Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection, Vol. 17: Kraven's Last Hunt

Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection

by Jim Owsley, Mike Zeck (Cover Art), John Romita Jr. (Illustrator)

Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson are getting married! But Kraven the Hunter is going to make sure the wall-crawler ends up six feet under — literally! It begins with an all-time classic encounter with Wolverine that changes Spidey’s life forever, leading to the death of one of his best friends! In the wake of tragedy, Peter pops the question — but the honeymoon is short-lived, as Kraven goes to extreme lengths to prove himself superior to his greatest foe! As one of comics’ most introspective, psychological sagas ever unfolds, the Hunter will learn that it’s one thing to defeat Spider-Man — but another to expect him to stay down!

COLLECTING: Amazing Spider-Man (1963) 289-294; Amazing Spider-Man Annual (1964) 20-21; Spider-Man vs. Wolverine (1987) 1; Web of Spider-Man (1985) 29-32; Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man (1976) 131-132
 

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

496 pages, Paperback

First published June 7, 2017

About the author

Comic book writer who legally changed name to Christopher J. Priest circa 1993.

Reviews

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some major stories for Spider-Man!
Firstly, the long awaited end to the question of who was the Hobgoblin…

I really enjoyed the emotional journey Peter went through. It wasn’t just an end to a Spider-Man villain, it had a deep emotional effect on Peter.
Plus I love any time you get to see another side of Wolverine.

After that, Peter finally feels a new sense of purpose in being Spider-Man. Then realises that he needs to find a balance between his hero life and civilian life.
Which is why Peter decides to ask MJ to marry him!

I found it so funny the timing between Peter’s failed relationship with Felicia and MJ’s return into his life.
I wasn’t too mad about how quickly Peter proposed to MJ as he’d done it before and besides, they’d been hinting it wasn’t going to work between Spidey and Black Cat for a while.

I was glad of the MJ centered story. It was a nice way to bring her out of just ‘Peter’s love interest’ and make her her own character.

Something I loved in the wedding issue was the focus on both Peter’s and MJ’s doubts. It was another way to build on their character’s and tell a more personal story.

Then at last, we were up to the story … Kraven’s Last Hunt!
I loved the first issue; beginning with Kraven’s POV, the minimal words plus the anxiety you felt within Peter’s thoughts.

I loved seeing that page where you pan in close to Spider-Man and it’s Kraven underneath the mask with that ‘I’ve won’ grin. Such an iconic page!

I thought Vermin was thrown in there just for fight scenes. I mean, he was but there were other factors as well.
Firstly, because Spidey hadn’t beaten him by himself before. Secondly, the creators of Vermin actually worked on these issues!

After weeks of being Spider-Man, you could feel Kraven had lost himself. It was fascinating to read his monologue describing ‘The Spider’ and what that meant to him.
Completely the opposite, Peter knows ‘The Spider’ is only a mask.

I liked that we learned more about Kraven's past and his family.
Especially since he eventually returns.

The last issue where we see a terrified Spidey was, for me, just the best! It didn’t quickly shuffle along, ignoring the fact that he was buried alive. It gave us a real look into his anxious thoughts.
What makes me so happy is that moment where he’s scared and panicking but he carries on because he will not let fear win.

That is until Vermin batters him and Spidey flees. But that’s still okay because at least he tried!
He does capture Vermin in the end, when the once man came into the light.

Overall, this was an important collection with many classic Spidey stories.

Side note: This story wasn’t originally for Spider-Man. DeMatteis had this idea for years, changing who was featured, one time it being Batman!

[Sean Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a LOT going on in this volume, not the least of which is the revelation of the Hobgoblin’s identity (*gasp* -- not HIM?!) and one of the darkest, most psychologically stirring episodes in Spidey’s long history in Kraven’s Last Hunt. Oh, and Peter and MJ tying the knot. So there’s that. (There’s even a bonus at the end of the collection that features Stan Lee’s daily newspaper strips in which Pete and Mary Jane also get married at the same time despite the fact that the strip and the comic don’t share continuity in any way, shape, or form; not only that, but it also includes articles about a Spidey/MJ wedding that took place in front of 50,000 baseball fans at Shea Stadium…because it was the 80s, and why not?).

What it lacks in the charm of Stan Lee’s run on the book, this volume makes up for in velocity. It’s pretty breakneck.

Also pretty breakneck: mating dragonflies. Holy crap do those things go at it. And they are shameless. Like, they will just hump away on your windshield at a stoplight and, when you start moving again, fly off to do the mid-air mambo until they can spark an awkward conversation between a young child and their parent, frantically copulating as they zoom by and the child asks, “Daddy, why is that one dragonfly on top of that other dragonfly?” (The only reasonable answer, of course, is that the bottom one is giving the top one a piggyback ride, which makes me wonder…why don’t we call it piggybackstyle, or maybe dragonflystyle? Dogs get too much credit, methinks.)

Sorry—that took a weird left turn. In conclusion, this will bring you the same degree of satisfaction as the pair of dragonflies sitting on your windshield are currently experiencing.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, this was an amazing period for Spider-Man, with not one but three major events squished into a medium-sized volume covering 1986-1987.

Iron Man 2020 (Annual #20). This annual by two largely unknown authors was not one of them. For one, it's as much an Iron Man 2020 story as a Spider-Man story, and for another it's not that interesting. This book's only saving grace is its somewhat surprising pyrrhic victory, but again the authors concentrate more on the 2020 side of that than 1986. [3/5]

The Fall of the Hobgoblin & The Rose (ASM #289, WoSM #29-30). First up, this arc starts with one of the best Spider-Man comics of all-time, Priest's 1987 Spider-Man vs Wolverine. It's brilliantly written to really go to the core of these characters (but especially Spider-Man and his doubts and fears). And the comic has some extremely iconic scenes. But then you combine that with PAD's Amazing Spider-Man #289 and you have one of the best subversions of the entire superhero genre, because we learn that the Hobgoblin was killed off-handedly, off-panel, and we didn't even know it! Wow! That was amazing in 1987 and it's still amazing now (and if it was the result of byzantine arguments between different creators, who cares; the results were outstanding). The Web of Spider-Man issues that finish things off, focusing more on the Rose, aren't quite as good despite Priest's authorship. Oh, the Rose is a great character and his arc here is great too, but Priest has to spend the latter issue backtracking through the history of the Hobgoblin and the Rose, to explain how everything really works, and that was probably exhausting back in 1987 and a lot less relevant now, when there are still gaps in the Epic Collections, so all those older stories aren't available. Despite that, this is one of the best (short) Spider-Man arcs ever ... and we're just getting started [5+/5].

