A review by victoria_readsstuff
Spider-Man Noir: The Complete Collection by Paco Díaz, Carmine Di Giandomenico, Roger Stern, David Hine, Fabrice Sapolsky, Bob McLeod, Richard Isanove
2.0
Like most people, I started searching for more Spider-Man comics after “Into the Spiderverse” premiered and basically became the best Spider-Man movie so far. And Spider-Man Noir became an immediate favorite of mine. Unfortunately I don’t think this is for fans who were introduced to him through the film.
The origin comic is a bit of a mess, Peter Parker is a bit too self righteous (and weirdly a bit of a stick in the mud). The Vulture, while terrifyingly disgusting, was also one of the cooler villain reinventions alongside Goblin. Both unfortunately are killed off in the first issue. Peter’s origin spider bite is confusing and rushed, like where did all those killer spiders go anyway??
Also, the first two issues have serious issues with its artistic choices. The style is muddy and uninteresting, the color scheme makes it hard to focus and often I didn’t know what I was supposed to be looking at. And it was worse during the fight scenes where you have no idea what the heck Spider-Man is even doing. The graphic are also atrocious, reminding me of a kid going “BRAPAPPA” while playing cops and robbers.
And I have to call into issue of the female characters, how few there were, having little to no agency and basically being tortured and fridged for the sake of storyline.
The Mysterio issue is stiff and boring to read up until the other versions of Spider-Man arrive, and the art is lacking action, movement, and facial expressions.
The last issue in the collection is the Spiderverse storyline, and truly this one shines the brightest (literally and artistically, goodbye overuse of shadows!)
I think Spider-Noir truly shines when he’s partnered up with other Spidermen variations. His dark and serious nature becoming a foil for more light and quippy Spider-Man dialogue. It’s fun, and the action is finally, FINALLY, easy to read.
So all in all, this didn’t convince me to look for more SpiderNoir, but it did convince me to look for more Spiderverse issues.
The origin comic is a bit of a mess, Peter Parker is a bit too self righteous (and weirdly a bit of a stick in the mud). The Vulture, while terrifyingly disgusting, was also one of the cooler villain reinventions alongside Goblin. Both unfortunately are killed off in the first issue. Peter’s origin spider bite is confusing and rushed, like where did all those killer spiders go anyway??
Also, the first two issues have serious issues with its artistic choices. The style is muddy and uninteresting, the color scheme makes it hard to focus and often I didn’t know what I was supposed to be looking at. And it was worse during the fight scenes where you have no idea what the heck Spider-Man is even doing. The graphic are also atrocious, reminding me of a kid going “BRAPAPPA” while playing cops and robbers.
And I have to call into issue of the female characters, how few there were, having little to no agency and basically being tortured and fridged for the sake of storyline.
The Mysterio issue is stiff and boring to read up until the other versions of Spider-Man arrive, and the art is lacking action, movement, and facial expressions.
The last issue in the collection is the Spiderverse storyline, and truly this one shines the brightest (literally and artistically, goodbye overuse of shadows!)
I think Spider-Noir truly shines when he’s partnered up with other Spidermen variations. His dark and serious nature becoming a foil for more light and quippy Spider-Man dialogue. It’s fun, and the action is finally, FINALLY, easy to read.
So all in all, this didn’t convince me to look for more SpiderNoir, but it did convince me to look for more Spiderverse issues.