Amazing Spider-Man. Tom 2: Preludium do Spiderversum

The Amazing Spider-Man (2014) (Collected Editions)

by Dan Slott, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Christos Gage (Illustrator)

Peter Parker spotyka Ms Marvel! Gdy para bohaterów walczy z przybyszem z kosmosu, przeniesiony do 2099 roku Otto Octavius jako Superior Spider-Man podąża tropem morderstw Pająków z innych światów. Czy zdoła w porę zebrać armię sojuszników, by pokrzyżować plany nowego przeciwnika? Autorami tej historii są twórcy serii The Superior Spider-Man: scenarzyści Dan Slott (She-Hulk) i Christos Gage (Anihilacja) oraz rysownicy Giuseppe Camuncoli (Anihilacja) i Humberto Ramos (Runaways), do których dołączyli Adam Kubert (Avengers, Wolverine) i M.A. Sepulveda (Imperatyw Thanosa).

Zawiera zeszyty Amazing Spider-Man #7-8, Superior Spider-Man #32-33 oraz Free Comicbook Day.

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

120 pages, Paperback

First published January 20, 2015

About the author

Dan Slott is an American comic book writer, the current writer on Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man, and is best known for his work on books such as Arkham Asylum: Living Hell, She-Hulk, Silver Surfer, The Superior Spider-Man, and Ren & Stimpy.

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marvel Editorial Department circa 1995

Editor 1: Any ideas for a 37th Spider-Man title?

Editor 2: We take a page from Knight Rider and make the Spider-Mobile sentient. It can talk and trade quips with Spider-Man. The running gag would be that Spidey can never find a place to park.



Editor 3: Sub out literary characters for the Webhead in classic literature: Spidey as Oliver Twist, Spidey as Hamlet, Spidey as Captain Ahab, Spidey as Holden Caufield…

Editor 4: An illustrated Aunt May wheat cakes cookbook. Golden Oldie cooks...

Editor 2: Spider-Clone kids solve mysteries.

Editor 3: Spidey as Piggy, Spidey as Moll Flanders, Spidey as Dorian Gray…

Editor 5: Let’s go retro. Let’s go back to the early years. Spider-Man is late for class. Why? He ran into the Molten Man. Aunt May sends Peter out for a dozen eggs. He runs into Dr. Strange. They team up and fight Dorammu. We’ll call it the: “Untold Tales of Spider-Man”.

Editor 3: Spider-Man as Jean Valjean, Spider-Man as the Great Gatsby…

In the prelude to the Spider-Verse event, a page is ripped from the Untold Tales of Spider-Man – the Superior Spider-Man (Otto Octavius), who’s dead or whatever, goes missing (for an hour? a day?) and ends up in 2099…



…where he takes advantage of the technology…



…to get himself back to his own time.

As he bounces from one reality to another he discovers that the Spider-Men of each reality are being killed off, so cuz he’s an arrogant, ass-hat scientist he tries to figure out why and stop this Spider-life-sucking menace.



Hence the team-up with a whole bunch of Spider-heroes from different universes.



My wish here is that Spider-Monkey is the first to go, for the lame quips alone:

“My Spider-sense is going ape!”

“That battle was bananas.”

“It’s a jungle out there in Earth 234.87.”

“Does anyone want to talk about the 500 pound gorilla in the room?”

*sigh*

The lead-in story in this volume involves a team-up between Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan. Kamala is adorably earnest, but this tale comes up short.



Bottom line: The Spider-Verse stuff is what you want to check out in this volume. Shakespearean actor Spider-Man? Yep! "Dream on, dream on, of bloody deeds and death."

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ehhh. It's ok.
I wasn't expecting perfection, though, so that probably helped.



This is (duh) the prelude to the Spider-Verse event, and I'm determined to finish at least one of Marvel's mother fucking events this year. And, honestly, this might be the only one I actually get to, because... Well, because.



Also, I love Spider-man and all things Spider-related.
Plus, Dr. Octopus Yes, Otto shows up in this one!
How, you ask?
Well, remember that time he got blown upish, but then he somehow miraculously showed up alive?
*nods head*
Ok! This is what happened when he sorta-kinda disappeared/blew up.
He actually time traveled into the future. 2099, to be exact.



I see you nerds in the back getting all excited.
Yes, 2099 is where when Miguel O'Hara otherwise known as Spider-man 2099. I know, that's sort of a letdown for a spoiler, right? is from, and since he is currently (as far as this comic is concerned) in our timeline, the universe tried to correct itself; hence, Otto ends up in the future!
I've always wanted to use hence in a sentence...*squee*



Anyway, Otto (sort of) figures out what is happening with these Spider Hunters, and starts collecting Spiders from all over the multiverse to help him fight.