(The sad coda to this story is, as is way too often the case, it was wrecked by later authors. Or, in this case, earlier authors, because the big problem was hobgoblin creator Roger Stern. He had a less interesting answer for who the Hobgoblin was, that depended on a near-identical twin brother. The Priest/PAD answer certainly disappointed fans at the time too ... but at least it was one that continued to matter. In any case, 10 years later Roger Stern was allowed to come back with a "Hobgoblin Lives" miniseries which was a big retcon for the real identity of the Hobgoblin, which doesn't contradict this story, but which does undermine its delightful subversiveness. And really, it was an answer that no one cared about by 1997. Alas.)

The Wedding (ASM #290-292, Annual #21). Wow, this wedding comes out of nowhere! MJ and Peter aren't even dating beforehand, though thankfully we had a single very memorable scene in Spider-Man vs Wolverine that reminded us of the intensity of their feelings for each other. These issues are by David Micheline, definitely not one of my favorite authors of the '80s and '90s, but he does a great job of giving us some insight into MJ and her family which really makes the lead-up to the wedding. As for the wedding issue itself: it's OK. Deciding to focus on doubts instead of some super-villain attack is really in tune with the Spider-Man comic, but it also creates yet more disbelief in the rapidity of all of us, as we've got these characters wandering around town full of serious doubts in the days before their wedding. In the end, what happens next, with a new era for MJ and Peter, is probably more interesting than this arc [4/5].

(Of course, this is another story that's been ruined by modern day retconning, this time "One More Day", which set Spider-Man storytelling back by a decade, and was one of the worst examples ever of the reboot button in comics. In fact, even as I write this today, modern-day authors are still trying to repair the damage done. But back in 1987 all was well.)

Kraven's Last Hunt (ASM #293-294, WoSM #31-32, PPTSSM #131-132). With J.M. DeMatteis coming aboard, we get the amazing story that this volume is titled for: a deep dive into Kraven's diseased psyche. Besides writing an amazing character piece and a tense plot, DeMatteis also does a great job of connecting it to the other recent stories by believably depicting both Peter's fear of death following Ned's sudden demise and his fear of leaving Mary Jane behind. The fifth issue shocker is of course the thing that you'd never expect to happen in a comic, but it's just one of the many high points of this story [5+/5].

(And of course this story has been ruined too, very recently, when Kraven was brought back to life. The actual Spider-Man: Grim Hunt story was quite good, because it returned a soulless Kraven who does terrible things, but of course in more recent stories that's been totally forgotten, and so now Kraven is back alive and his Last Hunt is all but forgotten and instead he's acting as comic relief for Squirrel Girl. Sigh.)

Overall, this is a volume of great and/or notable stories, even if more recent storytellers have written far, far inferior sequels.

[Tony Romine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marvel's Epic Collection edition of KRAVEN'S LAST HUNT is basically an expanded version of the trade paperback collection of the same title. All of the comics in here come from various Spider-Man series including Amazing Spider-Man, Web of Spider-Man, The Spectacular Spider-Man, and the complete Spider-Man verses Wolverine one-shot as well as some bonus features. This collection can effectively be split into 3 distinct sections: the Hobgoblin stories, Spider-Man's wedding, and Kraven's Last Hunt.

The Hobgoblin storyline takes place over 5 issues, which include the Spidey/Wolverine one-shot and an Amazing Spider-Man Annual. It starts out with a crossover with Iron Man 2020 that leads into the Wolverine issues where Peter Parker is sent to Germany with a reporter to investigate the killings of some KGB agents by Charlemagne. Unbeknownst to them tough, Charlie is Wolverine's ex-flame and soon Spider-Man and Wolvie are battling it out. The repercussions of this lead to the reemergence of the Hobgoblin in New York City, which ties into the Kingpin and a mysterious villain named The Rose. It's a pretty convoluted stretch of events that has long lasting effects on Peter Parker throughout the rest of the book and some of it is really quite dated. I thought some of these comics were quite boring (the Iron Man 2020 and Wolverine issues in particular are really too long). My biggest issue here is that maybe one of the issues really matters in terms of getting some background for the title story arc, otherwise it just seems like padding out.

This brings us to the wedding storyline, which is comprised of 4 issues here. When the collection opens, things between Peter Parker and Mary Jane seem odd. He is very distant with her and seems nervous to even go talk to her when he needs to. This is because (and it never tells you this except in passing during the Wedding storyline mid-way through this collection) they decided to break up, just be friends and this had been the status quo for quite some time before the events of this collection. This is important to know because it makes the idea of him proposing marriage to her and the actual wedding to be that much more interesting. Other than that though, this arc is as bland as you would expect from any superhero wedding story. There is some tension with the Spider-Slayer trying to kill Spider-Man while Mary Jane goes to Pittsburgh to help her sister before she can accept the proposal, but it's really nothing memorable (much like Pittsburgh itself).

That brings us to the meat of this book: Kraven's Last Hunt. It's a 6 issue arc that tells the story of Kraven kidnapping Spider-Man and burying him alive. I won't go into too much detail about the story except to say that it's legendary in terms of Spider-Man stories. It's incredibly dark with some horror aspects thrown in and features a very disturbing villain called Vermin. I haven't read a ton of Spider-Man, but you can tell this marked a drastic shift in the comic series. The previous comics had a lot of remnants from that terrible 60s and 70s style of writing where the characters basically are saying things out loud that could be inferred with decent art and less dialogue (i.e. "Spider-Man must be really beat up about what happened between him and Wolverine" as opposed to just using exposition featuring dramatic angles and coloring to show these emotions). It's definitely the best story I've read featuring Kraven and easily one of the better Spider-Man arcs out there.

