Just in time for the Across The Spider-Verse film comes the latest chapter in the comics that inspired the hit animated film – Spider-Man Vol. 1: End of The Spider-Verse. Morlun is back — and he is not alone. Allied with one of the most powerful beings known to the Spider-Verse, the scariest villain of all time is making his biggest play… and no Spider is safe. Especially not the Chosen Spider himself, Peter Parker. But with Peter currently working for Norman Osborn and using a glider… does he have it coming?
It has been a busy two years for Spider-Man. With his 60th birthday celebration wrapping up, this month marked the release of Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse – the highly anticipated sequel to the much loved (and Oscar winning) animated classic Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. It is only fitting that the main Marvel comic universe revisits the classic Spider-Verse series that inspired the film. To facilitate that, we have both the return of the adjective less Spider-Man title that was launched in the early 90s by Todd McFarlane; and the return of long-time Spider-Man creators Dan Slott and Mark Bagley.
As you’d expect, both are on top form. Bagley is one of the definitive artists to work on Spider-Man and End of Spider-Verse gives him plenty of characters and action for him to flex his artistic muscles. Slott meanwhile gets to demonstrate his deep knowledge of Spidey lore. Every Spider-Man variant imaginable makes an appearance from Miles Morales, Spider-Gwen, Silk, Spider-Ham, Spider-Man 2099 to new characters including Felicia Hardy taking on the role of Night-Spider and an alternate universe version of Kraven The Hunter known as Hunter-Spider. We are even introduced to Spider-Boy at the very end who will play an important role in upcoming Spider-Man stories.
Slott also continues to build on not only his Spider-Verse work but delve further into J Michael Straczynski’s run with the return of Shathra – the Spider-Wasp who clashed with Spider-Man during his encounters with the mysterious Ezekiel. She plays a much larger role this time round which has rather dire consequences. One particular action of hers leads to an exploration of a radically different origin of Peter Parker as we get to see a future where he is never bitten by a radioactive spider and becomes a staunch supporter and ally of the leading web slinger of his world Silk.
End of The Spider-Verse is an action-packed adventure that will appeal to a wide variety of Spider-Man fans. It’s also a perfect jumping on point for viewers of Across The Spider-Verse who wish to see the comic side of that concept.
Spider-Man Vol. 1: End of The Spider-Verse is out now from Marvel (9781302946562, p/b, £23.99)
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