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Spider-Man Noir (Collected Editions)
Spider-Man Noir: Twilight In Babylon
Murder and mystery in the Mighty Marvel Manner! Dateline, 1939: As the specter of war looms on the horizon, a very noir Spider-Man fights the good fight at home. But when a dame is killed at the Black Cat nightclub and all clues point overseas, Spidey will have no choice but to board the next flight to Europe! After months of searching, the Nazis have discovered an ancient evil in a dig site on the other side of the world. And scrappy young reporter Peter Parker soon finds himself torn from his friendly neighborhood and thrust into the international action! Unsure who he can trust, the rookie gumshoe must embark on a globetrotting adventure, encountering friend and foe alike - some of whom readers may find disturbingly familiar!
COLLECTING: SPIDER-MAN NOIR (2020) 1-5
COLLECTING: SPIDER-MAN NOIR (2020) 1-5
112 pages, Paperback
First published September 15, 2020
19 people are currently reading
204 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Stohl
117 books6,028 followersMargaret Stohl is the #1 New York Times, PW, USA Today, LA Times and Internationally bestselling co-author or author of twelve books, including the BEAUTIFUL CREATURES NOVELS, the DANGEROUS CREATURES NOVELS, the ICONS NOVELS, MARVEL'S BLACK WIDOW NOVELS, ROYCE ROLLS & CATS VS ROBOTS THIS IS WAR (forthcoming!) She writes the MIGHTY CAPTAIN MARVEL comic for Marvel Comics (ongoing) and has contributed to countless videogames; currently, she is a Narrative Director at Bungie.
From the author:
Goodreads Peeps! Please note I no longer review the books on my shelf, "stars"-wise. I do list books I read, and they're all automatically marked as 5 stars. That's because a) I don't list books that I didn't like enough to finish and b) I didn't want to delete the ratings I had already given. If I particularly love a book and feel inclined to comment, you'll still see the comments here. Sadly, I have to ask: please don't reproduce these comments on book jackets, websites, or in any other medium for the marketing of books. They're only meant for fellow goodreaders. Thanks so much!
ABOUT ME:
Writing has gotten me in and out of trouble since I was 15 (back then, mostly just in trouble.) For 10 years, I designed &/or wrote for lots of video games, one of which was nominated for “Most Innovative Game Design,” but I lost to a rapping onion. If you know games you get why my two bad beagles are named Zelda and Kirby.
From the author:
Goodreads Peeps! Please note I no longer review the books on my shelf, "stars"-wise. I do list books I read, and they're all automatically marked as 5 stars. That's because a) I don't list books that I didn't like enough to finish and b) I didn't want to delete the ratings I had already given. If I particularly love a book and feel inclined to comment, you'll still see the comments here. Sadly, I have to ask: please don't reproduce these comments on book jackets, websites, or in any other medium for the marketing of books. They're only meant for fellow goodreaders. Thanks so much!
ABOUT ME:
Writing has gotten me in and out of trouble since I was 15 (back then, mostly just in trouble.) For 10 years, I designed &/or wrote for lots of video games, one of which was nominated for “Most Innovative Game Design,” but I lost to a rapping onion. If you know games you get why my two bad beagles are named Zelda and Kirby.
School: I spent more years in it than a person ever should, because let’s face it, reading books is so much better than having a job. I fell in love with American literature at Amherst and Yale, earned an MA in English from Stanford, and studied creative writing under the late great poet George MacBeth at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. I taught Intro to Film as a TA at Yale and Romantic Poetry as a TA at Stanford. Don’t tell the people at Yale but sometimes I taught the section before I’d seen the movie it was about...
I live in Santa Monica, CA, with my family, most of whom were enslaved into working with me in one form or another on my first YA book for Little, Brown. I’m not kidding; when my daughters wanted to go to school I said “Why are you so selfish? Get back in there and edit,” and by said I mean yelled and maybe threw things, it’s all a haze. Now the Beautiful series has wrapped, but you can see the movie on February 13, 2013 or read my new book ICONS on May 7th. Nothing gold can stay, Ponyboy.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
March 6, 2021
Sometimes I just don't understand the people at Marvel. I look at Spider-Man Noir in events like Spider-Geddon, and can see the appeal of this retro detective Spider Man with his no-nonsense violence and great detective skills, and then I read this volume and see neither! Instead a cliched, can we stop the NAZI'z acquiring power through a powerful object with Spidey-Noir being dragged from pillar to post, without ever using any detective skills! F.A.I.L. 2 out of 12. The only good thing... the artwork :)
April 29, 2024
I enjoyed this one quite a bit with its Indiana Jones-type vibe and decent artwork. To be honest, the parts I found least interesting were the references to the main Marvel Universe, the vast majority of which felt out-of-place in this kind of setting. To be honest, they made me wish I was reading an actual Indiana Jones comic...