All in all, I would say unless you're a completest skip the Epic collection and go straight for the regular Kraven's Last Hunt volume. The only real purpose the extra comics in this served to do was show just how drastically different the tone in the comics from LAST HUNT were to it's predecessors.

[Alex Andrasik · Rating 3 out of 5]

4 stars for the Kraven portion. 3 stars for the wedding portion. 2 stars for the rest of the stuff. Balances out at 3 stars.

This Epic Collection bridges a transition in comic book history from the standard, sometimes silly adventure fare common in its earlier years, and on into the grittier, more psychologically-inflected era that the late 80s would bring. (That's not to say some comic books runs weren't doing this earlier, but the era on display here really shows where the sea change is happening.) It makes a really stark contrast when it's all bundled together like this: the hackneyed and obviously editorially-decreed resolution to the long-running Hobgoblin story, packaged with a preposterous time-travel story, a hackneyed team-up, and a tired giant robot adventure, all unfortunately tied with plot-ropes to the important character arc of Peter Parker's decision to ask Mary Jane to marry him in a cute if unrealistically precipitous wedding story, suddenly leading into a dark, complex psychological study of one damaged villain and a hero who suddenly seems way more serious than he did a few pages earlier. It makes for an interesting object lesson in the development of comic books, but as a collection it feels schizophrenic.

Let's talk about Kraven and his last hunt, though, because that dark, six-part epic is really, really good. Sergei Kravinov, one of Spidey's oldest yet silliest foes, has suffered a mental break, and is determined to finally restore his sullied honor by not only defeating Spider-Man, but by replacing him and proving himself superior. It's not air-tight, psychologically, but it's pretty heady stuff for the funnybooks. His break is rooted in his Russianness, in his history as a refugee, and in the ruin both brought down on his family. His existence is rooted in an overriding sense of inferiority. In a world of Spider-Men and superpowers, he had to keep proving himself. And he just couldn't take the grind anymore.

So: this is the collection in which Peter and Mary Jane get married. The event technically takes place in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21, but there's something pro forma and unconvincing about it. For my money, they don't become man and wife until Kraven's Last Hunt: it's in this arc that you see Mary Jane's fear for Peter's nightly adventures, her pride in his heroism. And it's not until this harrowing episode that I feel Peter's love for MJ--a love that has him literally crawling out of his grave to reach her. And when he does, Spider-Man--super strong, super witty, super brave--crawls into her arms for comfort. And I believed that they love each other.

This is a story about trauma. Its structure is almost post-modern in the recursive way Spider-Man, Kraven's, and even Vermin's trauma keep wending through--Spidey's most raw and immediate, with hope of healing; Kraven's old and set, headed for an inevitable end; and Vermin's, base, crawling, terrifying. How they all interlock and bounce off each other makes for some really well-done drama.

Oh, the art is great too. Smooth and dark and expressive, right in the comic book sweet spot of realism and cartoonishness. Why is Mike Zeck not more highly regarded?

[Kamakana · Rating 5 out of 5]

if you like this review, i now have website: www.michaelkamakana.com

180419: best superhero graphic i have read. review tomorrow...

200419: day late. i am not an organized superhero/villain like kraven. riley rec'd this to me but he meant only the title book, which is the best here. far best. art, story, arc, dialog/monologue... 'man of the year' which begins this collection, has moments, good story, family dynamics, irony. on wolverine there is some, plus politics, spies, betrayal etc. on gang war/hobgoblin is more what i always expected from comics. the existential 'big question' is here at least resolved by the long, long, too long issues about 'the wedding'...

maybe if i was a kid i, if i knew spidey, if i remembered this mary jane watson character etc. as mentioned previously, once me and my brother could read my mom would let us read no comics, so i do not know these things. did i have that common store of cultural myths? was i even as a child ever convinced of true love, for example. no. why i was/am skeptical if not cynical after much life i do not know: my parents love, care for, each other, my brother, wife, family, further cousins (mostly) seem to like being married, but like any religious aspect in stories this annoys/frustrates me. and i never did much like fairytales, myths, romances, soap operas etc...

and then there is 'kraven's last hunt'. damn this is good. this elevates the entire collection and, for me, coming right after comic book romance, saves the book at the right time. could read it alone. again and again. story told in images, quick, direct, with no pauses for thoughts of hampering realism, in plot or characters, just operatic extreme emotions/declarations, intense homosocial love from kraven, mythic/epic etc. mindless horror of vermin necessarily rescued by our good spidey. and the long death and being... no, read it/look at it. best superhero comic i have read (ok so i have not read that many...). riley says no one will ever make film of it. give me the money, i will...

[Marcin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hobgoblin - 2/5
Wedding - 4/5
Kraven - 5/5

[Logan B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Spider-Man: Kraven’s Last Hunt” by Owsley, Michelinie, and DeMatteis collects roughly the “Amazing Spider-Man” comics from 1986-1987 including the titular story arc which is one of the most critically revered in Spider-Man’s long history. This is the first time I’ve reviewed a comic book which adds a new dimension on top of the prose in the form of visual art.

I have a long history of reading comics and graphic novels as I had read dozens of them by the time I was getting into reading novels around middle school. However, over the course of high school and college I drifted away from the medium as coursework demanded my attention elsewhere and the endless slog of superhero movies depleted my interest in the genre. Coming back to read a comic compendium now years later felt like a true homecoming. I love the characters and worlds of Marvel comics particularly everyone’s favorite webhead.

Growing up, I read a lot of Marvel comics from the 60s and the then contemporary comics of the late 90s and 2000s, so the 80s were a somewhat blind spot in my personal comic history. I heard a lot about this story arc and knew I wanted to fill that gap in my Spidey knowledge.

Firstly, I really love the artwork from this era of Marvel. It strikes a fine balance of detailed, realistic proportioned figures (in contrast to the highly exaggerated comic art of the “Todd McFarlane” style-dominated 90s) while maintaining the vivid, eye catching colors of the earlier era of comic art before the more muted colors of modern comics. The result is a feast for the eyes of pop art that jumps off the page.

