Spider-Verse is upon us! The event that will see all the Spider-Men, Spider-Women, Spider-Children, and Spider-Pigs from all the different universes come together to stop a common threat is finally here! The evil soul sucking Vampire Morlun is back, and this time it's a family affair, with his brothers, sister, and even parents all on the hunt for delicious Spider-Soul. Spidey wouldn't be complete without his super hero team-ups, but this one doesn't see him trading quips with the Human Torch, or trading punches with the Incredible Hulk, it brings Spider-Men together with Spider-Men! It's a multi story book that features different Spiders working together to recruit or rescue others to their Spider-Army. This first issue features two stories, so I'll break them down separately.
The Power of Positive Thinking
The first story is written by Christos N. Gage, with doodles by Dave Williams. Open with a fan favorite, after long last, the return of Ben Reilly as Scarlet Spider! ...Sort of... This Ben is of Earth-94. It never says which Universe that is, so all we know is it isn't the universe where all the Avengers have beards because that's Earth-200500. So we open on Ben duking it out with the Vulture, when suddenly just two pages in, we're hit with an interesting concept that I hadn't thought of yet, if we can have a bunch of versions Spiders, we can have versions of villains. Boom, there's four Vultures! Most notable has to be the old 60's cartoon one with that weird hat thing. Scarlet get's out matched, but not for long! Enter Old Man Spider-Man, whose identity is still not revealed, although side note, I think he will be his universes Uncle Ben, just a theory, and everyone's favorite hog, Peter Porker, The Amazing Spider-Ham! They break down the whole Spider-Verse situation to Ben and then beat up on some Vultures until things go awry and they get temporarily paralyzed. I won't reveal how, but Ben saves the day, and we all learn a lesson about positive thinking. The lesson is a little corny, but you gotta love Spider-Ham, so it gets a pass.
The Luck of the Parkers
The second story features a plot by Roger Stern with pictures by Bob McLeod. I really enjoyed this story, it a had a real buddy cop vibe with Six-Armed Spider-Man, and Spider-Man Noir basically on a steak out keeping an eye on a young budding Peter at a hospital in another universe, still presumably not the one with bearded Avengers. The back and forth between Noir and Sixey is pretty good, moments like Noir using the word "Freak" and Six taking offense to it really added to the two men from different world aspect, as well as Noir describing the hospital equipment as "Buck Rogers Machines". The Spider they're there to see, that they refer to as their "twin", and "Li'l Pete", was hospitalized after he had an allergic reaction to his spider bite. It caused his Aunt May and Uncle Ben to be away from home when a burglar broke into their home, making this a world where his Uncle actually lived. Eventually he mutates into a Man-Spider monster, and a fight ensues between he and Noir, that ends with Six-Arm swooping in in the nick of time to fix everything. Again, I won't spoil how, but they save that universe from the vampires in an interesting way, and it to an uncommon event, a happy ending for the Parkers! One last note I enjoyed was how they frequently brought up their "Superior" as an obvious nod to SpOck (Spider Ock, or Doc Ock in Peter Parker's body), which just get's me more excited for the moment when he and Parker meet face to face.
All in all I thought the second story was much better than the first, but both we're good reads. Unfortunately so far it appears that Spider-Verse Team-Up's stories won't be essential to the story, but it's nice to expand the event and see more from some other Spiders. I give it 3.5 stars ***1/2
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