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Spider-Verse #1
Spider-Verse
Someone is working their way through the multiverse, leaving a trail of dead spiders in their wake! As the Superior Spider-Man faces this foe in the future, MC2's Spider-Girl finds herself under attack! Spider-themed heroes everywhere, in every world, begin to falter and fall. How can our Spider-Man possibly hope to survive against this interdimensional onslaught.
Collecting: Amazing Spider-Man #7-15, Superior Spider-Man #32-33, Free Comic Book Day 2014 (Guardians of the Galaxy) 1 (5 page Spider-Man story), Spider-Verse #1-2, Spider-Verse Team-Up #1-3, Scarlet Spiders #1-3, Spider-Woman #1-4, Spider-Man 2099 #5-8.
Collecting: Amazing Spider-Man #7-15, Superior Spider-Man #32-33, Free Comic Book Day 2014 (Guardians of the Galaxy) 1 (5 page Spider-Man story), Spider-Verse #1-2, Spider-Verse Team-Up #1-3, Scarlet Spiders #1-3, Spider-Woman #1-4, Spider-Man 2099 #5-8.
648 pages, Hardcover
First published April 21, 2015
739 people are currently reading
1910 people want to read
About the author
Dan Slott
1,985 books451 followersDan Slott is an American comic book writer, the current writer on Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man, and is best known for his work on books such as Arkham Asylum: Living Hell, She-Hulk, Silver Surfer, The Superior Spider-Man, and Ren & Stimpy.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 424 reviews
April 21, 2019
The concept is a bit ridiculous but Dan Slott pulls it off. I've enjoyed his Spider-Man stories greatly.
October 5, 2015
While certainly boring at times and arguably too long, I thoroughly enjoyed "Spider-Verse" on the whole. It achieved just about everything I ask of an event comic:
1. Tie-ins that actually add value? Check!
2. Mystery and intrigue? Yes.
3. An epic conflict worthy of an event? Absolutely.
4. Good character development in spite of a large cast? Absofreakinglutely
5. Balance of humor, terror, sadness and triumph? Yep.
6. A meaningful resolution of conflict? Si.
7. Lasting impact? Sure looks that way.
There were absolutely weaknesses here and if you are looking for Eisner Award-level stuff, you'd best swing over to a different title. But if you want some fun and some straight-up addicting reading, you'd be hard pressed not to find that with Dan Slott's brain child "Spider-Verse."
1. Tie-ins that actually add value? Check!
2. Mystery and intrigue? Yes.
3. An epic conflict worthy of an event? Absolutely.
4. Good character development in spite of a large cast? Absofreakinglutely
5. Balance of humor, terror, sadness and triumph? Yep.
6. A meaningful resolution of conflict? Si.
7. Lasting impact? Sure looks that way.
There were absolutely weaknesses here and if you are looking for Eisner Award-level stuff, you'd best swing over to a different title. But if you want some fun and some straight-up addicting reading, you'd be hard pressed not to find that with Dan Slott's brain child "Spider-Verse."
December 28, 2015
I was really hoping that Marvel would put something like this together for Spider-Verse, a massive crossover event in the Spider-books from last year. I had considered trying to find all of the issues individually, something I've only done one other time in the past (in the early 90s) with the original Crisis on Infinite Earths by DC. That hunt took almost two years to find all of the issues and tie-ins, and it was a lot of fun, but not something I relish doing again.
The best thing I liked about this epic compilation is how they kept the story in order, taking pages out of individual books and placing them in the proper place in Spider-Verse continuity. Marvel really hit a home run with this decision, and it's something that all comic publishers should look at with their crossover event compilations. It really makes for much better storytelling.
As for the story itself, it was pretty good, even if it was the typical overcoming-against-impossible-odds seen in almost every Spiderman story. I really enjoyed seeing the hundreds of different Spider-men/-women/-creatures/-robots, and especially enjoyed the interaction between them. Like the original Amazing Spider-Man, it is a personality-driven story, and the writers were able to manage the humor and "great power/great responsibility" of all of them.
If you want a good, exciting story, and a well-told and well-compiled compilation, this is the one to read. You don't have to be a huge fan to Spiderman to be able to follow along; it's all pretty clear in this one (another homerun for the writers).
The best thing I liked about this epic compilation is how they kept the story in order, taking pages out of individual books and placing them in the proper place in Spider-Verse continuity. Marvel really hit a home run with this decision, and it's something that all comic publishers should look at with their crossover event compilations. It really makes for much better storytelling.
As for the story itself, it was pretty good, even if it was the typical overcoming-against-impossible-odds seen in almost every Spiderman story. I really enjoyed seeing the hundreds of different Spider-men/-women/-creatures/-robots, and especially enjoyed the interaction between them. Like the original Amazing Spider-Man, it is a personality-driven story, and the writers were able to manage the humor and "great power/great responsibility" of all of them.
If you want a good, exciting story, and a well-told and well-compiled compilation, this is the one to read. You don't have to be a huge fan to Spiderman to be able to follow along; it's all pretty clear in this one (another homerun for the writers).
March 4, 2018
Wow! I picked up the Spider-Verse hardcover on sale for almost no money at all, not expecting much and just out of curiosity — after all, I wasn’t a huge fan of Dan Slott’s Superior Spider-Man or the first volume of Marvel NOW Amazing Spider-Man. Little did I know that Spider-Verse would end up one of my favorite Marvel global events!
Now, let’s get this straight: my standard for event books like this is lower than for normal comics. These things are plotted, structured, written and drawn by a huge team of people across multiple series, so it’s almost impossible to tell a well-structured cohesive story with a lot of weight. And that’s why Spider-Verse is great: it doesn’t try to be that at all. Dan Slott knew exactly what Spider-Verse would be, which is just a fun romp with a very simple story, but with lots of spectacle, banter and, of course, dozens upon dozens of Spider-creatures from all across the Marvel multiverse.
