The Spider-Verse Saga Has Come To An End

In some ways this is a hard post to write as I am very much conflicted over my feelings about the Spider-Verse saga that recently wrapped up in the Spider-man comics. Spidey is my favorite hero and so I wish for the best from his comics and am thrown off when it just doesn't all come together.

I am going to start with the bad on this so I can finish with a positive note.

Spider-Verse suffered from going no where real fast. The main six part story really was lacking. Each part did little to move the story and often felt like it repeated itself. Most of the real interesting stuff happen in the tie-in comics. The main story just couldn't handle it all. To some level it really felt like trying to get all the various versions of Spider-Man/woman/girl/pig/ape working together was too much to ask and regretfully it showed.

Now there were some good scenes in the main story, but nothing that really stood out. The conclusion itself just happened. There was nothing in it that was as grand as it needed to be. It also ended in a way that did not feel final. There is little doubt that the problems could start up again with nothing having been done to prevent the Inheritors from coming back.

There were also a whole lot of loose ends that did not get dealt with. The fate of so many of the Spider totems was left unresolved. The main one that sticks out to me is the Uncle Ben Spider-man, who really cannot go back to his world. Where does he go now? Is he going to be forgotten? It wouldn't work to bring him to Earth 616 (Main Marvel universe). Maybe he will just wonder the multi-verse now.

There were also many threads introduced in the storyline that felt forgotten and over looked as the battle reached its conclusion. As the amount of Spider totems grew it seemed the use of each one got less important. Ideas that were hinted at early on just had no where to go with the overwhelming cast. What was to me a very obviously important character called the Master Weaver, who I had no doubt was a pinnacle character that was going to have one impressive back story given to us when his secrets were revealed, ended up with a truly weak, uninspired fate. There was so much they could have done there that they didn't.

So now for the good.

The side stories were where all the real stuff seemed to happen. You got small groups of the characters working together and being able to actually have real stories. This is what saved Spider-Verse from being a full disappointment.

The side stories were also where they did most of the work of living up to the promise of 'every Spider-man ever'. They found some great ways to make sure they at least included references to all of them. Even when they could not use the likenesses, they still made comments about one of them looking like that actor from Seabiscuit and another that would not stop singing show-tunes. So there was a lot of fun little pokes at all the forms Spider-man has taken over the decades that I enjoyed.

In the aftermath we have two new comic titles that are directly out of the story line. Both of them are female lead titles. Silk and Spider-Gwen have a huge following with the series just being announced. There is a lot of potential there for some strong story telling.

And now with Spider-Verse over with, the regular series can fix itself and get back on track. Unless the big Marvel event for this year, Secret Wars, interferes. That is a huge possibility. We do know that Secret Wars is going to introduce a reality where Peter Parker is stilled married to Mary Jane and they have a daughter (Most likely named May). Now this is an alternate continuity that has been shown before, but some of the hints given about Secret Wars suggest that some of these alternate realities will end up resetting various continuities of the main Marvel titles. Not sure how I feel about that idea.