“It’s looking really crazy down there”
As the first arc of Web Warriors’ reaches it’s shocking conclusion, one terrifying question will be raised – how will I be able to carry these reviews without Electro-puns?!
Writer: Mike Costa
Art: David Baldeon
Inker: Walden Wong & Roberto Poggi
Colorist: Jason Keith
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Editor: Axel Alonso
Plot: Spider-UK has prepared a dangerous plan to trap the Electros inside a Faraday Cage in Battery Park (get it, Battery?). Meanwhile Octavia is determined to stop Big Bad Electro and has conjured a plan to wipe the his mind with the help of Gwen and Ben. However, upon arrival, Octavia is shot down by Electro-449 who simultaneous endangers his own life. Rather reluctantly, the Spiders save their enemy’s life but are left facing Big Bad Electro (Who throughout this fight just kind of stands there. Come on dude, throw a few punches!). Gwen decides to teleport the Battery’s leader to Lady Spider’s world, trapping him with the cage. During the conflict, Karn has grown too weak and Spider-UK sacrifices some of his energy to save the Master Weaver. This leaves Spider-UK stranded inside the Faraday Cage as it is being sealed, inciting Mayday to jump in and save him. With no choice, Anya seals the cage, leaving the two Warriors stranded within. However there was an energy reading just before it was sealed, giving hope to the team th
at they will see their friends again.
Spider-Thoughts: Well, this series has certainly been a surprise. When Web Warriors was announced to be an ongoing comic, I definitely had my reservations. The arrival of the Secret Wars mini-series did nothing to dispel this belief. But now, five issues in, Costa and Baldeon have proven to be the power duo I never thought they would be.
Obviously, I have to talk about the art. I might be beginning to sound like a broken record but Baldeon’s superb illustrations transform the comic from great to a must-read. It is thoroughly enjoyable and distinctly different from anything else on the stands. A definite highlight has to be the splash page of the final fight in Battery Park – now that is a piece of work that needs framing!
I do have to praise Costa for raising the stakes, turning the Battery into a villain I truly believed could take over the Multiverse. When the Spiders were fighting them, I could feel the struggle both through both the stellar art and interactions between characters. It was good to see this tension build up to something rather than fizzle out like I expected it to. As promised, not every Warrior made it through to the end of the issue and the way in which it was done was intriguing. I am curious to see how our heroes will cope without having a leader to guide them. Fortunately, straight out the gate, they dismiss the idea of Mayday and UK being permanently dead because this would certainly have dragged the series down. As long as they keep the two fallen heroes away for a long(ish) period of time, this story will be impactful. However, despite all of this tension, the comic never lost the fun spark that truly defines the series.
For the first time it really felt like Anya had a purpose within the narrative. Up until now she had just been there to make up the numbers but having to make such a tough call in the final moments of the fight has given her character an extra layer. The panel of Anya solemnly touching the Faraday Cage is poignantly beautiful and shows the weight that is now on her shoulders. Seeing Gwen question Anya’s decision kind of shocked me – up until now Marvel’s breakout star has just been there to make quips and sell issues. It was good to see her act with the teenager anger she has in her solo-book.
It was good to see the Karn subplot go somewhere quickly – having him be partially responsible for the fate of UK and Mayday will cause tension within the group. For me, Karn was one of the more interesting characters in Spider-Verse and it was a crime how little screen time he got in that story. I think characters such as Noir and Gwen will have a few words to say about what he did to Billy. Also, having friction between the team and Karn will allow for some killer Star Trek II jokes.
It is good to see Spider-Ben and Lady Spider’s purposes in the comic revealed. Lady Spider is there for the same reason Ben was in Spider-Verse – to introduce a universe where the villains are weaker. Meanwhile Ben is there to reassure the reader that someone will be looking after MJ and Benjy in Mayday’s absence. Whilst these characters were not necessities it was good for them to have a little bit of a purpose in the overall story.
But unfortunately not every character was great to have around. Octavia kind of felt useless in a role that could just have easily been filled by an existing character such as Spider-Man India. She isn’t really that interesting and just feels like another alternate-universe character thrown in for the sake of it. Having her die would have made the fight more personal, seeing as the Spiders do not like to have casualties weighing down their souls, but the story did not dedicate to this idea and brought her back almost immediately. From the ending I can only guess that she will be sticking around to help the Warriors on Earth-001 so I hope that she becomes a more developed, compelling character.