I had an absolute blast reading Spider-Verse. There was never a dull moment in the entire almost 700-page book, I was never bored by it, never felt like it was too long and drawn out — in fact, after finishing the book, now I want to go and see what happened next to most of the characters, like Spider-Man 2099, or Billy Braddock and Anya Corazon, or even to the man himself, Peter Parker from the main 616 universe. I already know what’s next for Jessica Drew, Spider-Gwen or Silk because I’ve read their comics, but if I didn’t, I would definitely go and read about them, as well.
I also just loved seeing and learning about so many different Spider-People from so many parallel worlds. Most of them are gimmicks for sure, but they’re fun gimmicks at that, and most have cool costumes and concepts. I can just see how much fun the creators were having writing and drawing all of these guys.
The artwork is great throughout. There were a few poorly-drawn panels here and there, but out of more than a dozen artists I can’t say anybody did a bad job. Not even Greg Land. Of course, the star of the show is Olivier Coipel, who was the main artist on Amazing Spider-Man throughout the event, and his pencils are always a treat, especially in an oversized hardcover. But I also enjoyed all the weird, quirky experimental mini-stories drawn by various lesser known artists.
Overall, Spider-Verse was a lot of fun. Probably the most fun I ever had with a global event like this. And I normally don’t even read a lot of Spidey comics! This event managed to show me how awesome Spider-Man can be, so I will definitely go and get me some more SM comics after that. Any recommendations are appreciated, by the way — I am currently eyeing parts of the rest of Slott’s huge run, and maybe the original Ultimate run by Bendis.
Now, let’s get this straight: my standard for event books like this is lower than for normal comics. These things are plotted, structured, written and drawn by a huge team of people across multiple series, so it’s almost impossible to tell a well-structured cohesive story with a lot of weight. And that’s why Spider-Verse is great: it doesn’t try to be that at all. Dan Slott knew exactly what Spider-Verse would be, which is just a fun romp with a very simple story, but with lots of spectacle, banter and, of course, dozens upon dozens of Spider-creatures from all across the Marvel multiverse.
I had an absolute blast reading Spider-Verse. There was never a dull moment in the entire almost 700-page book, I was never bored by it, never felt like it was too long and drawn out — in fact, after finishing the book, now I want to go and see what happened next to most of the characters, like Spider-Man 2099, or Billy Braddock and Anya Corazon, or even to the man himself, Peter Parker from the main 616 universe. I already know what’s next for Jessica Drew, Spider-Gwen or Silk because I’ve read their comics, but if I didn’t, I would definitely go and read about them, as well.
I also just loved seeing and learning about so many different Spider-People from so many parallel worlds. Most of them are gimmicks for sure, but they’re fun gimmicks at that, and most have cool costumes and concepts. I can just see how much fun the creators were having writing and drawing all of these guys.
The artwork is great throughout. There were a few poorly-drawn panels here and there, but out of more than a dozen artists I can’t say anybody did a bad job. Not even Greg Land. Of course, the star of the show is Olivier Coipel, who was the main artist on Amazing Spider-Man throughout the event, and his pencils are always a treat, especially in an oversized hardcover. But I also enjoyed all the weird, quirky experimental mini-stories drawn by various lesser known artists.
Overall, Spider-Verse was a lot of fun. Probably the most fun I ever had with a global event like this. And I normally don’t even read a lot of Spidey comics! This event managed to show me how awesome Spider-Man can be, so I will definitely go and get me some more SM comics after that. Any recommendations are appreciated, by the way — I am currently eyeing parts of the rest of Slott’s huge run, and maybe the original Ultimate run by Bendis.
November 27, 2018
This started off well, but quickly delved into inanity; by the time I finished it, I was past ready for it to be over. I'll stick with single universe Peter Parker from now on.
February 28, 2015
I did it! I read the whole thing in monthlies as it came out. From the prelude spider-verse tie ins introducing Spider-Gwen to the team up books. I don't usually go all in for Marvel events. I sometimes read them when they go out on Unlimited or if they're released in one omnibus. Going all in for events is expensive, but chose to do it for Spider-Verse because the premise intrigued me. Every Spider-man from the multiverse must come together in order to stop the evil inheritors. Slott uses it as a good excuse to fit in a lot of obscure spider-man, including the Japanese one and even the spider-man from the Capcom fighting games (all for one page!)
Cool, fun premise. But how did it turn out?
I liked it for the most part. Slott is good with his ideas and he knows what he wants, but sometimes his execution doesn't always come together (like in Ends of the Earth). He also has that rarely seen now Marvel writing style of really filling panels with words. It reminded me a lot of Spider-Island in parts with everything going on and actually tying into the tie-ins.
The story itself is quite simple, and I think the use of the different spider-men is the real hook for readers here.
Coipel is on art for a few issues of the main book (Amazing Spider-man) but then Giuseppe Camuncoli takes over who is still good but no Coipel.
And with it essentially becoming a big team up book, some characters aren't going to have enough to do. Miles and Peter could have had more scenes together, Otto could have been even more of a dick, Spider-Gwen could have been even more cool. But that stuff happens. As a whole, it's a good book.
Cool, fun premise. But how did it turn out?
I liked it for the most part. Slott is good with his ideas and he knows what he wants, but sometimes his execution doesn't always come together (like in Ends of the Earth). He also has that rarely seen now Marvel writing style of really filling panels with words. It reminded me a lot of Spider-Island in parts with everything going on and actually tying into the tie-ins.
The story itself is quite simple, and I think the use of the different spider-men is the real hook for readers here.
Coipel is on art for a few issues of the main book (Amazing Spider-man) but then Giuseppe Camuncoli takes over who is still good but no Coipel.
And with it essentially becoming a big team up book, some characters aren't going to have enough to do. Miles and Peter could have had more scenes together, Otto could have been even more of a dick, Spider-Gwen could have been even more cool. But that stuff happens. As a whole, it's a good book.
