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| THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN No. 14, April 2015 |
There’s a rather enlightening opening paragraph
to the ‘letters page’ of Issue Fifteen of “The Amazing Spider-Man” which
arguably sums up not just all that is wrong with the contents of this comic but
touches upon the main criticisms of Dan Slott’s entire multi-issue cross-title
event. It begins with the words “Just like that, Spider-Verse is over” and this
really does encapsulate the sense of emptiness and disappointment arguably many
readers must have felt when finishing “Web Warriors”.
For having established
the Inheritors as possibly the deadliest threat to the wall-crawler’s existence
yet witnessed within the ‘Marvel Universe’, the various family members suddenly
appear all too susceptible and vulnerable to the myriad of alternative
Spider-People which they have previously been murderously hunting. Indeed such is
the ease with which the Great Hunters are incarcerated that it is all over in
the space of a page, as they’re suddenly shown either ‘all webbed up’ or
impotent with grief and defeat. It really is a case of blink and you’ll miss
it.
In a way however, even this travesty of a conclusion is actually drawn-out
as a far easier solution to interrupting the Great Ritual would surely have
consisted of Peter Parker teleporting to Loomworld and then simply transporting
the entire family to the incapacitating radioactive landscape of Earth-3145.
Without their intimidating and threatening presence by the cyborg’s side the
Master Weaver was not likely to utilise his time-travelling powers and retrieve
his captors. Thus they’d be no need for Superior Spider-Man to slaughter him,
no need for Takuya Yamashiro’s anachronistic giant robot Leopardon to allegedly
save the day, nor any excuse whatsoever for Spider-Ham to appear au natural.
Interestingly the “Caught In The Web Of Spider-Verse” ‘fan’ page would also suggest the creative team knew their storyline
was tight for space and necessitated an abrupt ending. For it includes a caveat to
its statement that the event was finished but adding “Well, almost” and explains
that the title's subsequent issue will consist of a much needed Epilogue within which the myriad of loose ends will be tied up. This
simply smacks of bad planning and poor pacing on behalf of writer Dan Slott. Surely the American author must have realised the book would close with the
spider-army still ensconced upon Earth-001 and contain a plethora of
plot-strands yet to be resolved when he first mapped-out the storyline?
The
decision to have both Olivier Coipel and Giuseppe Camuncoli pencil half an issue
each is also a dubious choice for any comic’s creative team. Both artists are
imaginative and competent enough, but when their artwork is so readily placed
alongside one another, it is unfortunate but the Italian’s slightly inferior
illustrations are always going to badly jar with those of the French cartoonists; even when the likes of Wade Von
Grawbadger, Cam Smith and John Livesay are all employed to ink the drawings. As
a result the final act just begins with the Spider-army storming the
Inheritor’s manor and the wonderful artwork rather rudely drops a noticeable notch or
three.
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| The variant cover art of "THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN" No. 14 by Phil Noto |
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