Review: Spider-Man- The Grim Hunt

This past Wednesday, Marvel released its final installment in the storyline The Grim Hunt. This was the big conclusion to the year-long, talent-laden march through Spidey's past and present bad guys, The Gauntlet, where Marvel either revamped the Spider-man's classic villains or swapped them out for sleeker, deadlier models. Tabbed as the dramatic rebirth of Kraven the Hunter, The House of Ideas pulled out all the stops, letting veteran Spidey scribe Joe Kelly and the talented Michael Lark craft this reincarnation. Surprisingly, Grim Hunt both fails to live up to expectations and astounds with some blatant nonsense.

Firstly, I will address Peter suddenly acquiring Swine Flu. We begin Hunt with Parker laid up in bed, apparently delirious and ravaged by a vicious case of this draining virus (only about six months removed from Swine Flu being on the front pages!). I say apparently because by issue four, mere hours later in the night, Peter seems right as rain when he is beating Kraven into submission. I understand the "flu" was used as a plot device to make it conceivable that Kaine, Spidey's pathetic clone, could knock him unconscious to perform his selfless deed of sacrificing himself for Peter. I just ask a little continuity in the story, especially within only an arc spanning four issues!

Then we come to Kaine the clone. A career C-Lister at best, Kaine basically commits suicide to botch the flesh and blood return of Kraven. We have been shown the consequences of what happens when the Kraven family tried to reincarnate Kraven's dead brother without using Parker's blood, turning the subject into a sort of were-lion. Yet apply the same principle to Daddy Kraven's big return, using a messed up clone's lifeblood, and we get- Daddy Kraven with a bad attitude. Wha?! Again, continuity dammit! I would have been cool with another were-lion thing and Mommy Kraven enraged with blood lust rallying the troops in a true Grim Hunt of Spidey. I mean what a twist, tease the return of Kraven the Hunter only to turn he and his brother into matching nightmare beasts. (Well okay, its not great, but better than what we get.) Kaine really sent me over the edge in true Mighty Marvel fashion- as the Epilogue (that's right folks, the Epilogue) is all we have to wait until Kaine rises from his grave with a new persona. Why does Marvel insist on keeping everyone on the roster alive? Killing someone in such a dramatic moment in the body of the story loses major impact when the same character rises from the grave in the last scene. That gag worked in Masters Of The Universe, yet it comes across as really cheesy in Grim Hunt.

There's only so much one could trash a four issue story arc, but this story was supposed to be this big must-read event. Spidey had seen such strife throughout The Gauntlet, to see Kraven's return reduced to such rubbish leaves Gauntlet ringing a bit hollow. Just imagine that the fuse is lit, anticipation building, only to watch the firecracker fizzle out. A dud. Such a shame considering the creative team. Joe Kelly is a favorite writer of mine, especially on this title in particular. Michael Lark was brilliant during his run on Daredevil, and he doesn't necessarily turn in a bad showing here. Lark just fails to make the work transcend the poor script as sometimes happens with a great artist. If you've invested the time to soldier through The Gauntlet, then you almost have to read Grim Hunt to see your reading through to its conclusion. Just don't expect much.

Amazing Spider-Man: More or Less Amazing Since Brand New Day?

The Fantastic Four may be the first family of Marvel. Iron Man may be it current cash cow. But make no mistake, Marvel's golden child has always been Spider-Man. Right behind Superman and Batman, heroes with much longer shelf lives, Spidey is probably most well known character in the pop-culture lexicon. So when Marvel began a dramatic shift in their main character's preeminent book, the comic book world took notice. Gone would be the object of Peter Parker's affections and constant source of odjita Mary Jane Parker. The storyline was called One More Day. The story read well in parts, but the entire angle pulling MJ out of Peter's world fell flat in a big way, Straczynski's low point on the book. But I'm not here to talk about One More Day. I'm here to discuss the Brand New Day that followed: Spidey hits the shelves like the plague, upping publication to a whopping 3 books a month. Parker awakens in what amounts to the '70's Spidey mythos with a few twists to keep it modern day. Harry Osborn, once deader than Uncle Ben, is reincarnated ("Harry's been in Europe") and owns his own coffee house. But most importantly, MJ is nowhere to be seen. She is only a ghost from Pete's past only mentioned in whispers. For this reason ASM has really taken off.
I don't want to come off sounding like a MJ hater here. I have nothing against the red-headed population, nor the super-models. But since the increasing of tensions between Tony Stark and Parker since pre-Civil War, every other panel of the book was dedicated to the emo whining concerning MJ or Aunt May's safety. Talk about dragging a book to a swift halt. Staczynski did what he could, but its impossible to write anything backed into such a creatively stifling corner. While I would have moved towards killing MJ, Marvel decided to take their lumps now and bring back Harry as well. This removes the later calls of bullshit when MJ mysteriously rises from the ranks of the temporary Marvel deceased.
Brand New Day also introduced the concept of the "Spidey Brain trust"- a number of the Marvel writing stable both collaborating on where the book was headed in a big picture sense while rotating the actual writing duties. The concept has given the book a fluidity that makes it read as if a single writer was diligently firing off scripts. The group introduced some interesting new villains and redesigning almost every main baddie from Spidey's history during "The Gauntlet."
While the writing has been sharp, the artwork has been schizophrenic. There has been some inspired work, particularly that of Chris Bachalo and John Romita, Jr. But the break neck pace of 3 books a month has left Marvel seemingly scrambling for artists to get the book out on time. This has left the talent level well below where a book of this stature should be as ASM motors toward number 650 likely early next year.
So the book has been markedly better since wiping Peter Parker's slate clean. The only real suggestion I would make is to absorb a few top name artists into the Spidey Brain trust and get them in a rotation to improve the book's artwork. It is a comic after all. I suppose I'll look back at this in a year or so when Marvel reunites the happy couple, only to watch sales decline as ASM once again writes itself into the corner. Mary Jane's a nice girl and all, she just ain't comic material.