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by Dave Scrimgeour and Kevin McCluskey   Writer- J.M. DeMatteis Penciller- Mike Zeck Inker- Bob McLeod Letterer- Rick Parker Colourists- Mike Zeck & Ian Tetrault synopsisSergei Kravinov prepares to unleash one, final assault on Spider-Man. Meanwhile Peter Parker, racked with guilt over the death of Joe Face and already fatigued, falls all too easily into Kraven's trap, and finds himself buried alive as a result.  The Undertaker. Dave So here we are, back to Spidey, circa October 1987, and the black costume. I'm sure that when we started collecting Spidey issues, he was in his black costume phase. Kev The first issue I bought of Amazing was issue 289 and he was in the black costume then, yeh. The next issue I got was issue 299, and he went back to the red 'n' blues at the end of issue 300. I still have a huge soft spot for that black costume. Dave So really, it was around 1987 that we started collecting Spidey. I love the logo of Spidey web-slinging in the top left hand corner. The black costume with the shades of royal blue is really distinctive and eye catching. Kev That Web Of Spider-Man corner box is excellent, isn't it? And the black costume is soooo sleek. I love it. I think we started collecting Spidey in earnest in '88, but we dabbled a bit beforehand. I did a book report on this for school. It was in first year, I think. Got a decent enough mark for it, and Brother John seemed surprised that I got enough out of a comic for a piece of writing. Maybe it was the William Blake reference that made it acceptable to him as an English teacher. He wouldn’t let me do any more comics though, despite my attempts to do some Spider-Man Vs Venom next. To be fair, there isn’t anywhere near as much meat on the bones of those stories, so to speak. Interesting that DeMatteis pitched this as a Batman/Joker story at one point. And a Wonderman/Grim Reaper one before that, apparently. Dave The cover in itself gives a sense of foreboding and the doom ahead for Spidey, and it's cleverly set, looking down on him to create the feeling of him being defeated and overpowered. Kev The cover is great. Excellent splash page too. Already, Kraven is positioned in what would be considered a very Spider-Man-like pose. This is probably going to turn into a Kev-gushes-over-Mike-Zeck-And-Bob-McLeod series of reviews, but I’ll try to rein myself in.  Thank the good Lord for shadow placement, eh? Dave Feel free to gush, we haven't had some gushing for a while. Kev Ha,ha! I did enough of that over Zeck's artwork when we reviewed Punisher: Circle Of Blood. Dave That first page panel is tremendous though, with so many colours blending well together, and it sets up Kraven as a real menacing foe for Spidey. It really is a top notch splash page. The first 3 pages are a self-contained Kraven narrative. It reminds me of the Wolverine mini-series we covered, in that it has a similar intro. Not that I'm suggesting there was any copying intended. Kev That hadn't occurred to me. It's interesting that Kraven is training against his stuffed animal cuddly toys, (and mirroring the poses of the animals in question) and not the animals themselves. It's ritualistic, it's performative, and it's an indication of a man who is declining physically. “An old man, now-- ‘though few would believe it.” Is this a major part of his depression? I always forget that he is supposed to be in his 70s at this point. Identity is one of the major themes of this tale. Dave Just as well he was indoors, a man could get arrested for running about in the nude, doing this sort of thing. Kev Ha, ha! Yeh, just rolling around on the floor with his stuffed toy animals, in the buff. Maybe Sergei is a furry. Dave Those first 3 pages are so atmospheric. There is minimal narration which really works, as it allows the pictures to tell the story. Kev Definitely. It's the images that are doing the storytelling in this opening scene. Dave What strikes me now, in looking at this story again, is the adult nature of this story. As kids we wouldn't have appreciated this. It breaks down the stereotype of comic books being juvenile in relation to their stories. This is a dark Spidey fable. Kev Totally. I honestly think that Brother John was surprised that there was as much going on in a comic book like this. God knows what he would have made of any of the Alan Moore ones at the time. It's dark and complex stuff, alright, and as such, is kind-of ill-fitting for a Spidey story, which, I suppose, is also what made it stand out so much at the time. Also, we have the gravedigger motif, which really helps set the tone of this entire story. It's essentially a psychological horror, isn’t it? Death hangs over this entire story. Dave Yeah. It really does. The two pages of Kraven in his more than luxurious house are stunning. It's very much a reflective tale from Kraven's perspective. Kev Definitely. It's a two-hander alright, within which it deals with the duality of these split personalities; Sergei Kravinov/Kraven The Hunter, and also Peter Parker/Spider-Man. Dave