There's more to this than just Otto, though. Peter has a team-up with Ms. Marvel that ushers in his first glimpse of what's happening to the Spider-verse. It's cute. Nothing amazing, but fans of Kamala will be excited to see her meet Spidey.



Add to that some extra stories from the other Spider-men, and it isn't a bad collection.



I'd probably only recommend this one to people who want to read the Spider-Verse event, though, because I'm not sure this would be a good stand-alone volume for casual fans.



Recommended for Spider-nerds.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was quite good!

It has two stories like one is Pete and Ms Marvel aka Kamala team up to take down Minerva and well her crazy plans with some Inhumans (tieing up with the aftermath of Infinity event) and how they stop her and its awesome seeing how Slott writes her and well her enthusiasm is well sickening in a good way and she is a fan girl and I love this team up and also seeing how Anna and Cindy deal with it.

Plus the big story of Otto where he was for brief period of time travelling into 2099 and going into different timelines and earths and gathering his own spider team and fighting the Inheritors and it was so good seeing this crazy genius and how he deals with a multiversal crisis and the big threat is coming and I am loving it! Plus the origin of Karn!

This volume had some exposition and its mostly dealing with the origins of the Inheritors and setting up the big threat they will face in Spider-verse and its cool and quite awesomely done! Loving how this is coming together! The art also gets so good over here. Its a must read before the event for sure.

[Gavin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another mixed bag, saved by the return of Doc Spidey or Otto Parker if you will...

Peter teams up with Ms. Marvel to fight a Kree person during the Inhuman cocoon times, and signs a former supervillain up to work with Parker Industries as he tries to help others after he "cured" Electro...for now...

Silk decides to move out, and redoes her costume.

Billy Braddock, of the Captain Britain Squad or something, through all of the timestream, sees the Spiders being hunted by Morlun and his family. He goes to the Queen of the Multiverse or something, but she's pissy about the Incursions destroying everything and ignores him. Her assistant gives Spider UK as he's known, the ability to timestream jump, and he goes to start warning others.

The best part? Otto! This takes place during the time Otto was stuck in 2099 thanks to the mishaps during his tenure, so it's sort of bonus because it's already happened? But we never read it before so it's new to us!

Otto more or less recruits different Spider-Men/Women from the multiverses and assembles a team to fight Morlun and his siblings, who all live to kill Spiders (or Totems of the Spider as they're known).

We get to see the Cyborg Spider, Spider Assassin, Spider Monkey, Spider Girl, Black Spider, et al work with Otto, and that's the coolest part of the book.

I guess we'll see how Peter and Silk (Cindy) get drawn into this, but I have no doubt they will...

Spider Verse is coming!

I think the bad part is? I was more excited about Otto's return than Peter, so hopefully Slott picks it up with Peter, and he doesn't go right back to the same old reason that we started to ignore him in the first place...it doesn't bode well if people keep wanting Otto over Peter...even if he is...Superior?

Hehehe.

[RG · Rating 4 out of 5]

This really pickee up. We get exposed to Silk a little more and the Spider verse just begins. Cool story developing so far.

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two stars only because I enjoyed the team-up story with Ms. Marvel - admittedly my new favorite character in the MU - and the (unfortunately brief) appearance of Silk. Otherwise I'm not a fan of the 'SpiderVerse' thing.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume is a bit of a mish-mash as the series prepares for the epic Spider-Verse story, were we are going to see every Spider-Man ever from across the multiverse. The basic plot for the story so far is that Spider "totems" from across the different universes are being eaten by some nasty creatures.

The main story has nothing to do with Spider-Verse and is a team-up between Spider-Man and the latest Ms. Marvel, Kameela Khan. I actually really enjoyed this story, mostly because of the precense of Ms. Marvel. She's very much in the vein of early Spider-Man, a young and funny teenager becoming a super-hero. The team-up works well but the villain of the piece is odd and there is very little plot to speak of.

We then see the return of Superior Spider-Man, back when Otto Octavius took over Peter Parker's body. It's actually sort of set during the series, although not an easy one to explain. In the year 2099 Superior Spidey discovers that Spider Totems are being eaten and seeks to team-up with Spider Totems from various universes in order to stop them. It's great to have Superior Spider-Man back and his interaction with other Spider-Men is wonderful. However, the story doesn't really do anything and feels like an unnecessary lead-in to Spider-Verse.

We've then got a few Spider-Verse short stories. The first is from this year's Free Comic Book Day issue and is very short but sees Peter Parker from the Marvel 1602 universe get involved with the action. It's great to see him again!

Then we are introduced to Spider-UK, a British Spider-Man(!), who is observing the destruction and heads off to see if he can do something about it. This is a great story, because not only do we get the brilliant idea of Spider-UK but is also is pretty much the only one here that really attempts to give us some plot before the main event.

