Nick Spencer (Writer)
Guillermos Sanna (Artist)
Jordie Bellaire (Colorist)
Kathleen Wisneski (AE)
Nick Lowe (Editor)
C.B. Cebulski (EIC)
Date Released 7/22/2020
Issue Number #1
Price Tag: $4.99
Buy: Comixology or GCC 

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Folklore Legend
“A sin–eater is a person who consumes a ritual meal in order to spiritually take on the sins of a deceased person. The food was believed to absorb the sins of a recently dead person, thus absolving the soul of the person. Sin–eaters, as a consequence, carried the sins of all people whose sins they had eaten”. – Wikipedia

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Slideshow above.  Scroll through the different covers and click to see Artist Bio.

 THE STORY

The son of two drug addicts back in the late sixties, Stanley Carter was born and then sent to be raised by his grandparents up in the mountains.  When his grandfather passed away, out of curiosity, young Stanley witnessed the ritual of The Sin-Eater when it was not advisable and believed that he was marked by his encounter.  Shortly thereafter, his mother returned (now clean and employed) to claim her son back and they both traveled to their New York home. Flash forward to Stan (Now a Detective for the NYPD) standing at the funeral service for his partner.  Carter starts down his dark path as he becomes The Sin Eater and on every television there’s a talk show showcasing his life.  Jean DeWolff and Judge Horace Rosenthal make cameo appearances and conversations with Carter.  Last pages shows Stanley on the talk show only to be revealed that he is in “Hell”.   Kindred manipulates Carter showcasing his life and advising him that he still has much more to do in the living world that rejected him.  Sin-Eater returns.

 BREAKDOWN POINTS

• Follow Through
• Kindred Appears
• A Warning to the Reader
• COBWEBS! (Required Reading – There will be a test.)

 Follow Through

If you are were expecting this to be your basic origin story before the main event, you are half right.  I thought this would be a basic origin story, myself and when I was reading it I flipped a page back to see if I missed anything.  Spencer believes in (rightfully so) that the characters drive the story, not the story drives the character.  We see a basic two page on Carter coming into this world.  Parents, grandparents, his career, etc… but Spencer ties it to Carter’s history, not only with the criminal career, but the actual mythology and folklore of The Sin Eater.  Basically Carter inherits all of his victims sins so they can rise to the heavens.  He then covers the issue with the implementation that Carter is actually dead and in “Hell” sprinkled with a bit of Spider-Man Continuity.  If you find yourself lost while reading it, don’t fret, just continue reading it and it will start to make much more sense than it did when you started out.

Spencer does his job with the story line, which brings me to the artwork of the book.  The art isn’t bad. It follows through to the story, but more importantly it sets the TONE for the book.  Sanna does a good job on that and Bellaire also follows.  This issue is SUPPOSED to be dark and frightening.  So don’t expect the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man atmosphere in this book.  I mean..we’re talking about “Walking in Hell” here.  I do wish we had more exchange between Carter and DeWolff.  I would of have like to know why Jean was Sin-Eater’s first victim.  Why did Carter’s Sin-Eater persona feel that she needed to be “cleansed”?  Especially since both her and Carter were in a relationship or maybe that was why.

One little nitpick.  The use of a smartphones in this issue.  The Death of Jean DeWolff was published back in late 80’s.  There were no smartphones back then, especially ones with finger print unlocking capabilities.  Definitely none before Peter David wrote that story.  We were all using IBM and Tandy computers.  One of the things that bothered me when Zdarsky penned Spec a few years back was his little time travel adventure where laptops were a thing of the 60’s.  Sure, it’s part of “He’s walking through Hell” scenario, so using present tech to drive the story, still kinda falls flat on Spencer’s part.  

 Kindred

Of course he’ll make an appearance!  Kindred believes that Peter has some sins to atone to and who better than to help with that than The Sin Eater.  It was Kindred that brought Carter back after all and Spencer pulls back the curtain on what went on in this issue.  Besides some manipulation, there’s not further clue on Kindred’s identity.  This is a backstory after all on Sin-Eater.  Ever since ASM#802, Spencer has been pretty tight lipped in interviews on who Kindred is, but has said that the more important question is what Kindred wants.  Sin-Eater plays a big part in the story line which will lead to the Amazing Spider-Man #850 and it’s my belief that we’ll see WHO is Kindred around then.  Or maybe not for that matter.  Boy, that’ll really tick off Mark more than another letter from me getting published.  It’s obviously Kindred wants Peter to suffer for something he did to Kindred waaaaay back in the day.  I also suspect that Sin-Eater will make his way to Norman Osborn as well.  It’s been published that it was Norman that made Kindred the demon that he is today and supposedly Norman KNOWS who Kindred is, which Kindred isn’t too fond of.  Remember what Mysterio has waiting for him when he told his psychiatrist Kindred’s real name?  

 A Warning

YOU AGAIN, LOWE?!?!  A message from the Spider-Office to all fans out there.  Isn’t really that surprising since they have done it before to any milestone number issue in the horizon, but Nick Lowe did warn us that the issues that are coming up are very DARK.  You won’t see your average fun-quipped, friendly neighborhood Spidey atmosphere here in the upcoming issues that lead to ASM #850.  Of course in response to my letter he did say there some crazy fun things happening to Spidey.  Gear up Crawlpacers, it’s gonna be a roller coaster ride, I’m sure.

 Cobwebs

Speaking of Dark.  I hate to send you to summer school on this, but like I said before.  Characters do drive the story.  The better you know the characters the more fulfilled you’ll feel when you read the story.  Mark Alford has wrote this article on Sin-Eater.  Highly suggest you take a look on it.  You are not required to, mind you.  It’s just a suggestion.  Good reading material while you are on the can.  >D.  Click HERE.

Grade: C+
Good Issue, it is only a one shot.  It does tie in with the events in ASM, but I can see why is not part of the regular number for that title.  If you are current on Amazing, reading this will only amplify your reading experience in the stories to come.