August 23, 2020
This is a monster volume of comics at 600+ pages. It includes the main Spider-Verse story and all of the tie-in stories. However, it organizes the stories in a way that doesn't make much sense. It presents a Superior Spider-man series that provides some background for the main story. After that, it presents the event story, and then all of the rest of the tie-in stories after that. The problem with that is that once you get to the tie-in stories, you already know how the main plot resolves, so all of the tension is taken out of the tie-in stories. It would have been better if those stories were dropped into the main story at the time they happened. I read it straight through, so the last 2/3 of the book didn't have much appeal to me. It didn't help that the writing and art for the tie-in stories were generally of lower quality than the main story.
June 16, 2020
Whilst the Avengers and X-Men drip drip mediocre events towards The End, Dan Slott and co. produce a great piece of work it’s the Inheritors again, ready for it… ALL the Spider-Men, including Spider-Woman, Arana, Silk, Spider-Ham, Spider-Man Noir, Mayday, Kaine, Ben Reilly, Spider-Man UK and many many more. Great event, especially for the fan boys (and girls). This is another innovative piece of work that has helped Spider-verse supplant the Avengers-verse as my favourite Marvel reality. 7 out of 12 overall.
January 18, 2016
Check out the main book's review for the summary, here for the colour commentary.
I had so much fun with the main book that it was a *pleasure* chasing all the crossovers and spin-off miniseries. Even the stuff that Marvel pasted together into this, the obligatory grab-bag of issues and stories (i.e. the stuff that no reader in their right mind would buy on its own). (When was the last time you could say *this* about a modern-day comics event? Not I.)
Every big and small side-story felt like it *added* to the family reunion of all the red-and-(colour)-garbed heroes. It's possible this only works if you're a big Spidey fan to begin with, but if you are and have already read the Superior Spider-Man event, then this is definitely for you.
Spider-Verse team-up? Man, this has to be the first time that one-off stories attached to an event actually belong, and don't just feel like a cash-grab. (Still a cash-grab, but not the kind that usually accompanies a bloated Event.) These tales add weight to the numbers of Spider-men getting killed off, and makes the main storyline a little more tense because as quickly as these C-listers are getting chomped, that makes it even easier to take out the B-listers we actually give half a shit about. (And keep the other half a shit on hand in case we need to smear ourselves to keep the villains from smelling us...or is that the latest "twist" in Volume 33 of The Walking Dead?
Spider-verse super-short stories. Again, this works as a recruiting reel - getting the band back together for the first time and all that.
I'm in love with Steampunk Lady Spider. Kick ass, genre-bending, female empowerment (as it should be).
Scarlet Spiders? Solid writing here. A collection of clones of Peter Parker have their own "suicide squad" quality to them, being infinitely more expendable than the "real" Parkers. And yet Costa doesn't play it like that - that's just the subtext in reading in, on top of the more taut stealth-then-action play. The biggest problem I have with the Scarlet Spiders story is with the art - specifically, the bodily proportions. The legs are all spindles and blobs, like this dude doesn't get natural shapes - and then he puts a couple of DD's on Ultimate Black Widow, along with the manliest, squarest butt I've yet seen on a woman. What gives? Are we expected to believe that as a member of Ultimate Shield, Ultimate Jess has the time *or* the inclination to go get a boob job to make her lithe body look like she walked out of a Portland peeler joint?
Any complaints I have are picking the tiniest, Micro-versiest nits for an event of this calibre. There's no *way* we should've had this much fun, with something that felt this well-orchestrated (or loosened off where it needed to be, so that the side stories had just enough room to breathe), from the House of M. I am as much a fanboi of Marvel as anyone but their events in recent years have felt increasingly cold, calculated, stuffy and yet thin. It's a sad thing to have to admit just how much better this felt, and perhaps it's just simply a reflection of how many years Dan Slott ruminated on this story. (Reminds me of the way that John Carpenter's The Thing evolved from a low-budget horror to one of the most intricately-plotted sci-fi movies of all time.)
Can we please have this Dan Slott stay on with Spidey for another five years? That would be grand. I have increasingly enjoyed his Spidey-tales, as he's gotten increasingly deep into this branch of the Marvel universe, and I would feel very sad if this much fun in comics was suddenly snuffed out.
MOST. FUN. EVENT. EVER.
Shallow Comics Reader Approved!
I had so much fun with the main book that it was a *pleasure* chasing all the crossovers and spin-off miniseries. Even the stuff that Marvel pasted together into this, the obligatory grab-bag of issues and stories (i.e. the stuff that no reader in their right mind would buy on its own). (When was the last time you could say *this* about a modern-day comics event? Not I.)
Every big and small side-story felt like it *added* to the family reunion of all the red-and-(colour)-garbed heroes. It's possible this only works if you're a big Spidey fan to begin with, but if you are and have already read the Superior Spider-Man event, then this is definitely for you.
Spider-Verse team-up? Man, this has to be the first time that one-off stories attached to an event actually belong, and don't just feel like a cash-grab. (Still a cash-grab, but not the kind that usually accompanies a bloated Event.) These tales add weight to the numbers of Spider-men getting killed off, and makes the main storyline a little more tense because as quickly as these C-listers are getting chomped, that makes it even easier to take out the B-listers we actually give half a shit about. (And keep the other half a shit on hand in case we need to smear ourselves to keep the villains from smelling us...or is that the latest "twist" in Volume 33 of The Walking Dead?
Spider-verse super-short stories. Again, this works as a recruiting reel - getting the band back together for the first time and all that.
I'm in love with Steampunk Lady Spider. Kick ass, genre-bending, female empowerment (as it should be).
Scarlet Spiders? Solid writing here. A collection of clones of Peter Parker have their own "suicide squad" quality to them, being infinitely more expendable than the "real" Parkers. And yet Costa doesn't play it like that - that's just the subtext in reading in, on top of the more taut stealth-then-action play. The biggest problem I have with the Scarlet Spiders story is with the art - specifically, the bodily proportions. The legs are all spindles and blobs, like this dude doesn't get natural shapes - and then he puts a couple of DD's on Ultimate Black Widow, along with the manliest, squarest butt I've yet seen on a woman. What gives? Are we expected to believe that as a member of Ultimate Shield, Ultimate Jess has the time *or* the inclination to go get a boob job to make her lithe body look like she walked out of a Portland peeler joint?