Finally, there's a story about a Spider-Girl. It sees her face family face one of the carnivorous monsters and it is really works as a parallel-universe Spider story. Whilst at first it appears it has nothing to do with the Spider-Man we know, it soon becomes clear that it does and it's a great little twist.

A real mish-mash then and difficult to sum up because of that. There's lot of great ideas in here but it feels like the whole collection is hyping up the upcoming event rather than actually having a story to tell. All the stories are enjoyable in their own way and I can't wait for Spider-Verse!

[Kayla · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 Lol what the heck happened? I'm not continuing with this series. The first one was completely fine and even though I have never read a Spider-Man story I know the origin story and Gwen from the movies and I still found the first one to be decently written compared to this. I pretty much understood what happened in the first volume but this was just a ton of things thrown in from past stories and alternate universes and basically made no sense to me. The Spider-Verse I expect will be the same so I'm just gonna move on to Guardians of the Galaxy. I did love that Ms. Marvel was in this for like 10 pages though!

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty decent, so far. I'm not sure why, but alternate universe takes on well known characters are usually fascinating to me, and there's a ton of interesting takes on the familiar Spidey here. The villains are definitely creepy and feel like major threats even to an entire squad of Spider-Men and -Women. I think there's some background here that I didn't quite get, from previous Spider-Man stories that I haven't read, so I suppose that if you had there'd be more depth to this story.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

God damn it, Gage'd again. God help me, I'm getting a little used to the appearance of Christos Gage behind the leaden dialogue whenever Marvel needs Dan Slott to spit out a few more issues of Spidey. What gives people? You really have so little respect for Spidey-fans that you'll hand the reins to a plumber anytime you run into scheduling trouble?

I seriously wish I could get my hands on the blackmail file Gage has on Marvel editorial, so I could finally relieve them of their bondage. Or who knows? Maybe Gage is a blast at parties - the kind of guy who knows all the hilarious trivia for the Marvel Universe and reserves it for just his closest friends (victims?). I guess that would be a pretty cool way to be remembered by those who knew you.

And gods be damned if Gage didn't wring a smile from me - and curiosity where this saga will head, even without Slott's hand guiding the panels. (Shhh - don't tell anyone, least of all the Shallow Comic Readers - they might kick me out of the club for betraying one of my fundamental Comics Beliefs. Fundies don't forgive.)

I'm happy - not intrigued, but entertained - by the amazing number of spider-threads being pulled together in this run-up...like we've dealt with every manner of alterna-Spidey imaginable in 50 years of this costumed freak. The little 80's callback was awesome, but the animal universe didn't make any sense to me. (Did I miss an issue of What If?)

I'm not following how Morlun fits into this Spider-verse foolishness...was he a member of the family of freaks who've been consuming the essence of spider totems? (And did I really just type that sentence into a "serious" review of my most-favourite Spider-man comick book? Man, it's starting to look like clones around here all over again. Or Madame Web woo-woo jibber jabber.) (Ooh! Will *hot* Madame Web show up, and pose next to Silk and Spider Girl and Spider Gwen and the murdery Spider-woman? Boy, a lonely guy could get a lotta mileage out of this XX-heavy - which is to say still not even 50:50 girl-Spidey:boy-Spidey - event.)

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I found this volume disappointing,especially after the heights of Volume 1. It's all over the place storywise, and simultaneously it doesn't have any good closure, because it's just a setup for Spider-Verse.

Ms. Marvel Team-Up. So here's the problem with super team-ups meant to swell the media profile of a newbie: most writers only know how to write that as a big fight. And that's what we get here. Mind you, Slott pushes all the right buttons, even making it relevant to current events in the Marvel universe through an Inhuman pod connection ... but it's just a big fight. A pity, as there's other great material in these issues about Peter's position in the world. It just gets the vast minority of the time [6/10].

Edge of the Spiderverse. Here we get Morlun murdering multiversal Spiders. I love the return of Morlun, and the respect it pays to the JMS run. I also think that Slott does a great job of really personifying multiversal Spider-Man and creating emotional beats as they die. However, it's hard to get behind a murderfest, no matter how well executed, particularly when Slott is purposefully pulling on our heart strings by including Amazing Friends and Mayday's family [6/10].

Superior Spider-Man. And here we get Diver Dude murdering multiversal Spiders. (What!?) I feel like this was just a total waste of these two bonus issues of Superior. It's great to see Otto being the one who gets the band together, but otherwise these issues are a dull waste (and I totally don't understand how they fit into the Morlun narrative, which makes them a big failure within the context of this single volume) [4/10].

I hope that Spider-Verse itself is better than the Superior Spider-Man issues suggest.

