Spider-Force #3 Lets Spider-Geddon #5 Finish Its Side Story
by Josh Davison
[*Mild Spoilers Ahead!]
We see how the Astro-Spider got ahold of the Solus crystal before jumping back to the present, where Astro-Spider’s space station continues to decay. However, John Jameson seems to have killed Verna…well, he seems to. The Inheritors do not fall easy, and Verna is no exception. She ambushes the Astro-Spider, and Scarlet Spider, Spider Woman, Spider-Kid, and Spider-Girl flee the space station to set a trap for Verna back on the irradiated surface of Earth-3145.
Spider-Force #3 is a painfully underwhelming finale to this otherwise solid miniseries spin-off to Spider-Geddon. The plot thread doesn’t end or come close to ending in this comic. Spider Woman is left in a very dangerous location with Spider-Geddon #5 left to explain the fate of Jessica, Kaine, Charlie, and Ashley.
The comic vilifies Kaine a bit too, which, as one of like, five fans that Kaine has, that bugged me and clashes with his character arc a bit.
Well, I think it vilified him. That was another plot thread in this comic which is left to be resolved in Spider-Geddon #5.
For what it’s worth, I am aware of how spin-off comics usually go, and this is a companion book to Spider-Geddon. That said, some closure or general ending to this side story would have been appreciated.
I’m also going to be pretty damn upset if Scarlet Spider or Spider Woman killed in this big Spider crossover–and that would make the second time Kaine has died in one of these stories, and the fourth time he’s died overall.
It loops back around to where we joined the story in the opening issue. That is the climax and conclusion to the comic. That would have worked better, and Christopher Priest certainly likes his elaborate and looping stories. That said, the opening was confusing, hard to remember, and came out two months ago, so it doesn’t work very well here.
It is worth mentioning that Christopher Priest once again does a good job on the character work and dialogue. He plays characters off one another well, and the tension never really dies down throughout the book.
Marcelo Ferreira and Ibraim Roberson split the artwork in this book, and neither disappoints by a long shot. The art in this book is quite impeccable, and the detailing gives the eye a lot to absorb on each page. It looks good, and Guru-eFX doesn’t skimp on the color work either.
Spider-Force #3 is a disappointing way for this miniseries to end. The story’s been solid, but it is left to be subsumed by the mainline crossover title. It’s confusing, frustrating, and deeply unsatisfying. I struggle to recommend it to anyone who isn’t a die-hard Scarlet Spider and/or Spider Woman fan like myself, and, even then, it doesn’t do Kaine or Jessica that much justice.
Spider-Force #3 comes to us from writer Christopher Priest, artists Marcelo Ferreira and Ibraim Roberson, inkers Roberto Poggi, Ibraim Roberson, and Craig Yeung, color artist Guru-eFX, letterer VC’s Joe Sabino, and cover artist Shane Davis with Michelle Delecki and Morry Hollowell.