Any complaints I have are picking the tiniest, Micro-versiest nits for an event of this calibre. There's no *way* we should've had this much fun, with something that felt this well-orchestrated (or loosened off where it needed to be, so that the side stories had just enough room to breathe), from the House of M. I am as much a fanboi of Marvel as anyone but their events in recent years have felt increasingly cold, calculated, stuffy and yet thin. It's a sad thing to have to admit just how much better this felt, and perhaps it's just simply a reflection of how many years Dan Slott ruminated on this story. (Reminds me of the way that John Carpenter's The Thing evolved from a low-budget horror to one of the most intricately-plotted sci-fi movies of all time.)
Can we please have this Dan Slott stay on with Spidey for another five years? That would be grand. I have increasingly enjoyed his Spidey-tales, as he's gotten increasingly deep into this branch of the Marvel universe, and I would feel very sad if this much fun in comics was suddenly snuffed out.
MOST. FUN. EVENT. EVER.
Shallow Comics Reader Approved!
January 15, 2019
3.5! Reads a lot like “Crisis on Infinite Earths” and “Blackest Night”
World: The art is solid, there are a lot of different artists in this event and that is expected but most of the art is solid, it fits the tone of the series and the subtle and not so subtle changes in the illustration style for each Spidey is a beautiful touch. I will say though the Spidey 2099 issues were by far the most unappealing of the lot, especially the way Drew was drawn...I don’t need all these porn poses. The world building here is solid if a bit wonky. The idea of the totems has been around a while and it was one of the new aspects of Spidey that I really enjoyed and having an event that is based on this idea is great for me. I’m also a DC reader so multiverse stories are always appealing to me. The variety of Spiders and the little bit of history and depth we get is a nice touch and the world is solid. There is a bit of a stretch with the magic powers and the prophecy thing but that’s the only minor wonky thing I felt about this world.
Story: I will say this first, I read this in trade and this trade is organized so poorly that it takes all the dramatic tension out of the tie ins and also makes the main story a bit choppy to read, Marvel you are idiots. That aside, I enjoyed the arc, as I said it felt like reading “Crisis on Infinite Earths” and the tie ins felt very much like Johns’ “Blackest Night” tie ins where there was a formula and each tie in was pretty much that but the world building made it okay. The pacing is okay, the teams splitting up is good and the finale is very Spidey. It was a solid arc that did somewhat have some consequence to the world, but not really (but that’s a problem a lot of event books have anyways, the real lack of consequence).
Characters: This is an event book so there is not a lot of depth here and only enough for the story. There are a lot of characters and the art really does help carry the load to separate them and they did a great job. The little intros to the characters was also good and some of the new characters getting issues and little pages was a nice touch, there are some gems here. I won’t go into much here as I felt that this was possibly the best part of the event and it gave readers something to find amusing and enjoy.
I liked this event, it was well planned out and the tie ins made sense, the end was a bit meh and I felt the prophecy thing was a bit wonky but yeah, it was fun.
Onward to the next book!
World: The art is solid, there are a lot of different artists in this event and that is expected but most of the art is solid, it fits the tone of the series and the subtle and not so subtle changes in the illustration style for each Spidey is a beautiful touch. I will say though the Spidey 2099 issues were by far the most unappealing of the lot, especially the way Drew was drawn...I don’t need all these porn poses. The world building here is solid if a bit wonky. The idea of the totems has been around a while and it was one of the new aspects of Spidey that I really enjoyed and having an event that is based on this idea is great for me. I’m also a DC reader so multiverse stories are always appealing to me. The variety of Spiders and the little bit of history and depth we get is a nice touch and the world is solid. There is a bit of a stretch with the magic powers and the prophecy thing but that’s the only minor wonky thing I felt about this world.
Story: I will say this first, I read this in trade and this trade is organized so poorly that it takes all the dramatic tension out of the tie ins and also makes the main story a bit choppy to read, Marvel you are idiots. That aside, I enjoyed the arc, as I said it felt like reading “Crisis on Infinite Earths” and the tie ins felt very much like Johns’ “Blackest Night” tie ins where there was a formula and each tie in was pretty much that but the world building made it okay. The pacing is okay, the teams splitting up is good and the finale is very Spidey. It was a solid arc that did somewhat have some consequence to the world, but not really (but that’s a problem a lot of event books have anyways, the real lack of consequence).
Characters: This is an event book so there is not a lot of depth here and only enough for the story. There are a lot of characters and the art really does help carry the load to separate them and they did a great job. The little intros to the characters was also good and some of the new characters getting issues and little pages was a nice touch, there are some gems here. I won’t go into much here as I felt that this was possibly the best part of the event and it gave readers something to find amusing and enjoy.
I liked this event, it was well planned out and the tie ins made sense, the end was a bit meh and I felt the prophecy thing was a bit wonky but yeah, it was fun.
Onward to the next book!
August 20, 2016
Good fun, but nothing more. Just spiderman candy at the end of the day.
December 17, 2018
This event was much more interested in toying around with lots of different Spider-Men than it was with having an interesting plot or three-dimensional villains. It was also way too long. I was ready for this to be over by about the half-way point.
Still, all of the different Spider-Men were neat and this event gave us Spider-Gwen-whose comics I enjoy quite a bit-so it wasn't completely skippable.
Also, the movie (which, oddly enough, has nothing to do with this event at all plot-wise) was much, much better in every regard.
Still, all of the different Spider-Men were neat and this event gave us Spider-Gwen-whose comics I enjoy quite a bit-so it wasn't completely skippable.
Also, the movie (which, oddly enough, has nothing to do with this event at all plot-wise) was much, much better in every regard.
January 20, 2015
#13 of 2015 Reading Challenge
Spiderverse summed up in one word: BORING!!!
Spiderverse summed up in one word: BORING!!!
June 15, 2017
Read all these in single issue. It was just so insane. Really loved. it. Like all the different spider-men from all the different worlds.
June 8, 2015
There is a lot to like here but this collection is not without flaws.