If I’m going to nitpick, I have a little bit of an issue with the selfish way in which Spider-Ham behaves during the final fight. His fellow Warrior’s lives are at stake, as well as the lives of everyone in the Multiverse, and he is trying to find a friend. I understand that this is a continuation of his loneliness subplot but I had never saw him as such a selfish person (or is it a pig, or a cartoon?).
But these are just little complaints. Overall, Electroverse has been a thrilling story from start to end and this issue has been one of the stronger entries. I can’t wait to see where this series will go from here on out and therefore I give this issue a:
B+
Best line: “Charge of the Light Brigade it is. Heh.”
Spider-Points of Spider-Interest
- Who has been your favorite Electro then? Mine is a three-way tie between Electro-Ham, Electro-MODOK and Electro-T-Rex.
- When Karn shows the Spiders the Multiverse, we see Spider-Monkey but I am pretty sure he was killed during Spider-Verse. Does this one come from another monkey dimension?
- Is that a Spider-President? Vote Spidey 2016, everyone!
- What’s the bets
on how long UK and Mayday will stay ‘dead’? I give it 6 issues.
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@5 I do enjoy this book a lot, but to get an A grade I think it has to do something more than be enjoyable – something like Doctor Strange which really delves into the character. I hope it doesn’t get cancelled, I’m kind of fed up with every Marvel book that isn’t related to a movie getting the axe.
They have put Mayday in limbo so they can kill her without killing her because they clearly don’t like her.
Damn, there’s some backlash in the comments.
I agree with your B+ grade, but I also don’t seem to enjoy the book as much as you, so I expected a higher grade. I think this book is fun, but little more than that. It’s selling around 20k, and Marvel seems to be cancelling around 17k these days, so it’s close, but I think we’ll get at least another arc out of the book.
@#3 – The sad thing is, his G.I. Joe was amazing.
Costa is from the Slott school – all empty and soulless spectacle, with characterization just as empty and cardboard. At least Slott’s ideas have the virtue of being somewhat interesting, even if Slott miserably screws up the execution. Costa’s ideas are just…boring.
I agree wholeheartedly with Yvonmukluk and really have nothing left to add to the excellent points raised in comment #1.
The sooner this book is cancelled, the better IMO.
The ending didn’t sour me on the series, but it’s a bit disappointing. I’d say we’ll see one of them come back within 3 issues. Overall though, this is a really enjoyable book. Spider-Punk next issue!
I’m not sure this book is going to LAST another 6 issues.
Also I’m guessing Spider-Ben is not going to have a very ‘fun’ conversation explaining to MJ why her daughter’s not coming home. I dunno about you, but that kinda drags the mood down slightly. I could frankly see MJ throwing him out on his ass – she doesn’t need him to take care of her & Benjy, and he clearly failed to take care of Mayday. Quite frankly I hated the trite slotting in of him as a ‘consolation prize’ at the end of Spider-Verse. Like that somehow makes up for Peter’s death. Like one father figure (who neither MJ nor Mayday actually know) can replace Peter and suddenly everything’s okay.
Honestly writing Mayday out of the book seems like a very counterproductive move. She was probably (after Spider-Gwen) the most well-known, and it seems like a fair few of her fans (myself included) are dropping the book.
It really feels like they just plain didn’t want her on the book – she doesn’t do anything that another character couldn’t have done, and they never bothered to tell the cover artist she was going to be on the team.
I’d rather entrust her to Ewing over on Contest of Champions rather than back on this book, whrere they clearly don’t care that much for her.
Because if she comes back? She’s not going to rejoin the team. She’s going to go back home & stay there rather than risk putting her friends and family through the nightmare of not knowing whether she’s alive or dead again. Anything else would fly in the face of her character.
But hey, they gave Anya an actual role on the team other than ‘because she can’t support her own book and we killed off everyone she cared about at home’! Way to go, Marvel! Does that mean she’s going to take responsibility and give MJ the bad news?
Honestly this ending soured me on the whole book up to this point. THIS is what all the S#!T Mayday went through in Spider-Verse? To be used as drama fodder?
Ugh.