As for the story itself, due to the omnibus nature of the trade paperback, it includes a variety of story arcs. These include a one-shot team up with Wolverine, the conclusion to an ongoing arc revealing the identity of the Hobgoblin, an interlude of Spider-Man balancing his romantic life with Mary Jane and fighting off Alistair Smythe’s Spider-Slayer robot, and finally the Kraven’s Last Hunt story arc.

I thought the crossover issue with Wolverine was decent, mainly bolstered by an interesting moral quandary at the end that I won’t spoil here, but otherwise felt like a standard Cold War spy story.

The Hobgoblin story arc I feel mostly unqualified to judge as I have not read previous epic collections that cover the beginning and middle of what was a long running mystery in the comics. Thus it was not particularly fulfilling to me to see the end of it when I wasn’t familiar with the plot or side characters.

The Spider-Slayer arc was where I really started to enjoy this volume the most. I call it the “Spider-Slayer” arc but the titular villain was mainly a b-plot for the actual story of Peter finally figuring out his love life and asking Mary Jane to marry him. I found Pete and MJ’s chemistry to be exceptional and a great example of their relationship. This culminates in the fantastic wedding issue. As far as I’m concerned, this is a perfect comic issue: action, character, reflection, and culminating in perhaps the single happiest moment of Peter Parker’s life. I thoroughly enjoyed this giant sized issue.

Kraven’s Last Hunt is a strange one. It feels more like a Frank Miller or Alan Moore Batman graphic novel than it does a Spider-Man one and takes us on a dark journey through the twisted mind of the Hunter. While I can appreciate a good dive into a villain’s psyche, I just didn’t really connect with or even understand Kraven’s motives here. He goes on rambling internal monologues about “becoming the Spider” in the search for an honorable death for a few issues before reaching his own definitive conclusion. I wanted to enjoy this arc more, but it just fell flat for me.

So as a whole I’m left feeling conflicted about this volume. I ended up enjoying the story arc the most in the collection that I had probably the least anticipation for, was underwhelmed by the titular arc, but loved every page of the artwork. So I’m left with an overall positive impression but not one I can strongly cling to. Regardless, I look forward to returning to reading more comics in the future and continuing the adventures I started reading at the dawn of my literary awakening.

[Tom Ewing · Rating 2 out of 5]

For nostalgia reasons I should probably mark this higher, as I bought the Kraven’s Last Hunt storyline in single issues at the time and thought it was pretty neat. But - Mike Zeck’s excellent covers and stylish interiors aside - it hasn’t aged well. There’s a taut three issue storyline in here bulked out to twice that length by painful interior monologues which read (and thanks to the lettering look) like an editor has slammed down copies of the then-recent Batman: Year One on someone’s desk and yelled “why the hell can’t we have one of these?”

Of course it doesn’t help that everything in this entire collection has been redone and undone several times since, and it doesn’t help that the opening arc is a redo anyway, assorted writers trying to wrestle the convoluted Hobgoblin story to the ground. Priest’s Spider-Man vs Wolverine somehow rises above this mess to become the highlight of the whole collection, with Peter Parker shockingly out of his depth in a world of spycraft and secrets. It’s way more psychologically acute than all the Kraven hokum, and was accordingly much less well received.

Between the Hobgoblin and Kraven is the Spider-Wedding: very much “marry in haste, let editors repent at leisure”. The lead-up is rushed nonsense but the wedding issue itself isn’t bad, with Peter having what looks like the world’s crappiest stag night with Flash and Harry Osborne. You suspect the writers would have liked to push the joke of Peter’s supposed rival being a dark haired millionaire named “Bruce” a little further than they were allowed.

[Seth Woodley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a little slow until the final arc, Kraven's Last Hunt. This value contains three major story arcs, so it is a good value. This collection deals with a lot of the baggage and complexities of Peter Parker living a double life as Spider-Man. Some of the issues in the first two arcs are a little weak and really do very little beyond advancing the plot to reach the final arc. However, the payoff is pretty good when you get toward the end of this volume.

[Daniel Sevitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this because I wanted to own and reread the Kraven's Last Hunt storyline. I might have been better off paying up for a standalone tpb as this was a little unwieldy to read. Most of the stories prior to the six-parter that I came for were padding. It feels like a rough time in Spidey's life. He seems to have been friend-zoned by both MJ and the Black Cat, his career is in a rut, and he feels the burden of constantly lying to Aunt May. Into the middle of all this come Wolverine to screw up a journalism assignment in Berlin which leaves Peter with a dead friend and some horrific guilt about accidentally punching a woman to death. There are not many laughs here. Everyone remembers how dark and gritty Batman was in the late 80s, but this is Peter Parker at his regular shitty life-iest.

Still even with all this doom and gloom, the colours still pop and he manages to build up enough courage to propose to MJ and make it to the wedding.

Then two-thirds into this collection we come to the main attraction. Kraven the Hunter was C-list at best. Uncinematic. Silly costume. Cartoonish accent. DeMatteis here turns him into a tragic figure, way more interesting than Spider-Man. He is a man battling his demons, wrestling with notions of honour and standing on the precipice of oblivion. The most obvious comparison is Moore's Killing Joke, which DeMatteis references in his introduction to the first collected edition, included here as one of the DVD extras. In this story Kraven is the hero. He defeats Spider-Man easily and takes on his costume. Spider-Man returns, literally, from the grave and Kraven bests him once again. I won't spoil things further, but there are trigger warnings here for a reason. This was an astonishing story when it was published and it wowed me all over again reading it this time.

This storyline is so much better than everything that precedes it including endless filler with Wolverine, the Rose, Hobgoblin and the Kingpin. Still shocking and maybe one of the great Spider-Man stories of all time.

