Spiderman Noir: La Colección Completa

Spider-Man Noir (Collected Editions) #1-2

by David Hine, Fabrice Sapolsky, Roger Stern

Todas las aventuras de Spiderman Noir en solitario, en un único volumen. Un gran poder conlleva una gran responsabilidad. Pero cuando aquellos que tienen ese poder abusan de él, el pueblo tiene la responsabilidad de derribarlos. El año es 1933. Nueva York está gobernada por políticos corruptos, policías que no hacen nada por proteger a los inocentes y hombres de negocios sin escrúpulos. Es entonces cuando una araña cambia el destino de Peter Parker, pero no es la historia que esperas. ¡Un Hombre Araña con sabor a pulp y género negro!

Contiene
Spider-Man Noir 1-4, Spider-Man Noir: Eyes Without A Face 1-4, Edge of Spider-Verse 1, Spider-Verse Team-Up 1, Spider-Geddon: Spider-Man Noir Video Comic

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

256 pages, Hardcover

Published November 19, 2020

Reviews

[Todd Glaeser · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to enjoy this, but in an attempt to portray the '30s, when life was in black and white, apparently, they forgot the white. This artwork was so dark that I simply gave up. I couldn't tell what was going on.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first foray into actual comics, I quite enjoyed this (thanks Jacob!) I really love this hard-boiled detective crime thriller version of Spiderman, it feels refreshing but also familiar.

I am really glad it didn't just feel like they were doing "Batman but not," which I was concerned about before going in. There are clear similarities in theme, but the character feels unique enough to stand on his own. If I had to describe the feeling reading these, it was like a mix between Batman, Indiana Jones, and the film Se7en.

It is only let down really by the lack of continuity - the last 3 stories all lead into bigger multiverse comic sets, but Spiderman Noir doesn't feature strongly in the rest of the comics in those sets so all we get here is the beginning and a cliffhanger and then nothing... the best stories are contained in the first half of this collection for sure.

[Malum · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a classic pulp fan, this is easily my favorite incarnation of Spider-Man. The only place this loses points with me is that the art and coloring in the first two stories is pretty awful.

[Reagan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first story arc was the closest to actually feeling like a noir story and I quite enjoyed it.

The second arc is much darker and I think it thinks it's saying something important about racism but really it just brutalizes its Black characters and literally robs them of agency and it could have told its story without doing that. It felt way too dark and over-the-top villainous and actually horrifying and it wasn't done well. The same arc also brutalizes the female love interest. It was like noir by someone who's only familiar with Sin City. It didn't hit the right tone for noir or for Spider-Man and it didn't justify any of its choices.

Then there are three short little stories from the Spiderverse that were perfectly fine.

All in all, I enjoyed the art style and the world they set up in the first arc (which we saw again in the Spiderverse issues), but really wish they'd had a better hand on the creative control for the second arc because fucking oof.

[DaViD´82 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Koncept pochmurného Spider-mana v noir hávu je nosný, jakkoli "Spidey-Bat" je chtě nechtě opisování od jiných a proti duchu toho, co Spider-man představuje. Problém celé série je, že David Hine nepochopil, co je "noir". Ten tu totiž nevychází z atmosféry, pulpovosti, postav či scénáře. Ono na tom noirového není ani zbla. Jde o samoúčelnou jakože temnotu pro temnotu. Navíc kresba je nepřehledná a vůbec ne noirová. Neříkám, že to hned muselo vypadat jak Sin City (i když alternativní černobílé obálky jsou lahůdkové), ale zvolený styl je až nevkusně nijaký.

Aby to ovšem nevyznělo jako nejhorší komiks všech dob, tak co se povedlo je hned několik scén (kupříkladu ta úvodní, kde to na noir ještě vypadá či vyústění Ottovy linie), vzhled kostýmu, alternativní verze některých "starých známých". Bohužel to na čem Spidey vždy stál bez ohledu na zasazení, zde absentuje. Ostatně i zdejší záporáci postrádají motivace. Nejlepší Spideyho protivníci vždy vycházeli z "dobré úmysly dláždí cestu do pekel". Tady jsou bez výjimky již všichni v pekle, bez motivací a čistě zlí laciným způsobem typu kanibal/nácek/rasistický vědec. Není to však nečitelné, není to nezajímavé, jen to není noir a navzdory vší té "rádoby temnotě" to není ani Spider-man pro dospělé.