[Steve Chaput · Rating 3 out of 5]

First heard of the Spider-Verse when it began,but had no interest at the time. Last year in a preview of up-coming Spider-Man titles and spin-offs there was a preview of Web Warriors. It was one of the few titles that seemed interesting, so I picked it up. The on-going WW series is now one of my favorite Marvel titles. Although I do admit to being lost at times since I'm not familiar with many of the different versions of Spidey and others.

This TPB collects a selection of titles that led up to the Spider-Verse storyline. It introduces us to the multiverse hopping Morlun and his family The Inheritors. This group of soul-vampires lives off the dying essences of 'animal totems'. The goal is to steal the powers of all the spider-totems from all worlds. We get glimpses of other Peter Parkers and those who share his abilities, some sadly all too briefly as they are hunted down and murdered. Included is Amazing Spider-Man #7 which features a really nice team-up with the young, Ms. Marvel. It's one of the highlights of the entire volume.

Nice introduction to concept of the web which connects all those who share the powers & abilities that Spider-Man & Co. possess.

[Just a Girl Fighting Censorship · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Ms Marvel team-up, spider-verse setup, and even more Superior Spider-man make this volume interesting but choppy.

First off, I'm not a huge fan of the fangirl turned hero. I read Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan) and wasn't interested so I don't keep up with the character. Plus since we only just got Parker back I wanted more time with the Spider-man I've been missing. Instead, it seems like we are with every other Peter Parker/Spider-man version as the focus is on Otto's Spidey gathering a bunch of other Spider-men from various dimensions.

Still, I'm a sucker for alternate Earths. How can I not love Spider-Cat?!



But boy do I loath 2099...what the shock!

[Logan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not so great! The first volume was amazing but this tie in to spider-verse just made this series suck! The jokes aren't that funny, the dialogue is boring, there was team up with the new Ms. Marvel which was cool but overall this sucks!!!

[Milo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spider-Verse is a pretty good crossover and this was a pretty good build-up.

[Jason]

I guess gimmicky mega-crossover storylines can be good after all. Who knew?

Seriously, this has pulled me in hardcore and has helped to re-spark my interest in Spider-Man.

[Miriam · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Lite förvirrande, men ska bli spännande att se hur de utvecklar sig!

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Collects Amazing Spider-Man (2014) issues #7-8, Superior Spider-Man issues #32-33, and material from Free Comic Book Day 2014 (Guardians of the Galaxy) #1

This book is where the "Spider-Verse" event actually starts. Even though it doesn't take place in "Amazing Spider-Man," the Superior Spider-Man stuff is completely necessary for having a full grasp on "Spider-Verse." Although the two "Superior Spider-Man" issues are at the end of this collection, chronologically, they were actually released prior to "Amazing Spider-Man" #7-8.

I would have enjoyed this volume better if it wasn't for the lame team-up with Ms. Marvel. I like the character of Ms. Marvel, but with all of the build-up to "Spider-Verse," I wasn't interested in this story right now. It was just a case of wrong place, wrong time. The back-up stories in each of these two "Amazing Spider-Man" issues were better than the main story because they helped lead up to "Spider-Verse."

As always, the "Superior Spider-Man" issues were top notch. I still love this character, but I don't think he can exist post-"Spider-Verse."

Rather than reading these issues as a collection, I originally read them each month as they were released in individual issue form. Here is my review of each individual issue.

SPOILER-FILLED ISSUE-BY-ISSUE BREAKDOWN:

Free Comic Book Day: This set-up story, called “Staging Ground,” was written by Dan Slott. “The great spirit that dwells within you. All its power, all your potential, everything you are, were and could have been is now mine!” Morlun shouts this at Spider-Man 1602, from a parallel universe, as he saps his power and life from him. This Spider-Man is not the Peter we know. This one seems to be from the past, having just arrived in the New World. He was performing Shakespeare when Morlun showed up, but spoke like those old plays even when not acting. Morlun sets up the Spider-Verse event with the following closing line of the story: “And still it is not enough. The Great Hunt continues. The Feast of Thousands goes on. But it shall be over soon enough. It’s been foretold. All of your threads in the web shall be severed. And soon, very soon, all the Spiders will die." I can’t tell if this is the Morlun that we have seen in the 616 before or a different one, but either way he vanishes through some sort of web-like portal.

Superior Spider-Man #32: This book started out a little slow, but when I saw where the story was going, I got very excited. After the events of Superior Spider-Man #19, Otto was sent to 2099. From there, he tried to return home to the present day, but kept ending up in parallel universes. He visited such places as the House of M and a world where the Superhero Registration Act was still going strong. He soon realized that all the Spider-Men he came across were killed the same way, with 2 distinct puncture wounds through their chest. Using his time portal, Otto started traveling to parallel universes instead of traveling through time. He decided to start to build an army of Spider-Men to defeat the powerful foe that hunts them. Interestingly, I saw the villain that hunts them, and it doesn’t look like Morlun, even though the events of Amazing Spider-Man #4 make it clear that Morlun is the hunter in the Great Hunt. Perhaps there are also multiple Morluns? By the last page of the Otto storyline, he had built a team of 7 members including himself. The only member I recognized was Spider-Man Noir.

