The Good
SCARLET SPIDER has without question become one of my favorite Marvel books over the past few months. It might not be as consistently epic as other titles, but writer Christopher Yost has managed to provide Kaine's adventure with a steady level of charm, creativity and energy.
He's opened the floodgates for tons of story potential (anxiously waiting on Kraven's return) and this latest story takes a bit of a darker turn as the Peter Parker clone (or should I say Doc Oc? ..what, too soon?) continues his effort to eliminate human trafficking in Texas' city of Houston. The agenda serves Kaine well, since his anti-hero methods seem more than fitting for such scum. Usually I'd feel bad for a standard goon getting his arm snapped, but here it's something worth celebrating. Additionally, this new adventure has created links to Kingpin and The Hand, so hopefully Yost will go all out with that.
The art is absolutely worth admiring. There's a handful of legitimately excellent panels and two very cool splash pages. The attention to detail and inking feels inconsistent but it's by no means jarring. The team did a great job making a nightmare feel especially trippy and there's some appropriately painful panels in the final fight. One minor touch I loved was a "KRACK" sound effect that had the font breaking as if they were shattering bones. Little examples of creativity like that always add so much more to the experience.
Oh, and the mighty swear jar discussion makes a return. That's always a plus.
The Bad
While this story has a darker mood, the almost cartoonish impact effects can really detract from the moment. Sadly, at times they remind me of the "WHAM!" like effects from the classic Batman show. Something like that really delivers an inconsistent vibe, especially when Kaine is fighting for his life against two Werewolves.
The focus on Kaine's grey morals is starting to feel ham-fisted. We know he questions his ability to be a knight in shining armor, but it's been said over and over over the last two issues. Yost writes Kaine very well, but this is getting to be too much with the seemingly relentless "why am I doing this?" remarks.
I really can't stand cliffhangers like this one. Without spoiling it too much, you know this isn't the end for Kaine. It just makes moments like that deliver less of an impact to me. It's executed well (Kaine's thoughts), but it just has me rolling my eyes and waiting to see how it'll be resolved.
The Verdict
I'm loving the extra focus on Aracely and Yost's latest story has a whole world of possibilities in store for us. While this issue didn't blow me away or anything, it was yet another very amusing and good looking entry in Kaine's series.