Review: Edge of Spider-Verse #1
Wow, things have really gotten wacky in the Spider-Verse last I read a Spider-man book. This book is quite a rollercoaster, it features two stories of our favorite web-slinger Peter Parker, however, it is not Peter Parker at all, but instead a dino version of the webbed hero known as Spider-Rex and a version of Spidey that is more spider than human called Spider-Killer. These very two different stories deserve their own break down so let’s go ahead and start with the daring dino himself.
Spider-Rex is something else, it is a cross between a parody and a legitimate rendition of what Spider-Man would be as a dinosaur. Set in the Jurassic period, all of our favorite characters are turned into dinos. From Aunt May and Uncle Ben to Mary Jane and J.J.J., we are treated to a full cast of dino companions. It’s overall a fun read, it’s light-hearted, masterfully colored and drawn, and doesn’t take itself too seriously. With more than 5 puns per page I think this story is just a little too wacky for my taste, but then again it’s a story about Spider-Man being a T-rex and swinging around the jungle, what are you expecting right? It’s good nonetheless, a quick fun read to pass the time. I can’t say anything too bad about it, I think there’s something really awesome about seeing Eddie Broncosaurus turn into a Venomsaurus Rex, which honestly makes up for all the bad puns in this story. Spider-Rex is a neat concept visually and artist Pere Perez does a wonderful work illustrating this whimsical world. The one thing I didn’t like that much was how some panels handled background blur, whilst I understand why it was done I think the blur filter was pushed a little too far and it makes the image a little bit too noisy which makes the blurred background a bit distracting instead of pushing it back, but other than that I liked reading through this.
The lettering by Joe Caramagna is superb on this story and it’s definitely handled like a piece of the art rather than just letters on top of comic panels, and I can both enjoy and appreciate it. I especially liked the lettered rendition of the Spidey theme song, the Jurassic version. All in all, Karla Pachecho did a great job writing an otherwise silly story. I sincerely can’t even imagine how they found the time or the imagination to come up with so many puns. I lost count after 15.
I give this story a 4 out of 5. It was funny, the lettering is awesome, and the art is equally awesome. There were a couple of things that could have been done differently but there are a lot of things that were handled very well and I like that. It’s just well, it’s Spider-Rex. The lettering though, really excels on here. Joe took it to the next level, there’s a panel where Spider-Rex lands on the ground and Joe managed to combine action lines with the sound fx “Thump!” so beautifully that I can’t help but gawk at the brilliance.
I keep mentioning the lettering of Joe on Spider-Rex because they also did the lettering for Spider-Killer, and dang it I wish it was as good as it was on Spider-Rex.
Spider-Killer is written like a crime noir story with almost all the text being narration boxes and using a shadow-heavy art style. The art is honestly good, and I love the character design of Spider-Killer, he looks so creepy yet oddly wise, like a detective. I also really love the torn-up clothing on Spider-Killer, it’s a weird depiction of our favorite arachnid but one that looks quite awesome nonetheless. I think that Spider-Killer would look awesome as a villain in Hellboy, that’s how freaky this rendition is, and the way the dark shadows are drawn is definitely something I could see in a “Helly” book. That being said, the story is a bit weird and a little bit hard to follow but definitely ends with a very intriguing cliffhanger and one I would love to see explored in another issue. The one thing I don’t like about this story, sadly, is the lettering… It feels just added on top, whereas the previous story really showed the awesome talent of Joe Caramagna. I like the font though, I think it’s a good font for this type of crime noir storytelling, however, and this is just my inner artist speaking, the “w” in the font looks too much like a “ru” that sometimes I had to read a word twice, even three times to understand what was being said. Of course, after the second time it happened, I realized that it was a “w” but I don’t know, seeing the awesome work of Joe in Spider-Rex and then reading this one right after, in the next book. Kinda makes me sad. Feels like they either didn’t give Joe too much time to really make awesome lettering on it or that it was a rush job. Either way, the story suffers because of it.
I give this story a 3 out of 5. The art is good, but nothing too crazy either. The best thing about it has to be Spider-Killer’s design and all the half-page illustrations. The panels aren’t much to write about, but they help tell the story. I really wish there was a full-page illustration on here because it seems that artist Guillermo Sanna really excels at the bigger drawings, which would have been nice to see. I do have to say though, that the first page is a really cool one, and I love how they used the web motif to break down the panels, that is something I haven’t seen before and feels so natural with a spider-themed story. The colors are good and nice, there’s not that much color because in the end it’s a crime noir story and those are typically black and white but the mostly, green and orange palette is a nice touch.
Spider-Rex in “Enter: Kravertooth The Hunter”
Writing – 4 Stars
Artwork – 4.5 Stars
Colors – 5 Stars
Lettering- 5 Stars (the lettering is honestly superb on this one)
Overall: 4 Stars
Written by; Karla Pacheco
Art by; Pere Perez
Colors by; Antonio Fabela
Lettering by; Joe Caramagna
Spider-Killer in “Curse of the spider-killer”
Writing – 3.5 Stars
Artwork – 4. Stars
Colors – 4.5 Stars
Lettering- 2.5 Stars
Overall: 3 Stars
Written by; Zander Cannon
Art by; Guillermo Sanna
Colors by; Rico Renzy
Lettering by; Joe Carmagna
Cover Art by Patric Brown
Variant Cover Artists:
Josemaria Casanovas
Chriscorss & Chris sotomayor
Ken Lashley & Juan Fernandez
Skottie Young
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