Amazing Spider-Man #009

by Kalem Lalonde on November 10, 2014

Written by: Dan Slott
Art by: Oliver Coipel

Following weeks (and maybe even months) of buildup, Spider-Verse begins here in Amazing Spider-Man #9

I think we could all agree that Marvel have had issues with their events in recent memory. Avengers vs X-Men, Age of Ultron, Original Sin and now AXIS have all been underwhelming in their own regards. So skepticism isn’t unjustified when it comes to a new event such as “Spider Verse”. So does this new multiversal Spider-Man tale live up to its excellent buildup issues and hype? No one could say now if Spider Verse’s entirety will be a success but I do believe its inaugural issue to be exactly that.

The issue starts off with the death of an alternate dimension’s Peter Parker, immediately setting the tone for this grandiose and dark adventure. The tone represents and extremely strong point for this issue. Finding a perfect balance of classic Peter Parker humour and quirks and ominous villains with dark desires. Spider-Men being hunted throughout the multiverse by Morlun’s family who proceed to feast on them is a dark concept at its core but Slott understands that humour is imperative to a Spider-Man story. Rather than bashing you over the head with gratuitous jokes, Slott implements them with great timing so the dark nature of the plot isn’t forgotten.

The scope of this story is immense (for Spider-Man’s corner of the Marvel U) and feels worthy of an event. Spider-Man is generally associated with smaller-scale stories involving Peter’s very relatable personal life. The broader scale is perfectly utilized with the concept of assembling multiple versions of Spider-Man. The different, yet similar personalities are shaping up to be an excellent group dynamic under Slott’s pen. The writer is very capable of creating high stakes without involving other members of the marvel universe of treading on clichés like the fate of a city being in peril. It’s an original and inventive idea on how to create a grand scale and Slott deserves praise for it.

The $4.99 price tag and extra pages here do not feel as squandered as Amazing’s return earlier this year. Slott allocates the extra pages to explore the villains of this story in a decent dinner scene between the family. Their dynamic is interesting if not excellent. It feels common at times but some characters standout with some potential. Beyond appetite, Slott doesn’t explore any of these characters motivations for wanting to eradicate the spiders of the multiverse. There are hints of deeper reasons for Morlun’s crusade but no other characters are shown as three dimensional. The father especially coming off as a one note baddie. The villains are have an intimidating presence, but when all siting together their appeal begins to fade.

Oliver Coipel makes his debut in this series and the editors could not have picked a better issue for it! His art is expressive and dynamic while perfectly complementing the tone Slott is trying to achieve. He draws one of the best Spider-Man’s I’ve ever seen and he’s able to draw him a bunch here. His pencils are extremely precise and his pages detailed, we really couldn’t have asked for a strongest artist to draw this issue.

After a few (in my opinion) ephemeral issues, Amazing Spider-Man has kicked into gear with the start of this event. My prognosis is that Spider-Verse will not fall into Marvel’s common trend of lackluster events. Slott has isolated all the Spider-Men to their own corner of the Marvel multiverse, allowing him to focus on our compelling heroes. The event if off to a fantastic start and given that this issue is mostly set-up, it’ll only go upwards from here. 

Our Score:

9/10

A Look Inside