Spider-Man: Spider's Shadow #1

It's very rare that I buy a comic book spontaneously from my local comic shop. While digital comics can be bought on a whim if a sale is happening, my pull list and its budget is always meticulously planned out to ensure that I never overspend.

But I guess, sometimes, even I need to treat myself and get something on the spur of the moment. That is what I did with this comic afted I listening to the First Issue Club podcast's most recent episode and deciding 'I'm gonna buy that!'

Spider-Man: Spider's Shadow #1 is the beginning of a multi-part 'What If?' story which asks the question what would have happenes if Spider-Man had never given up the Venom/Black suit symbiote all those years ago.

I've spent much of the day and two readthroughs pondering on my overall thoughts of Spider's Shadow. Do I enjoy it? Do I not? What are its flaws and strengths? Well, the more I've thought on it, the more I've realised that it's strengths come in two categories. First of all, it is a 'what if' story, which a type of story I've always been intrigued and enjoyed. After that there is the art, which I really enjoy with it looking so incredibly Silver Age that I might have mistaken it for Steve Ditko's were it not for the slightly dark twist, like I'm looking at the story through a dirty lens or warped glass.

However, on the first read through, I just struggled to find that this issue held my interest. Unfortunately, I just couldn't figure out why, assuming that either spider wasn't a character I could get on board with (as mu lack of Spidey titles would attest), Zdarsky's vision of the character isn't something I could get on board (which certainly has precedent) or that i was too tired at the time to feel fully invested.

Which is certainly why I'm glad I read it again later in the day because I certainly got into it a lot more. I think the biggest problem has been my perception of the What If formula. Traditionally, what if stories have been single issues and, as a result compressed to leave out all but the essential information. A great example in my head is the Spider-Man What If issue relating to the Other storyline, where everything that lead to the moment that changed was all in an opening text. On this issue, however, it felt like I was reading part of the original story as it gradually reached that moment where events differed from the original.

As such, I think it's fair to say that I'm intrigued about where the rest of the series goes. If nothing else, the cover of the second issue says to me that this is going to go in a much more horror-esque way so I think I'll add the other three issues to my pull list and, hopefully, I don't regret it.