Spider-Verse Team-Up #3 ties directly into Amazing Spider-Man #13 with some sidebar events and a major development that occurs after the issue. That means it’s important, but is it good?
Spider-Verse Team-Up #3 (Marvel Comics)
If you’re just joining us…well you’re in luck, as this series isn’t following its own story but serving more as a short story tie-in series. This issue contains two stories, one focused on May Parker and her reaction to details in Amazing Spider-Man #13 and the other on a group of Spider totems enacting the first part of a plan that’ll potentially get them victory in Amazing Spider-Man #14.
Cool layout!
The issue opens with a story written by Christos N. Gage and focuses on Earth 3145 as the Spider-characters discuss going to Loomworld and taking on the Inheritors. The plan is to get Karn on their side and to do it they need to stop him from killing the Spider Totem of Earth 3123 — none other than Spider-Ma’am AKA Aunt May. A bit of a goofy start, but the story is serviceable enough to get the plot moving. Unfortunately I never buy the argument that the Spider Totems make Karn do what he does. The guy has killed hundreds of Totems himself, and they are offering him a deal that’d mean killing his family with no guarantee he’d have food at the end of it all. They hope to convince him since he’s so miserable and will always be so, but it’s not believable enough in the short amount of pages Gage has.
The art by Dave Williams is a bit simplistic, with some panels looking like recreations of Spider-Man busts more than fully drawn characters. The layouts work nicely to translate the numerous Spider-peeps and a battle taking place though. All in all serviceable but not astounding.
Nice little splash.
The second story is written by Tom DeFalco and focuses on May Parker and starts where the first story started as well. She’s furious she’s let the Inheritors take her baby brother and storms off. The Uncle Ben of Earth 3145 follows her and they discuss guilt and his not wanting to join the fight. Ultimately the story is about her dealing with anger and emotions and Ben dealing with being a quitter. It serves as a way to give these characters a bit more humanity, but by no means is it important to the main event.
The art by Ron Frenz is very classic in a Steve Ditko sort of way. He draws some nice panels that exhibit a lot of energy and the layouts are playful and exhibit the Spider-powers well. He does draw Uncle Ben a bit too chipper for my liking to the point where he seems to be laughing at May rather than going to her aid.
Eye rolling stuff.
Is It Good?
This is a very skippable issue since the events that do matter will probably be summed up in the next installment anyway. The art is good in one but not the other and overall this should only satisfy the die hards who are reading everything.
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