“Hey guys. Is that strand of the Web on fire?”

After fending off the horrors of the Battery, the Warriors must now face a horde of angry Venoms. Maybe they discovered how they were treated in  Spider-Man 3 and are out for revenge! Let’s find out, in Web Warriors #6…

Writer: Mike Costa

Art: David Baldeon

Inkers: Walden Wong & Roberto Poggi

Colorist: Jason Keith

Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna

Editor: Axel Alonso

Plot: Spider-Man  Noir is drinking in a bar when he begins to inner-monologue about his origin, as you do. He then recalls events earlier that day, when the Warriors were on Earth-001, debating the location of not only Billy and Mayday, but Lady Spider’s entire world. Whilst the team are distracted with their problems, Noir notices that a strand of the Great Web has caught fire. Their investigation takes them to Earth-50101, home to Spider-Man India. Pavitr is reunited with Meera-Jain (the MJ of Earth-50101) but this is abruptly brought to a close by a  mob of stampeding Venoms! Luckily Pavitr has a plan to stop the spreading enemy, but to do so he needs the help of Lady Spider. The two genius Spider-Heroes go toe-to-toe with Big Bad Venom and, in the middle of the fray, Lady Spider is able to destroy his power source. The team return victorious, but Spider-Man Noir leaves ominously. This returns the story to where we began; Noir drinking alone. But now we learn that his dimension has been altered, with modern day technology appearing in the 1930s. Fortunately he has a plan – a stolen vial of the Venom symbiote to use at his whim. Meanwhile, in Lady Spider’s lost dimension, Mayday and UK are watching over the Faraday Cage, knowing that they don’t have long before it breaks open. 

Spider-Thoughts: We have came to our first filler issue and as you would expect it… isn’t actually that much of a filler issue. Costa and Baldeon waste no time, providing a few interesting moments that set up the future of the team. 

First off, I have to praise this series for continuously taking advantage of the chance to see pre-existing dimensions explored once more – in this case, the mystical home of Spider-Man India. Not only that, but we also saw the return of the Venom-Demon, as was hinted at the end of India’s miniseries. Once again, Baldeon excels at fleshing out this vibrant, cultural world and the characters that inhabit it. He was truly born to draw Venom, in all his kinetic glory.

When I saw that Noir was narrating the story, I was a little confused as the bulk of the story seemed to take place on Pavitr’s world. But as the story developed, I saw that there was no greater choice for the lead protagonist of this adventure. Noir has never been that involved in the team, always looming in the background, so it is interesting to see how he observes the team from afar. Surprisingly he is not always critical, praising Anya for being ‘tough’ and citing Pavitr as a ‘genius’. As you would expect, his criticisms of his teammates do give you a chuckle. The developments on his world are intriguing. showing that this series will have more underlying arcs than just the Batter’y sinister plans.

However, when it comes to Noir’s underlying story, I feel that the flashbacks were a little rushed. It was hard to feel his pain when his friends just all of a sudden turn evil. I know that it was there to underline that Noir doesn’t trust anyone, but if Costa really wanted to illustrate the impact of this, he should have added just one more flashback. This is just a minor quibble, it didn’t really affect my enjoyment of the issue. 

I’m glad that the supporting characters of the first arc – Octavia and Lady Spider – have stuck around, giving the series some continuity. Hopefully we will see Octavia develop, maybe even befriending fellow genius Pavitr. As Lady Spider was one of my favorite characters coming out of Spider-Verse, it’s always good to see more of her.

Despite all of these good features, this probably wasn’t one of my favorite issues. Although the villains were aesthetically brilliant, they were also forgettable. The flashbacks were a little rushed and with the continuous adding of characters and subplots, I starting to get worried that this series might neglect some of its more interesting aspects.

But overall it is a fun read that does move the plot and characters forward. Whilst it had a few small missteps, it still has earned a solid:

B

Best line: “I guess it is pretty cool. Wait – you’re just the drummer?!”

Spider-Points of Spider-Interest

• Is that Wilma Flintstone and Betty Rubble in the Noir bar?
• If Spider-Gwen has now encountered Venoms, will she remember them in the Gwenom arc? I kinda doubt it.
• What has the cover got to do with this story? It should have been a variant, not the actual thing!
• I gave Mayday and Billy’s return 6 issues, I was only 5 off. I’m not too annoyed considering it was heavily hinted they would be back during the last issue.