[Terry Mcginnis · Rating 5 out of 5]

First off, the rating I gave is for the Kraven's Last Hunt storyline, not this entire collection. I did read it in its entirety, and boy has it aged! The lead-in stuff to Kraven't Last Hunt included a Ned Leeds (Hobgoblin storyline) that connected with Spider-Man vs. Wolverine (also included), the wedding special, and then finally the Kraven story. What a bore and chore to get through. This stuff is VERY dated and does not hold up well. The only things you need to know are: Ned Leeds dies, Spider-Man and Wolverine have a pointless fight, and Peter & Mary Jane tie the knot.

Now for the good stuff. Kraven's Last Hunt was, is, and will forever be truly epic. It holds up today as if it were written today. The writing captures the psyche of Kraven perfectly, and really puts you in his head, even having readers sympathize with him before it's all said and done. For Peter, the same can be said. This is an emotional, scarring, traumatic, life-changing journey for him. You really feel like you're on a journey with someone who's been shot, buried, and had to claw his way out of a grave after two weeks! The psychological after-effect are maddening, and the writing and art capture this beautifully. The man, Peter Parker, has rarely been showcased in such a separated way from his alter-ego Spider-Man.

In the end, what we have is a volume for completists that includes one of the greatest Spider-Man stories ever. If you are only interested in Kraven's Last Hunt, I urge you to only read that story. This is one of Spider-Man's best and most important stories and, as the story is aptly titled, Kraven's LAST hunt, literally and metaphorically. This comes with my highest possible recommendation.

[Marcelo Soares · Rating 5 out of 5]

O grande momento oitentista do Aranha está aqui: A Última Caçada de Kraven, a melhor história do Aranhoso de todos os tempos.
Porém tem coisa antes; um Annual com o Homem de Ferro 2020 que envolve viagem no tempo e como quase tudo que envolve viagem no tempo é uma merda; temos um Aranha vs Wolverine na Alemanha Oriental numa bela historia de espionagem com revelações surpreendentes; temos a revelação de quem é o Duende Macabro - SIM! É o Ned Leeds! - e a origem do Rosa - "Papai não me ama, vou punir papai." - e o dia mais importante da vida de Peter Parker e Mary Jane: o casamento.
Quer dizer, até eles venderam o casamento por mais uma meia dúzia de anos para a Tia May.
A história do casamento é bem meia boca, com muitas dúvidas e inseguranças e uma ou outra coisa meio inexplicável, mas assim que eles voltam da lua-de-mel, Kraven.
Eu não vou falar muito sobre a terrível simetria da última caçada de Kraven, porque é a história do Aranha que todo mundo deveria ler; então leiam.

[Alyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 if I could. I've been wanting to read Kraven's Last Hunt for a long time, and I understand why it's such a classic, although it was a little darker than I usually like when it comes to comics. I appreciated some of the context provided by the additional content in the Epic Collection, but a lot of it felt unnecessary. I am glad, however, to have seen the story with Wolverine because I don't think I'd have read it otherwise. I really liked all the supplemental writing about the wedding of Spider-Man and MJ!

[Cristhian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joya.

Tanto trasfondo, Kraven termina siendo lo que el profesor Zoom nunca logró.

5/5


Ojalá nunca lo hubiesen revivido.

[DarthPenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. Will read again

[Logan Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

That was rad as hell, got me even more excited for the new spidey game coming out. I definitely understand why this storyline is one of the most famous in spideys history

[Daniel Parsons · Rating 4 out of 5]

While there's some great content in this collection, if you're just looking for the flagship story of Kraven's Last Hunt, that only makes up 1/3 of this TPB. The other 2/3rds are wrapping up some other stories and providing some semi-helpful context to Kraven's Last Hunt (specifically who Ned Leeds is and what happened to him, and an important wedding).

[Carl Labollita · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot going on with a lot of twists and thrilling story’s

[Thezachespinoza · Rating 2 out of 5]

Spider-Man is nothing to be marveled at

[Micah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great collection of arcs spanning 10+ issues. The Kraven story is perfect, gritty, moody, with plenty of madness. It's fun to explore the bad guys, and there's a great use of Vermin in this story. This is peak Spidey from story to art, a must have collection.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

As of this review, there are two versions of Kraven's Last Hunt in print: this Epic Collection and a different but similarly titled HC. In my opinion the Epic Collection takes it for reprinting Spider-Man Versus Wolverine, the most glaring omission from the HC. Outside of that story you get the title story unedited or without coloration, another preference I have over the other, remastered version.

Kraven itself comes at the end of the Epic Collection, built up by the various crises in Peter Parker's life leading to what's rightly hailed as one of the most psychologically gripping yarns ever spun in a Spider-Book. I'd never read the story in as complete a context as this collection puts it before, and I think DeMatteis & Zeck's work is stronger for it. If I have one major complaint of it, it's that the connection between Kraven and some other tortured Russians of his generation (here's looking at you, Dostoyevsky) was too rich a comparison to be drawn for Kraven's final storyline. It leaves the lit nerd in me begging for less time spent on Vermin and more of The Brothers Karamazov playing out between Kraven the Hunter and his half-brother The Chameleon with Spider-Man in the middle. Perhaps those sequels to Kraven's Last Hunt bound in the HC may sate that want, but this Epic Collection is an excellent jumping off point for the story and 80's Spider-Man in general.

[Henry Blackwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alright i feel like I should get this out of the way. Overall as a trade I’ve rated this 3 stars out of five. But I’m also going to rate it another way too.

For the actual Kraven the Hunter 6 Issue mini, I give it 5/5 its an amazing story one of the best Spider-Man stories ever penned in my opinion.

The wedding issue was fun too, I’d give that a 4/5.

As for the rest of it, meaning the first 200 pages of this trade, it really sucked and added nothing to the original story. I honestly don’t know why it’s there other than to make us pay more money for it. I give it a 1/5 stars. Everything about these issues was bad. It felt like everything a comic is known for in a bad way.

[Derek Moreland · Rating 4 out of 5]

More like 3 and a half, but I'm bumping to a full star because, c'mon--its KRAVEN'S LAST HUNT.

The book kicks off with an annual that's here because theres literally no other place to put it, and follows up with the big Hobgoblin identity reveal that, even disregarding the Stern retcon a decade later, is a complete mess of exposition dumps, false leads, and a desperate attempt to get a new mystery cooking. Thankfully, the Spider-Man vs Wolverine story is just as much of a gut punch now as it was when it was published, the wedding is still cute, and again--KRAVEN'S LAST HUNT, y'all.