Co to tedy je? Tuctový průměr, na kterém je nejzajímavější ona vize "nesousedského pochmurného socialisticky smýšlejícího Parkera v době hospodářské krize". Každopádně i nadále platí, že Spider-mana v nefalšovaném pulp noir hávu bych si tuze moc rád přečetl. Tady po něm však není ani vidu ani slechu.

[Justin Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The two main mini-series here are surprisingly dark. Hine does a fine job of creating a Noir-style story true to the title's name. The re-imagining of the characters in both series is fun and fitting to the theme. The Vulture stands out as a particularly terrifying and gruesome alternative representation of the character. Felicia Hardy is a great, tragic femme fatale (although I'm not sure about where they take her character in the later stand-alone tie-in issues). The second series, Eyes Without a Face, has some very shockingly dark twists and turns, and Hine handles the plots well and tells two complete stories. The art by Carmine...not fitting to me. I enjoyed Carmine's work on The Flash where his frenetic lines convey a sense of constant motion. Here, it made many of the scenes very hard to follow, and, combined with the darker coloring and lighting, it was difficult to enjoy.
All in all, an uneven entry into the Spider-Verse with story highs and art lows, imo.

[Erik Schotanus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Positives:
- Love the concept. I also don't mind this version of Spider-Man is not your optimistic, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Because what does it have to be positive about in this story? It is truly dark and grim.

- The depiction of Spidey Sense is cool.

- The reimagining of the villains in this book are interesting as well.

Negatives:

- Man it is hard to see what's going on sometimes. The artwork itself is good but with everything in black and white it gets hard to follow, especially during action scenes.

- It starts with a focus on how young and still a bit immature this Peter is. But once he becomes Spider-Men it seems like he instantly becomes mature and skillful. There was no room to showcase any growth in building up his skills.

- Except for the Spidey Sense and sometimes some web-shooting, it feels like his powers are a bit underused.

Will probably read this book again before the Nicholas Cage series comes out in 2026. I'm still optimistic and really hope Sony does not ruin this IP any further.

[Brad Hodges · Rating 4 out of 5]

After seeing Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, I was stunned to see what direction Marvel had taken with Spider-Man; basically spinning him off into various universes, where he (or she) was a different entity. The one that intrigued me the most was Spider-Man Noir, who was web-slinging during the 1930s. I just finished reading the complete collection, most of which was written by David Hine and Fabrice Sapolsky.

The collection includes two four-issue stories, plus three other one-shots. Those last three incorporate other Spider-Men, notably a six-armed one (Spider-Man experts may recall that this once happened to the "real" Spider-Man).

The first series is basically an origin story It is 1932, and the depression is raging. Aunt May is an advocate for social justice, and Felicia Hardy operates a saloon called The Black Cat. The crime boss in town is known as The Goblin, and he employs a few henchman that readers will recognize as Spider-Man villains, notably The Vulture, who is here a former circus geek.

A reporter named Ben Urich takes Peter Parker under his wing, although Urich, like many in New York City, is in the Goblin's network. Of course, the Goblin was responsible for the death of Peter's Uncle Ben (poor Uncle Ben can't catch a break). During a break-up of a smuggling ring, spiders from an African totem bite Parker, who gives him the powers he will later employ.

The second story is called "Eyes Without a Face," set in 1939, and features a quite different Dr. Otto Octavius, who is here a German scientist trying to perfect a way to make docile slaves (('m not sure if this was written before or after the film Get Out). Parker's friend Robbie Robertson, along with many other black people, are kidnapped to use as guinea pigs (there is a playful reference to Tuskegee Institute as well). Meanwhile the local crime lord is now a masked figure called The Crime Master, who answers to the Nazis, and has a henchman called The Sandman.

I found these stories to be terrific. Of course they are darker, figuratively and literally, than most Spider-Man comics. Characters die gruesome deaths, including cannibalism, and there's no question that Parker is having sex with Felicia. At times the artwork is so dark that I had trouble telling the many masked figures in fedoras apart. But the spirit of noir is there.