It raises a question about self-reflection, and does it come from feeling unfulfilled, such as Kraven still having that need to conquer Spidey. Kev Absolutely. Sergei Kravinov is a man nearing the end of his life, and he is reflecting upon an existence that has ultimately been unfulfilling for him. The change in colour of the caption boxes to denote the change in narrator from Kraven to Peter is excellent. It's something that I've heaped praise upon before, when we reviewed 'Born Again,' if memory serves me right, but it's such a simple, yet effective technique that I'm a huge fan of it. Dave It is cleverly constructed this story, and the mood is purposely dark, much as the weather. It always rains in these dark psychological horror stories, and the black costume also lends itself to the mood of the piece. Spidey is having a real emotional crisis, what with the death of Joe Face. And all his attempts at justifying his own behaviour and actions are not helping him accept that the death of this man has affected him. It could well be a number of mixed emotions relating to his own mortality. Kev Yeh, Peter’s attempts to talk himself out of caring about Joe Face’s death are pretty telling. “They’re not people. They’re obstacles in my way. Means to an end. And if they die…...why should I care?” Pete talks a tough game, all whilst he ponies up the money for Joe to have a decent burial. Dave He is certainly feeling a strong sense of guilt, giving him the money.  That's enough of that negative self-talk, Peter. Kev Absolutely. The old Parker guilt, eh? It's arguably Peter/Spidey's defining characteristic. “I’m not Spider-Man. I’m just… Peter Parker.” This story is all about identity, Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Sergei Kravinov/Kraven the Hunter. I like the reference to the fact that this is set not all that long after Ned Leeds had died, but not yet revealed to be the Hobgoblin as of yet, if memory serves my right. So here we have death again. Another death that he feels a tremendous amount of guilt over, and of course, we have the spider crawling away from Peter. Because soon he will not be “The Spider,” soon Kraven will be “The Spider.” Dave The page where he crashes on his bed shows how overwhelmed he is by Ned dying. Peter is really feeling the reality of his double life. Kev Yeh. For a bit of context as to where this story took place chronologically, it's probably worth remembering that this is also a newly married man, who is at this particular moment, separated from his wife. He's once again, alone, when he really needs someone to comfort him. Dave He's definitely isolated at this present moment in time, yes. The eyes on the costume are suitably big, which enhances a slightly eerier quality to Spidey, especially with the black costume. Kev That's an excellent point, Sir. I'd always credited Todd McFarlane with being the one to introduce the oversized lenses on the costume, but this is six months before he would take over pencilling duties on Amazing, and Zeck and McLeod are already rocking them. Perhaps it is not just a coincidence then that McLeod initially inked McFarlane's pencils on Amazing as well. Dave I like those five panels of him watching the spider climb the wall, before he quite literally just crashes out.  "Look, he's crawling up my wall. Black and hairy, very small. Now he's up above my head." Kev I love that kind of storytelling. Those panels, and particularly the gutters between them, really convey the sense of small movements, as well as the passing of tiny amounts of time. Dave The next page goes fully into the nightmarish element that runs throughout this story, with a monster-like Kraven eating the spiders. A none-too-subtle metaphor for Kraven wanting to eat Spidey alive, so to speak.  Arachnid protein may be key to a sustainable future. Kev Yeh, we go into full-on horror mode here, don't we? And you're right, it's not going to win any awards for subtlety, but man, is it effective. With Kraven literally consuming spiders, and of course, the foreshadowing of Peter killing one. Dave I also like that Peter is in a pokey room as well. A very basic, minimalist bedroom too, with not much in it. But I suppose a photographer/super-hero and a full time model would have little time for decor. Kev I always loved the dingy, run-down New York apartments that Peter used to live in throughout the 80s. I loved the skylights, the peeling paint, the cracks in the walls, the chipped floorboards etc. etc. He was always struggling to pay the, most likely, extortionate rent on these places as well, but as a kid, I thought the idea of living in a place like that in New York was just the coolest. Nowadays, I couldn't afford to live on the streets in Manhattan. Dave It was very modern for the 80s, true enough. Most of these apartments were essentially dumps, but kind-of cosy dumps really. Kev Let's just say they had character, shall we? Real fixer-upper potential, before they were all purchased by gangs of Russian oligarch gangsters. Dave Anyway, enough of this New York, 80’s real