What happens when you gather some of the greatest spider heroes all in one place? Surely nothing bad, right? Your Major Spoilers review of Spider-Society #1 from Marvel Comics awaits!
SPIDER-SOCIETY #1
Writer: Alex Segura
Artist: Scott Godlewski
Colorist: Matt Milla
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Editor: Nick Lowe
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: August 14th, 2024
Previously in Spider-Society: Across the multiverse, heroes of all shapes and sizes have taken on either the moniker of Spider-Man or something very similar, and they are all connected to each other via the web of destiny, which Madame Web maintains.
SPIDER-CON 2024
Spider-Society #1 opens up with Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy, also known as Ghost-Spider, catching up on things. They both then receive texts from Madam Web and swing off to see what’s up. Elsewhere, a collection of villains gathers, ready to enact their mysterious plan. At Madam Web’s house, all the spiders gather and chit-chat. The group is suddenly attacked by a group of villains who are able to, very quickly and without much trouble, start incapacitating the heroes. Eventually, Madam Web appears and, with the help of Arana, is able to get a collection of the heroes out, including Web Weaver, Weapon VIII, Spider-Punk, Hunter Spider, Felicia Hardy, Spider-Woman, and Spider-Cat. The group discusses what their next course of action should be and determines that the best is to find Miguel O’Hara. The team sets out to conduct their rescue mission, but little do they know one of them is a traitor.
LETTING THE LESSER KNOWNS SHINE
To address what is probably the elephant in the room. Yes, Spider-Society #1 feels very much like Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse. But, after the initial comparisons, being that there’s a wide variety of spider heroes on display, things do take a departure, and it becomes its own thing. There are a few things that this issue does really well. The first is that it gets things rolling very quickly. It doesn’t dilly dally in getting the stakes set and the action going. Another is that it creates a situation to get the more well-known characters off the board, and while it’s completely contrived, it fits with what’s going on. Knowing that for the foreseeable future, we’re going to be focusing on some lesser-known or straight-up unknowns is an exciting proposition.
There is a bit of a problem with the tone, though. While you’d expect there to be a decent number of quips and humor on display in a book with dozens of Spider-Mans, the humor here only really manages to diminish any sense of peril, which is something that this issue is really trying hard to get across. It’s not just the humor that ruins the impact of the more dramatic moments. In a completely baffling decision, in the first five pages, it’s revealed that there’s a spy. So, when the end of this issue comes around, and the betrayal happens, it has practically no dramatic effect. With that being said, we still haven’t gotten a chance to see what some of these characters have to offer yet, so there’s still a nice carrot on a string for the next issue.
OUT IN THE VOID
If we’re talking about just the characters and the action, then the visuals are perfectly fine. They even manage to avoid the trap that a lot of artists fall into in Spider-Man books, which have a bunch of distorted bodies swinging around, which is commendable considering the sheer number of spider characters here. What’s really strange though, is that after the opening bit with Miles and Gwen, there’s practically no backgrounds. Everything else in this issue takes place in featureless settings, with only the color changing between them. While it’s possible that this is an artistic decision to try and emphasize certain emotions, what it ends up looking like is that this whole comic takes place in an empty room with a single RGB lightbulb hanging above, fading from one color to the next.
BOTTOM LINE: A MIDDLE OF THE ROAD OPENER
Spider-Society #1 presents an enticing offer. It is a big, multiversal adventure featuring a good mixture of familiar and brand-new spider heroes. And while technically, it delivers on this promise, the execution is lacking. Between a tone that can’t find a middle ground between serious and comedic, some uninspired visuals, and a poorly paced plot, there’s certainly room for improvement. But with all that being said, it still captures a bit of that magic from Across The Spider-Verse, which is just enough to keep a little curiosity in this series alive. 3 out of 5 stars.
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Spider-Society #1
Spider-Society #1 will please anyone who just wants to see a bunch of Spider-Men gallivanting around and having an adventure. But, pacing problems and a boring visual style keeps this from being anything more than just mildly entertaining.
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At a young age, Jonathan was dragged to a small town in Wisconsin. A small town in Wisconsin that just so happened to have a comic book shop. Faced with a decision to either spend the humid summers and bitter winters traipsing through the pine trees or in climate controlled comfort with tales of adventure, horror, and romance, he chose the latter. Jonathan can often be found playing video games, board games, reading comics and wincing as his “to watch” list grows wildly out of control.