These stories are a good opposite to the brightly-colored spandex of modern comic book superheroes. The characters here, except for Spider-Man, don't have superpowers (and Spider-Man even uses a gun on occasion). There are no spandex outfits, just trench coats and masks (Parker wears what look like part of a gas mask). It's a different kind of super-hero comic, and a welcome one.

[Nate · Rating 4 out of 5]

The narrative in the first two stories are amazing, and the Spider-Verse stories are also pretty fun and interesting. I'm actually interested in reading Edge of Spider-Verse because this collection contains the first issue. This collection also contains variant covers for Spider-Man Noir, Spider-Man Noir: Eyes Without a Face, page layouts, a script excerpt, and character designs. However, Spider-Geddon: Spider-Man Noir Video Comic is terrible, and while I'm glad it's included for the sake of completeness, it should never have been made in the first place.

The only real negatives with this collection are the art and the panels. The art isn't bad per se, but there are instances where the characters are stiff or very awkwardly posed. These aren't major negatives I understand artists get paid per page and that there are timing constraints so not every page can be perfect and the art style is pretty complex. The character art and designs are great, but the complexity can lead to less than stellar art in a comic.

The bigger problem is the paneling. There are some pages with lots of panels that don't need that many panels. It would make the comic feel more cinematic if the art was more consistent and less awkward. Then there are the action scenes. I couldn't really follow 95% of the action scenes. I'm not asking for Toriyama or Murata levels of paneling for action scenes, just a clear flow of action. There is a particular double page-spread of action in Spider-Man Noir where I just can't determine the flow of action. I know where it ends, and I think I know where it begins, but I can't figure out how we got from beginning to the end. Carmine di Giandomenico's use of "ghosting" to show the flow of action is nowhere near as effective as he thinks it is.

Overall, I'd recommend picking up this collection if you're a fan of comics, if you're a fan of Spider-Man, you're not afraid of violence, and you don't mind some awkward art or a bit of poor paneling.

[Victoria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like most people, I started searching for more Spider-Man comics after “Into the Spiderverse” premiered and basically became the best Spider-Man movie so far. And Spider-Man Noir became an immediate favorite of mine. Unfortunately I don’t think this is for fans who were introduced to him through the film.

The origin comic is a bit of a mess, Peter Parker is a bit too self righteous (and weirdly a bit of a stick in the mud). The Vulture, while terrifyingly disgusting, was also one of the cooler villain reinventions alongside Goblin. Both unfortunately are killed off in the first issue. Peter’s origin spider bite is confusing and rushed, like where did all those killer spiders go anyway??

Also, the first two issues have serious issues with its artistic choices. The style is muddy and uninteresting, the color scheme makes it hard to focus and often I didn’t know what I was supposed to be looking at. And it was worse during the fight scenes where you have no idea what the heck Spider-Man is even doing. The graphic are also atrocious, reminding me of a kid going “BRAPAPPA” while playing cops and robbers.

And I have to call into issue of the female characters, how few there were, having little to no agency and basically being tortured and fridged for the sake of storyline.

The Mysterio issue is stiff and boring to read up until the other versions of Spider-Man arrive, and the art is lacking action, movement, and facial expressions.
The last issue in the collection is the Spiderverse storyline, and truly this one shines the brightest (literally and artistically, goodbye overuse of shadows!)

I think Spider-Noir truly shines when he’s partnered up with other Spidermen variations. His dark and serious nature becoming a foil for more light and quippy Spider-Man dialogue. It’s fun, and the action is finally, FINALLY, easy to read.
So all in all, this didn’t convince me to look for more SpiderNoir, but it did convince me to look for more Spiderverse issues.

[Brian Longtin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Putting the well-known character in a depression-era setting made for some cool art, creative world-building, and surprisingly dark twists on classic villains (Doc Ock the eugenicist, anyone?). But as a bit of a one-off, it felt more like a fun special episode than a classic tale with a whole lot to say or much emotional depth, so more enjoyable than essential.