[Zach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spider-Man was my favorite character of all time until I was about 15. I loved everything about this character. I loved his costume, the stories, the villains, the merchandise, the movies everything. It was all awesome to me.
It wasn't until I kept reading Spider-Man and noticing a few things. Modern Spider-Man doesn't change. Sure he does a little bit with stories that show some sort of change, but Marvel has been too afraid to do anything meaningful with the character. Some of this is due in part to Joe Quesada who started or at least carried out a lot of this mess, but a lot can also be pinned on editors and writers before him as far back as The Clone Saga. What could have been a masterclass Spidey story was drawn out for way too long, inconsistent in quality, and was torturous for both the readers and the writers. No one was happy by the end of it, but at least Peter was confirmed to be the one true Spider-Man and he was still with Mary Jane.
There were a couple years of good stuff. There was the time Spidey was framed for murder so Pete had to have 4 different superhero identities to prove his own innocence. The J. Michael Straczynski run which is considered an all-time classic (even though there were plenty of bad storylines in that book such as sins past and one more day). Hell, even after Brand New Day, Dan Slott of all people was able to make the book enjoyable some of the time with Superior Spider-Man and Big Time.
Nowadays, it seems that the only way that Peter Parker has gotten any love is in alt dimension stories such as Life Story and the new Ultimate Universe. Hell, the original Ultimate run was consistently running before I was born until I was in my teens, and that was the quintessential Spider-Man run for an entire generation. AND IT DIDN'T EVEN TAKE PLACE IN THE MAINLINE CONTINUITY!!!
Nick Spencer's run on the character felt like cleaning up shop. Justifying editorial interference from years before, creating stories that were not sticking at all, and just overall not being serious enough to be a great Spider-Man story or funny enough to be an iconic Spider-Man story. Zeb Wells is doing even worse from what I hear, love Paul and MJ relationship its so goated.
But this shit hit different. I loved this book. Even the lesser writing from David Michelinie was at least tolerable.
I only bought this because I decided to collect all my classic stories in Epic Collections instead of just regular trades, and I haven't regretted that decision thus far. Kraven's Last Hunt was just the cherry on top of an already really good storyline.
The death of Ned Leeds in Berlin was so fucking good. I loved that Wolverine and Spider-Man have a fight, and Peter accidentally killing the woman on the run who's been murdering KGB agents is so good. The whole time you can see that he's struggling with the ramifications, and it haunts him in the next issues after that. Not as much in the marriage issue but that's just because its supposed to be this big celebration.
The marriage issue feels rushed I cannot lie. Maybe 3 issues before the marriage issue, we get a story where Peter and Black Cat talk and are consistently dating. This is in Peter David's line of books since there were 6 ongoing Spider-Man titles at the time. By the way, out of all the writers here, I have to say that Peter David's feels the MOST like a modern comic book. The way he's inner monologuing, he doesn't really do any of the thought bubbles, and the dialogue all feel way less comic booky than what I've read in other comics of that same time (refer to my review of Englehart's FF). J.M DeMatteis also writes more modern, but I don't think anyone was arguing that with Kraven's Last Hunt.
I loved Ben Owsley's writing and Peter David's as mentioned before, and artists vary in quality. John Romita Jr. is in the book and his art leaves some to be desired. I'm very glad that he didn't draw for the wedding issue since that would've made for an even worse looking book, but this is still around the time his art was more copying his father's (rest in peace John Romita). Still, you can see that his art is some of the quickest and has the least amount of love put in. On top of that, one of the worst inkers in the industry, Vince Coletta, goes in to ink those issues. Holy shit he really ruined the depth of the art that John Romita Jr. was already lacking.
Whoever drew the Spider-Man and Wolverine issue was incredible. The way he used the stark red to reference Spidey's accidental death blow just made it look so powerful and haunting in a way I cannot forget. I loved every second of that issue and this whole run had me wanting to pick up the book whenever I got a shot.
Mike Zeck's art at the end is also top notch. There's a specific panel that Zeck drew of Kraven with his nose scrunched up, and it reminded me of Gary Frank's modern stuff. That's so telling of how ahead of his time Zeck really was with his art, and he will forever be one of the best of the best.
I felt the love I used to feel for Peter Parker when I read this comic. I felt all of the endearing aspects of Spider-Man and I wish him and MJ were back together in the comics. I wish that Spider-Man could be in darker stories and stories that change the status quo. But until then, I'm going to keep reading some of these older runs to get the Spidey kick I need.

[Joseph Russo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was absolute dark, gritty peak. The Iron Man 2020 annual was actually insane, and the Wolverine vs Spiderman story was tragic and very intriguing. Pages 100-200 dealing the gang war were mid, but the story of Peter’s recovery of Ned’s Leeds death was good, leading to The wedding arc which was peak, especially the annual and the pennsylvania issue. FOLLOWED BY THE GOAT, Kravens last hunt. Golly, kravens character has so much depth and intrigue. The story is truly one of tragedy, and is super dark, but damn is it good. the perfect send off to kraven, dying with his own twisted perception of honor, completing the hunt, with spiderman finding out what makes him him. he is not the spider, he is peter parker. he saves vermin when the devil on his shoulder wants him dead. honestly the book has themes of insanity, not just action. peak

The Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection: Kraven’s Last Hunt gathers not only the six-part crossover itself but also the key lead-in stories that make it hit harder. It opens with Amazing Spider-Man #289, where the “Hobgoblin mystery” reaches a boiling point and Ned Leeds is killed, setting Peter Parker into a spiral of guilt and grief. This leads into the one-shot Spider-Man vs. Wolverine, where Spider-Man accidentally kills Wolverine’s friend Charlie, deepening his trauma and reminding him how fragile life is. From there, the book lightens briefly with Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21 and issues #290-292, chronicling Peter and Mary Jane’s wedding and the start of their married life. These moments of hope and love are crucial, because they raise the personal stakes—Peter now has something profound to lose. Rounding out the prelude are Web of Spider-Man #29-30, which show Peter juggling his everyday routines and MJ’s growing concern, lulling the reader into a sense of normalcy before the storm hits.

