Spider-Verse #4: Blazing Spidey

This Spider-Verse mini-series has been quietly losing a little steam for the past issue or so. Thankfully, I was really very pleasantly surprised by this issue. I have to admit, honestly, I wasn’t going in with high hopes, even though I love the western genre, I’m not a fan of modern characters getting “dropped” into a western setting. It’s always a fish out of water situation, and hardly ever works (except for Back to the Future 3!). But author Taran Killam actually makes it work in this case. That’s mostly because he doesn’t focus on Miles Morales being in the old west, but the majority of the focus is on the western Spider-Man and his fight against the “Scorpion”. Killam sets up and executes a really good western story that happens to guest-star Miles Morales. To my surprise, there wasn’t any real forward movement on Miles’ search for Annie May Parker, it’s totally focused on what’s going on in the life of the western Spidey. In my opinion, that’s what makes the story so enjoyable. There’s honestly not much there for the ongoing Miles story, he has to find Annie May and get her back where she needs to be, safely. That’s it. So, focusing on the places and heroes that Miles’ visits, is really the way to go.

Artist Juan Gedeon is a great choice for this issue. His style lends itself to this genre. He really gives “Cowboy Spidey” a unique look rather than adapting a Spider-Man costume to fit in with the western wardrobe, he gives him a western hero costume with a spider theme. Another thing I loved was Spidey’s web-shooters. I’m not going to say anything more about them, I’ll let you discover it for yourself. At the end of the day, this issue was pretty good.