Edge of Spider-Verse #3 Review

  “Wait, I know your face! You’re one of the victims.“

Aaron Aikman is the Spider-Man. When he’s not busy as a molecular biologist at Ikegami, he is busy protecting the city in armor of his own design from the threat of Naamurah, a threat far bigger and deeper than he imagines, a threat that is about to be eclipsed by something far more deadly to himself. 

Writer & Artist: Dustin Weaver

Letterer & Production: VC’s Clayton Cowles

Cover Artist: Dustin Weaver

Variant Cover Artists: Greg Land & Morry Hollowell

Associate Editor:  Ellie Pyle

Editor: Nick Lowe

The Story: Aaron Aikman having given himself  powers and suits of armor to defeat Redeye, has continued on as The Spider-Man. He has now been battling Naamurah for over a year whilst growing more distant from his love, teacher, and boss, Kaori Ikegami. They had both been trying to find a cure for her daughter, Hannah, until Kaori moved her, deciding she no longer needed his help. Aaron had since been devoting more in more time to finding and stoping Naamurah, a super powered kidnapper. Believing he had finally figured out a means of stopping Naamurah, he is about to head out when Kaori shows up at his door, unannounced. She wants them both to run away somewhere, but when Aaron lies, saying he has a conference in the morning, she calls him out on it, saying he never wanted Hannah or cared about her. This prompts Aaron to ask if Hannah is dead and Kaori runs off into the night. Aaron wishes he could do more at the moment, but he is resolved to ending Naamurah’s threat. Spider-Man defeats and unmasks Naamurah, only to realize the identity is one of the victims. Spider-Man pieces together who Naamurah is and finds Kaori. Kaori tells the tale of how one day Hannah came out of her sleep, no longer brain dead. It wasn’t long before Naamurah entered her body after she awoke and bade Kaori to do her bidding, making walking machines for the people she took, building an army for a dimensional invasion. Spider-Man rushes off to stop Naamurah’s forces, but he is stopped by Morlun, who says it is the end of his story. 

Thoughts: For a series that I would’ve blown off six months ago as a crossover crash grab, Edge of Spider-Verse has been consistently entertaining.  This time out, we are dealt a never before seen character under the mask of Spider-Man. Aaron Aikman, much like Miguel O’Hara from 2099, has messed with his DNA, giving himself spider powers. It’s not a complete transformation, as he still needs a suit to jump far and spin webs. Also, his helmet is lined with eyes and sensors that serve as a sci fi spider sense. 

I couldn’t help but think of Iron Man with this new Spider-Man. The face plate on this new Spidey’s helmet retracts in a similar fashion, and whilst he doesn’t have a “Siri” or “Jarvis” to talk to, he is definitely talking to the system in his suit. As we later see, he has his own “Hall of Armor” as well. Those other suits might have come in handy, had this Spidey not been interrupted by the threat of Spider-Verse at the end. 

I really enjoyed Weaver’s visuals. He has a strong sense of design and detail. The new Spidey suit is one I’d love to see in plastic. I read online that there was a bit of a MegaMan influence and that Weaver chose a helmet over mask because he liked the no facial feature definition look. To me, the eyes are reminiscent of the mask in the Sam Raimi movies. 

Weaver has some very creative layouts that burst with innovation. He has a great two page spread that reminds me of a similar one JR, Jr. did and one of the things that excited me the most in the previews is the fact that he bothered to come up with Marvel Universe Series 1 and 2 trading card backs for the villains, one who really only gets a name drop! 

There is less familiarity with the world this time out which I think gives Weaver a tougher hill to climb. He’s definitely got creative ideas and I enjoyed his manga influence, but it also made the dialogue seem slightly stilted at times. However, I don’t feel it should detract from the grade because I think this was his intent and if it was, he succeeded. 

Emotionally, this was the hardest of the issues to get into as I didn’t have any past connection with these characters. Spider-Woman/Gwen from last issue may be a new character, but she comes with that built in familiarity of being Gwen Stacy. Everyone in this issue, save Morlun, is brand new and seems to have a back story, we just aren’t familiar with it. It seems like Weaver has them all in his mind, but we aren’t privy to it. Had this been a series in its fourth or fifth year, I feel there would have been more of an emotional payoff to the characters’ personal drama and more of a sense of loss for Hannah.  Aaron definitely has the Spider-Man curse as his double life is causing him romantic troubles and it is those same personal relationships that come back to haunt him in costume. Weaver gets the Spider-Man dilemma.  

This is the problem that I am now having with the character of Spider-Man and the Edge of Spider-Verse series at this moment- I currently buy Miles Morales, Spidey 2099, and Edge of Spider-Verse. I am LOVING all three series, head over heels, in fact. I would definitely start reading an ongoing for any of the Spideys in Edge. So, what’s wrong with that? I’m not reading Amazing, that’s the problem. I am finding all these variations to be far more interesting and fresh than the original. Maybe after 33 years of being a fan it would be expected, but I don’t feel this way about Batman. 

We don’t know what really motivated Aikman to be Spidey. Sure, we are told that it’s to combat Red Eye, but we never learn why that’s important to the character. Why is it Aikman’s responsibility? He doesn’t seem to be fast with a quip, either, but I’d still rather learn more about Aikman’s world than read about current 616 Peter Parker. Unfortunately, things look pretty bleak for Aikman. If he survives Spider-Verse, he’s got a pretty major threat to face. Maybe some of his fellow Spideys will help him out on their respective ways home. I really wanna see the conclusion to Aaron’s predicament. He’s spent so long working to aid Hannah and her mother that there is great drama to be had in the continuation of his story in the classic Spider-Man mold. 

Weaver is on to something here. He didn’t knock me out as effectively as last issue did, but I feel there is a much deeper world here that’s been envisioned. His art is definitely my favorite part and I’ve enjoyed how distinctive, yet spectacular, the art has been on all three issues so far. Hopefully, he gets to spin more webs for us in the future!

My Grade: B+

Javi’s Huh?: Does this story take place in the future or present day? It definitely has a technological bent, but if you think about the regular Marvel U, there’s a lot of future tech that they have that we don’t. It doesn’t distract, but I’m curious. 

 I just wanted to throw Peter’s series 2 card stats in for good measure and point out the homage the variant cover does to the first PS1 video game!