Murderworld: Spider-Man #1 - Marvel Comics

MURDERWORLD: SPIDER-MAN No. 1, February 2023

Taking the somewhat surprising route of focusing upon side-character Eden Abraha, as opposed to actually living up to its title and containing an actual story featuring Peter Parker’s alter-ego, Spider-Man, this “chaotic contest filled with treachery and tragedy from the minds of Ray Fawkes and Jim Zub” probably still landed reasonably well with its audience on account of the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Fighter’s personality being penned so well. Indeed, the level-headed contestant’s sound-thinking and willingness to temporarily surround herself with similarly-skilled competitors arguably makes for compelling reading, especially when she appears to even go so far as to battle one of Arcade’s murderous robotic web-spinners one-on-one in a seriously “ballsy move.”

Similarly as well written though is this twenty-page periodical’s supporting cast, which despite being quite substantial considering this comic’s sizeable kill count, still manage to project plenty of individualism. Of particular note has to be Vincent, who alongside being “old enough to be my dad”, brings with him some formidable survival skills and a canny knack of utilising Murderworld’s mechanical devices to his advantage; “Whoa! Did that old fart disarm one of our survival pack bombs and keep it hidden?! What a champ!!!”

Furthermore, all these sense-shattering shenanigans are imbued with plenty of raw energy, courtesy of Farid Karami and (colour artist) Chris Sotomayer’s lively layouts. The illustrator’s ability to palpably project all the horror slowly dawning upon many of Arcade’s naïve challengers makes for some utterly enthralling storytelling. Whilst the artwork’s bright palette wonderfully captures the suggestion that all the killings are truly taking place beneath the bright lights and cameras of the villain’s criminal organisation.

Sadly, what is disappointing about Issue One of “Murderworld: Spider-Man” is surely the complete absence of this book’s main headliner, with its authors pulling a major ‘bait and switch’ stunt by having Arcade deploy several automatons replicating the wall-crawler’s famous super-abilities instead of including the genuine article himself. Admittedly, this “web of death” certainly creates some enjoyable, high-octane action sequences, as well as a little dark humour when a ‘boring botanist’ has his mouth sealed shut with webbing whilst pontificating about “the lay of the land”. But the ‘fraud’ still must have annoyed many a bibliophile, even if the Black Widow’s sudden appearance midway through the publication, proves a compensatory surprise.

Writers: Jim Zub & Ray Fawkes, Artist: Farid Karami, and Color Artist: Chris Sotomayor