Friday, July 23, 2010

Amazing Spider-Man: The Grim Hunt

Just got back from the comic shop, and you know what that means: Spider-Man! Oh yes. Today we have:

Comic Review: Spider-Man 634



So I haven't bought Spider-Man in a while, partly because I am dirt poor and other partly because they sucked. I decided to pick one up, because, hey why not. To be honest, I expected the worst. Especially since the first issue of the Gauntlet was just plain bad. But, reading it, I got something different.

Anyway, the point of the Gauntlet was, basically, to beat the living shit out of Peter. Not just physically, but to break him down in every aspect. The meta-reason is probably because the writers hate him, but the in-story reason is that the remaining Kravenoffs want revenge on him for making Kraven dead or whatever. Well, him and every other superhero who has spider-based powers and design. Considering the franchise Marvel made, that's quite a bit of people.

Now that the Gauntlet is over, we start the next phase: The Grim Hunt. The comic starts at the original Kraven's son's (Vladimir) grave. Standing there is Alyosha, another of Kraven's sons. There he meets with Ana Kravenoff, Kraven's daughter, and Sasha Kravenoff, Kraven's lover or something.



Man, Kraven really got busy, didn't he? See, I've never really been a fan of Kraven, or his offspring. I mean, his shtick is that he hunts Spider-Man because... it's fun? I mean, he's really just a Most Dangerous Game ripoff that people seem to love. And it's been done before, the whole "Spider-Man killed Kraven! Revenge time!" I don't even think they're all that interesting, they all have the same jungle-person thing. Anyway, enough of my bitching. ...For now.

We cut to Peter, who, honestly, looks like shit. Both in story, and the art.



He's got swine flu. Yay for out of date references! Anyway, there's a loud knocking at his door, and when he opens it up, we get: Kaine, covered in blood. Kaine is a remnant from the Clone Saga, and he's more or less a degenerate clone of Peter, who has a beard.



At that comment, he decides to go out as Spider-Man, just in time to help Arachne, a former Spider-Woman, from Alyosha and Ana. They get the crap kicked out of them, and Spider-Man starts hearing war drums. After being knocked out, we cut to Kaine, who has a flashback showing that he was beaten nearly to death by Ana Kravenoff, but she let him live because she's a bitch. Spider-Man wakes up at the apartment of Mattie Franklin, another Spider-Woman. Spider-Man and Arachne discuss how they both have no idea what's going on, when we get a dramatic entrance by Ezekiel, another dude with Spider-powers because I don't really care.

Next we go to Madame Web and Maddie Franklin in the Kravens' dungeon thing. This part is actually really sad. Maddie is talking to Madame Web about her upcoming death.



Sasha brings Electro and Diablo, some chemist who acts like it's magic. They use one of his chemicals and a bolt of lightning from Electro on Maddie, as she's stabbed by Sasha. Then something weird happens.



So yeah, that's the comic. It honestly wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. My main gripe is about the villains, who I don't like at all. I mean, the comic was pretty well written, but I didn't like the direction it was going in. Their plan was to completely destroy Spider-Man, and from what I can tell, it was working. Unless he suddenly gets a burst of optimism, I can see him starting to call himself "The Spider" again, and having a 3rd person monologue again, like before the Clone Saga. The art was too gritty for my tastes, and looked too similar to the Electro comic. Well, I can't complain about the writing, just everything else. Which is weird, for a recent Amazing Spider-Man. Anyway, I'll try to get more, just to see how they are. Until next time, this is the W Defender.

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