It’s an exciting and weird time to be a Spider-Man fan, made clear by series like Gold Goblin and this week’s debut, Hallow’s Eve. Both spin out of the main Spider-Man book, and both get a chance to explore characters that may be considered villains, but they’re also complex people underneath the costume. In Hallow’s Eve, Erica Schultz and Michael Dowling follow Janine after she split from Ben Reilly, Spider-Man, who is now imprisoned and still very angry. What is she up to, and what is the deal with her magical masks?
The masks take up the central focus in Hallow’s Eve #1, a gift given to Janine by the Goblin Queen. It’s a cool power perfectly suited to Spider-Man’s goblin rogues as well as fans of Halloween. As we see in this issue, Janine can use the masks to gain incredible powers or even to look like a different person. For instance, the preview shows that she can swap a mask to look like Marilyn Monroe.
She’s not using masks just for fun, though, as she’s trying to make some dough to take care of herself and, once they find each other again, Ben. Carrying forward where we left off with Janine, she’s angry and sick of a system that has discarded her and left her to rot. It’s easy to get into her mindset thanks to Schultz’s writing, as she’s not evil by any means but just trying to make her way in a tricky world. Given the state of jobs and the economy, Hallow’s Eve is easy to get behind.
These masks are incredible.
Credit: Marvel
She also has some slick powers, as rendered by Dowling and color artist Brian Reber. The masks have an effect when they change Janine, which always looks cool, and each new power looks great. In one scene, Janine uses an invisibility power depicted in a double-page layout with Janine dashing by all sorts of expensive comic relics. When she powers up a werewolf mask, you feel it in the angle on her, her face, and the cool “Awoooooo” sound effect.
Generally speaking, it’s easy to understand Janine’s situation, and the powers look cool and make sense. However, I imagine some might be confused about where she fits in the larger universe. That’s more evident with Maxine Danger, the head of the Beyond Corp. She’s a prominent character in this issue, and while Schultz does a good job establishing her non-nonsense tough-guy vibe, you might also be confused as to what her deal is and why she’s in the story. If you read the Spider-Man comics in the Beyond Board era, you’ll be fine reading this, but new readers might be unclear on some details.
Another gripe with this issue is the speed at which it’s over. Not a lot happens from cover to cover, and while it’s entertaining and sets up some things, I was also shocked when it ended, expecting a bit more story. That said, if you read the summary introduction, you should get all the details you need.
Hallow’s Eve is a good start to a series with plenty of room to explore its star character. Between Janine and her epic backstory, along with the incredible idea behind her powers that are the perfect Halloween costume, fans should find plenty to enjoy with this series.
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