[Nate Deprey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This didn't do it for me. There is a way to tell a "noir" story and still maintaine the core elements of a character. Hine chose not to do that here, instead delivering a dark and beaten down Peter Parker devoid of the joy and insecurity that makes the character timeless. It's a real missed oportunity.

[Rich Rosell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Never heard of Spider-Man Noir before watching 'Into The Spider-Verse', so I decided to take the plunge with the one-volume complete series. The setting is mid-1930s New York, with plenty of a slightly new takes on familiar Spider-Man characters.

Kind of fun.

[Johan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to know more about Spider-Man Noir after watching the movie “Into the Spider-Verse”.

Short review because it’s late:

- concept, idea: 4*
- stories: 3*
- artwork, graphics: 2*

[Israel Broch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lo más Batman que hay en Marvel. Una de las mejores interpretaciones de Spider-Man.

[Contra Inercia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spider-Man Noir nos cuenta la historia de un Peter Parker distinto, nacido en el seno de una familia pobre. Le cuida su tía May, famosa por agitar a las masas con soflamas socialistas que no gustan a las mafias de la ciudad, lideradas por Norman Osborn, responsable intelectual de la muerte de su tío Ben. En este contexto conoce a Ben Urich, un periodista que busca visibilizar la situación de los pobres de la ciudad, pese a sus adicciones al alcohol y a las drogas. Este toma a Peter como pupilo, y le lleva a documentar un desembarco de criaturas extrañas para Kraven cuando una araña peculiar le muerde, dotándole de poderes. En este punto, y a raíz de la muerte de Ben, Peter Parker iniciará una campaña para acabar con el Duende y con sus acólitos, y así destapar una trama de corrupción sin igual.

La segunda historia transcurre meses después, con un Peter Parker que actúa de justiciero y que se ve envuelto en una trama de experimentación humana del doctor Octopus, el cuál sirve en secreto a los nazis para intentar crear al esclavo perfecto con seres humanos de raza negra. En esta historia, el racismo es la temática central, y cómo la propia CIA y el gobierno estadounidense financian estos experimentos. Eso es algo que me fascina: los ciudadanos de ese país saben de sobra que sus gobiernos siempre están metidos en temas turbios, pero no hacen preguntas ni se cuestionan nada.

El tono de ambas historias es el esperado en una trama de este tipo y de este género. Tenemos una urbe completamente decadente y donde la ley destaca por su ausencia. Los únicos que plantan cara son el cuarto poder (quién les ha visto y quien les ve) y ciertas personas que se toman la justicia por su mano. Los personajes están especialmente bien construidos aunque caen en algunos clichés, como es el caso de Felicia, Black Cat, que en esta ocasión dirige un local clandestino y es la novia florero de los capos de la ciudad. Hay personajes potenciados, como el Buitre, que da auténtico pavor, mientras que otros tienen su aura reducida, caso del duende verde. Luces y sombras.

Cada historia cuenta con apenas cien páginas, lo que hace que su lectura sea muy llevadera, y las dos historias son muy entretenidas, por lo que se le pasa a uno el tiempo volando y disfrutando. El dibujo quiere parecer vintage, pero sin renunciar a las técnicas actuales, lo que lo hace muy atractivo. En resumen, es un cómic con el que pasar un buen rato y que es autoconclusivo, por lo que tampoco deja deberes para saber cómo continúa la trama.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the Great Depression crime and corruption are rampant in New York City until a chance encounter with a mystical spider-totem imbues young Peter Parker with remarkable powers.

I was a little wary of this book, wondering if Spider-Man Noir was just going to turn out to be a bit of a gimmick (like the Batman stories where he's a pirate and that ilk). However, I was pleased to find that the writers have fully embraced the noir vibe, as well as not shying away from the dark aspects of crime in the 1930s.
There's real emotional weight to this book and we learn early on that this isn't the optimistic do-gooder Peter Parker we're used to. This version of Spider-Man is a deeply troubled and somewhat jaded individual who is very much the product of a dark time in America's history.