Story-wise, this is an interesting effort by Dan Slott. I was surprised by how dark the story starts out. A great hero needs great challenges to overcome and Slott creates a very challenging family of villains, the Inheritor family, working their way thru the multi-verse killing each world's version of Spider-Man. It is pretty cool to see some of the different versions of Spider-Man and the main story starts out featuring the Superior Spider-Man, making this a natural follow on read for those who enjoyed that story arc. For those who didn't enjoy Superior Spider-Man the focus does not stay on him and Earth 616 Peter Parker does take center stage. We see several other Spider men and women take center stage at different times and find out why certain ones are more important to the Inheritor family either to kill or capture. If you are a big comic book Spider-Man fan this is probably something you want to check out.
Now, for some of the flaws. This book was originally solicited with much less material. After solicitation, Marvel doubled the amount of material. I noticed people saying that the issue organization in the book was poor. I avoiding exact explanation so I could read it myself with an open mind. The story has good flow thru nearly 2/3rds of the book as it builds to and reaches the climax. The remainder of the book is additional material that takes place before the climax and explains how some of the Spiders got to where they needed to be for the climax. I agree the issues should have been re-arranged better so you aren't reading these after the climax of the story. Sloppy work by the editors though it's possible this is a result of adding material at the last second as the book was going to the printer.
As a typically non-Spider-Man comic reader, I thought this was worth the read.
Story-wise, this is an interesting effort by Dan Slott. I was surprised by how dark the story starts out. A great hero needs great challenges to overcome and Slott creates a very challenging family of villains, the Inheritor family, working their way thru the multi-verse killing each world's version of Spider-Man. It is pretty cool to see some of the different versions of Spider-Man and the main story starts out featuring the Superior Spider-Man, making this a natural follow on read for those who enjoyed that story arc. For those who didn't enjoy Superior Spider-Man the focus does not stay on him and Earth 616 Peter Parker does take center stage. We see several other Spider men and women take center stage at different times and find out why certain ones are more important to the Inheritor family either to kill or capture. If you are a big comic book Spider-Man fan this is probably something you want to check out.
Now, for some of the flaws. This book was originally solicited with much less material. After solicitation, Marvel doubled the amount of material. I noticed people saying that the issue organization in the book was poor. I avoiding exact explanation so I could read it myself with an open mind. The story has good flow thru nearly 2/3rds of the book as it builds to and reaches the climax. The remainder of the book is additional material that takes place before the climax and explains how some of the Spiders got to where they needed to be for the climax. I agree the issues should have been re-arranged better so you aren't reading these after the climax of the story. Sloppy work by the editors though it's possible this is a result of adding material at the last second as the book was going to the printer.
As a typically non-Spider-Man comic reader, I thought this was worth the read.
July 15, 2016
This is really more of a 3.5-er for me.
But I'm feeling generous about the Spider-Man Mythos today. (That, and this was nowhere NEAR as bad as the "Clone Saga" which I finished reading recently.)
But I'm feeling generous about the Spider-Man Mythos today. (That, and this was nowhere NEAR as bad as the "Clone Saga" which I finished reading recently.)
May 22, 2022
This collection of Spider-Verse packs in much more than just the general meat of the main story. It, like many other comic events, varies vastly in quality and feels a little disjointed at times when it hops from one creative team to the next.
The good: Silk! Spider-Gwen! Most of the ASM issues are fun, the Spider-Woman mini was also enjoyable though quite corny at times. And hey, it is cool to see all the different gimmicky heroes they come up with band together.
The bad: Scarlet Spiders and 2099 were rough, and really forgettable in the grand scheme. The actual Spider-Verse issues had some filler tales, and whoever decided to put a full Spanish story in an English collection should be fired. The issue even denotes that you can read it in English in the digital version online, and yet there I was reading from the digital collection in Spanish. Pretty dumb idea Marvel.
Anyone expecting Into the Spider-Verse in comic form is also in for a rude awakening. The movie is basically just an amalgamation of Miles story along with the skeleton of this concept. This book is about inter-dimensional spider-hunting vampires hunting down spider-folk. It is a whole other beast entirely.
You could cherry pick a better selection of issues than this specific one and get 4 stars worth of Spider-Verse stories, but this collection is weighed down by some filler. And unjustifiably so, because it really just tosses in a cliffhanger that didn’t need to be there at all. 3/5 stars
The good: Silk! Spider-Gwen! Most of the ASM issues are fun, the Spider-Woman mini was also enjoyable though quite corny at times. And hey, it is cool to see all the different gimmicky heroes they come up with band together.
The bad: Scarlet Spiders and 2099 were rough, and really forgettable in the grand scheme. The actual Spider-Verse issues had some filler tales, and whoever decided to put a full Spanish story in an English collection should be fired. The issue even denotes that you can read it in English in the digital version online, and yet there I was reading from the digital collection in Spanish. Pretty dumb idea Marvel.
Anyone expecting Into the Spider-Verse in comic form is also in for a rude awakening. The movie is basically just an amalgamation of Miles story along with the skeleton of this concept. This book is about inter-dimensional spider-hunting vampires hunting down spider-folk. It is a whole other beast entirely.
You could cherry pick a better selection of issues than this specific one and get 4 stars worth of Spider-Verse stories, but this collection is weighed down by some filler. And unjustifiably so, because it really just tosses in a cliffhanger that didn’t need to be there at all. 3/5 stars
October 7, 2023
Now immortalized because of the animated movies despite having significant difference, Spider-Verse is a fine addition to the "Spider-Men" mythos, bringing together decades of history of the character across various media into one single plot, combining action, humor and heart.
September 13, 2015
When it comes to Spider-Man, I’ve always been more of a fan of his street level adventures. So Spider-Verse, an epic that sees Peter Parker traversing the multiverse, didn’t have much surface appeal to me.
So I’m thankful that I took the plunge based on affection for writer Dan Slott’s run on the character thus far, because this is one of the more enjoyable crossovers in recent memory.
