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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 synopsisKraven's rampage under the guise of Spider-Man hits its stride, which is deadly to some low level New York criminals, whilst Vermin continues to stalk the shadows of the city, proving equally fatal for a number of female civilians. Sergei Kravinov decides to prove his superiority over Peter Parker once and for all, by hunting down and besting the rat-like murder one-on-one. Meanwhile, distraught at the disappearance of her husband, Mary Jane attempts to seek the aid of Joe Robertson.  Half man, half spectacular. Dave So, we're on Spectaular Spider-Man now, for part 3 of Kraven's Last Hunt. I'm liking the cover with the Spidey insignia and large eyes in the shadows. And the logo this time is half Pete, half Spidey. Kev Yeah, man. The cover is excellent. It really sells the Kraven version of Spidey as being a much darker prospect. The black costume really lends itself to this as well. Dave It sets it up the inevitable showdown between these two. The cover is kind-of from the perspective of Vermin, as Kraven is sneaking up on him, or hunting him Kev Yep. The Last Hunt indeed. Dave The splash page is fantastic, with Spidey just dropping by a random window, waving in to say a, not-so-friendly, hello. That's a classic Spidey pose right there. Or should I say Kraven pose.  Henlo! Kev You're right, it is an excellent pose, isn't it? As is the one with him crashing through the window on the next page as well. Yeh, that splash page is great. Zeck and McLeod are firing on all cylinders here. It’s gorgeous work. Dave I love the muted blue colours in the panel before he smashes through the window. It's very simplistic, yet it lends a certain style to the panel. It also works well with the eternal downpour of rain that is consistent throughout this story. Kev Ha, ha! Yeh, that James Cameron blue. The rain reminds me of 'The Crow' movie. "It can't rain all the time." This opening scene is very much in the vein of Frank MIller's famous sequence from Batman: Year One.’ Kraven is vicious, brutal, and ultimately fatal in the way he deals with these goons. Dave True, the blue is kind-of reminiscent of 'The Abyss.' Some nifty, pre-MMA, moves from Kraven here. Kev Yeh, that's a proper, old-school, wrestling neck-breaker, right there. Dave He's really embracing the method-approach to portraying his character of Spider-Man, as he is quite literally adopting the behaviours of a spider, which is made clear by his narration in this fight scene. Kev Totally. “My ears hear nothing but the weaving of webs.” Very nice. He also sees himself as a puppet master here. “Magnificent actors in a play of my creation.” Dave Yeah, he really does feel that his is a one-man-show when the cops burst in. Which is another cracking panel. Again, there's a nice blend of muted colours, like the blues and the greens. He has left some body count for them to clean up.  The artwork in this series is nothing short of amazing, spectacular, web of.... Kev Definitely. He really has left bodies in his wake, hasn't he? And as we find out in a bit, this is something he has been doing for a couple of weeks now. Through a little exchange of dialogue, DeMatteis provides us with an indication of the passage of time. We are now a fortnight into this story. Peter has been “dead and buried” for two weeks, and Kraven has been busy putting, on average, just over a goon a day in the hospital, and now the morgue too. Dave That page of Kraven climbing the rooftop and screaming out, and again, the cut to the gravestone, is terrific. The narration of Kraven seems to be like a build-up of internal madness that will no doubt spill over.  Hear me roar! Kev For sure. Kraven is really struggling with his identity here. “I am The Spider. No--not the Spider. I am Kraven!!” Dave Then there's the page of the women becoming another victim to Vermin, which leads us into Vermin's ascent into the world, from his solitude in the sewers. I like how this story never lets up with the rain. There must be some serious flooding in New York. Kev Ha, ha! Yeh, Vermin has been busy too. He's clocked-up five victims. That bottom tier of this page is an excellent "held shot.” Horror movie 101 stuff. Like Kraven, Vermin is also struggling with his identity. There's an internal conflict between what he once was and what he is now. Dave It's his fear, and then the suppressed anger emerging which takes over his fear. Kev That's a really good point, man. With Vermin here, you've kind-of got fear and anger battling it out in one, relatively small mind. That bit with the rats swarming the cop is proper, full-on Dean Koontz ‘Trapped’ stuff. Dave That’s a nice set of three panels, of the cop getting flung out of the car, then the rats emerging from the sewer, and then quite literally devouring him. Kev Yeh, man. It's terrifying. Dave Also, the following panel of Vermin on top of the cop car, as he's looking down on the rats eating their prey, is a good pose as well.  "You can't be me, I'm a Rock Star. I'm rhyming on the top of a cop car." Kev Yep. Zeck is one of my favourite artists, and a lot of that has to do with his work on this. Dave This bit with Vermin's emotional attachment to the female cop is obviously the emergence of a possible sub-plot, and how he associates her with his mother, yet it is not explained. Kev Yeh, not for now anyway. I wonder if this was another callback to Vermin's previous appearances in DeMatteis' and Zeck's run on Captain America. Dave Perhaps. Lucky break for her anyway, it saved her bacon. Kev Indeed. That panel of Vermin licking her face is deliciously creepy. And the spiders are now on the rise in the grave motif. Dave Yeah, that panel is used to cut between scenes, as well as kind-of jump between acts, and it's always shown from the exact same angle.  "The spiders all in tune. The evening of the moon. Dreams are made winding through my head." Kev Yeah, it's a great storytelling device, and DeMatteis always puts us right in each character's head by switching narrators. Which is extremely effective for such a psychological story. Here we are back to Mary Jane. Plus, he also uses the news bulletin and the newspaper headline to tie the story between the characters that he's focusing on. Dave Right enough. Joe Robertson has a lovely spacious apartment.  Breaking news! Joe Robertson is the new face of Sofology. Kev Ha, ha! Yeh, man, his apartment is lovely. Newspapers have been good to Robbie. He deserves it though. He always just seems like a good dude. “..... he’s a man of intelligence and integrity.” Dave MJ really is in a very neurotic state, and throughout this scene I kind-of got the impression that Joe has figured out, or at least is in the process of piecing together, that Pete and Spidey are one in the same. And MJ’s erratic behaviour doesn't help keep his secret here. He can sense she really needs to talk about something and the way he keeps looking at the article, it actually leaves a nice ambiguity as to whether he knows or not. Like you said, he is a smart man, who has a nose for when something’s not quite like it seems. Kev Totally. There's long been the suspicion that Robbie knows Peter is Spider-Man. You've got to have sympathy for MJ here though, her husband has been missing, maybe presumed dead, yet due to the nature of what he does, she hasn't been able to tell anyone. That's an awful burden to bear. I think Robbie might even suspect that this Spider-Man is not Peter. Dave Yep, it's brilliant storytelling, in terms of how there are no dialogue or thought bubbles, yet it can still convey all this. Does he suspect a fraud Spider-Man? Does he suspect Spidey has gone mad? If so, that may explain why MJ is so worried and breaking down, as she is worried about Pete 'cause he is actually this Spider-Man. The panel, just of Joe gazing at the front-page, raises so many questions as to what he is thinking at this moment. Kev It's such a good "performance" in that panel, isn't it? And then, we cut, again, to more spiders on the rise at the grave. Dave Yeah, I like that the spiders are like the rats in this story, in that they're both used as a symbol to represent something. I'm not sure what though. Kev They're elemental, I suppose. I think the spiders are being used here to foreshadow that Peter is alive and making his way to the surface. Dave I was about to say the same thing. Slowly, he is emerging from the grave. I suppose they could also be symbolic, as it's not just spiders that would emerge from the ground. Kev True, Peter's coming back from the dead, so to speak. Kraven is using Vermin as his final test, to prove his superiority over Peter. He's also using his potions etc. to forge some sort of spell over, and link to, Vermin. Dave The panels of the gravestones are essentially a countdown throughout the issue. It's almost like a timer, slowly counting down. Kev Ah, that hadn't occurred to me, but you're absolutely right. It's certainly being used to build tension, isn't it? There are a lot of spiders on the rise at the grave now. "There's something inside me that pulls beneath the surface. Consuming, confusing." Dave "Kra-koom" is a great sound effect. It heightens the darkness of the story by giving a thunderous roar to the weather, and that's a nice panel, looking upwards to Kraven. It enlarges his status as this victorious, powerful man, who also looks like he is staying the night in Dracula's mansion. Kev Ha, ha, yeh. There's absolutely no doubt about the horror, particularly classic horror, influences on this story. Dave Certainly brings a new take on the "midnight feast," this nutter with a knife leering down on a rat