The villains on offer here are done justice too, with particularly dark and grim versions of familiar characters enhancing the dark tone of the story. For example we get a version of the Vulture who is a cannibal and literally ate Ben Parker alive, as well as an incarnation of Doctor Octopus who is using Nazi funding to conduct horrifying experiments on kidnapped black people. What I found interesting was seeing these characters not as costumed supervillains but as truly wicked humans who are, frighteningly, somewhat believable.

The Spider-Verse crossovers which make up the last quarter of the book did let it down a little. Not that there's anything exactly wrong with them, it's simply that they have more of the mainstream Spider-Man feel to them which spoils the dark tone of the book up to that point.
But perhaps you'll need a more light-hearted palette-cleanser after the horror and misery of the rest of the book and, if nothing else, it perhaps does noir Peter some good to encounter some of his more hopeful and upbeat variants.

* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.com *

[Jill Elise · Rating 3 out of 5]

(A discombobulated review 😅)

There's something relatable about a broke high school/college student saving the world because he couldn't afford health insurance to get his spider-bite checked out....

That said, Peter Noir's comment in Into the Spider-Verse, "I let matches burn down my fingers just to feel something"- WELL GEE, no WONDER HE SEEMS SO YOUNG??- (I'm glad we didn't animate Peter Noir's spider bite sequence exactly true to comics because yeesh, my eyes-)

I'm slowly realizing I'm just not a fan of comics due to the quick plot and excess of telling vs. showing, so I didn't enjoy this quite as much as I would've if it were a graphic novel or even a traditional novel (I know, very depressing). I also missed Peter Noir's version of thwip-y humor, something we only got in the final cross-over comic. There's definitely a disconnect between his movie counterpart and comic version in terms of personality (although, I wonder if this is from a time-skip, too, since Movie Peter Noir seems older).

However, I did like seeing Peter Noir's sense of justice, and his passion for making things right, that eventually leads him to becoming hard and angry. I liked watching him make morally-incorrect choices that he justified through the end, but wished we could've seen a little more of his internal conflict over making those choices (or even just that shift). I loved seeing his universe's version of Spider-Man's Enemies, and the individual story concepts were interesting. Ben Urich's character arc was also really interesting!! And the discussion of corruption in the political machine, seeping through the sewers all the way up to the top, was really cool as it was revealed through various characters.

[Curtis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really excited to learn about this, firstly because I was eager to read something else by David Hine, having read his Strange Embrace and loving it, and secondly because I like Spider-Man but prefer limited run comics to never-ending Marvel style stuff. I really thought this would be the dream ticket for me.

Unfortunately, it didn't quite live up to expectation. I did really like the concept and some of Hine's ideas of what to do with familiar characters were great, perhaps most notably The Vulture and JJ Jameson.

On the negative side, the writing was good but the stories just didn't grab me in the way that Strange Embrace did, and I just wasn't really excited to get back into the story when I picked it up each night before bed. I had a stronger dislike of the artwork, which was dark to the point of making the action scenes hard to follow.

The first story was my favourite, not necessarily because it was the better of the two volumes but because the novelty hadn't yet worn off. The second volume was arguably a bit stronger but the disappointment that this was 'good not great' had already set in and my enthusiasm was waning. Finally, when the last volume came along, I thought I was getting into a third story but it quickly became apparent it was something else entirely that I had no interest in, and I wasn't all that disappointed to be done with it.

All in all, it was good enough but a bit of a disappointment when I think of what it could've been, and despite David Hine succeeding in his attempt to do something different here, it didn't always land. Coupled with the artwork and superfluous crossover stories at the end, the 3.5 star story pulls this collection an even 3 stars from me.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

COLLECTS SPIDER-MAN NOIR ISSUES #1-4, SPIDER-MAN NOIR: EYES WITHOUT A FACE ISSUES #1-4, EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE ISSUE #1, SPIDER-GEDDON: SPIDER-MAN NOIR VIDEO COMIC and material from SPIDER-VERSE TEAM-UP ISSUE #1

I read most of this collection in the past, but I needed to read the Video Comic to complete the collection. Here are my past reviews:

Spider-Man Noir:

I really enjoyed this parallel universe version of Spider-Man. There were some interesting twists and surprises that I wasn't expecting along the way.