estate talk. Getting back to the story, the horror element has been handled quite well, with minimum gore. Bearing in mind, the 80's horror genre was all about gore for shock value, but this has an underlying psychological horror, with two men facing their personal issues, one who is fixated with the other, and the other don't know it yet. It's that creepy kind of horror as well. Kev It's definitely more psychological horror than gore or jump-scare style horror, yes. It kInd-of puts me in mind of 'Torment' as well, the first McFarlane penned story in his own Spider-Man series. I think it's fair to say that this is a better written tale though. Dave Good point about the voodoo element as well. Spidey's head is thumping, and the headache is associated with the banging of the jungle drums. Kev Yeh, Kraven is inside Peter's head alright, and it's never good for a fighter if their opponent is in their head before a fight. Dave And the grave being dug is essentially the egg timer of this issue, with these panels cleverly inserted at the appropriate moments. It's a real tension builder.  The Gatekeeper. Kev It's superb, isn't it. It's such a good motif. It works on so many levels. I love it. Dave And the wide Spidey eyes really help to illustrate the fear he is is experiencing. He's at odds with in himself. He's essentially having a panic attack. Kev That's another really good point. I never thought of it as Peter having a panic attack and essentially being frozen in fear by it. Dave That's a good Kraven pose, of him on the rooftop, just before he commences his attack. It's a nice use of shadows on his face.  Thank the good Lord for leopard print loin cloth placement, eh? Kev Yeh, he looks ready for action there, alright. “Until I have destroyed you-- I cannot rest.” This is the last act of a dying man. A of a man who is ready, and who wants to die. Now we have two duelling narrators, one as Peter and one as Spider-Man, again, with differing colours for the caption boxes. I like the use of the ‘Fraid’ billboard as well. “KIlls bugs dead where they hide.” A (F) Raid. “I was scared.” Nice play on words there, Mr. DeMatteis. Dave "Spyder, spyder burning bright" is his poetic saying that is used in this issue. Kraven's Last poetic statement, perhaps? And Spidey is already caught off guard, by being too internal and lost in his own thoughts and fears. Kev I suppose this was intended to be Kraven's last work, yeh. I love the adaptation of this poem, and how it is used here. It works like a charm. Dave I really like the sense of motion in the panel of Spidey swinging over to the building, and how his movement is shown at each stage. Panels like that look great, but must have been difficult to draw, as there is so much detail in them.  A Fraid.  Kraven's chat-up lines leave a lot to be desired. Kev Yeh, I always loved them too. Particularly when he was wearing the black costume, and they used the washed-out colours on the ones at the earlier stages of the movement. There's a lot of detail in them alright, and compositionally, panels like that one could not have been easy to put together either. There are lots of purples and greens on display here as well, which help serve the horror vibe. Those colours often being linked with sickness and decay and such. Dave Spidey is either still haunted by the death of Joe Face, as he really is taking a deeply psychological turn for the worse here, and can't distinguish between what is reality and what is not. Or is it just the drugs Kraven has pumped him full of? Kraven is really relishing this opportunity to take Spidey apart. Kev He really is, isn't he? Yet, for someone who is forever banging-on about honour, he makes sure he still has the advantage by drugging an already fatigued Peter. Classic villain move. He’s full of shit. Dave I like the line, "He's gonna pack me off to some secret hideout, spend a couple of hours ranting and raving.....” Glad to see the Spidey humour still finds its way in there, even in the darker stories. Kev Yeh, I also like the fact that the humour shows that we’ve got an experienced Peter here. Despite the gravity of the situation, he doesn’t panic, because he’s been in these positions with multiple members of his rogues gallery before. However, perhaps he should be worried here. He ultimately gets there when Kraven trains the rifle on him though. “This isn’t the Kraven I know.” Maybe this is not the best time that trademark Spidey quippage after all. Dave Kraven is so desperate to accomplish this victory. He needs it so badly that he has gone mad, and will resort to whatever is needed to defeat Spidey. The build-up of what he really fears is rushing through Pete's mind. It starts with losing his friend and culminates in his fear of losing Aunt May and MJ. It really is all-panic-stations-are-go now. Kev Definitely. It's like he's seeing his life flash before his eyes in a certain way. I’m always a fan of a cut to black to show sudden unconsciousness, or even death. Dave It's an effective technique, especially as it cuts to another panel straight after. It's a good trick, as the imagination is activated to figure out what is happening. That is another great panel of Kraven pointing the rifle at a trapped Spidey. A Spidey who is trapped in a web essentially. Oooh, the irony of it.  