Morlun, an unstoppable, vampiric supervillain introduced during JMS’ Spider-Man is back and this time, he’s brought his family with him. The characters feed of Spider-powered characters and can travel dimensions at will, so everyone from Spider-Woman to Miles Morales to Spider-Ham is in danger of being, well, eaten or something. Basically, Spider-man and decades of Spider-Man derivatives are being killed off.
Yeah, the premise is kind of dumb, but Slott has a winning combo of unparalleled franchise knowledge and love for the characters, so the whole event just works as a celebration of 60 years of Spider-Man lore.
Hey, it’s better than Bugs Bunny got for his birthday:
There’s a lot to love with this series. It’s cool seeing so many variations of Spider-Man interact. There are so many references to one-off Spider-Man adaptations that it gives the story immense readability (“I think I saw the guy from ‘The Social Network’ over there”). New characters like Spider-Gwen are just too cool and both the classic and current animated series Spider-Men are flat out hilarious.
However, I’d warn that this series is not very new reader friendly. Having an encyclopedic knowledge of the character across multiple mediums is a must. It also has a very “Silver Age Superman” feel to it, what with the amount of crazy, comic booky ideas being tossed around, which will likely be a turn off to many of those same diehard webheads.
But the best part of the story, what really made it worth reading in my eyes, is seeing 616 Peter Parker stand up and be the leader of 50 some odd Spider-Men. The character is often regulated to “comic relief” when part of a larger team (see: Bendis’ Avengers) so it’s cool to see him garner the respect he deserves, especially when paired with the arrogant and fun to hate Superior Spider-Man.
kit: Twitter | Tumblr
So I’m thankful that I took the plunge based on affection for writer Dan Slott’s run on the character thus far, because this is one of the more enjoyable crossovers in recent memory.
Morlun, an unstoppable, vampiric supervillain introduced during JMS’ Spider-Man is back and this time, he’s brought his family with him. The characters feed of Spider-powered characters and can travel dimensions at will, so everyone from Spider-Woman to Miles Morales to Spider-Ham is in danger of being, well, eaten or something. Basically, Spider-man and decades of Spider-Man derivatives are being killed off.
Yeah, the premise is kind of dumb, but Slott has a winning combo of unparalleled franchise knowledge and love for the characters, so the whole event just works as a celebration of 60 years of Spider-Man lore.
Hey, it’s better than Bugs Bunny got for his birthday:
There’s a lot to love with this series. It’s cool seeing so many variations of Spider-Man interact. There are so many references to one-off Spider-Man adaptations that it gives the story immense readability (“I think I saw the guy from ‘The Social Network’ over there”). New characters like Spider-Gwen are just too cool and both the classic and current animated series Spider-Men are flat out hilarious.
However, I’d warn that this series is not very new reader friendly. Having an encyclopedic knowledge of the character across multiple mediums is a must. It also has a very “Silver Age Superman” feel to it, what with the amount of crazy, comic booky ideas being tossed around, which will likely be a turn off to many of those same diehard webheads.
But the best part of the story, what really made it worth reading in my eyes, is seeing 616 Peter Parker stand up and be the leader of 50 some odd Spider-Men. The character is often regulated to “comic relief” when part of a larger team (see: Bendis’ Avengers) so it’s cool to see him garner the respect he deserves, especially when paired with the arrogant and fun to hate Superior Spider-Man.
kit: Twitter | Tumblr
May 3, 2017
Ah, well. After a huge wait, months of anticaption, big love of Dan Slott's Spidy stories and we... we get something of a dud. It's pretty decent, if a bit muddle with all the all-too-similar-new-characters-from-alt-universes to keep up with, but that ending? Ha! I won't give it away but it is rather disappointing after all the build up. I usually zoom right through Dan Slott books. This one I had to really pull myself back to by brute force.
Perhaps the fall-out to the regular Spider-man universe will be worth all the excess of Spider-verse. The spin-off Spider-Woman series (included here) looks like it'll be good good book.
Perhaps the fall-out to the regular Spider-man universe will be worth all the excess of Spider-verse. The spin-off Spider-Woman series (included here) looks like it'll be good good book.
May 12, 2015
Loved the concept of this series. Spider-Man is such an iconic character, and that simple origin story has been tweaked so many times throughout the characters many "What If" appearances. It's a ton of fun seeing all of those different iterations of Peter Parker interact with each other. It really is sad every time one of them is killed. Overall, one of my favorite events Marvel has done in recent years.
July 7, 2020
A very beefy story with so many different Spider-Man heroes from other universes all team up together with plenty of that Spidey action and attitude that never stops. A- (91%/Excellent)
May 31, 2023
A great Spidey event! Loved all the little interactions and how they all worked together!
TW for death, cannibalism, humans being hunted for sport, a few bits of body horror
TW for death, cannibalism, humans being hunted for sport, a few bits of body horror
November 6, 2022
Fun but chaotic... it was cool seeing all the different spider people!
May 16, 2020
This is a huge volume. It contains the main arc, as well as most (if not all) tie-ins.
With an event trade like this, it’s rare that every piece is stellar. Usually, the best you can hope for is a strong main arc, and some decent tie-in issues.
Decent is the name of the game here. Everything was... decent. Nothing sucked ass. Nothing rocked my socks either, though.
The main arc was a somewhat plain story. The big, wild twist was that every Spider was involved. That was kind of cool... at first. It gets old.
I dislike the totemization of Spider-Man. I don’t want “the spider” or “the other” to be this mystical universal constant. I like him being an ordinary guy who became “super” in a freak accident, who’s rising to the occasion. This story does not agree.
Ok. Fine. I accept it for this story. The flow wasn’t bad, and there were some charming and fun character interactions. The short little adventure in the oldschool cartoon universe was a highlight. I wish we spent more time there. I like Silk and Spider-Gwen, and it was fun to see Spider-Woman come into her own here as well.
The art ranged, but none of it was bad.
I’d say this is a decent way to spend a few hours, but don’t spend a lot of money on it.
With an event trade like this, it’s rare that every piece is stellar. Usually, the best you can hope for is a strong main arc, and some decent tie-in issues.