June 30, 2021
This is more Spider-Man Movie Serial than Spider-Man Noir but that's OK. The Indiana Jones type adventure worked well and Juan Ferreyra's art is superb as always.
April 14, 2023
Margaret Stohl can write a decent Globe Spanning spy thriller all right and the art was absolutely spectacular. Points deducted for overuse of certain “Dirty Thirties” terms- every other sentence shouldn’t end in “...these mooks!”, even when the speaker is from Queens, NY! 😉
December 19, 2020
Not even Juan Ferreyra's exceptional, exciting, and memorable art are enough to fully redeem a story this jumbled and aimless. I get that Stohl is going for the 1920s sound and slang, but her dialogue is borderline nonsensical at times. And when every character shares the exact same voice, with little to differentiate themselves from each other, reading this felt like going on auto-pilot. There's just nothing of substance here.
I may have been more forgiving of that if the story had stuck to the street-level noir the series started with, but it doesn't. What we get instead is a globe-trotting caper (sounds good on paper, right?) that spirals into the fantastical and cosmic at the end. It's outlandish, unearned, and feels like it came from a different comic altogether. The resolution feels half-baked, too, and ties into the broader Spider-Verse storyline (that I know very little about) and inhibits its ability to feel even remotely satisfying.
Ferreyra's artwork is stellar, though, and is genuinely worth the price of admission of alone. He illustrates mood and action so very well, and his layouts are just a series of stunners that never get old. I think the story holds him back from really reveling in the noir-style of the comic, which feels like a misuse of his talents. The fact that I enjoyed this at all is entirely a testament to Ferreyra's ability as an illustrator and visual storyteller.
I may have been more forgiving of that if the story had stuck to the street-level noir the series started with, but it doesn't. What we get instead is a globe-trotting caper (sounds good on paper, right?) that spirals into the fantastical and cosmic at the end. It's outlandish, unearned, and feels like it came from a different comic altogether. The resolution feels half-baked, too, and ties into the broader Spider-Verse storyline (that I know very little about) and inhibits its ability to feel even remotely satisfying.
Ferreyra's artwork is stellar, though, and is genuinely worth the price of admission of alone. He illustrates mood and action so very well, and his layouts are just a series of stunners that never get old. I think the story holds him back from really reveling in the noir-style of the comic, which feels like a misuse of his talents. The fact that I enjoyed this at all is entirely a testament to Ferreyra's ability as an illustrator and visual storyteller.
January 24, 2021
Well, with the last two stories I felt that I could have used some thicker noir aesthetic - and this one has way more of that. Perhaps it took some cues from the movie.
But then it loses on the substance in the tradeoff. It starts promising, a bit of a mystery with a whole lot of web-slinging and some Nazis (could always use Nazis), but quickly devolves into a great big divine slugfest.
I really thought the crystal was going to be an Infinity Stone. That would've been way better than what we actually got.
But then it loses on the substance in the tradeoff. It starts promising, a bit of a mystery with a whole lot of web-slinging and some Nazis (could always use Nazis), but quickly devolves into a great big divine slugfest.
I really thought the crystal was going to be an Infinity Stone. That would've been way better than what we actually got.
January 3, 2021
Living up to the heights of the old Spider-Man Noir series was always going to be hard. Writer Margaret Stohl tries pretty hard to get there, but there's definitely a sense of throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks - we have interpretations of over a handful of other non-Spider-Man related characters, villains that keep one-upping each other like a shonen manga, and an attempt to tie everything back to the original series AND reference the fact that Noir was technically dead for a while too.
It's...a lot. Some of it lands. Some of it, not so much. But it's a valiant effort, if nothing else.
The unsung hero though is Juan Ferreyra, whose artwork is absolutely brilliant as always - he invokes the style and feel of the Noir period while making it his own, and his double page action sequence spreads are unlike any other on the stands today.