That storm is, of course, Kraven’s Last Hunt, told across Web of Spider-Man #31-32, Amazing Spider-Man #293-294, and Spectacular Spider-Man #131-132. Kraven the Hunter, feeling his life is meaningless, decides to prove his superiority over Spider-Man once and for all. In the shocking first chapter, he tranquilizes Peter and buries him alive in a coffin, then dons the black costume himself. While Spider-Man struggles underground with visions of death and rebirth, Kraven stalks the city as a brutal, lethal version of him, “proving” that he can be a better Spider-Man. Eventually, Peter claws his way out of the grave in one of the most iconic moments in his history, confronting Kraven only to find that the hunter has no interest in fighting—he believes he has already won. Kraven stages one last challenge, unleashing Vermin to demonstrate that he can defeat foes Spider-Man never could alone, but Peter once again refuses to kill, showing the compassion that defines him. With his twisted sense of honor satisfied, Kraven ends his own life with a rifle, leaving Spider-Man to pick up the pieces and return to Mary Jane, scarred but resolute.

Taken together, the Epic Collection gives Kraven’s Last Hunt far more weight than the six issues alone. The death of Ned Leeds and the tragedy in Germany emphasize Peter’s guilt and trauma, the wedding issues emphasize his love and hope, and the smaller Web of Spider-Man preludes remind us of his day-to-day humanity. By the time Kraven strikes, Peter has more to lose than ever, and his struggle out of the coffin becomes not just a fight for survival but a fight for everything he represents: compassion, responsibility, and love. The contrast with Kraven’s violent, empty “Spider-Man” is starker because we’ve seen what the real Spider-Man has built. In the end, the Epic Collection isn’t just about one of the darkest Spider-Man stories ever told—it’s about how that darkness tests him, and how his humanity, not his strength, is what truly sets him apart.

[Ben Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man of the Year, in which, Spider-Man faces against a time-traveling Arno Stark. I don’t know much about the Iron Man of 2020, but I found his story really compelling, I wouldn’t mind reading more about him. It’s kinda tragic but Spidey inadvertently ends up causing the destruction of Arno’s future.

Spider-Man vs Wolverine is a fantastic story that gives both protagonists an emotional story arc. Really enjoyed this one. It’s an exciting spy story and ends up being really important for the main Spider-Man story.

The next sequence is a series of issues tracing the fallout of the key character death from Spider-Man vs Wolverine. I haven’t read much about the Hobgoblin/Rose storyline, so I didn’t care for these as much, but they’re still enjoyable issues. Peter really has to regain his confidence in being Spider-Man and this comes from Flash Thompson, Spidey’s biggest fan. It was interesting how we get to see some of the same events at the same time between Amazing and Web issues, including getting background on the Rose.

Following this is a trilogy about Peter trying to get back in touch with his personal life, which he starts off by randomly proposing to MJ, whom he isn’t even dating at the time. It’s a fun series, bringing Spidey to Pittsburgh to help MJ with some family issues while the Spider Slayer hunts him down. It’s a little jarring as the issue before, Peter seems to be living with Felicia, who makes him a new set of costumes, but Peter immediately turns around and proposes to MJ. It’s confusing but I’m sure there’s context I’m missing from Web or Spectacular issues which aren’t included here (except for when there’s crossovers).

The wedding issue (yet another double sized issue in a book full of them) gives us some interesting character moments with both MJ and Peter questioning their decisions. MJ gets hounded by a rich guy named Bruce, and the party girl almost falls for it, not because she likes Bruce but because she knows she’ll miss that lifestyle. I found that a unique angle to explore, although to be honest I haven’t read a ton of older Spider-Man outside of the original Stan Lee-Steve Ditko run.

And finally, Kraven’s Last Hunt. This story is a stark departure from the writing and art styles of the other stories. I’d heard about the major elements of Last Hunt previously, but the actual story was quite different from what I expected. In a way, I feel like it was built up too much in my head. It’s a great story for sure, but I’m still not sure what to make of it. Kraven defeats Spider-Man and becomes him to give himself one last triumph. But I didn’t quite understand what the Vermin was doing here, what he was supposed to represent. It’s clear that Kraven’s idea of Spider-Man as a symbolic creature he has to hunt to avenge his family honor vs the reality of Peter Parker as a compassionate human is played with but, I don’t know, maybe I read it too fast but it didn’t hit like I feel it should have.

Overall, this is an important collection. Without the context of the years-long Hobgoblin mystery and the on-off again MJ romance, I’m not sure this chunk of years is as impactful as it should be, but regardless, it’s fun to get a year’s worth of classic 80s Spider-Man.

[Jesse Bradstreet · Rating 4 out of 5]

8.5/10

First off, these Marvel Epic Collections seem like a pretty cool series of classic reprints, I'll have to check out more of them some time. Second, this trade is titled Kraven's Last Hunt, which is a classic storyline I hadn't read prior, but it collects a lot more than that. The quality here is, as a result, varied. This basically includes 3 major storylines and one odds-and-end story which kicks off the collection. The thru-line is that these all are either from "The Amazing Spider-Man" or are important enough to understand that core title that they were included here. We kick off with an ASM annual, which focusses in a character which is clearly no longer relevant, Arno Stark A.K.A. Iron Man 2020. This time travel based story is pretty throw away and probably the worst story in the collection, though it does address many of your classic Spider-Man/Peter Parker dilemmas. After that, we have the first of three major storylines, in which we learn who the original Hobgoblin/s is/are. This includes the massive Spider-Man VS Wolverine #1, which kicks off the action, and a couple issues of spin-off title "Web Of Spider-Man" and is a classic Spidey tale, and a satisfying one at that. I'd never read this story before, but knew the Hobgoblin reveal, and in context of the story, it works pretty great. Plus Wolverine shows up twice, and the subplot which drives his appearances is compelling and an early hint of the rougher-edged Spidey storytelling that would come in the Kraven storyline. The second major story is the wedding of Peter Parker and Mary Jane, which is a pretty good story (especially the actual wedding issue) that just makes me angry all over again over all the future retconning they did with it. But whatcha gonna do? Comics.... Preceding the wedding, Mary Jane's personal drama takes center stage, which works pretty well, though we also have to put up with a lame Spider Slayer subplot. The final story here, of course, is the best: Kraven's Last Hunt. It's a classic arc, so I'm sure I don't need to describe it much, but the one thing that strikes me the most here is just how different (in a good way) the art is here. Great story.

