Snapshot! Savage Spider-Man #4

Writer: Joe Kelly

Artist: Gerardo Sandoval

The penultimate issues of the Savage Spider-Man is here. I’ve been vocal about my feelings towards this series. Can this issue change my mind, or is this just a lame duck issue?

Depth of Field: The Immaculatum and Zemo prepare to launch their weaponised A Plus at the world.

Focal point: The Savage Spider-Man is no more. Meet the Evolved Spider-Man. Physically Peter has transformed into a slightly bulky version of his original self. Though mentally he seems to have lost his humanity and thinks more like a Terminator.

It was interesting to watch him figure how to get aboard Zemo’s air ship; by calculating his jump and the length of his organic webbing (organic webbing confirmed!)

Once aboard, and with Zemo’s strike on a populated area imminent Peter wastes no time. He immediately gets to work on a new costume. Wait, what?! I appreciate Marvel didn’t want Peter to spend the issue semi-naked, but the costume Peter threw together looks like it too a lot of craftsman ship. Look at those pockets! Is speed sewing a super power of the Evolved Spider-Man.

Meanwhile Wülf fills Zemo in on some of the history of A Plus and how it originated from the Mad Thinker, who they have aboard as a prisoner. That’s odd, I thought this was Zemo’s ship which they stole. How did Wülf’s prisoner get here?

The Evolved Spider-Man is able to take over of the ship, and now with control of Zemo’s super weapon he ponders whether humanity is worth saving. This final cliffhanger felt a little redundant. Last issue we saw Peter was willing to sacrifice his life to save humanity, is there any reason he’ll act differently now? All he has to do is not use the weapon.

I think the strength of this series is the art. I would like to see the artist again on another book. The art has a bold 90’s aesthetic, that can be fun when not taken to the extreme. It suits what the idea of this book was. Big action. But again this is ruined by Kelly’s excessive dialogue that clutters the page with mostly redundant speech bubbles.

Cutting Room Floor: With one issue left it feels like there’s a lot to resolve. Will we ever get more details about the flashbacks that seemed to show the lives that had been ruined by A Plus. Why did only the Savage Spider-Man experience them?

Will Doctor Strange and Norah return? Norah has been known to drop an investigation that got too much, but I don’t see Strange shrugging it off. Don’t tell me “He’s dead”, this is clearly set before the Beyond era.

A part of me worries that the writer will just flick a switch to reset Peter to default, and ignore the horror his body has been through.

Photobombed: The Evolved Spider-Man looks a lot like Ultimate Peter Parker. It was distracting at times.

There is also another Watchman reference, I believe the third the series has dropped since Non-Stop issue 1. This time we get a paraphrased version of the line “I’m not locked in here with you…”, but we never for the second half. This felt weird, and every reference to that acclaimed series distracts me from the story I’m trying to read.

Negative Exposure: The cover for the issue, not to mention the title of the book, includes the Savage Spider-Man. Though the character itself is not to be found within.

That’s not a negative in and of itself, but it does make me wonder why the series felt the name change from Non-Stop to Savage was necessary. This series doesn’t feel well thought out, and the cover for this issue and the preview of the next suggest they really are making it up as they go.

Grade: Hmm. Last month, I gave this book an F. In some part because they felt the need to spread the previously on and the credit pages on to two pages. I felt this demonstrated the attitude of this book. A feeling that it was somehow more prestigious (like Watchman) than what it is, a waste of time and now paper. And though they repeat this approach this issue, I’ve calmed down and so will give it the D+ it deserves. The plus is for the art.

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What did you think of Savage Spider-Man? Let me know in the comments!

Adam