The Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 9: Sins Rising

The Amazing Spider-Man (2018) (Collected Editions)

by Nick Spencer

For months, perhaps years, he has crawled in the shadows, manipulating events from afar. Mysterio and Norman Osborn have both known his chilling presence. Now the demon known as Kindred is finally ready to take his revenge - not on Spider-Man, but on Peter Parker! And he's resurrected one of Spidey's most disturbing foes, the fanatical Sin-Eater, to help him carry out his grand plans! Learn the secret history of the Sin-Eater, as he embarks on a collison course with Spidey that will have you quaking in your seat. Spider-Man's world is about to explode, and this is where the fuse is lit...

COLLECTING: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (2018) 44-47, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN: SINS RISING (2020) 1

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

136 pages, Paperback

First published November 10, 2020

About the author

Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Nick Spencer is a comic book writer known for his creator-owned titles at Image Comics (Existence 2.0/3.0, Forgetless, Shuddertown, Morning Glories), his work at DC Comics (Action Comics, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents), and for his current work at Marvel Comics (Iron Man 2.0, Ultimate Comics: X-Men).

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tsk tsk, this is why I mostly read Marvel books online, this supposedly major Nick Spencer story does not fit in this one volume, and to make it worse these two mostly pointless books included! So... ... moral dilemma time for Spidey, the Sin Eaters back and he's really removing people's 'badness, and his big target his Norma Osborn. Should Spidey just let him do it? Then other Spiders give input too! The Sin Eater, one of Spidey's most memorable villains is brought back as part of Kindred's campaign. It's obviously opportunistic, but there's some interesting plotting around social media and herd mentality, but overall it's just OK, which sadly makes it one of the better volumes in Spencer's run! 6 out of 12.

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh, I'm so sick of this Kindred story that has literally went nowhere for 47 issues and counting now. He just gives Pete some bad dreams while bugs crawl around the page. It's dumb. Spencer has a habit of drawing his stories out way too long because he doesn't know what to do with them (Still waiting on Morning Glories to finish). He resurrects Sin Eater for some story where the Sin Eater literally eats super-villains sins. Again, it's dumb and it shits on one of Spider-Man's best stories in The Death of Jean DeWolff. There are 4 different artists on 5 issues which is a problem.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ll be honest, I’m more than a little disappointed that Nick Spencer and Marvel have brought back the Sin Eater. The original Sin Eater stories were some of the best Spidey stories ever and this feels disrespectful to their legacy and can only weaken their impact. You’d have thought they’d have learnt their lesson with the mishandling of the resurrection of Kraven.

Despite these misgivings, it’s well written with decent art so I can’t bring myself to give it fewer than 3 stars.

Be warned: this volume ends on a cliffhanger so you may want to wait for volume 10 if you want to read the whole story back-to-back. I kinda wished I had, to be honest, but you know what they say about hindsight...

[Rylan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanna rate this higher because I actually did like the story, I’m a fan of darker Spider-Man stories I think it was a good change of pace from the usual lighthearted stuff we’ve seen since hunted. But the story just ends right when it feels like it’s getting started, I think the collection should’ve collected more because this really has potential the set up is there. I might change my review after the next volume but as of right now I think this volume needed to collect a couple more issues and have the arc more fleshed out.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

So the first issue, #44 was useless. It basically just reminds you that Kindred is still lurking in the background. Does nothing to move the story. The next issue, Sins Rising prelude is mostly filler. The majority of that issue is just a recap of what happened in the Death of Jean Dewolfe story by Peter David. There’s a few pages in the beginning that adds some back story and the last 3 or so pages shows how the Sin Eater comes back. The story finally gets going in issue #45. The Sin Eater is back on the scene with a few upgrades. His goal? To cleanse everyone one of there sins. Kind of weird in the sense that I found this kind of bland and some what decent at the same time.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kindred's latest move puts Spider-Man in the crosshairs of the resurrected Sin Eater - but the Sin Eater isn't out for blood this time. Instead, he wants to...cleanse souls?

