Review: Spider-Verse #1 (Secret Wars)
What set Spider-Verse #1 apart from the other Secret Wars tie-ins - at least of the ones I’ve read - is the Spiders featured know there’s something wrong with the world they’re living in. I suspect it might be the mission of The Voice Unheard (Inhumans Attilan Rising #1) to dismantle’s Doom’s power because they know the world is wrong, but this issue was the first I’d read anyone specifically point out that all isn’t as it’s supposed to be.
Of course, I’m not aware of every character in the Marvel universe(s), so I don’t know if it would make sense for other characters to pick up on the weirdness because of their powers. But it seems logical a person (or animal) with spider-sense would feel it.
Spider-Gwen is restless so she needs someone to punch. She’s in luck because she finds some villains robbing graves. After she webs them up for the police to find, she heads over to another part of the cemetery. She’s been getting random flashes of another life, other memories. And the sound of familiar music she can’t completely place plays in her head. Something isn’t right. And the tombstones for her and her father prove it.
Meanwhile, a young man watches some illegal activity taking place on the docks. It’s broken up by two Spiders who also web the bad guys for the authorities to find. Unfortunately, it was all a setup and someone has sent in a team to capture the two. The young man dons his own spider costume and helps the others escape.
They stop beneath a bridge for introductions. The woman spider is Anya Corazon, although she has been told her name is Sara. Her young savior is Pavitr Prabhakar, Spider-Man from India. Anya’s partner was Spider-Man Billy Braddock. Pavitr was compelled to find them because he has realized they don’t belong where they are.
Gwen has suspected for awhile that her life is off. She Googled her name months ago and learned she died on the George Washington Bridge after her father died. And Spider-Man was there, but disappeared. She suspects Mayor Osborn was involved and that’s why she went to work for him at Ozcorp - to gather more info.
After spending months scoping out a high security area of the headquarters, she’s ready to make her move as Spider-Gwen (though Osborn has greeted her as Ms. Woodley) to sneak inside and she what he’s hiding. The break-in doesn’t go as smoothly as she planned, but she’s able to find an electronic file on The Sinister Six: six Spiders in the city, including her. She’s shocked to see others like her, and even more confused because they all look familiar.
There’s one other door marked ‘Peter’ that Gwen decides to check out. In the next room she finds Spider-Ham in a hospital bed and hooked up to machines, his Spider costume hanging up nearby. She prepares to help him out of there, but she’s stopped by Mayor Osborn. He knows she’s Gwen Stacy and it’s all been a trap.
The issue ends with a bonus story which explains what Spider-Ham’s journey has been in Battleworld. He also dreamt of another life - one where he was a hero, but his “real life” is pretty terrible. He spent time living in parks with other homeless people before staying in the home of an elderly blind lady who thought he was her long-lost grandson. He even started a popular food blog. Bu then the wayward grandson returned and suggested Spider-Ham find work in a circus. The finder’s fee he earned may have influenced his suggestion. Spider-Ham was actually a pretty good performer and things were looking up… until Mayor Osborn appeared.
Overall Thoughts:
- I may not be enjoying the Spider-Gwen series post Spider-Verse as much as I am Spider-Woman and Silk, but I like the way she (and her history with Spider-Man) is used here.
- The action was well-drawn in this issue and the panels really flowed from one to the next.
- I’m looking forward to learning more about the Sinister Six and what Osborn may or may not know about what Doom has done.