in a cage. Kev It certainly does. Kraven's like a predator, just toying with his prey. It's also interesting how he’s then just leaping about, out his window, in the buff. Dave I suppose with the vanity level of Kraven, he would not concern himself with little things like shame. Kraven seems to be fully going down the madness route with his psychoanalytic approach to his relationship with Vermin. And if he believes he has a relationship with him, then he will go out and seek it, and if that includes full frontal poses at the window, then I guess he's not bothered about the neighbours. Kev Ha, ha! I can just see the notes on Kraven's ASBO, littering, by throwing caged vermin out of the window, whilst performing acts in full-frontal nudity. That’s also some pose he strikes when he confronts Vermin in the sewer. It's like the wrestler, AJ Styles, when he comes through the curtain and is on stage before his music really kicks in.  "Kings of the south, we never had nothing. Blue collar boys do it with our hands muddied." Dave That little build of him emerging from the shadows before the attack pose is also great. Classic John Carpenter-esque suspense here. Kev Yeh, I love that top tier of four panels, with Kraven creeping out of the shadows. Dave It reminds me a bit of 'Halloween,' when Michael Myers slowly emerges from the background darkness.  Kraven goes for the choke slam! Vermin breaks free! Kev Totally. This is essentially a psychological horror, isn't it? Speaking of horror, that's a really creepy expression on Vermin’s face in the next panel. Excellent work, once again, from Zeck and McLeod.  "I'll wait 'till the end of time. Open your mind. Baby, there's time for me and you." Dave Then it is the psychological battle between Kraven and Vermin. Kraven is taunting Vermin by saying that Spidey wasn't alone when Spidey beat him, and that he is relishing in the prospect of going one better than Spidey by doing this task alone. This is his mega inferiority complex emerging again. Kev Yeh, Kraven sees beating Vermin, and therefore proving his superiority over Peter, as some weird form of redemption for himself. It’s completely delusional. The scrap between them is just that though, it's a proper scrap. It’s not pretty, not slick, not overly choreographed, it’s just a brutal throw-down, where Kraven picks up the "W" with some good, old fashioned ground and pound. Dave Kraven is a well-rounded fighter. He's brutal in delivery, but also a skilled practitioner, who is experienced in close quarter combat. Kev Definitely. He's like a grappler who likes to get in the clinch, take people down, then finish them with blows.  "I think I can. I think I can." Dave The Kraven Vs. Vermin battle is worthy of a main event at Marvel's Wrestlemania ‘87. There is a fairly equal distribution of subplots running throughout the past couple of issues, after Spidey has been temporarily buried. It allows for a lot of character development for Kraven, who is clearly a lunatic, Vermin's growth from a scared animal, through to the gradual build in his own confidence and his suppressed anger emerging. It also allows the space to show MJ's anxieties about the missing Peter, and her fears of being left alone in the world. Kev Definitely. And all without Peter/Spider-Man for a full two issues now. That can't have been an easy sell; two consecutive issues without the titular character. Dave It has worked though, as the gravestone is the constant reminder that Spidey is still in the story. Kev That's true actually, yes. A nice, gentle little reminder. “Up. From. The depths. Triumphant.” This is interesting, as it highlights Kraven’s redemption, as well as him physically emerging victorious from the sewers, and of course, Peter, well, Peter's hand, breaking free from the soft soil of a still relatively fresh burial, rising from the grave. And his first thoughts or words are, "Mary Jane...?" His wife. His love. Dave It's a good ending to this issue, with the token drunk sitting about, looking at Kraven carrying Vermin's unconscious body. Kev True. When you need a bit of humour adding to a scene, draft in a wino. Dave Haha, who needs someone dressed up as a clown ,when a wino does the job just as well. At least they didn't do the cliche of him looking at the bottle. Kev Ha, ha! That's true. That "bit" was a staple in the 80s, alright. Dave Kraven, at this moment, feels triumphant, but doesn't use the word fulfilled, so again, his triumph is merely a temporary fix for what is lacking in his narcissistic feeling of self-loathing. Kev That's a really good point, nothing is ever going to be enough, is it? And we know where this dissatisfaction and self-loathing ultimately leads him, don't we?  "Thirty stories high. Breathing fire. His head in the sky." (D) & (K) Next: 'Ascending.' 
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