Review- AMAZING SPIDER-MAN VOL. 3: SPIDER-VERSE

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN VOL. 3: SPIDER-VERSE (Marvel, First Printing, 2015; Softcover)

Collects Amazing Spider-Man #9-15 (cover dates January- April, 2015)

Writer: Dan Slott

Artists: Oliver Coipel and Giuseppe Camuncoli with Inking by Cam Smith, Wade Von Grawbadger, Livesay, Victor Olazaba, Mark Morales, and Roberto Poggi

Colorists: Justin Ponsor with Antonio Fabela

My son and I's Spider-Man bedtime reading marathon continues! We were finally able to check this out of the library, as it was checked out for a while and we had to wait for it to be returned.

Morlun and the rest of the Inheritors are on a quest to kill every single Spider-totem across every world in the Multiverse. There are so many different Spider-Men (and women...a pig...and even a monkey) running around that it becomes a joke. It is funny but it's not. It smacks of the worst aspect of DC's hodge-podge continuity which always drove me nuts as a kid. The whole “it's all make believe so who cares” attitude that permeates modern day fandom has destroyed what once made Marvel so special: continuity that was as tight as a drum.

Dan Slott may be a jerk to fans on Twitter but the man does know his Spider-Man history and trivia. The kids these days call them “Easter eggs”, and there are a ton of them on each and every page. I know my Spider-Man stuff, and some of these were a real treat. Slott has used this silly event to bring each and every incarnation of the character from every medium into the real Marvel Universe (or the 616 Universe as they call it in a post-Alan Moore civilization). I particularly enjoyed the Spider-Man from the 1967 animated series and the brief glimpse that we got of his world.

All is revealed here. The origin of The Inheritors. The identity and purpose of the Master Weaver of the Web Of Life. The fate of MC2's Spider-Girl after her series cancellation. How Spider-Gwen (the dumbest retread of an idea, ever) and the second, non-Peter Parker Ultimate Spider-Man got stuck in the main Marvel Universe.

My 9 year old son's take: It was good. He liked That it was not like any other Spider-Man comic and he was traveling through dimensions. How it used a bunch of different versions of Spider-Man. His dislikes are It has too much swearing. The *boxes with the endless tie-ins were annoying.

Does swearing make this edgy or cool? No. Does swearing alienate a lot of potential new readers? Yes. It's sad that I have to edit that stuff out as I read it to my son. Comics are ostensibly written for "adults", but the reality of it is that Marvel/Disney aim this stuff right at kids through merchandising and cartoons. 

This was a fun read, but I still really dislike the whole Multiverse angle. Do you want to know what I really dislike? Crossovers. And boy is this a crossover! They use those *footnote boxes to try and suck you into multiple titles with each issue. It's ridiculous and insulting. Stunts like this are why I refuse to pay for modern Marvel Comics, content to check them out of the library and read them for free. If you pay for gimmicks like these crossovers then the terrorists win!

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.25 out of 5.

The OCD zone-

Paper stock: Coated stock with a slight sheen.

Binding: Perfect bound trade paperback.

Cardstock cover notes: Laminated cardstock cover.