Decent is the name of the game here. Everything was... decent. Nothing sucked ass. Nothing rocked my socks either, though.
The main arc was a somewhat plain story. The big, wild twist was that every Spider was involved. That was kind of cool... at first. It gets old.
I dislike the totemization of Spider-Man. I don’t want “the spider” or “the other” to be this mystical universal constant. I like him being an ordinary guy who became “super” in a freak accident, who’s rising to the occasion. This story does not agree.
Ok. Fine. I accept it for this story. The flow wasn’t bad, and there were some charming and fun character interactions. The short little adventure in the oldschool cartoon universe was a highlight. I wish we spent more time there. I like Silk and Spider-Gwen, and it was fun to see Spider-Woman come into her own here as well.
The art ranged, but none of it was bad.
I’d say this is a decent way to spend a few hours, but don’t spend a lot of money on it.
November 11, 2019
Es EXTREMADAMENTE largo.
Leí los dos volúmenes (carísimos, por cierto) publicados por SMASH y me faltan palabras para describir lo innecesarios que eran muchos de los comics incluidos. Creo que la editorial pudo haber hecho un solo volumen, con menos relleno y justo eso creo que define perfectamente esta historia: RELLENO.
La idea no es tan mala y supongo que el escritor merece algo de crédito por haber manejado a tantos personajes y que una cantidad importante de ellos tuvieran el protagonismo un par de veces. Pero aún con todo lo bueno que eso engloba, el lector pierde el hilo de esta historia por la cantidad de cosas (innecesarias) que están pasando al mismo tiempo.
Quería leer seguiro Spider-Geddon. Pero creo que después de estas +700 páginas necesitaré un descanso de los comics.
Leí los dos volúmenes (carísimos, por cierto) publicados por SMASH y me faltan palabras para describir lo innecesarios que eran muchos de los comics incluidos. Creo que la editorial pudo haber hecho un solo volumen, con menos relleno y justo eso creo que define perfectamente esta historia: RELLENO.
La idea no es tan mala y supongo que el escritor merece algo de crédito por haber manejado a tantos personajes y que una cantidad importante de ellos tuvieran el protagonismo un par de veces. Pero aún con todo lo bueno que eso engloba, el lector pierde el hilo de esta historia por la cantidad de cosas (innecesarias) que están pasando al mismo tiempo.
Quería leer seguiro Spider-Geddon. Pero creo que después de estas +700 páginas necesitaré un descanso de los comics.
August 3, 2023
I would’ve given this 5 starts but I really didn’t like that they put the side stories at the end of the book instead of where they would’ve landed in the actual main story. All of the other giant story arch books I’ve read had it that way so that kind of put me off when I was halfway through the book and the main had ended.
November 27, 2023
*slaps roof of comic* This bad boy can fit so many spiders in it.
Obsessed omg. I've always loved Spider-man but I never could get into his comics but this gave me everything.
Spider-men, women, animals?? Maybe the real spider-verse was the friends we made along the way.
I loved seeing all the different spider versions, it was so much fun. I loved the ones that got extra attention- specifically the women!! I loved all the women and they were all so unique and beautiful. 🫶 Meanwhile the spider-men were mostly just "here's peter parker but he's a pig lol".
I will say once I noticed that almost all of the spider-women had their hair exposed while all the spider-men didn't, I was annoyed like I get for aesthetics but omg pet peeve. Also annoying how there are several spider-girls but no spider-boys but that is a conversation for another day that isn't contained within spider politics.
Everybody's so creative with some of these spider-people designs like hello??? The fact there were multiple spider mecha suits?? The steampunk world with the sinister six steampunk designs had me by the throat. The way the art would change for different spider origin stories was perfect.
Sometimes I think men shouldn't be allowed to draw female superheroes tho like specifically the Spider-woman comics in here- she was so overly sexualized it pissed me off again. It was absolutely hilarious how a scene was repeated in the different comics but ofc in the Spider-woman version her dress was ripped with her ass out but in the other comic it was a floor length dress. 💀
I've never read a full comic event like this before and wow it was confusing and so long. The stakes were up and it really felt like all of this actually was worth an event.
If I think too hard about the ending my brain kinda goes uhhh but you know I came here for a good time not a confusing time so I will just move on.
Also justice for spider-cat!!!!!
Obsessed omg. I've always loved Spider-man but I never could get into his comics but this gave me everything.
Spider-men, women, animals?? Maybe the real spider-verse was the friends we made along the way.
I loved seeing all the different spider versions, it was so much fun. I loved the ones that got extra attention- specifically the women!! I loved all the women and they were all so unique and beautiful. 🫶 Meanwhile the spider-men were mostly just "here's peter parker but he's a pig lol".
I will say once I noticed that almost all of the spider-women had their hair exposed while all the spider-men didn't, I was annoyed like I get for aesthetics but omg pet peeve. Also annoying how there are several spider-girls but no spider-boys but that is a conversation for another day that isn't contained within spider politics.
Everybody's so creative with some of these spider-people designs like hello??? The fact there were multiple spider mecha suits?? The steampunk world with the sinister six steampunk designs had me by the throat. The way the art would change for different spider origin stories was perfect.
Sometimes I think men shouldn't be allowed to draw female superheroes tho like specifically the Spider-woman comics in here- she was so overly sexualized it pissed me off again. It was absolutely hilarious how a scene was repeated in the different comics but ofc in the Spider-woman version her dress was ripped with her ass out but in the other comic it was a floor length dress. 💀
I've never read a full comic event like this before and wow it was confusing and so long. The stakes were up and it really felt like all of this actually was worth an event.
If I think too hard about the ending my brain kinda goes uhhh but you know I came here for a good time not a confusing time so I will just move on.
Also justice for spider-cat!!!!!
January 13, 2018
A fun event (Not an easy thing to find) which uses older story line, encompass spider-man of many eras and gives you almost every spider-men, beast or child you ever known, and some you haven't.