Ooph. Nick Spencer kicks it into high gear on the march towards Amazing Spider-Man #50. This arc feels a little scattershot to start with, but once the pieces fall into place, the real endgame of the story is even more impactful. The Sin Eater isn't exactly a villain on any Top Ten Spidey Villains list, but he manages to leave an indelible mark on Spidey with this arc. The prelude issue is especially good, delving into the Sin Eater's head and putting him on his new path.

Kim Jacinto, Mark Bagley, Marcelo Ferreira, and Guillermo Sanna all contribute across the five issues in this volume. The artwork's a bit all over the place in terms of consistency, due to the amount of different artists, but each of them brings something great to the table.

Sins Rising is...great. I'm a little sad it's collected like this, because the next volume is literally the conclusion of this arc rather than its own separate thing, but this is Marvel so y'know. Don't let that put you off though - Nick Spencer's back on the accelerator again.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sin eater Returns...but not in the way I expected.

So first off we get a bit more of bug man invading Peter's dreams. In a creepy way he murders Peter in his dreams and get more ambiguous dialogue. Then we get to Sin Eater and I kind of wish I didn't read his stories back in the 80's now because this is basically a huge recap of it all until he rises once more. Once he comes back he isn't the same man you knew and instead of killing he takes your sins for his own...not that interesting.

I was let down by the second half. A great build up but the results were meh. Up until the death (Or almost death I guess) it was great. The rest was just okay. A 3 out of 5.

[Derek Moreland · Rating 1 out of 5]

I find myself asking, why do I keep putting myself through this? Why do I keep plugging away at a run of comics I am obviously not enjoying, a run I have completed almost two thirds of?

And really, I'm not sure. Part of it is the occasional desire I think we all have to experience The Worst Thing (and it cant just be me who gets this itch, otherwise things like MST3K wouldnt exist). And part if it is, after three slam-bang issues from The Beyond Board that did NOT get a "new #1 fresh start" (and kudos to Marvel for resisting that enticement), I wanted to see what led up to it.

But is that curiosity worth the punishment? I continue to grapple with that question...as I delve into Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 10.

[Oneirosophos · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had some hopes left, because the Sin Eater was one of the darkest characters in the '80s.

Then Spencer resurected him and destroyed him by making him a mutated JUGGERNAUT!!!

$&*^@$&^%@$ you Spencer. Now I can't wait finishing your STUPID run, you recycle-factory-man!

Kids, do NOT buy & read these comics. They are GARBAGE!!!

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

With art that is just average, storytelling that is mediocre and villians that seem to imitate life (we're in the middle of a pandemic, I want a little escapism) this one was a miss for me. Looking forward to the return of Green Goblin!

[Simone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Come il ritorno di Kraven, ma un filo meglio.

Purtroppo (per chi ormai legge fumetti da anni e si interessa anche al "dietro le quinte) sappiamo bene come funziona la legge dell'editoria e del fatto che personaggi come i supereroi sono sempre sul filo del rasoio tra esigenze narrative, ed esigenze di mercato: bisogna tanto rispettare la prima, quanto la seconda esigenza. Tuttavia, sono convinto che ci sono dei momenti dove della seconda bisogna fottersene alla grande e andare oltre. Per questo motivo non ho mai accettato il ritorno di Kraven, dato che - per il modo in cui si era conclusa la sua triste epopea nell'indimenticabile "Ultima Caccia di Kraven" - non c'era davvero davvero bisogno di farlo tornare. A mio parere, questo ha svalutato un po' la bellezza di quella storia, sapendo che quella sua caccia non era davvero l'ultima.

Con il ritorno del Mangiapeccati, anche la magia de "La Morte di Jean DeWolf" sparisce un filo, dato che l'antagonista di quella storia ritorna svalutando un po' tutto il senso. Nonostante ciò, ho adorato il piglio ansiogeno, horror e demoniaco che Nick Spencer ha saputo ritagliare intorno alla storia. Sono comunque convinto che ci poteva benissimo essere un altro personaggio al posto del Sin Eater, senza scomodare quest'ultimo. Però il piglio narrativo e anche tutte le tematiche di cui si fa sherpa, sono state davvero coinvolgenti.