As I turned the page, I got a brief origin story for an alternate Spider-Man. After the death of Gwen Stacy in his world, he decided that he was at war and needed to start acting like it. He was trained by Wolverine and started killing his enemies. Otto reaches out to him and sees a like-mindedness in him. He wants him for the Spider-Army, promising that they would kill the villain with the power-sapping spear. This Spider-Man agrees and they jump through Otto’s portal together.

One other side note…all of these alternate Spider costumes are super awesome.

Superior Spider-Man #33: This issue was split into two parts. The first part showed they mysterious hunter (who we learn is called Karn) attacking Cyborg Spider-Man of Earth-2818. Luckily, Otto has already connected with this cyborg, and the Spider-Army shows up to help. Their combined forces are no match for the powerful Karn, but luckily the Spiders are saved when Karn’s family shows up to join in the hunt. A sister and brother, named Bora and Brix, arrive, and the family starts fighting amongst themselves, giving Otto a chance to retreat with his team. Back in their headquarters in 2099, Otto assumes a leadership role, and pulls Assassin Spider-Man (featured in the last issue) and Spider-Girl (but one we've never seen before) aside because he realizes that they are willing to kill if necessary (like himself).

The second story is an origin story for Karn, in which we learn that there is a whole family of beings from Universe 000 hunting down spider totems and sapping their life force from them. The family members include Morlun, Karn, Brix, Bora, Daemos, Verna, Jennix, and their mother and father. Karn is forced to wear a helmet when he lets his family down by hesitating on a kill. They can’t bear to look at him because his hesitation led to the death of their mother, and they force him to leap from universe to universe, killing spider after spider. He doesn’t actually like killing, so with every portal he travels through, he hopes it will be the portal leading home, his family finally allowing him to join them again. The spider totem they were attacking when his mother was killed is called the Master Weaver, and after they took this weaver captive, they had the ability to travel through the Multiverse.

Amazing Spider-Man #7: This issue was broken into two parts. The first part was the beginning of a Spider-Man/Ms. Marvel team-up against a renegade Kree female. Not much happened other than the two heroes meeting for the first time (because this is the brand new Kamala Khan version of Ms. Marvel). Also in this story, Silk decides to find her own place to live and Anna Maria encourages Peter to pick and choose his battles as Spidey in order to maintain his life as Peter Parker.

The second part of this issue was a multiversal "Edge of Spider-Verse" story. This story begins with Morlun killing Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends (the cartoon versions)! Billy Braddock (a new Captain Britain/Spider-Man combo character from Earth-833) witnessed this murder across the Multiverse because he sensed something bad happening. I think his team patrols the Multiverse. Anyway, he finds Morlun's dimensional portal readings and watches as Morlun's family members, Brix and Bora, talk about killing other totems. Then Billy sees other family members, Jennix and Daemos. More murder is happening to spider totems. Billy alerts the Captain Britain Corp about what is happening. He is new to the Corps, so he has to introduce himself to the boss, Majestrix Saturnyne. He calls himself Spider-UK. Before he walked in, the Majestrix and Lady Roma were talking about the collapse of the Multiverse, and the Incursions that are happening (as seen in "New Avengers"). The Majestrix wasn't very helpful, but Lady Roma gave Spider-UK a devise to help him travel the Multiverse, saying that spiders had a special connection to the great web of life and destiny. She charges him with protecting his spider brothers. She also mentions that his problem and the Incursion problem may be one in the same.

Amazing Spider-Man Issue #8: This issue is in two parts. Part 1 takes place on Earth-616. Spidey and Ms. Marvel are continuing their team-up, and the new Inhuman that they saved turns out to be a baby. Spidey encourages Ms. Marvel by telling her that she is good at being a hero. Also, a henchmen that was helping the villain in their fight decides to help Spidey when he realizes that the villain was after a baby. That's too far for him, so he switches sides. After the dust is settled, it is revealed to the readers that this henchmen turned good is actually Clayton Cole (formerly known as Clash, from the mini-series, "Amazing Spider-Man: Learning to Crawl"). Spidey tells Clayton that he should contact Peter Parker about a job, and the next thing we know Clayton is working at Parker Industries. Meanwhile, Silk hears someone talking bad about her costume, so she whips up a new one, and it is much better. The Fact Channel decides that they are going to make Silk theirs, the way that Spidey belongs to the Daily Bugle (when it comes to news coverage).