Because this story doesn't take place in the traditionally Earth-616 universe, the writer is able to re-imagine many well-known characters in creative ways.

The setting for this alternate universe story is 1933, during the Great Depression and the times of Prohibition.

Here are some of the Spider-characters cast in a new light within these pages:

-Peter Parker
-Aunt May
-Felicia Hardy
-Norman Osborn
-J. Jonah Jameson
-Ben Ulrich
-...and many more

Spider-Man gains his powers in a new way, unique to this universe.

I'm excited to read more stories set in this universe, and especially excited to read more of the Spider-Man Noir character.

Spider-Man Noir: Eyes Without a Face:

The original Spider-Man Noir story was dark, but this story was even darker. This story, set in 1933, takes place on an alternate Earth in a parallel universe.

In this story, Peter Parker has to try to stop an alternate, Nazi-like Otto Octavius from doing human experimentation. Alternate versions of Felicia Hardy, Mary Jane Watson, Curt Connors, and the Sandman also appear.

I still like the idea of Spider-Man Noir, but I liked this story less than the original.

[María Ferre · Rating 4 out of 5]

La situación de las familias de clase obrera en los años 30 es, cuanto mejor, precaria y dura. Pobreza, hambre, miseria, muertes en la familia por enfermedad y guerras, discriminación... los Parker han visto de todo ya. Sin embargo, el espíritu luchador, y a veces vengativo, de Peter Parker es incapaz de morir, incluso en la más oscura noche. Las circunstancias lo llevarán a verse envuelto en una trama peligrosa y a convertirse en Spiderman, el vigilante nocturno que todos temen.
Los primeros dos capítulos de esta colección están muy, muy bien. Primero tocamos el tema de la mafia y de la corrupción tan común en los años 30 en EE. UU. y luego nos vamos a otro de los temas más importantes de la época, la xenofobia y la experimentación humana. Son asuntos complicados y es difícil tratarlos con tacto sabiendo que estamos en pleno auge fascista en el mundo entero, pero lo han sabido llevar bien y sin censura alguna (cosa que ciertos libros de historia suelen hacer cuando toca hablar de la experimentación en gente racializada llevada a cabo por los nazis o las torturas en los prisioneros de cárceles japonesas).
Los últimos capítulos desvarían un poco y se van de madre porque, claro, este no es el Spiderman al que estamos acostumbrados, el de la Tierra 616, y hay que remarcar que estamos en un multiverso interconectado (no hacía falta, de verdad). Aun así, muchas gracias por incluir al Peter de seis brazos, un beso para él: Peter de seis brazos, te amo.

[Ross Cudmore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just as a heads-up I will mention that the second story "Eyes Without a Face" features some pretty horrific racial violence carried out by Nazis that may be upsetting to some readers.

Spider-Man Noir is exactly what it sounds like. Peter Parker is a young man in 1930s New York. The city is overrun by corruption and bootlegging has made the gangsters rich and powerful.

I didn't expect the stories to engage with the politics of the time as much as they did. Aunt May is a socialist, dissatisfied with capitalism as the number of jobless and homeless only seems to rise each year. Not only that but she's a friend of Civil Rights activists. The second story set in 1933 focuses on the Nazi party trying to make inroads in American politics (which did actually happen).

This book collects not only the original Noir story and it's sequel, but also the tie in material to Spider-verse and Spider-geddon which is nice to have collected in one place.

Overall I had fun with the stories and came away wanting more Spider-man Noir stories. In particular I want to see more of this world's Mary Jane Watson (who apparently went over to Spain to work as a Nurse during the Spanish Civil War) and Felicity Hardy. I just think there's a lot about this characters to be developed.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was... not what I was expecting. After seeing "Into the Spider-verse," I was expecting this Spider-Man to be... well, like Nic Cage voicing Spider-Man. But this, instead, was... dark, twisted, and, at times, downright disturbing. I mean, I actually cringed a couple of times. There were parts that were absolutely uncomfortable to read. Of course, that was the point--if you're reading parts of this and you're NOT uncomfortable, then that is a real problem. That said, it was well-written and interesting, as this was an almost Red Hood-like Spider-Man. That's an intriguing take on a typically fun, humorous, and true-blue hero. Worth a read if you're curious, but if you're expecting the black-and-white Spidey who was fascinated by a Rubix Cube... then this is not the comic for you.