A good looking book, but perhaps a bit too ambitious in terms of characters. Hopefully we get to see Noir again sometime soon though, because there's still potential to be mined from this setting, if you ask me.
It's...a lot. Some of it lands. Some of it, not so much. But it's a valiant effort, if nothing else.
The unsung hero though is Juan Ferreyra, whose artwork is absolutely brilliant as always - he invokes the style and feel of the Noir period while making it his own, and his double page action sequence spreads are unlike any other on the stands today.
A good looking book, but perhaps a bit too ambitious in terms of characters. Hopefully we get to see Noir again sometime soon though, because there's still potential to be mined from this setting, if you ask me.
May 4, 2021
Actually really enjoyed this one - beautiful art and a strong Indiana Jones vibe. I can't say the plot made a TON of sense, but let's be real, what Marvel plot does.
October 15, 2025
⭐2.5/5
- to be fair the whole thing started out so damn boring but got better as it progressed.
- unfortunately the plot was kinda messy; it was just trying too hard to be different and it ended up feeling like a story for anybody but Spider-Man. Maybe too much of an Indiana Jones type of story?
- the art was mostly just okay-ish which is not good enough when it comes to spider noir.
- the writing, I mean the dialogues, they were trying so hard to sound old and noir, but.. personally I think it felt kinda cringe and forced.
- overall, as mediocre as it could get :(
- to be fair the whole thing started out so damn boring but got better as it progressed.
- unfortunately the plot was kinda messy; it was just trying too hard to be different and it ended up feeling like a story for anybody but Spider-Man. Maybe too much of an Indiana Jones type of story?
- the art was mostly just okay-ish which is not good enough when it comes to spider noir.
- the writing, I mean the dialogues, they were trying so hard to sound old and noir, but.. personally I think it felt kinda cringe and forced.
- overall, as mediocre as it could get :(
December 30, 2020
It's not bad in the same way as the first two volumes from a decade ago.
It's bad in it's own, equally bad way.
Thankfully gone is the ridiculous political crap, only to be replaced with stupid mystical crap.
The first three issues are an ok noir detective story setup and then the last two deep-dive into a world of two-page spreads, half a dozen villains squeezed in as fan service rather than plot necessity, and universe spanning consequences unfitting for the small-scale adventures Spider-man works best in.
It's bad in it's own, equally bad way.
Thankfully gone is the ridiculous political crap, only to be replaced with stupid mystical crap.
The first three issues are an ok noir detective story setup and then the last two deep-dive into a world of two-page spreads, half a dozen villains squeezed in as fan service rather than plot necessity, and universe spanning consequences unfitting for the small-scale adventures Spider-man works best in.
November 1, 2020
This book started well. The year is 1939 and a waitress named Holly was murdered and so its upto Spider-man to team up with her sister Huma to find out about the killer an don their journey Electro is after them and there are nazis who maybe after that mysterious cicada stone too and then we get Black Widow and some Wakandan lady and there are betrayals and then some goddess things and how Huma double crosses them and then in the end it becomes a cluster of it and loses itself and the ending is terrible. Plus the writing was atrocious though the only saving thing is the art which is so good. Juan firing on all cylinders with this one, it maybe his best looking book easily!
March 25, 2021
For this story, you get pretty much exactly what you'd expect.
1939, mostly black and white, Private Eye Peter Parker, the Spider- Man. While searching for a missing person, he ends up on a quest for a piece of old jewelry and a mystical gem. Add in Nazis, Black Widow, a Wakandan Dora Milaje, and a very steampunk version of Electro. Spider-Man Noir, voila.
Overall, an entertaining story, keeping both to the language and restrictions of the time period.
If you like the premise, read it.
1939, mostly black and white, Private Eye Peter Parker, the Spider- Man. While searching for a missing person, he ends up on a quest for a piece of old jewelry and a mystical gem. Add in Nazis, Black Widow, a Wakandan Dora Milaje, and a very steampunk version of Electro. Spider-Man Noir, voila.
Overall, an entertaining story, keeping both to the language and restrictions of the time period.
If you like the premise, read it.
November 8, 2023
Not so much hard-boiled as overboiled.
September 8, 2021
I am still not a fan of Superhero comics. I’m trying a bunch of different comics, completely willing to be converted by them, but alas, outside of Black Bolt, nothing has really changed my mind. This one certainly didn’t.
