Edge of Spider-Verse #1
Writers- Dan Slott, Skottie Young, Robbie Thompson and Katie Cook
Artists- Humberto Ramos, Jake Parker, Denis Medri and Katie Cook
I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for the discussions Dan Slott and other writers had on Spider-Verse. Uncle Ben bitten instead of Peter? Sure. A steam punk Spider-Woman? Yep, let’s do that. A Spider-man news strip? Why not. Spider-Verse # 1 gives us a small taste of six different Spider-People. Actually, it’s not all that different from the Edge of Spider-Verse tie-in issues that preceded this, and therein lies the problem I have with the issue.
Before we get into that, let’s talk about things I enjoyed here. This issue is an entertaining read. Fans of the Mangaverse Spider-Man will be pleased he makes his return with Skottie Young at the helm. I don’t know much about that series but what I read here was enough to make me want to go back and read all of it, which is what good story telling will do. The other short stories here are fun to read. Some, like the knockoff of the old Spider-Man inspired Hostess Ad and newspaper style comic are downright amusing. If there was one that really stood out to me, it would be the Katie Cook story. Cook is no stranger to kid friendly books with her work at IDW and here she introduces us to Penelope Parker. That was the best part of the book to me. There was enough in those few pages to completely draw me in. Parts of the writing reminded me of Scott Pilgrim in a way. It was cute, funny, well thought out and could be the very definition of an all ages book. I wouldn’t mind seeing it go to print monthly. Art wise, the book has many distinct styles that match well with the universes that they’re coming from. Normally this would be jarring but when contrasting from universe to universe the change is welcome.
As much as I really enjoyed the book I can’t recommend it. My one complaint is that it feels like more of the same. Edge of Spider-Verse already started this idea of introducing new characters with great effect. Spider-man Team-Up last week kept us in the same place. Even though this was a great read I can’t say I wasn’t disappointed that the story makes no move forward here. I’m hopeful that the next issue does just that.
Verdict
Pass. As much as it pains me to say that, it’s hard to recommend back to back books that do nothing to drive the story forward. Fans of Spider-Man will no doubt enjoy this as I did, but to recommend it to everyone I need to see more progression out of the story.