I read it after not picking up spider-comics for many year and was not disappointed. The only down size it that it's very long, a little messy and as in every other event, doesn't have any impact of the marvel universe what so ever.
Not a "must" read, nut a nice one for spider lovers.
I read it after not picking up spider-comics for many year and was not disappointed. The only down size it that it's very long, a little messy and as in every other event, doesn't have any impact of the marvel universe what so ever.
Not a "must" read, nut a nice one for spider lovers.
July 12, 2015
Ms. Marvel Team-Up (ASM 7-8). Hey what!? Two totally unrelated issues about a Ms. Marvel Team-Up! Here's the problem with super team-ups meant to swell the media profile of a newbie: most writers only know how to write that as a big fight. And that's what we get here. Mind you, Slott pushes all the right buttons, even making it relevant to current events in the Marvel universe through an Inhuman pod connection ... but it's just a big fight. A pity, as there's other great material in these issues about Peter's position in the world. It just gets the vast minority of the time [6/10].
The Edge of Spider-Verse
Superior Spider-Man (SS 32-33). Some Diver Dude is murdering multiversal Spiders. It was confusing after seeing Morlun in the FCBD intro. More generally, I feel like this was just a total waste of these two bonus issues of Superior. It's great to see Otto being the one who gets the band together, but otherwise these issues are a dull waste.
Spider-Man 2099 5. Nice to see that Miguel is mixed up in all this too. Mind you, this is more of the S-V murder-fest, but at least it offers some perspective.
The Shorts. Here we get piles of Spiders and sometimes Morlun murdering spiders. Slott's stories are the best of the pack, because he does a great job of really personifying multiversal Spider-Man and creating emotional beats as they die. However, it's hard to get behind a murderfest, no matter how well executed, and the stories of all the spiders get a little mind-numbing. The Team-Up stories were also interesting because we finally started to get some continuity amidst the shorts. (And the Edge of Spider-Verse mini-series should have been in here because it's intertwined with many of these stories.).
The Spider-Verse
I think that Slott is never at his best with these big mega-crossovers, because they sacrifice the character and the small moments that he really excels at. Still, this is a fun story for all its varied spider-men.
Of the crossover series, The Scarlet Spiders is the best, because it's got a nice beginning and end. Spider-Man 2099 is OK, if a bit too focused on its own continuity at times, but it still has some nice conclusions that wrap back into the main series. Shockingly, Spider-Woman was the most troubled of the crossovers, in large part because it kept losing its focus. Spider-Woman jumped from mission to mission without rhyme or reason (or closure) and the other Spider-Women kept entering and exiting the picture; it was a mess, and overall I suspect these four incoherent issues did damage to the new Spider-Woman comic
As a whole, Spider-Verse was too much of a good thing. It had a good central idea and it spun wildly out of control with too many setup issues and too many crossovers, and too much chaos amidst it all. It was memorable, I suppose, but as a massive action event it just barely earns 3.5 stars.
Structurally, I wish Marvel were better at organizing these event omnibuses. Like the last few, here they don't take advantage of having all the issues together, but instead segregate each of the individual series. And, I felt it was important to read things in order here, because characters drifted in and out of the crossovers in ways that were relevant. At least we get a chronological listing at the start if you want to read it in actual order ... but without a numbered table of contents, it's still tricky!
Oh, and the other structural issue was those missing 5 issues of "Edge of Spider-Verse". Why would you have a complete event but leave out 5 issues that closely tie to (and in some cases between) the rest of the stories? Weird.
All these structural issues were enough to drop my 3.5 stars to a 3.
The Edge of Spider-Verse
Superior Spider-Man (SS 32-33). Some Diver Dude is murdering multiversal Spiders. It was confusing after seeing Morlun in the FCBD intro. More generally, I feel like this was just a total waste of these two bonus issues of Superior. It's great to see Otto being the one who gets the band together, but otherwise these issues are a dull waste.
Spider-Man 2099 5. Nice to see that Miguel is mixed up in all this too. Mind you, this is more of the S-V murder-fest, but at least it offers some perspective.
The Shorts. Here we get piles of Spiders and sometimes Morlun murdering spiders. Slott's stories are the best of the pack, because he does a great job of really personifying multiversal Spider-Man and creating emotional beats as they die. However, it's hard to get behind a murderfest, no matter how well executed, and the stories of all the spiders get a little mind-numbing. The Team-Up stories were also interesting because we finally started to get some continuity amidst the shorts. (And the Edge of Spider-Verse mini-series should have been in here because it's intertwined with many of these stories.).
The Spider-Verse
I think that Slott is never at his best with these big mega-crossovers, because they sacrifice the character and the small moments that he really excels at. Still, this is a fun story for all its varied spider-men.
Of the crossover series, The Scarlet Spiders is the best, because it's got a nice beginning and end. Spider-Man 2099 is OK, if a bit too focused on its own continuity at times, but it still has some nice conclusions that wrap back into the main series. Shockingly, Spider-Woman was the most troubled of the crossovers, in large part because it kept losing its focus. Spider-Woman jumped from mission to mission without rhyme or reason (or closure) and the other Spider-Women kept entering and exiting the picture; it was a mess, and overall I suspect these four incoherent issues did damage to the new Spider-Woman comic
As a whole, Spider-Verse was too much of a good thing. It had a good central idea and it spun wildly out of control with too many setup issues and too many crossovers, and too much chaos amidst it all. It was memorable, I suppose, but as a massive action event it just barely earns 3.5 stars.
Structurally, I wish Marvel were better at organizing these event omnibuses. Like the last few, here they don't take advantage of having all the issues together, but instead segregate each of the individual series. And, I felt it was important to read things in order here, because characters drifted in and out of the crossovers in ways that were relevant. At least we get a chronological listing at the start if you want to read it in actual order ... but without a numbered table of contents, it's still tricky!
Oh, and the other structural issue was those missing 5 issues of "Edge of Spider-Verse". Why would you have a complete event but leave out 5 issues that closely tie to (and in some cases between) the rest of the stories? Weird.
All these structural issues were enough to drop my 3.5 stars to a 3.
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