It looked different enough to merit the effort, because, you know, Noir, and Nazis, and mythical artifacts. It sounds like so much fun. But in the end, it’s the same old thing, almost like something about superhero comics just kills creativity, providing guidelines instead for what to do, what to say, how to draw.
Mind you, this wasn’t terrible, and it certainly read quickly enough, it just wasn’t great either. Just kinda there. The plot had all these exciting elements, but they ended up being written as clichés and often trite ones at that. And, of course, noir genre, provided enough of those on its own.
This book went for all of it. It tried, it really did. Artistically too, it tried to be stylish, moody, dark. And didn’t quite hit that goal either, for being just too freaking bland. Serviceable scenery and muscles, but bland faces all around and not enough awesome lines to offset it.
This one didn’t get great reviews on GR, so my opinion probably goes somewhere along with the majority here. Unless it’s one of those things where fans of the snappy webslinger didn’t like it because they didn’t think it did the character justice. Me, I just didn’t think it was an exceptional comic book in general. But it did provide a brief minor diversion.
It looked different enough to merit the effort, because, you know, Noir, and Nazis, and mythical artifacts. It sounds like so much fun. But in the end, it’s the same old thing, almost like something about superhero comics just kills creativity, providing guidelines instead for what to do, what to say, how to draw.
Mind you, this wasn’t terrible, and it certainly read quickly enough, it just wasn’t great either. Just kinda there. The plot had all these exciting elements, but they ended up being written as clichés and often trite ones at that. And, of course, noir genre, provided enough of those on its own.
This book went for all of it. It tried, it really did. Artistically too, it tried to be stylish, moody, dark. And didn’t quite hit that goal either, for being just too freaking bland. Serviceable scenery and muscles, but bland faces all around and not enough awesome lines to offset it.
This one didn’t get great reviews on GR, so my opinion probably goes somewhere along with the majority here. Unless it’s one of those things where fans of the snappy webslinger didn’t like it because they didn’t think it did the character justice. Me, I just didn’t think it was an exceptional comic book in general. But it did provide a brief minor diversion.
September 2, 2025
I rarely give out 2 star reviews. But this suckedddd.
I’m not even that big of a Spider-Noir fan, but this took everything that I liked about the 2 previous volumes and threw it out the window. I’ll just list a few things I didn’t enjoy: spider-man being very flippant with his identity, the lack of traditional noir story elements/this being way more like Indiana jones than anything, confusing/overcomplicated plot, and the ending/last issue (?!) was really off putting for this type of series/character.
The only redeeming quality was the artwork. It was actually really good and was way more noir-esque than the previous 2 volumes. All 2 stars go to Juan Ferreyra.
Side note: the covers by Dave Rapoza were really good too.
I’m not even that big of a Spider-Noir fan, but this took everything that I liked about the 2 previous volumes and threw it out the window. I’ll just list a few things I didn’t enjoy: spider-man being very flippant with his identity, the lack of traditional noir story elements/this being way more like Indiana jones than anything, confusing/overcomplicated plot, and the ending/last issue (?!) was really off putting for this type of series/character.
The only redeeming quality was the artwork. It was actually really good and was way more noir-esque than the previous 2 volumes. All 2 stars go to Juan Ferreyra.
Side note: the covers by Dave Rapoza were really good too.
March 9, 2024
2.5/5. The artwork here is stunning. 5/5, A+, 100%. But boy, the story is all over the place, and nothing about this is very detective/noir outside of the setting and Spidey's costume. I had high hopes after an intriguing beginning but was quickly disappointed. What a shame.
January 26, 2026
Too cosmological. I liked the wakanda feature tho
January 12, 2021
Entering the work I held high expectations given the former works lasting impact and gritty change to Spiderman, however the gap between the stories is too great a gulf leaving dozens of unanswered questions and plot holes in the first part. Following that up the audience is rushed through a series of events to get to the eventual (and obvious) conclusion. This storyline could have worked itself into a great narrative with six issues, but the lack of length destroyed Spade-Man Noir's resurgence into stand-alone works.
July 5, 2021
Yeah, this was not for me.
Basically a watered down version of the Noir Spidey. It felt kind of hokie to me to be honest.
Basically a watered down version of the Noir Spidey. It felt kind of hokie to me to be honest.
