Is It Good? Scarlet Spider #20 Review

If you missed my review of Sibling Rivalry Part 1 click here. A two part story arc beginning and ending in one day! Is it good?

Scarlet Spider #20 (Marvel Comics)

Check out our review of Part 1 here.

The Jackal has kidnapped Scarlet Spider and Superior Spider-Man. He wants to make more clones and needs the freshest of Peter Parker blood to get them. Will these two “heroes” team up and play nice, or will they continue to beat each other’s brains in like they did in Part 1?

In all honesty who DOESN’T want to fall into a vat of naked Gwen Stacys?

In a lot of ways this two parter by Christopher Yost reads as if Marvel needed Scarlet Spider and Superior Spider-Man to meet up for the good of a future story. What is the point of this series besides seeing them fight each other and fight some giant spider monsters? This issue gives us some background on Jackal’s plan, but it’s explained and then over before you can even think about it.

Jackal was always a fun character.

Jackal continues to be a raving lunatic and Spider-Man gets to take some jabs at this pseudoscientist. When you dress this comic down it’s not much more than an excuse to get these characters together. Maybe there should have been more to it than, “they’re captured, they break the ‘unbreakable’ chains, fight some monsters and run away.” The only saving grace for this two parter is getting a pulse on how SpOck feels about clones. The science purist that he is hates them, for the record.

She still has feelings you monster!

The art looks a lot like Clayton Crain’s work, but it’s done by, “K-Studios in-Kyuk Lee,” whatever (or whoever) that is. There’s dream sequences drawn by “Olliffe, Bit & Loughridge” which again, who the hell is that? These artists aren’t even listed on Marvel’s website. Maybe it’s some kind of sweatshop team of artists or something? Either way, it looks nice. Obviously it’s extremely digital, but has a lifelike style similar to Stjepan Sejic only a little more more stiff when it comes to body language. I’d really love to find out who these artists are and why their names are so wacky, but they do the job at least.

Family!

5.0

• Looks cool.

• Art is a little stiff.
• What was the point of this exactly?

I can’t say this was the best two parter and this second part feels more like dead weight than the first. The first part at least had some great action sequences. The art looks great here, but it’s very stiff. It’s also unclear what the point of this story is besides setting up future stories. It’s too bad more couldn’t be done with Gwen Stacy too. She seems to be yet another symbolic prize for the hero and nothing more.

Is It Good?

Nah. Very skippable end to a two part story arc.