*Side note: After reading Spider-Man Noir's parts in the "Spider-verse" crossover, I'm actually pretty curious about that story line now, and will probably add it to my to-read list.

[Miguel Poveda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Normalmente los "que pasaría si" (el "what if" de los americanos) suelen tener el atractivo del cambio en la puesta en escena de una historia que el lector ya conoce. Sin embargo, estas historias suelen terminar siendo manidas y repetitivas, y sólo se quedan con ese atractivo inicial. En Spider-Man Noir no es así. Es cierto que los personajes son los mismos más o menos, pero la adaptación a la época posterior al Crack del 29 y previa a la II Guerra Mundial es fantástica por dos motivos fundamentales: le da contexto a los poderes de superhéroe y villanos (lo que le da más realismo) y las tramas son de auténtica intriga noir. El resultado es un cómic mucho mejor de lo que pueda parecer a priori, tanto, que lo que apena es que no se le dé más carrete del que se le da en arcos argumentales de tiradas mensuales de cómics.

[Chandler Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great—if wild at times—take on Spider-Man. A hard-boiled, gun-welding socialist taking on organized crime and Nazis in New York. These stories also deal with the significant historical themes of the Great Depression, the use/abuse of power, and racism. There is also plenty of grit and action to boot. The artwork is great. The highlight story arc for me was the first 4 issues in which Spider-Man takes on Norman Osborn “The Goblin”). The second story arc provides an absolutely wild take on Doctor Octopus, but I found the additional villain of the Crime Master to be pretty bland. This edition also includes two additional stories at the end of this version of Peter Parker getting caught up in Spider-Verse shenanigans.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've expressed my love for a good Elseworlds story in the past, and this time is no different. Spider-Man Noir delivers a good, gritty superhero story set in Great Depression era New York with some fun reinterpretations of classic Spidey allies and villains, but its lack of depth due to the short runtime of the book(s), combined with the tacked-on feeling Spider-Verse and Spider-Geddon content knocks a star off of my personal rating due to them making the volume feel unfinished.

I'll have to hunt down a copy of Twilight in Babylon in the future, but for the time being, the current (2025-2026) run of Spider-Man Noir is pretty good.

[Balthasaar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: Collection of 3 seperate 4-book runs: Spider Nior (great), Spider Nior (okay): eyes w/o a face, and Punisher Nior (started great then got eye-roll worthy & perfunctory).

Picked this up after the SpiderVerse movie - (the correct application of Nicholas Cage IMHO).
Seemed at first like Marvel 1602's 'spot the tropes as we squeeze them into period appropriate contexts', but MUCH better done than previous attempts at this motif. Having just read a WW1 book, I thought the punisher concept started out great, but tapered off quick after just name-dropping Verdun.

[Çağlar Bozkurt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great series! Even though the character development and the background of Peter Parker was a bit weak, the story became strong after the transformation to being the Spider-Man is completed. It could have been much better if the foundation story was a bit better.

The original series's art is also very distinct and different from the original series - making it more noir and an excellent fit to the years the story is telling about. Being able to smell that heavy and dark atmosphere in 1939's New York was awe-inspiring.

[Sterling Wesson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very refreshing take on Spider-Man! I would kill to see a live action TV show or movie of this. Very dark and spider-man isn’t like he is now. He shoots people, shows no mercy and all around is just kind of a total badass. Also loved some of the small touches like Doc Occ being a Nazi, I felt like it fit really well. I thought the Mysterio story was a bit short but still pretty damn cool! I also really enjoyed how Aunt May actually has a personality and motive in this book.

[Charles Woodley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard Boiled Spider-Man

The Noir genre is one of the darkest narratives hardboiled men and women who grew up during the Great Depression. They didn't take crap from anyone and weren't afraid to use a gun, much like Spider-Man in this collection of stories. Like most of the Parkers bitten by the Spider whether an ancient god or radioactive spider. This one has had his problems, but has grown along the way.