Reading the note at the beginning of this comic, it was stated outright that this comic book would be non-stop…and I have to admit, that was definitely the case here.
I was a bit lost by the sudden appearance of Spider-Man basically coming across as a villain…as a monster, as stated on the front cover of the comic. I didn’t really know what was going on with the serum, other than it seemed to have caused a breakdown in Peter Parker’s intelligence, causing Spider-Man to become savage. It also seemed to enable him to…control other creatures/people who had the same spider abilities as him? Kind of like a whole hive mind of spider-people, though I wasn’t sure if they were other humans, or animals that Peter had somehow developed the ability to control.
I did find the enemies who wanted to ‘purify’ people very interesting, although I was really confused about why they were wearing animal masks. Were they supposed to be part animals? Or just wearing masks for some reason? Unlike a lot of the other comics, this wasn’t one that was so easy to pick up partway through the story. I did feel that the enemies were a real, credible threat, though. And the release of the serum to ‘purge’ people contained a lot of tension.
It was really interesting to see the evolution of the A-PLUS serum in Peter Parker’s body, and how he went from the Savage Spider-Man to what seemed to be a being much higher on the evolutionary scale. It made me wonder what more he might have become if the serum had been allowed to stay in his system…but, of course, it was too dangerous to be allowed to run rampant.
I also liked the writing and artwork of this comic book, especially when it came to Peter’s spidey-sense being shown. And, of course, I really liked the brief cameo of Doctor Strange towards the end of the comic book.
On the whole, although this story was a little difficult to follow, I did enjoy reading it. I’d be very interested in reading the comics leading up to this storyline…as well as seeing any after effects of this on Peter Parker later on.
Ink of Blood 