This is it! This is the moment! This is the epic, earth-shattering finale that we have all been waiting for. I am telling you now… if you haven’t given this alternate-universe tale a shot by now, there is still a lot of time for you to jump onboard. This series was a very refreshing take on the Marvel Universe that we have all come to know and love. It is a story of our favorite heroes, powerless, both literally and figuratively… facing off against the Apocalypse, in every sense of the word. How can it get any better than that, right? Well, throw in the fact that the main focal point of the entire tale is our favorite wall-crawling, web-slinging, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man and this is a paradise for our community. This may be the final issue in the short but sweet series, but there is still definitely potential for more adventures and spin-off stories to take place in the coming months or years. Overall, I highly recommend this event, and it has been a joy being able to read and review every single chapter for you, guys.
PROS:
- The prior issue had me instantly sold with a more mature Miles Morales as Venom plus Carnage. Now, getting to see some more of his background, you’ll be able to sense the infinite possibilities the creative team has in their menu of tales to weave. I just want to get to see more adventures of Miles partnering up with the Venom symbiote, because it seems like their relationship worked out all the way until the point Carnage became a third-party. But this darker side of Miles Morales is something that will be an intriguing read if ever it is more fully explored in spin-off titles.
- The treatment of Doctor Octopus was brutal, but it was a decision that created tragedy and painful loss despite it being an execution of a villain. At the end of the day, Doctor Octopus realized that Apocalypse was getting out of control, and the world they were living in was at risk… what a big surprise, right? But even just seeing the reactions of our heroes when they saw Doctor Octopus literally torn apart will haunt me for the rest of the week.
- There is always a glorious moment in big events like this one, where all the heroes assemble, unite, and walk down the aisle like professional models. And the build-up in the past five issues definitely made the last war scene worth every single penny. Seeing all the earth’s mightiest heroes, Spider-Man included, come together, free their friends from purple mind-control, and finally put an end to the machinations of Apocalypse was an unforgettable experience, and it only has me wishing this plot can be adapted somehow in television… or for the movies.
- I also want to greatly commend the art team for this finale, as the action they brought to the pages captured the high stakes and life-or-death consequences of each and every single action taken. The splashes and spreads were a thing of beauty, and were probably the best I have seen in the past few months.
CONS:
- Perhaps the only downside to all this was the ending felt a little bit rushed. The events in this sixth issue could have easily been split into two chapters. But I’ll gladly accept this fate if it means more comics stemming from this alternate universe.
FINAL GRADE: A
This entire series deserves a big round of applause because it was just simply SO MUCH FUN to read. It may not be the most artistic comic book around, nor will it be a philosophical or literary masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination. But the world that the creative team was able to build, and the premise that they set the entire plot on developed a clash of titans like no other. It is really amazing to see what a team can do if they are given the ultimate freedom to tell whatever kind of story they want to tell. So, for all those reading this, after you watch Morbius in the cinemas, be sure to go to your nearest comic book store and get this series before it runs out. You will definitely not regret it.
Let me know what you think in the Comments Section!
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I forgot to add: from this it seems Tom Taylor is suggesting that without modern technology people will be happy again. While I doubt people will come together in peace to build something better, should civilization fall, I cannot disagree with the sentiment, seeing how cringe-making some use of technology is today.
Just finished reading it all on MU, so here’s a couple of thoughts.
They could have condensed this mini in 5 issues. It was around about the third issue that it felt like it was lingering too much. I got to the end of the issue finding myself asking: it’s already finished? Maybe 5 issues of 30ish pages would have let it keep the momentum it gained on the first one.
The last issue was indeed a bit rushed, especially the final battle felt too short. Which I find hilarious, since I often feel fights in fiction are prolonged too much. This was actually more realistic.
I liked the fact that the explanation for the failure of modern technology was not just an EMP, but a continuous (and powerful) EMP from the center of the Earth. And so Apocalypse had to use a Faraday cage to use electricity. I’m no physics expert, but for what I know, it’s a good explanation.
I seemed to recall Gabby’s inability to feel pain was due to her genetic structure (she was engineered like that), not by nanomachines, but hey, it’s Taylor who invented her, so maybe I remember wrong.
@Franz29
I think even in their first appearance, the webshooters were meant to have some kind of electric component in it. For example, in the first Annual, the palm button to release web is called an “electrode”; and Stan Lee was kind of fixated with transistors (see Iron Man).
Besides, that’s one of the most realistic web shooters ever shown in a comic, even with modern technology.
Then again, if we want to speak about realism, how much food does Giant-man have to eat to survive with such size? Or how can Dr. Octopus control his tentacles? I mean, if its mental power, how come he has a small furnace on his back?
But as you said, it’s comics.
All in all, I liked this series, it was a fun read. However I still feel it aimed to be bigger and more majestic, but something, probably the pandemic, forced the authors to resize it.
Hey Marco. Great review! I 100% agree with you, this mini was a breath of fresh air and a blast to read. I also agree that the ending feels rushed, but I’ll honestly take it over a Bendis style decompressed story.
Here is to hoping we can get a miles Morales one shot set in this universe for the annual (a la Jameson’s story in spider-man life story annual)
Been a pleasure to follow your reviews on this series Marco. Thanks for doing them.
I agree, the ending felt rushed. I really liked the build up over the preceding issues, then it just seemed to finish. They could have spent more time on the battle, with the controlled heroes gaining the upper hand, or simply a stalemate before dealt with to end the threat.
Other than that, it was a solid series.
I still have bones about why Peter’s webshooters were so big (aside from the visuals) – his Mark 1’s were all mechanical and still fit on his wrists so he should have been able to use those. Headcanon is simply the actual web fluid took up the space because he didn’t have the technology to compress it. Not perfect because the Mark 1 and fluid was created in his bedroom and still fitted in cartridges but hey, comics!