Edge of Spider-Verse #1 Review

“My sixth sense tells me when there’s danger, but I’ve been feeling it constantly for weeks now. A low-level, throbbing pulse.”

1939 New York. Spider-Man Noir faces the maleficent threat of aspiring gang lord, The Magnificent Mysterio. If he can escape his death trap in front of a live audience, will he have the strength to overcome a threat far more dire?

Writers: David Hine with Fabrice Sapolsky

Artist: Richard Isanove

Letterer & Production: VC’s Clayton Cowles

Variant Cover Artists: Greg Land, Jay Leisten & Morry Hollowell

Assoc. Editor: Ellie Pyle

Editor: Nick Lowe

The Story:It’s been six years since The Spider-Man showed up on the New York scene to battle the likes of The Goblin and The Crime Master. Mysterio The Magician wants to rise to power and sees the blood of The Spider-Man as the ticket to get him there. Concocting a death trap, complete with the Masked Cat Lady as bait, he plans on getting The Spider-Man’s blood in front of a live audience. However, other forces are at work that may interfere with his plans…

Thoughts: Original mini-series writers Hine and Sapolsky return to the world of Marvel Noir with another great variation of familiar Spidey characters. This is a tight issue, a refreshing pace from the padded for the trade variety. The writers quickly establish where the character has been, give a brief allusion to the source of our hero’s power, and get on with the matter at hand.

I tend to think of Isanove as a colorist and he does a fine job here with pencils this time out. One of the things that struck me with the first Noir mini was the art. Carmine Di Giandomenico had a very distinct look on the original series, one that took me aback on the first read through. I was expecting to see a style reflecting that of the series’ covers, which isn’t what you get. Isanove doesn’t have that problem as he handles both for this issue. In fact, his work slightly reminds me of a still dark, but more visible Jae Lee. By that I mean, you can still clearly make out what is going on and to whom.

Mysterio Noir’s look is very consistent with the era. Gone are the bubble head, chest eyes, and cape. Now he is adorned in Ditko green and his stage partner is sporting a purple outfit to at least keep the villain’s color scheme going. The bottom of his mask reminds me of classic Iron Man, fitting as he is also mustachioed like the Tony Stark of old, too.

A Noir version of Wilson Fisk shows up as well, though I would hesitate to label him as the Kingpin just yet. He seems to be more of a hands on enforcer than organized crime leader. Very little is done to make him fit in with this universe as he is already evocative of a Sidney Greenstreet type. There’s a great moment where Mysterio has Felicia take off her mask, revealing her disfigurement. Fisk looks upon her and realizes there isn’t a thing further he could do to her to get her to talk. There are threads left in this story that make me wonder if we’ll see a follow up mini-series, which I’d be all for. 

It was nice to see Peter, MJ and Aunt May all together again and I enjoyed Peter trying to deduce how Mysterio pulls off his illusions. It was good to see he still had the science background since I only remember him focusing more on journalism in the first series. (Confession-I’ve yet to read the follow up, Eyes Without A Face) This Spider-Man carries a gun, which fits with the whole Noir aesthetic, but made him feel ineffective somehow when he wielded it against the issue’s dimension hopping Big Bad. The way Isanove has him posed, combined with the camera angle, made him feel diminutive to me. 

The Superior Spider-Man’s appearance seemed a bit off to me. Admittedly, I haven’t read much of SpOck, but his dialogue seemed more flippant than I would attribute to him. It felt more Peter than Otto. 

Speaking of dialogue, I would’ve liked a more hard boiled detective style tone to the narration. Not quite to a Frank Miller/Sin City extreme, but something a little more than the typical modern comic book style here. Not that it was bad, I just would like to see it a little more in the Noir vein if we get another go round in this particular universe. 

Despite those mild criticisms, I had a lot of fun with this issue and seeing this universe again. I hope this team returns to tell another tale so we can see what happens with Felicia and the blood and what becomes of Fisk. A few months ago, I probably wouldn’t have picked this up, but I’m glad I did. 

My Grade: A-

 Javi’s Huh?: What’s with the picture on the bottom front page of the Daily Bugle that MJ is reading on page 11? It looks a lot like a photo of an artist drawing a picture of 616 Spidey with MJ with a Romita Sr. looking MJ posing in the background!