Spine-Tingling Spider-Man 2 Creators: Writer- Saladin Ahmed, Art- Juan Ferreyra, Letters- VCs Joe Caramagna

Story:

Glenn:

This story is giving me serious Silent Hill vibes as a powerless Peter continues to be in his own personal nightmare hellscape. There’s lots of more nightmarish, unsettling scenario’s that aren’t always original per say, but always work(the creepy child that shouldn’t be there). The whole thing is a horror thrill ride that goes from one unsettling scene to another but keeping the core of what’s going on at a distance.

I must admit, the scene of Jonah all chained up made me think of Stjephan Sejic’s brilliant Romance comic Sunstone which made me laugh. It also reminded me of the classic ‘Jonah in hell’ story from Webspinners 1-3. Anyway, creepy stuff is happening and its effective, but we still don’t know why but has the cover for issue 3 shown at the end of the issue given the game away? We’ll see.

I also really appreciate the ease of reading this, anyone who knows the bare bones of Spider-Man can pick this series up and enjoy it.

Steve:

What I love about issues like this is the focus on the person behind the hero. Here, Spider-Man is not present. It’s a powerless Peter front and center. When writers strip the character down, we find out why the heroes are special. Peter has no idea why no one knows him and why he has no powers, but he pushes forward on a haunted train to a super haunted house. He battles a sadistic train conductor before escaping the train and following carefully place clues that will lead him to those close to him being held captive. Peter rescues them only to have them become demons involved in whatever ruse this is. Again, powerless, Peter powers through to rescue those in need. This whole thing seems a bit too convenient. It will be interesting to see who is actually pulling the strings. So far, this story is truly spine-tingling.

Art:

Glenn:

Horror lives and dies on its imagery possibly more than any other genre and Ferreyra is delivering in that regards tenfold. I would put his skill at conveying horror through art and images at the same level as Junji Ito or Andrea Sorrentino. I just love the atmosphere he’s drawing here and it makes the whole thing deeply unsettling.

I’m not sure if it was just me or maybe even on purpose, but the house Peter eventually stumbles on gave me Phycho vibes. Again, this is not entirely new but it works, its effective, especially when drawn this well. The use of colouring in this comic paired with the imagery shown gives the overall atmosphere an extra layer of terror that’s hard to convey in words. I don’t want to pigeon hole Ferreyra as he’s immensely talented, but I hope to see a lot more horror from him in the future because he’s so bloody good at it.

Steve:

Juan Ferreyra continues excellent work here on a horrific Spider-Man. He creates an environment that is truly unsettling, especially the “meat locker” on the train and the house holding JJ, MJ and Aunt May. I also really like the color palette change from the train to the haunted house. The train has a very cool palette as Peter is on his own. The palette is warmer in the house when he reconnects to family. Very subtle and well done. When this is over, I would love to see Ferreyra on and old school Spider-Man story from the 1960s- a real character piece.

Overall

Glenn: 4 Webshooters It’s an excellent story so far. The only nitpick is the mystery of what is happening could go either way in terms of delivery and I can’t judge that yet because we don’t know. Overall this is excellent though.

Steve: 4 Webshooters A true combination of storytelling from writer and artist.

Check out our coverage of Amazing and Superior here.