[C.T. Phipps · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Sin-Eater is one of the darkest Spider-Man stories in the history of the character, murdering police Captain Jean DeWolfe and destroying the credibility of Eddie Brock. However, he was a character that basically avoided the usual Spider-Man-isms. He was just a religiously themed serial killer and not even a particularly flamboyant one. Bringing him back was a risky move and I was glad to say that it provided some much needed pizazz to the Kindred storyline. Kindred was in danger of becoming another Judas Traveler, mysterious but no real point, with the Sin-Eater starting the real storyline.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just couldn’t get into this one... What I’ve liked about this series so far is the goofiness, dad jokes, and absurdity, and maybe a little ill-fated romance here and there. Maybe it’s because I wasn’t familiar going into it, but Sin-Eater didn’t interest me at all, and this attempt at a dark storyline felt awkward and forced. Bring back the slapstick!

[Ondra Král]

Já tomu Spencerovi u pavouka nějak nemůžu přijít na chuť. I když se vrací můj oblíbený Sin-Eater, něco mi tam chybí. A natahovat Kindreda na 50 čísel je fakt trapný,

[Emmett Spain · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm reading this series at a run, having started it when it was already 75 issues deep, and as a result, I don't have the same quibbles that people have had with Spencer's run 'going nowhere' and such, because instead of waiting weeks between issues, I am waiting seconds.

To be fair to other reviewers, I would have had the same concerns and annoyances if I was reading week-to-week or month-to-month, because Spencer has a whole ton of threads going that he seems to arbitrarily pick and put down. Also, the Kindred storyline is super dragged out, designed to run through Spencer's entire run. For me, though, I'm enjoying the slow burn of it all, because I'm experiencing that slow burn over the course of a few weeks rather than a few years. Had I waited years for this story to go somewhere, I surely would have felt that same frustration that others have expressed.

So, for those who felt this run dragged on, I can totally see your point of view and I would absolutely have the same feedback if I had read this series one issue or book at a time. But as someone binge-reading the whole run at once, I'm generally having a blast with this. On to the next trade!

[José Vitor - zetalendo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Não tem a edição brasileira aqui, então estou marcando a norte-americana. Mas o volume que li tem 44-45 e o prelúdio da Ascensão dos Pecados.

No geral foi um quadrinho muito interessante. Aqui é (re)apresentado o Devorador de Pecados, um vilão antigo do Homem-Aranha que tinha morrido nos quadrinhos mais antigos.

O que mais gostei foi que, quando mostrava o passado do Devorador, a estrutura da HQ mudou, foi pra um formato antigo. Não sei se foi o caso, mas pareceu que eles tiraram partes de quando o vilão aparecia antigamente.

Não conhecia esse vilão, já que comecei a acompanhar o Teioso nos quadrinhos agora, mas achei a história dele muito boa, foi bem explorado o passado dele aqui nesse volume.

[Jiro Dreams of Suchy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A just fine story that may lead to a cool conclusion- Norman Osborn is controlling Ravencroft but sin eater is looking to create a gang of… sin eaters? An interesting story so far, especially for a low tier villain.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sin-eating is a powerful ritual especially if it grants you the power of the people you eat.

[Des'Ree · Rating 2 out of 5]

This really drags on and all the different artists did not help.

[Aldo Haegemans · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,5/5

[emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

spider-man 🔛🔝

[Joe Bogue · Rating 1 out of 5]

This comic started out fun, not sure why things have taken such a abrupt turn to heavy dark pseudo-dark

[Rory Wilding · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the start of Nick Spencer's Amazing Spider-Man run, the mysterious Kindred has been lurking in the background, planning to exact his revenge not on Spider-man, but on Peter Parker. However, for eight issues in, clues have been dropped whilst Peter is having nightmares about this entity he is unaware of, the constant teasing from Spencer is starting to get tedious. Now we are in the ninth volume, is Kindred getting round to exacting said revenge? Well, sort of.