May 10, 2021
I've been sort of half and half on the different iterations of Spider-Man Noir, but for the most part, I've enjoyed the dark and gritty feel of most of the different mini-series. This book felt very different and made a serious effort to not just explore Spider-Man in the context of a noir story but decided to push out to full-on pulp action.
As much as I also like pulp stories, they can touch on different thematics and tones from noir stories -there's an overlap but the two aren't necessarily the same. So what started as another investigation of sorts ended up with everything including Nazis, mutations, mysticism, and high stakes adventure. And while generally still fun, I'm not sure if it really felt in tune with the rest of the noir books, and so it felt like it had an odd tone - almost narratively dissonant.
As much as I also like pulp stories, they can touch on different thematics and tones from noir stories -there's an overlap but the two aren't necessarily the same. So what started as another investigation of sorts ended up with everything including Nazis, mutations, mysticism, and high stakes adventure. And while generally still fun, I'm not sure if it really felt in tune with the rest of the noir books, and so it felt like it had an odd tone - almost narratively dissonant.
June 13, 2021
There's some good art here and a nice pulpy adventure feel nodding more towards Indiana Jones than The Maltese Falcon, which makes for interesting situations and backgrounds. However the main story doesn't hold together, there's not enough action, and the dialogue is hard to follow and somewhat flat. Peter/Spider-Man just feels like a guest star, with little to do. Really wanted to like this but was disappointed.
August 1, 2023
4-1/2 stars instead of 5 because it got a bit long-winded after Peter "died," but also because Howard Stark manages to have his fingers in all the pies, which I find amusing. I liked Stohl's interpretation of Spider-Man Noir, and the Babylonian treasure was fascinating, in my opinion. Also I liked that in this collection, Spider-Man was a hard-boiled fast-talking detective, like I pictured him originally, in addition to doing the superhero gig.
September 25, 2025
Doesn’t hold a candle to David Hine’s run. While that’s as kind of grounded for the 1930’s time period, this just becomes a mystical cosmic adventure with characters I don’t care about.
The only good thing about this was the artwork. Additionally, If Spider-Man wasn’t drawn to look like Spider-Man in this story, nothing in the writing until the final volume would even begin to remotely represent the character. He’s just a dude.
The only good thing about this was the artwork. Additionally, If Spider-Man wasn’t drawn to look like Spider-Man in this story, nothing in the writing until the final volume would even begin to remotely represent the character. He’s just a dude.
October 30, 2020
[Read as single issues] Started out great with the first two or three issues, but downfalled quickly after that. Even if it’s not the traditional Amazing Spider-Man, I just can’t cope with Peter Parker being mixed with esoterism and magical artefacts. It was well written, but it was still a huge letdown. However, the artwork is beautiful and really detailed.
July 5, 2021
Spidey/Peter is back from the dead and on the case of a missing historian that may be tied to the murder of a waitress at the Black Cat Club. Nazis and Babylonian gods ensue. Overall, this was charming and fun and the noir art was brilliant. I love MJ in her army uniform, and there were some fun twists. I wish the hair on the women had been more accurate. Enjoyed seeing Tony and Nat.
January 30, 2022
Fun at first, and it cribbed a lot of tropes, dialogue, and mood notes from classic film noir and hardboiled literature, but these references became grating quickly (either overplayed or turned up too high to the point of parody) and turned the book into a chore to complete. Even the pivot to Indiana Jones homage could not save it by the end.
April 23, 2022
Wow! There is a lot going on here and almost none of it is good. Everything that is cool about Spider-Man Noir is missing here. Along with that you have so many random Marvel bits added to the story that make literally no sense. The art was decent but the coloring was really nice. Overall, a terrible plot with terrible dialogue that is an afront to Spider-Man comics.
November 26, 2024
Well, this starts out as Spider-Man Noir — a hardboiled 1930s detective story — then about halfway through turns into a Spider-Man Indiana Jones story. In the last 2 issues, it turns into…I don’t even know what to call it, but some weird horror story. Nice art, nice beginning, but I absolutely did not care by the end.
July 3, 2025
For issues #1-4: 5 stars, easily. For #5: maybe a 3, or a 2 (it fizzled and became uninteresting). Banter was typical Spidey (and by that, it's a good thing) and the action and look of the panels was wonderful. I thought that "Babylon" would be a metaphor, but they actually mention the ancient city in the story.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews