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A review by tshepiso
Edge of Spider-Verse by Jason Latour, Clay McLeod Chapman, Dustin Weaver, Robbi Rodriguez, David Hine, Fabrice Sapolsky, Greg Land, Gerard Way, Jake Wyatt, Garry Brown, Elia Bonetti, Richard Isanove
3.0
I picked up this story expecting fun original Spider-Man stories and for the most part it delivered. I don’t think Edge of the Spider-Verse is as good as I hoped would be but it did have interesting things to say and do with the Spider-an narrative.
This collection of Spider-Man stories had some gems. I really enjoyed Spider-Gwen’s story by Jason Latour and I'm glad to see she got her own spin off because of this. She was a very interesting character with a lot of narrative potential and I’m likely to pick up her solo series. I did also appreciate a lot of the ideas presented in the stories. The darker edge to the Spider-Man story by Clay Chapman was unexpected and unsettling, the Japanese aesthetics of Dustin Weaver’s issue was like nothing I’ve seen before. I had fun experiences all of the weird alternate universes the authors came up with. I’ve always been fond of ‘What If…’ narratives and Edge of Spider-Verse is an interesting take on the genre.
But original, creative ideas weren’t enough to carry this comic. Most of the stories felt very rushed and underdeveloped. To be fair the writers were given the difficult task of setting up brand new protagonists in unique worlds with conflicts that had be wrapped in a single issue.
I felt disconnected from most of the stories. There wasn’t enough time to create compelling characters. Stories often relied on exposition dumps to get the necessary world building out of the way. There was rarely a satisfying narrative arc to the stories because they had to be tied into the event these comics are a part of.
I felt this particularly in the last issue by Gerard Way. I was fascinated by Penni Parker and the SP//DR but there wasn’t enough time to tell a great story about it. The last few pages also had to act as a tie-in to the Spider-Verse story arc meaning an unsatisfying open ended conclusion. This was how most of the stories in this collection felt to be honest.
I went into Edge of Spider-Verse hoping for the same thrills watching Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse gave me. I didn’t get that, but Is still experienced interesting Spider-Man stories so I’m not too mad at the volume.
This collection of Spider-Man stories had some gems. I really enjoyed Spider-Gwen’s story by Jason Latour and I'm glad to see she got her own spin off because of this. She was a very interesting character with a lot of narrative potential and I’m likely to pick up her solo series. I did also appreciate a lot of the ideas presented in the stories. The darker edge to the Spider-Man story by Clay Chapman was unexpected and unsettling, the Japanese aesthetics of Dustin Weaver’s issue was like nothing I’ve seen before. I had fun experiences all of the weird alternate universes the authors came up with. I’ve always been fond of ‘What If…’ narratives and Edge of Spider-Verse is an interesting take on the genre.
But original, creative ideas weren’t enough to carry this comic. Most of the stories felt very rushed and underdeveloped. To be fair the writers were given the difficult task of setting up brand new protagonists in unique worlds with conflicts that had be wrapped in a single issue.
I felt disconnected from most of the stories. There wasn’t enough time to create compelling characters. Stories often relied on exposition dumps to get the necessary world building out of the way. There was rarely a satisfying narrative arc to the stories because they had to be tied into the event these comics are a part of.
I felt this particularly in the last issue by Gerard Way. I was fascinated by Penni Parker and the SP//DR but there wasn’t enough time to tell a great story about it. The last few pages also had to act as a tie-in to the Spider-Verse story arc meaning an unsatisfying open ended conclusion. This was how most of the stories in this collection felt to be honest.
I went into Edge of Spider-Verse hoping for the same thrills watching Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse gave me. I didn’t get that, but Is still experienced interesting Spider-Man stories so I’m not too mad at the volume.