Up until the announcement of the Spider a few months ago I had never heard of the character. The design piqued my interest though and I made a bee-line for the issue.

As an issue 1, thus is a masterclass for other companies. The main character is introduced via internal monologue over exceptional fight scenes. So many people get the emphasis on the basics versus action very wrong in series debuts, but the balance here us faultless. Also faultless is the introduction of the supporting cast, each is given smoke space and focus time to give weight and prominence to each one.

Not knowing about the Spider’s origins the emergence of some supernatural elements did surprise, but this exploded into a portentous closing page.

All in all, this comic surpassed my wildest expectations and I hope a long run is coming.