Part 2 takes place on Earth-982 (the MC2 Universe). Morlun's brother, Daemos (who is much larger) is attacking Spider-Girl (MayDay Parker). Daemos calls himself "Son of Solus, one of the Inheritors of all creation." Daemos reveals that he is not only after MayDay, but also her dad (an older version of Peter) and her baby brother (Ben). MJ gives the baby to MayDay and tells her to run, while Peter attacks Daemos. It is implied that Peter and MJ are killed, and possibly MayDay's boyfriend, Wes. Just then, a portal opens up, and it is the Superior Spider-Man's Spider-Army, there to save MayDay. MayDay and the baby leave with them after hearing from Daemos that he killed her father. She promises that she will forsake the values her father has taught her, and she will find Daemos and kill him.

[Ann DVine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes. Yes. YES. YES.

When I first heard of Spider-Verse, you know what my first thought was? "That's stupid." Followed promptly by, "...I love it." There's no way it could go wrong, right? You can't write it and not have it be stupid as hell, and you can't make it be stupid as hell and not be entertaining. Like, there's no way you can lose with a concept like this. "Every Spider-Man ever." That's a lot of them, especially considering it includes a bunch they just made up especially, anyway!

So, this is the prelude to the main event - an introduction to the zaniness that's about to go down, so to speak. I missed Amazing Spider-Man's first volume out of Superior Spider-Man, but I was devoted to Superior Spider-Man from the start, and going straight into this, I've basically missed nothing. Out of the gate, there's a story that's a team-up with the new Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan. I love Kamala Khan a lot, and it's a serviceable team-up, but I don't think anyone involved in this book quite understood the subtleties of what makes her interesting. She's kind of a two-dimensional replication of how she both appears and acts in her solo series, but all the same... it is Kamala Khan, and she is teaming up with Peter Parker, so, eh. Can't complain too much. It's a fluffy team-up tale, the bar isn't exactly set very high.

It's all a formality, though, as Spider-Verse is introduced in style - with Spider-UK! A British Spider-Man, living in a universe in which... as far as I can extrapolate... every superhero is a Captain Britain of some kind? That's what it seemed. Two all-seeing Goddesses named Mum rule over the Captain Britain Corps. or... something. It's ridiculous, deliciously so, but the point is that Mum gives Spider-UK a machine that will let him teleport through the multiverse to save the world from the family of Morlun, a trans-dimensional group of spider slayers, who feed on the life essence of "spider totems". That is to say, Spider-Men. And sometimes Spider-Cats. Not even kidding.

With everything established, we get a glimpse of some close escapes from Morlun's treachorous, insatiably hungry family with other universes' "spiders". The most emotionally resonant one is probably with "Mayday" Parker, who, in her universe, is the daughter of an aged Peter Parker and Mary-Jane. Spider-UK manages to jump through the gaps of the universe and rescue her... but only as her parents are ripped from existence. It's surprisingly effective, considering how intensely silly the ENTIRETY of the proceedings are, but it really does work. The writing is entirely as somber as it can be without being overly melodramatic, the art captures the desperation and fear of our protagonist without being overwrought; it is, essentially, the perfect vignette, and it stands out as an excellent piece of stand-alone writing, slotted inside an event that might as well have left wanting for such elements.

Something that works to opposite - yet equally, gleefully stupid - effect, is some pick-up Superior Spider-Man chapters. Turns out when Doc Ock's Spider-Man fought Spider-Man 2099 (remember that? Yeah, it happened a few volumes back), he got trapped in the future. Apparently he actually stayed there, though. I couldn't be bothered to go back and see how that could be the case (I guess the timestream split in two, Back to the Future style?), but, like a lot of Spider-Verse, the specifics aren't important - what's important is cutting to the chase. And that chase is that Superior Spider-Man, after a series of happy accidents in the future of 2099, is gathering himself an army of other Spider-Men, parallel to (and unknowing of) Spider-UK's efforts.

So Superior Spider-Man travels through time, space, and dimensions, to retrieve all manner of recognizable (well, depending on your track record with Marvel's sordid and expansive history) spiders. From Spider-Man India to Spider-Monkey to Six-Armed Spider-Man, he's the mastermind training an entire gang of worthless, idiot Parkers (his sentiments, not mine) to defeat an unstoppable force that wants to eat them. Superior Spider-Man is as haplessly charming as ever - two parts creepy asshole to one part well-meaning genius, his characterization is as solid as Slott ever gave him, with the hybrid Spider-Man and Doc Ock retaining his cockiness, his scheming, but also his genuine will to do actual good, as inherited from Pete.

So, essentially, it's well-written, well-drawn, Spider-Man. Spider-Mans, even. Plural. Just, splattered all over the pages. That's what all of Spider-Verse is. Excellent dialog? Check. Stunning art, wholly aware of how important the visuals are to selling this project? Check. That's not exclusive to the Superior Spider-Man issues, but looking at the neon, cyberpunk future of 2099, as many, many Spider-Men and Spider-Women and Spider-Monkeys inhabit it, is something of a heart-palpitating spectacle. It's perhaps truly "epic," in the literal sense, as far as scale goes. Seriously, I really should remind you that "every Spider-Man" is a lot of goddamn Spider-Man.

Finally, after a few pages of his adventures, there's a short interlude that tells of the origins of some of the villainous Morlun's siblings, and then... well, book over. A very big "to be continued," as, perhaps, obvious from the title of the book. It's all very loud and pompous and silly, and lays plenty of hints for much more silliness to come. I haven't been keeping up, but geezum, if Spider-Verse isn't the most divisive Spider-Man story since, what, Clone Saga...? I'll be very surprised. This will appeal to very specific people - people who can take stupidity on the chin, and let themselves be dragged in and enjoy what can only be the genius that is undoubtedly behind it. Basically, it's the kind of comic that perhaps only people who enjoyed The Matrix sequels will enjoy. Hey! That's me. Throw this stuff at me, and it'll stick. This has stuck. This has me waiting on bated breath for full Spider-Verse shenanigans - a success, then, for what is essentially a giant To Be Continued disguised as a trade paperback.

[Lillian Francis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Silk moves out and gets a new outfit. Spidey (Peter) teams up with Ms Marvel. And there's some background to Spiderverse.
Great art - there are so many Spiders to keep track of, but it’s doable with this line/colour combo.

[ellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

love silk’s new look! the back and forth stories were a little confusing at first

[Sevki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah... It could have been much better.

Instead of killing 2-3 random Spider-Guys every other chapter, they could have focused on the story telling more. Liked the several "team-up"s though, and their respective dialogues.

Let's see how the next one -the main event- will play off.

[Marchewix · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hihihihi

[Tesutamento · Rating 3 out of 5]

Son yıllarda sıkça duyduğumuz bir kelime olan Spider-Verse, kitabından esinlenerek yapılan animasyon film ile popülerlik kazanmıştı. Marvel'ın 2014 yılında yayınladığı büyük "event" olan bu kitap 2018 yapımı film ile pek de benzerlik taşımıyor tahmin edilebileceği gibi. 2010 yılında çıkan Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions adlı oyunu oynayanlar için hikaye daha tanıdık gelebilir. Oyunun ve kitabın yazarı aynı kişi olunca bu da normal tabii ki.

Ülkemizdeki resmi yayıncı Marmara Çizgi'nin editörleri kitabın başında da belirtmiş ama kitap bazı Spider-Verse sayılarını bulundurmuyor ve ben bundan rahatsız oldum. Spider-Verse Team-Up, Edge of Spider-Verse ve Spider-Verse çizgi roman serileri hikayeyle doğrudan ilişkili olsalar da bu ciltte mevcut değiller. Edge of Spider-Verse serisinde bazı Spider-Man'lerin başlangıç hikayeleri yer alıyorken, Team-Up serisinde adından da anlaşılacağı gibi küçük bir takım çalışması görüyoruz. Spider-Verse serisi de başka boyutlardaki Spider-Man'lerden kesitler sunuyor. Bu saydığım üç seri de öyle çok matah seriler değil açıkçası fakat sorun şu ki bunlar ana hikayedeki bazı kişi ve durumları anlayabilmemiz için değer arz ediyor. Belki doğrudan elimizdeki kitabın bastığı şekliyle okusak da keyif alabiliriz ve diğerlerini aramayız ama bu seçim şansımızın elimizden alınmış olması beni kızdıran şey. Ben kendi imkanlarımla yukarıda bahsi geçen mini serileri okudum ama herkes buna erişemeyebilir.

Hikayeye hafifçe değinmek gerekirse ilk iki Amazing Spider-Man sayıları biraz gereksizdi. Superior Spider-Man'i tekrar göreceğime bu kadar sevineceğim aklıma gelmezdi. Yaklaşan büyük tehdit karşısında ilk akıllıca harekete geçenin kendisi olmasını beklemiyordum. Daha bizim alışık olduğumuz ana evrenin Spider-Man'inin merkezde olduğu bir başlangıç olur sanıyordum. Birçok farklı evrenden Spider-Man görmek gerçekten güzel. Capcom'un 90'lı yıllarda yaptığı dövüş oyunlarındaki Spider-Man de var 70'lerde Japonya'da yayınlanan "Supaidaman" da var. Çizgi romanlardaki alternatif evrenleri saymaya gerek dahi yok. Hakları Sony'de olmayan neredeyse tüm Spider-Man'ler mevcut.

