible crossover event, which Spider-Geddon very much was, can have decent tie-in issues. This is mostly a character piece focused on Peter's exhaustion as he once again faces a more powerful adversary of whom he was absolutely certain he'd got shot the last time. Now, obviously he should have just killed the prick, but still, as a vignette it works, with a few good quips along the way, and some regrettably timely digs at the pasty villain's sense of entitlement. Even if Spidey does kick a bear at one point, which clearly I cannot endorse. Filling out the volume, two transcriptions to the page of multiversal motion comics, which are even more disposable but equally suitable for reading on a knackered commute.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Primarily taking place during the very early part of Spider-Geddon, this Volume of Peter Parker deals fairly exclusively with Pete fighting Morlun. The fight does get intense and it looks like Spider-Man will get eaten at more than one moment. Getting both Miles and Jameson involved allows him to survive, taking Morlun down with LOTS of tranquilizer darts... but then he gets brought into the fold for Spider-Geddon. No rest for you Peter! LOL (The Volume also includes two side recruitment stories: Spider-Man Noir and an animated Spider-Man.

Fun fight book, but probably should have been included with the Spider-Geddon omnibus.
Still a great time. High recommend.

[Tani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another read in support of the Spider-Geddon event, and I thought this was one of the strongest bits, for sure. I guess the advantage of being part of a legit run is that this version of Peter Parker feels fully fleshed out and realized in a way that some of the others don't. I really enjoyed reading his bits, and his fight with Morlun was suitably exciting. I actually would really like to back and read this whole run, so I'll be putting that on my list. 4 stars.

[RG · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this as single issues. Glad its changed writers.

[Farah K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

JJJ seeing Peter’s bedroom: Damn bitch you live like this?

[Suresh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the first of two stories. I noted as I learnt in a drawing workshop that super hero comics like this focus on the impact of the violence during a fight, caught in picture.
Enjoyable but not my typical read.
Good storyline. I could imagine it as a Hollywood movie.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://youtu.be/eIJUoz9eaAo

[Jakub Rabyniuk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Z této knihy jsem přečetl pouze první tři sešity, protože ty zbývající jsou tie-iny k nějakému eventu, který mě nezajímá a ani to nepsal Chip Zdarsky (ale jsem pozadu s výzvou, takže se to počítá).
První dva sešity jsou příběh, který se věnuje Sandmanovi, klasickému padouchovi, který je ve hře už od Amazing Spider-Mana č.4 (tzn. Rok 1963). Ten pomalu umírá a vyhledá jediného blízkého člověka, kterým je právě chlápek, se kterým si roky rozbijí huby a kterého ani nezná jménem, právě Spider-Mana. Ta civilní rovina toho příběhu funguje perfektně. Ta kosmicky, v čase cestující divnolinka mě nebavila. Ale kreslí to Chris Bachalo, kterého mám moc rád, takže sem si to celkem užil.
Pak je tu třetí sešit, kterým se Zdarský s touto sérii loučil a který se mi líbil hodně. Je to takový ten pohled na Spider-Mana pohledem normálních lidí. On je to vlastně trochu klišé, které jednou za čas vždycky někdo napíše, ale na mě to funguje. Je to pár měsíců, co se velmi podobným sešitem loučil Dan Slott se sérií Amazing Spider-Man (tenhle se mi líbil víc).
Rozloučení z touto sérií to bylo i pro mě. Co o ní říct? První Ark byl fakt super, myslím, že to bylo přesně to, co fandové Spider-Mana tenkrát potřebovali. Sešit číslo 6 se už jistě zapsal do zlatého fondu, pak to ovšem šlo do háje. Ty věci s vesmírnými roboty a cestováním v čase mě prostě nebavili. Navíc mě hrozně zklamalo, že příběhová linie s Parkerovou sestrou úplně vyhnila do prázdna. Poslední tři čísla mě zase celkem bavili, takže asi tak.

[Patrick Scattergood · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to admit, I'm in a bit of a Spider-Man obsession at the moment. Watching the movies, reading the graphic novels, loving all the different takes on such a classic character.

After watching the Into the Spider-Verse movie, I started trying to find as many of the comics connected to the Spider-Verse as possible. When I saw this one cheap, and saw some of the writers involved, I was pretty excited to see what sort of story we would get with it.

All in all, it's a bit of a mixed bag. The main story is a drawn out fight between Morlun and Parker. It's fun, exciting and I really liked the art that came along with it so it's well worth checking out for that.

It's also joined by a couple of other short stories. One is a Spider-Man Noir story and instantly gripped me in. Noir is honestly one of my favourites from the Spider- Verse and I have the collected edition of his stories, all of which I loved when I read them. Here, it's another precursor to the big Spidergeddon crossover event so if you're exciting the whole shebang here then you will be a bit disappointed.

Then the third story is an adaptation of an animated video comic. I have to admit that, while that one was a very fast read, the art didn't grab me at all and felt a bit distracting and rushed in places.

All in all, it's worth picking up. I was torn between giving it a 3 or a 4 but I enjoyed two of the three stories enough to warrant a four. The animated comic one isn't essential and probably worth skipping.

[Monita Roy Mohan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up to fill in the gaps in the Spider-Geddon event. This was fun—Peter can be annoying at times, and I still find him a little too chatty at times, but he was enjoyable to read in this one.

The action, the tension, the hits, they were great. Peter has a really surprising ally here, so that was interesting. Made for a fun and funny dynamic.

That final panel though—whoa! I cannot wait to find out what happens next.

