Review: Scarlet Spider #1

Written by Christopher Yost
Illustrated by Ryan Stegman
Get ready for a new brand of web-slinging action in your first look at Scarlet Spider #1! From the red-hot creative team of Chris Yost & Ryan Stegman, Kaine — the all-new Scarlet Spider — finds himself on the run in Texas after saving New York City from becoming the world’s largest spider nest during Spider-Island. But when his escape is stopped by a super-powered crime syndicate, Kaine must put an end to their corruption the only way he knows how…violently.

This is probably the book no one was expecting. A second Spider book about the clone of Spider-Man that’s not even the first clone of Spider-Man to hold the mantle of “Scarlet Spider,” it can be really confusing. But alas, Kaine, the red-headed step child (so to speak) of the Jackal’s mad plots to torture Peter Parker has his own title and he wants to share his own unique brand of justice all over Houston’s faces.

Check the jump to see how Kaine does on his own!

I didn’t go into this book expecting that much. It’s a book starring a side character from one of the most reviled books of all time, the Clone Saga. It’s not even Ben Reilly, it’s KAINE. After I considered my reservations I sat down and read it.

Surprisingly, I REALLY enjoyed it. Yost and Stegman (the writer and artist, respectively) crafted a brilliant opening to the issue that resembles how a film would open. It’s not a new technique by any stretch of the imagination, but the way it’s presented in the debut issue really helped the story Yost was telling, and it was masterfully handled by Ryan Stegman, one of the more underrated artists from the Brand New Day era of Amazing Spider-Man.

Stegman’s art is less grimdark than you would expect from a book with the gravity that comes from Kaine’s whole existence as an angsty clone of Peter Parker, but his designs actually serve the narrative by offsetting the darkness with some of that trademark Spider-Man levity in the art. But even then, Stegman’s art pushes the boundaries of what people would think he might be able to do, with unique layouts that set up that oh so welcome movie feel I brought up earlier.

Christopher Yost has been a writer for Marvel for a long time. He worked with the mutants in New X-Men and later X-Force while also writing scripts for Marvel Studios. When one takes that into account, it’s easy to see how the visual route was taken, and how much chemistry he has with Ryan Stegman.

The characterization of Kaine, who had previously been really similar to another monster named Kane (from the WWE if you follow me) has grown to be a great anti-hero and complementary component to the Spider-Man mythos, with a struggle to be a hero that Peter doesn’t necessarily have. Where Peter has accepted his role as the hero, Kaine’s much less willing to BE the hero. It gives Yost the opportunity to play with the idea that was presented nearly 50 years ago in the pages of Amazing Fantasy #15: “With great power, comes great responsibility.”

That’s an overused phrase within the Marvel Universe. It really is. We’re constantly beaten over the head with it when Spider-Man media comes out, and it’s become so synonymous with the character, that it goes without saying that that is the theme of Spider-Man comics. So that’s exactly what Yost did. There is a certain analogy to the idea of great power requiring great responsibility in the book, but it’s never explicitly mentioned. It’s merely hinted to. That kind of thinking makes the book more interesting to dive into, because that very theme is something you find for yourself along with Kaine. This take on the character makes a so-so 90s also-ran possibly even more engaging than his 50 year-old counterpart, and one I’ll likely be adding to my pull. That’s something I never expected myself to be saying. But it’s true.

But while I did love the book quite a bit more than I anticipated, it’s not exactly perfect. But that’s not the fault of the writing per se, but it’s standing as a pilot of sorts. While it sets up the status quo very well, and gives him a familiar yet, underused city to defend, he never actually puts on the new Scarlet Spider Uniform in the issue and is instead mostly running around town costume-less. Perhaps it was part of the idea of not WANTING to be the hero, but since he’s carrying around the costume, you’ think he’d be a little more open to the idea. The villain in the book, while being a bastard, doesn’t really have any other distinguishable characteristics from any other 90’s villain; but that remains to be seen if it’s a bad thing or not.

Finally, and most importantly, there was a disturbing lack of a Scarlet Spider-Hoodie worn in the book, save for a single flashback splash page. The 90’s Nostalgia-whore in me wants the hoodie to be front and center!

This book is one you should be checking out. It’s a fun book that might even be better than the main Amazing Spider-Man title, which is hard to do, especially without a blue hoodie.

Final Verdict: 7.5 – Buy