As Kindred resurrects Stanley Carter, the Sin-Eater in his next plot against Spider-Man, the volume opens with a prelude issue to the story arc “Sins Rising”. This one-shot (drawn by Guillermo Sanna) explores the history and psychology of Stanley Carter, evoking the iconic Spidey story “The Death of Jean DeWolff”. As the issue slowly becomes more surreal with Kindred eventually reviving Carter so that the latter can regain his disturbing purpose in life, this gives you an idea of the darker direction that Spencer takes in this stage of his run.

With a number of villains including Overdrive being targeted by the revived Sin-Eater, who seems to be wielding some supernatural abilities, Spider-Man tries to stop this threat that he has always feared, especially when his merciless actions inspire the city to embrace ruthless vigilantism. No doubt there are some interesting ideas going on, such as the ongoing debate about vigilantism being righteous and how it can get publicised, leading to an influence on the public. We have seen these ideas in The Punisher and Daredevil, and certainly you can explore them with Spider-Man, even if Spencer doesn’t really know what he’s trying to say in the end.

Over the course of five issues, there are some truly great moments with a number of characters being feared or even seduced by Sin-Eater's influence, but there is a lot of filler, causing the overall story to go into places that feel directionless. Particularly with the depiction of the Sin-Eater, it does feel like after the prelude that tried to get under his skin, he just becomes this masked bogeyman that looks like may get sidelined in the next volume for a more iconic villain.

Contributing to this darker narrative than what we’ve seen in Spencer’s run, the frequent transition from one artist to the next is always jarring, but each with this own distinct style succeed on the issues drawing. Whether it is the nostalgic style of Mark Bagley to the modern edginess of Marcelo Ferreira, the art from all sides gives out some horror vibes, which will delight the horror fanatic.

Considering this volume takes Nick Spencer’s run into a darker and interesting direction than the comic has been for a while, it still feels directionless whilst presenting some great moments. Ending on a cliffhanger, it may be frustrating as this is not the conclusion of this story, but hopefully the resolution will get to perk things up.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marvel editorial does its best to completely butcher the collecting of this story as part four of this story is collected in the next volume. The story itself is an interesting take on Sin-Eater but I think the pacing is extremely weird here. It starts with a very slow but good look back at Sin-Eater's entire life. Then he starts his move and big things happen. The changes to Sin-Eater are solid and match the motivations he's always had. The book does a nice job of connecting to the classic story. There is some serious developments at the tale end of the book but that's not collected here for no reason. The art here was very good, especially from Mark Bagley. Overall, a decent story that might have been much better given more time to breath and collected properly.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This arc begins with Peter having dreaming about Overdrive and how he will be taken out by the Sin eater and that dream becomes reality. But the thing is Sin eater supposedly kills him is what he thinks but instead he takes away their sins. And the victim is sin free but reminisces about their crimes. The same happens with Lethal Legion and then Mister Negative. Its a compelling story as Peter is pushed to the far edge by Sin eater and he is challenging everything Peter stands for and its an amazing read!! SPENCER IS UPPING THE GAME!

[Kyle Berk]

I’m conflicted on brining back the Sin eater from the dead but the story has promise. It’s use of mob mentality is relevant to the events of today.

The art changes every issue which isn’t the best but I think the quality remains the same throughout, with the exception of the issue by Mark Bagely which is fantastic to look at.

It does not include all the issues in the Sin Rising arc which is not great as the collection feels incomplete. I’d also like some progress on the Kindred arc, 47 issues in now.

Overall though I’m still enjoying reading Spider-Man which is what I need from the title.

[Dillon Braeges · Rating 2 out of 5]

Right off the bat, I have one big question: why Sin Eater? I have to assume nostalgias at play here. The original Sin Eater story is a stone cold classic, but why bring him back? And why bring him back in a such a radically different way? Was Nick Spencer angry that they gave such a badass villain name as "Sin Eater" to someone who's whole deal is "has a shotgun"?

Don't get me wrong, you're allowed to reinvent characters and give them new stuff to do, but it has to follow logically from who they were before. Sin Eater was a serial killer. No powers, no long term plan. Just a disgruntled white cop with a shotgun. And among Spider-Mans enemies, that actually made him unique. The story was about how Spidey dealt with such a down to Earth and violent enemy. No powers, no dastardly schemes. Just violence. Even his end was brutal and realistic. It's what made him so memorable.