Issue #2 — I like how they use the spider-powers to yank things to and from in a fight. Thought this one was a bit too talky. Also, did Miles just disappear and let Morlun get to Pete? Mikes was not done justice here. Pete insisting on being a one man army, also doesn't make sense, but we'll see how that pans out in issue three.

Issue #3 — This was seriously really good. I can see the appeal of Peter after reading these three issues. He’s resilient, determined, funny, witty, a quick thinker, and, especially in these three comics, really gorgeously illustrated. I dug the look of his makeshift outfit in this issue. I’m seriously beginning to think I need to read more Peter, but I think only in little bursts, and preferably when he’s nowhere near a romantic storyline. I loved his speech in the end—diegetically it was pointless, but it sends a message about entitled AHs who think they deserve everything without working for it. If only those people in the real world would get the message.

I enjoyed the video comics that tied into the series. I almost wish we got more video comics. They’re fun.

[Adam Rodgers · Rating 3 out of 5]

A prelude of sorts to the main 'Spider-Geddon' storyline, Morlun has returned and is intent on hunting down on the one prey that has continually eluded him - Peter Parker.

This is a relatively brief story where we get to see Peter face off against one of his most dangerous and persistent foes, before the multi-verse crossover with all the other Spider heroes. Ryan delivers a decent enough narrative that has nods to major story arcs from Spider-Man's past, while in keeping with the current continuity. While it's slightly tenuous that Peter would contact J. Jonah Jameson, of all of his possible allies, Ryan makes it work and gets the balance just about right of action and exposition. Frigeri's art is strong, though the decision to keep the action scenes bloodless steals some of the impact of the damage Spider-Man is meant to be taking, having to result to a torn up costume to display it instead.

The back up storylines, focusing on Spider-Man Noir and Animated (?) counterparts are pretty throw away (particularly the latter) and more a showcase for the artists (Diaz and Brizuela) than the writers (Hine, Sapolsky and Shinick).

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unable to sleep, I turn to this book, which I have been putting off as it is Chip Zdarsky's concluding run. His run has been marked with wonderful inventiveness, beautiful art and a genuine love of the character. He's added dimension both to Peter Parker/Spider-man and a lot of supporting characters, most notably J. Jonah Jameson and in this arc, Flint Marko aka Sandman. The final chapter was written and Illustrated by Zdarsky himself and is both laugh out loud funny and heartbreaking. His guiding hand on Spider-man will be missed.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read in a single lunch break. A fast read that sets up the next big event. Peter Parker's inner voice is spot-on: relatable and funny, while also still having the strength needed for a superhero. (For real, though... his soliloquy about his bed brought a smile to my face.) My favorite part though is definitely his and J. Jonah Jameson's evolving relationship. I love how Jonah has become oddly protective of Spider-Man. This book got me excited for what's next. I'm eager to see what's in store, not only for the multiverse's Spiders, but also for all of those closest to the web-slingers.

[Lokita · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Am I really going to meet my end to a guy cosplaying as Brad Pitt from Interview with the Vampire?"

Well...no, Peter, because anyone who actually watched the movie in question could tell you that Morlun looks infinitely more like Armand than Louis.

Usually I can pick up a graphic novel and fill in the blanks, but I am so bloody confused as to what was even happening. At least the art was basically flawless! I love it.

[Sean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wanna see Spidey fight Morlun for a few issues? This is the book for you. Unfortunately, that's all it is. Its touched on multiple times that this is something that's been done before and there is nothing new or interesting. Peter's relationship with JJJ is nice to see how its developed but that's about it. This is part of the Spider-Geddon story that didn't impress me. The art was fine but this was a super quick and mostly pointless 3 issue fight scene. Overall, a nothing burger.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book.
Zdarsky brought me back to Spider Man with the excellent writing but honestly I haven't been feeling that same magic the last volume or two. Now that Sean Ryan is writing it - the magic is back.

Great storyline with Morlun that leaves off at Spider-Geddon (which I really don't care about) but I'm really excited to continue reading Ryan's writing.

This was good, really good.

[inhonoredglory · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had a stressful weekend and just wanted to drop into something fun and fluffy. I don't even know the whole story behind the Spider-Geddon but this issue was yum. Morlun is a truly threatening villain, and the way he completely dominated Parker just gutted me. I adore him demanding all his friends leave him to this monster so he could properly out-think him. Lovely hero stuff.

[Néstor Vargas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing story and conclusion to this series. Frigeri is amazing, loved his art. The story seems simple but the fact that Peter takes on Morlun all by himself is a great feat. It worked as a good and understandable reason for Peter to be in the sidelines of this event, and it’s okay, with so many Spiders he can’t always be in at the front (even though we know he should)

[RND · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though it's much shorter than I and everyone else wanted it to be, Zdarsky ends his Spidey run with a lovely, moving story about trying to help out a classic villain, and a standalone capstone that gets at the heart of a character who's been around for decades. One of the best Spidey runs ever.

[Kris Ritchie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Despite the goodreads listing, Zdarsky left this title before the crossover. And good for him, because it was bad. Even with the neat Rambo Spidey costume Peter-616 makes, I just was left underwhelmed.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a short volume - there's some action with Morlun and then setting up for Spider-Geddon. Nothing too deep, but still fun to see all the characters (including different Spiders) come together, especially given what it's leading up to.

[B · Rating 2 out of 5]

Blah. They KGBEasted Morlun. It takes the big bad of the Straczynski run and the Spider-Verse event and turns into into a goofy tough guy who can't keep it together.

It's a cute and funny book, but you can feel it the gravitas dissolving in the book's stomach.