Caught in his own web of lies. Kev Good point. That's no accident that Kraven wanted to trap "The Spider" in a web, wanted to best him at his own game. And the grave is deep now. It only really dawned on me here that this grave, that we've seen being dug for the entirety of this issue, is actually for Peter.  The Grym Reaper. Dave Yeah, the grave is fully dug now. The last three pages are genius. I love storytelling with little or no dialogue involved. Kraven's victory has been assured, "The Spider defeated," and then we have Kraven looking sad, then quickly changing to a heightened, happy state. The last five panels show the darkness closing-in on Spidey as he is buried. It really highlights the journey into darkness that he is about to go on. It's very eerie and sinister. I think it's a brilliant way to end the first issue of this arc. And of course, looming over the last pages is the poem recited by Kraven.  "I only want to see you laughing in the purple rain." Kev It really is an excellent way to end the first chapter, isn't it? And I completely agree, the next three pages are superb. From the establishing panel of Kraven’s mansion, to Peter’s burial, to the look of despondency and anguish transitioning to euphoria on Kraven’s face, to the earth being shovelled onto Peter’s coffin, blocking out light and then the slow fade to darkness, with the first stanza of William Blake's ‘The Tyger’ being repeated in the caption boxes. It's superior stuff. Dave Yep, this issue is really just the set-up chapter of the story, and while it did have it's fair share of action sequences, it was really just an intro and getting the story to where it needs to be. Much like 'Born Again,' so much happens, but the set-up and the first stage need to be established to allow the story to continue to where it's meant to go. It's a "pilot" episode of sorts. Kev Agreed. It functions almost like a prologue, and I hadn't really thought of it like that before, which is interesting, considering I’ve long thought that the final chapter functions very much like an epilogue. Dave But all in all, it pulls no punches. This is a dark Spidey tale, and it will be interesting rereading the rest of it again to see what other themes emerge in due course. Kev Now, just what you've touched on there, about it being a dark Spidey story, do you think it feels like a Spidey story? Dave It does, because some of the other Spidey stories did deal with quite adult related themes, such as the death of Gwen Stacey. I think it does break the myth of Spidey being purely a kids character though. Kev See, I do think it feels like a Spidey story, and yet at the same time, I don't think it feels like a Spidey story. I've read accounts by people who think it was DeMatteis's deconstruction of the fashionable trend at the time to make every character a "dark" version of themselves. Kraven literally becomes that dark version of Spider-Man, and that dark version is certainly not Peter, who DeMatteis is excellent at writing, by the way. His later run on 'The Spectacular Spider-Man' with Sal Buscema is another testament to that. To me though, this feels like some weird, outlier Spidey tale. Not quite a DC Elseworlds sort of deal, but it has this dream-like, nightmarish quality to it that makes it stand apart from the vast majority of Spidey tales. And yet, perhaps oddly enough, it's almost always cited as being in the top five Spidey stories ever produced. Dave I think it shows the potential of where you can take this character, as it still had a tiny bit of humour injected into it and it wasn't totally out of context. I think, at the time, it would have been a bit of a shock to readers though, the tone of it going so dark and all, but it still feels like Spidey to me, yeah. Kev No, you're right, it still has those more humorous elements, and it's not completely out of context for the character. I think that the darker tone is precisely its strength, and why it ultimately works so well. I have to admit, it was a bit of a shock to me when I first read it in '89, when it was released in hardback, but, as you've said, it kind-of felt grown-up, and not just because it was "dark," but also because of the more mature themes of the psychology that underpin it. Dave I think the whole 'Inferno' saga was less of a Spidey tale than this, because it just got a bit ludicrous. As long as the writer sticks to the parameters of the story they are telling, it works, in my opinion. It's when they stray way off the path that it loses it. Kev True. As long as the story adheres to the rules that have been established for the character within their world, it should work perfectly fine. And this story never loses sight of that. As we'll see, especially in the coming chapters. (D) & (K) Next: 'Crawling.'  The RZArector.
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