Hikayenin en iyi unsuru sanırım kötü adamları. Varisler(Inheritors) gerçekten tehditler. Bunu hissedebiliyorsunuz. Kitabın epey bir kısmı bu totem avcılarını tanıtmakla geçiyor. Morlun'un ailesini epey bir görüyoruz ve görüyoruz ki bu kez hepsi avlanıyor. Birçok Spider-Man'in onların elinden ölümünü görüyoruz ve bu ölümler gayet yerinde hissettiriyor. Hem üzülüyor hem de sonrası için meraklanıyorum.

Hikaye yer yer fazla dallanıp budaklanmasından kaynaklı odak ve süre sıkıntıları çekiyor. Siz hikayenin bir tarafına çok heyecanlanmışken odak öteki tarafa kayınca ve de bir süre geri gelmeyince canınız sıkılabilir. Spider-Woman sayısındaki olaylar çok salakçaydı. Silk yüzünden hikaye uzasın çabası biraz fazla barizdi. Umarım ikinci cilt daha derli toplu olur.

[Teddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing Spider-Man Vol 2 is a great book which features the the Spider-Verse Prelude, in Amazing Spider-Man #7-#8, and Superior Spider-Man #32-#33.

In the Amazing Spider-Man issues, there's three stories. The first, is a Ms.Marvel Team-Up. This Ms.Marvel is Kamala Khan, from the recent great Ms.Marvel book. This story has Kamala and Spidey find a villain with the Terrigen Mists that gave Kamala her powers. This is a really fun story, with Kamala freaking out because she can't believe she's helping Spidey. Writer Dan Slott and Christos Gage understand Spidey and Kamala really well, and makes a great relationship between the two fighting this interesting villain. This is the only story in the book that doesn't have to do with Spider-Verse.

The second Amazing Spider-Man story is one introducing a new Spider-Man named Spider-UK, from an alternate universe. This Spider-Man is really unique, and comes from a universe where all the superheroes are UK themed. His story is short, but still is an interesting look into an alternate universe where we find another Spider-Man that will show up in Spider-Verse.

The third Amazing Spider-Man story is one about MC2 Spider-Girl, an alternate universe Spider-Man that's been around for a while. This story is quite easy to understand without having to know any of her history. It's another short story, but leads the way for her in Spider-Verse, and is a nice fun story.

The story in Superior Spider-Man is a lot different, as in it's more a part of the Superior Spider-Man series, instead of it being a more stand alone story. This story takes place during Superior Spider-Man #19, and references characters and events in that series. In this story, Superior Spider-Man was sent to the an alternate future of the year 2099, where Spider-Man 2099 used to live. It's right on par with the rest of the Superior Spider-Man series, which I love so much. It includes the nefarious actions of Doctor Octopus (in Peter Parker's mind), while still attempting to be a superhero. It's another fun story which has a major presence to set up Spider-Verse, and is probably the most important part of all the preludes. It's a great story, but it might be harder to understand everything that's going on without reading the original Superior Spider-Man series.

This whole book is just pretty much a collection of smaller stories that mostly have to do with the prelude to Spider-Verse. But yet their all good and fun, and I really enjoyed it.

[Miss Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

okay is there scholarly literature out there about superhero comics and fandom and how they draw on the same literary tropes? because this volume was pure fanfic, there were crossovers, au, freakin pheromones, like the more i read the more i was like '...so christos gage, just out of curiousity, what's your archiveofourown account?'

so that was sort of fun to note. other fun things: my girl kamala khan. i'm really liking how much marvel's committing to her as a character, she's chilling with every other superhero i end up reading. if you're gonna have a flagship character i think teenage ball of sunshine is a pretty good choice, you know?

anyways i'm ngl i basically picked this up bc spider gwen exists and i thought i might as well get the backstory before diving into her volume. 3 stars

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was a little disappointing compared to the first one. There was only one female Spider-person, and while her story was somewhat interesting, it was so short that it didn't matter. It was neat to see Ms. Marvel in action, but I feel like it would have been better if I'd read her actual comic book first. We did get to delve more into what was happening in more detail, but it was kind of shallow and not nearly as awesome as I'd hoped it would be.

If I continue with this, I'll be interested to see how it's resolved, especially considering the fact that a group of Spider totems isn't enough to defeat even the weakest member of those trying to kill them.

[Jordan Lahn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great introduction to this epic event. Really sets up the main characters and the central conflict. I love seeing all the different spiders pop up - some new, some returning after many years. Can't wait to see how it wraps up in the main event.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Good start to the Spider Verse. I can't wait to see what Dan Slott has for us.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really liking this storyline.