Spider-Man: Long Way Home #2: Collision

Two issues in, Jonathan Hickman’s Spider-Man: Long Way Home feels a long way from being a Spider-Man story. The focus has been on the Punisher as he runs from the Hulk and anyone else who would pursue the cosmic cube.

Despite being at the forefront of these first two issues, there isn’t a lot to the Punisher’s characterization beyond “gruff badass with an attitude,” which is mostly par for the course in a lot of Punisher books where he’s not the subject of a larger character arc.

Banner’s pursuit of the Punisher, driven by a desire for the cube to make him more like the Hulk rather than less, wreaks havoc in Miami. Bruce is clearly the antagonist, an interesting subversion of his character, who is normally trying to restrain the Hulk, not empower him.

When Spider-Man discovers that chaos later in the issue, the pages turn sideways and cascade into each other like a four-page spread, depicting the scene as one long continuous landscape. The panels also become staggered, showing each moment to the reader as Peter experiences them himself. It’s an interesting technique, one that pairs well with Adam Kubert’s cinematic art style.

Kubert’s almost signature messy line art makes the backgrounds feel live-in, which works exceptionally well considering what the scene is depicting. Hesli’s colors complement the lines, bringing a semi-realistic texture to the characters and moody lighting to the pages. Each character is cast in different tones in the issue, such as the fittingly thematic green light of Bruce Banner’s computer setup or the blue moonlight as Spider-Man descends on the battlefield Hulk left behind.