The Grim Hunt Part 4
Written by Joe Kelly, J.M DeMatteis & Stan Lee
Penciled by Michael Lark, Max Fiumara & Marcos Martin
So according to Grey I might be the only person on the Nexus staff who still reads Spider-man after One More Day. Thusly, it falls on me to provide you true believers your weekly dose of Spidey reviews. I’m gonna try my damned hardest to get do a nice big review of all of One More Day before OMIT comes out (and if any of the spoilers I’ve seen are true, I probably won’t be reading Spider-man anymore either) but for now, the end of the Grim Hunt!
…
Yeah. I absolutely loved this issue when I first read it, but now that I’ve had some time away from it my feelings are a little different. I think I’ll bust out one of my new favorite panels to sum up how I feel:
As always, Luke Cage has a way with words. I mean really, what the fuck was the point of this story? It feels a lot like one of those stories that’s so far up it’s own ass it doesn’t realize that it will never be important once it’s finished. You know what other Spider-man story it reminds me of? The Other.
We’ve got ourselves a primal and angry Spider-man. *ahem* Spyder. Seriously, we get a bunch of narration from Cassandra about how Spider-man is “different” and “dangerous” but we all know that at end of the issue he’s going to go back to being the same old Spider-man we know and love.
We’ve got new powers being pulled from the proverbial ass:
Spider-man’s a bloodhound now?
And Mysterio?
They don’t even try to explain this nonsense.
Now I bet you’re wondering – it gets better, doesn’t it?
Of course. He doesn’t, obviously, but we do get to see him commit one of the most wantonly vicious acts he’s probably ever committed in his career.
Yup, he hit her with the ole Mark of Cain, a little parting gift from his deceased “brother,” all the while, Madam Web is dying and transferring over her juju to another sorely underused character, Julia Carpenter.
Elsewhere, Spidey is having his epic showdown with Kraven, finally becoming the prey, nay, the predator, he feels is worthy of his skill. Unsurprisingly, Spidey pummels Kraven and has him at his mercy.
Before Julia shows up and warns him that…
….doing so would take him down a dark path, which would essentially lead to the ending prosphesized for Spidey by JMS back in his run (notice that stylish overcoat.)
The Spider-crew lays Kain to rest, with his tombstone bearing the word “Brother,” showing that he had finally found some of the acceptance that had so eluded him. The story pretty much ends at this point, with Julia Carpenter teleporting off, confident in her new role (that we will probably never see her in again, ha!)
This is only here because I know it will make Grey sad:
But of course it doesn’t really end there – we get a shocking ressurection! And no, it’s not Ben Reilly.
Loving the new look Kaine. Might be nice to see some of those “The Other” powers put to use by a different character. As for our final rating –
Rating: 6/10
There’s a lot of things not to like about this issue primarily how absurd it is in terms of just powering Peter up to a point we’ll definitely never see him again and introducing more elements in regards to the whole “magic totem thing” which will probably be ignored for the next few years until some writer decides to take them for a spin. A lot happens, but arguably the only things that matter are: A) Julia’s new role and B) Kaine’s resurrection. I mean damn, this story couldn’t even explain why Arana didn’t have her powers anymore, just her new costume.
Most of you may not know this but I’ve been a pretty big One More Day advocate but there’s not a lot of things in this comic I stand up for. The art is beautiful and the writing is mostly solid, but the type of writing which fueled this story, which seems to be fueling the entire OMD banner, is what stops this comic from being perfect. If things were different and somehow I thought the things that happened here would matter I’d feel differently, but right now I just can’t.