But now he's back from hell, and has superpowers and a gun that makes people good when he shoots them. It's all a bunch of very strange choices. Doesn't help that it mostly just serves as more wheel spinning for the now very tired and stretched out Kindred plot.

Like, this should have been Kindred doing all this directly right? This should have been his big reveal to Spider-Man, this is when his plans (theoretically) kick off. And it would have given Kindred some actually interesting abilities too. But no. He's still waxing melodramatically in the background, giving us bare minimum information and doing fuck all.

The story itself is... alright. It's a rather sudden dark turn for what has been otherwise a very light book, riffs a bit too much on Fight Club, but the tone matches the character. I just wish we had eased more into it. Also trying to make Overdrive complex and sympathetic after Nick Spencer himself spent 17 issues a few years beforehand in Superior Foes drilling into our heads that he's a joke? Not entirely landing.

I'm honestly going to give this series one more volume. If it doesn't pull itself back up, I think I'm done with it.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first snag in Spencer's Spidey run... at least for me.
Kindred, the bad guy demon with all those worms and bugs that's been terrorizing Pete's life lately, has taken his next step to ruin Spider-Man, resurrecting Sin Eater. Apparently a huge Spider-Man villain in the 80's (whose origin is recapped here, thankfully), this cop-gone-bad "murders" sinners after making them repent. Not sure about the 80's version, but this version only makes their victims appear to be dead, allowing them to wake up after some time, but their attitudes have been changed to "sinless". They then join Sin-Eater's army.
Apparently this villain was really horrible back in the day, but seeing as (at least to my knowledge) he never killed any major characters, he hasn't been spoken of much over the years. He doesn't seem as much different than The Punisher, and corrupt cops are pretty much constant in the comic book realm. Personally just can't see why this guy is such a big deal... especially since the identity of Kindred, a villain who's been behind the scenes since the beginning of Spencer's run is STILL NOT REVEALED OR RESOLVED.
Overall, the story for this one felt kind of bland, but that's just my opinion. Looking forward to seeing how this story changes now that Sin-Eater has his sights set on Norman Osborn.
Recommend for continuity, but read at your own risk.

[Krzysztof Grabowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kolejny "przechodni" tom (Kindred dalej bruździ, ale nadal nie atakuje frontalnie), wprowadzający na scenę Zjadacza Grzechów. Postać znaną wielbicielom Pajęczaka, a konfrontacja z którym stanowi jeden z lepszych epizodów jego działalności.

Spencer chciał oddać tu swoisty hołd materiałowi źródłowemu, ale wyszło to w porywach średnio. Sama historia jest zwyczajnie nieciekawa. Choć początek przypominający nam postać Zjadacza, był nawet obiecujący.

Niestety potem jest już mocno standardowo. Złoczyńca robi swoje, uwalniając zbirów od ich grzechów za pomocą strzelby. Tyle, że to nie kończy ich żywota. W jakiś sposób wracają. Nawróceni. A sam Spider-Man może nie mieć aż tak wiele siły, żeby pokonać standardowo nową wersję przeciwnika.

Przeciwnika, który zaczyna oddziaływać na społeczeństwo. Zbierając coraz to większe poparcie. I naturalnie - zwolenników. Historia moim zdaniem nieco zawodzi, tak miałem nadzieję, że kreska da popis. W końcu wraca tu na jeden zeszyt legenda branży, Mark Bagley.

Nie jest w stanie jednak pomóc całości. Szkoda, że tak dobrze zapowiadającą się seria w rękach niezłego autora nie dowozi czegoś lepszego. A to nie koniec "katuszy".

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

It takes some real guts for Nick Spencer to follow-up on one of the best Spidey stories ever, Amazing Spider-Man: The Death of Jean DeWolff. But he wins us over immediately with an introductory issue that's a deep look into Stan Carter's mind. For the rest of the arc, we then get a Sin Eater who is dramatically different from what we'd expect, presenting us with an interesting story.

The only problem? We don't get an ending. For unfathomable reasons, the TPB ends one issue short of the end of the "Sins Rising" arc, which concludes in #48. Thanks?