Disclaimer: As this post is categorized as a review, it may contain spoilers.
I haven’t regularly read the Spidey books in a long time. I passed over most of Spider-Island, and I’ve never been a particularly big fan of Kaine or the Scarlet Spider. I am, however, a big fan of Christopher Yost. He’s made me a fan of characters I never cared about before, and I was hoping that with Scarlet Spider, he’d do it again.
Any comic that contains a Daredevil reference on its first page is going to win my affection, and I definitely liked Scarlet Spider. It just hasn’t sold me on Kaine as a character – yet. I appreciate some of what Yost is doing here, from the consequences of Kaine’s attempts at heroism to him trying to decide how much of a conscience he has, but I came away from the first issue without any real investment in the character. This may be because I didn’t read Spider-Island - from what I understand, he played a very big role – but it definitely has me less interested in issue #2 than I’d like to be.
Is it just me, or does webslinging look weird when it's done by a guy with a beard?
That said, there’s lots that was great about this issue. The opening was strong, and the required backstory dump was presented in an interesting and engaging way. The comic was well paced, and the issue set up plenty of potentially intriguing storylines. Kaine’s fresh start is perfect for a first issue, and I was amused by how little he seems to care about Peter Parker’s secret identity. There’s a lot of room for him to grow as a character here, and the Houston setting has already captured my interest. It’s a part of America that few comics focus on, and I hope the city gives the comic a distinct feel in the issues to come.
I would've guessed that jumping on a car would produce more of a crunch than a boom.
Ryan Stegman has the style that I associate with Spider-Man comics, but also offers readers detailed backgrounds. I loved looking at the trash strewn around Kaine’s suite (Pizza DeMatteis was an especially nice touch), and I was impressed that he could make the book’s darker moments look so horrifying without stepping away from the more cartoonish aspects of his style. Marte Garcia colors add plenty of atmosphere to the book while consistently remaining bright. If you don’t like the overall aesthetic of Spider books, you might not like the look of this one, but it’s absolutely a well drawn book.
If you haven’t been reading much Spider-Man and would like a story you can dive in with, Scarlet Spider is a great pick. In spite of its connections to Spider-Island and the Clone Saga storyline, Scarlet Spider is accessible and easy to follow, and its setting keeps it separated from the greater Marvel universe. If you’re like me, however, and are reading more comics than you know what to do with, you may want to wait a few issues and see where the story goes. I trust that Yost will make Scarlet Spider a special book in time, but it isn’t quite there yet.