We also get a couple of bonuses regarding the wedding stuff, including an interesting, but ultimately tedious version of the wedding that Stan Lee wrote in newspaper strip form, and some pencil layouts to the Kraven stuff, which just underlines how great the art is. Obviously since we've got several different story arcs and creative teams at work here, it's gonna be a mixed bag, but it's far more on the positive side than the negative. I just wish they included the Peter/Mary Jane honeymoon issue here.

[Krzysztof Grabowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jedna z tych pozycji, po której oczekiwałem naprawdę wiele, a dostałem nie dosyć, abym był zadowolony. Plus sztandarowy przykład, że klasyk może się ładnie nie zestarzeć.

Musicie wiedzieć, że tytułowe opowiadanie "Ostatnie łowy Kravena" zajmują ostatnie sześć zeszytów tego mocnego zbioru, który liczy pełne pięćset stron. Jest to też najlepszy kawałek jaki tu mamy, ale zanim do niego się dojdzie, to trzeba przebrnąć przez kilka pomniejszych wątków, które dla mnie były średnio atrakcyjne.

Peter Parker nie ma łatwego życia. A to zmierzy się z Iron Manem, który przybył z przyszłości, aby zmienić linię czasu i zapobiec nieszczęściu. Tyle, że wiąże się to zabójstwo. Następnie na zlecenie J. Jonah Jamesona udaje się do Niemczech, gdzie napotyka Wolverine'a. W końcu przyjdzie mu także wejść w sparing z Hobgoblinem. Co z tym wszystkim ma wspólnego Kingpin i niejaki Rose?

Ale żeby nie było, że Spider-man to tylko mordobicie i huśtanie się sieci, to ten numer także trochę zamiesza w życiu osobistym Parkera i Mary Jane, stawiając tych dwoje przed ślubnym kobiercem. Sielanka jednak nie trwa długo, bo do akcji wkracza Kraven, który podejmuje się ostatnich łowów. Cel: Spider-man. I uwaga: udaje mu się. Co to oznacza dla Pajączka?

Historia J. M. DeMatteisa jest mroczna, zmienia nieco polaryzację dotychczasowego przedstawiania Pajączka, które nie jest już takie kolorowe, jak wcześniej. Autor przede wszystkim bardzo dobrze rozpisał tutaj postać przeciwnika Pająka, który ma parcie, aby określić swoją tożsamość, przed czasem kiedy zwyczajnie się zestarzeje i nigdy nie osiągnie swojego celu, jakim jest dorwanie najważniejszej zwierzyny w jego życiu.

Jednocześnie oddziałuje to na Parkera, na którym wymusza konfrontację z lękiem przed śmiercią. W tle mamy jeszcze jakiegoś szczuropodobnego stwora, z którym zmierzy się tak Kraven, jak i Pająk, tylko że obaj inaczej, co stanowi o ich charakterze. Kreska.

Aspektem, który zestarzał się najmocniej jest warstwa wizualna. Postacie wyglądają, jak wyglądają. Peter wygląda dziwnie, bo osobiście wychowałem się na wizerunku postaci rodem z Ultimate Spider-Man. Tutaj wygląda on jak mój ojciec w młodości, z tym fryzem. Niemniej wygląda to słabiutko, choć zdarzają się szczegóły, o jakich bym nie pomyślał, że przy tak ograniczonym warsztacie.

Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection Vol. 17 jest ciekawostką dla kolekcjonerów, którzy mają sentyment do tytułu. Dla nowych czytelników będzie ciekawostką, jak kiedyś kreślono komiksy. Dla mnie tytuł był uciążliwy i ledwo co przez niego przebrnąłem, ale wiem iż jest też pewnym przełomem w prowadzeniu narracji, więc przynajmniej za to należy się szacunek.

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a lot of ways, this is kind of the starting point for Spider-man in the Modern Era. This collection has the reveal of the Hobgoblin’s identity, the Spider-man vs Wolverine one-shot by Christopher Priest, the strange-at-the-time editorial decision to have Peter marry Mary Jane (which makes up most of the back matter for the book) and the eponymous Kraven’s Last Hunt storyline.

Christopher Priest is a writer with a really high hit rate in quality and his stuff here does not disappoint. He captures the voices of both Peter and Wolverine really well and spins a yarn that is still great reading today. David Michelinie is probably the weakest regular writer but even that’s selling him short because he’s sandwiched between a really dope one-shot and one of the most iconic Spider-Man storylines of all time. He does a good sad sack Peter, and I want to read more of his stuff (especially curious about his time with The Avengers as a lot of that is comics I don’t think I’ve ever actually read). J.M. Dematteis is the star in this collection. He’s more hot and cold to me, but when he hits for me it’s usually a home run, and to torture a metaphor Kraven’s Last Hunt is a Grand Slam. It eschews the thought balloon for the third-person limited caption box, and packs in a lot of character into the dialogue and sequences.

For art, we get John Romita Jr, the late Mark Bright, and Mike Zeck and none of them disappoint. JRJR is doing art that’s more of a house style than his current work, but it works here. Mark Bright was one of the most consistent artists in the business and while his stuff doesn’t shine as brightly here, it’s good meat and potatoes superhero comics. Mike Zeck is really at the top of his game here, and his storytelling couples perfectly with DeMatteis’ plotting and writing.

Truth be told, if someone just wanted to read one book of Spider-man as a sampler, outside of the title story this is probably not the first collection I’d send their way. However, it would be a fine second run once someone has a little familiarity with Peter’s whole deal.