REVIEW: Giant-Size Amazing Spider-Man: King's Ransom Vol 1

He’s a Menace!

King’s Ransom opens with the web-headed hero chasing down some mystical fragments of the Mcguffin that this story arc revolves around. It’s your usual superhero fare, but a lot has changed in the World Of The Amazing Spider-Man if you’re only familiar with his more traditional incarnations. First off, Spidey is rocking a new suit that boosts his powers and allows audiences worldwide to follow his adventures through his eyes as they are live-streamed online. This fancy new suit was bankrolled by none other than Spider-Man’s long time employer J Jonah Jameson; a shocking turn of events considering he’s hated the insect-themed hero for years.

Jameson has built a media empire on the back of broadcasting superhero news like nobody ever has before, and part of this venture includes a partnership with Spider-Man! Now Spidey has his biggest critic yelling down his ear as he saves lives and crushes crime; it seems like Peter hasn’t been making the best choices in the previous issues I’ve missed. Overall for the climax of a story, the script was pretty weak with uninteresting steaks and events. Still, I can’t be too hard on the book because Nick Spencer’s dialogue and character interactions are on point. I’d like to see his versions of these characters doing something other than punching bad guys and chasing magic trinkets.

Friends Assemble

Aside from the shocking partnership with Jameson, Spider-Man also teams up with an all-star cast of heroes, including Luke Cage, Hawkeye and the unkillable Wolverine. It seems Spidey is in over his head as the issue opens with him convincing the superhero team to help him save former villain Boomerang. The group expresses their disdain for the former villain along with Spider-Man himself. There’s this one scene where Wolverine and the gang make callbacks to famous comic events where Spider-Man wasn’t quite himself. Like the time he was being controlled by Venom in the black suit story or the series Superior Spider-Man where he swapped brains with his nemesis Doctor Octopus. The callbacks made me smile; it feels very natural for these seemingly far-out events to come back and bite Spider-Man in the ass, given his storied history. It’s handled cleverly with a touch of humour as not to alienate fans who may not be as up to speed with classic comics.

There’s one praiseworthy scene that creates a real moment between Spider-Man and the Avengers, where he realizes just how out of touch he’s fallen with his friends. Even gruff loner Wolverine chastises him for not responding to his emails. This leads into a nice bit of reflection where Peter tells himself he needs to try harder to maintain his relationships, so people can more readily help him out. I like this direction because it creates an organic bond that can be tapped into for later stories across Marvel’s various other titles.

Spider-Man May Be Spectacular, But This Art Is Amazing

This is a pretty book the art is just what you’d expect when representing a character as beloved as Spider-Man. Artists Rogê Antônio, Carlos Gomez & Zê Carlós are real pros who know exactly what they are doing. Their stunning artwork and colours carry the standard script upping the quality of the overall product. What you’re getting here are 45 pages that act as a visual treat showing off Spider-Man in great poses during cool action shots while giving off lively expressions. The way the art flows from panel to panel felt very organic and was easy to follow, especially during the action segments. The character designs are sleek and stylish, from the beautiful Black Cat to the rough Wolverine, who is sporting what is probably my favourite costume for the X-Man yet. Summing up the ending to King’s Ransom it isn’t something you simply have to read; it’s an average comic book plot propped up by the talented artists assigned to the book.

“This is a Spider-Man story that’s very easy on the eyes but lacks deeper depth.”

2.5/5 Stars

Writer: Nick Spencer
Art: Roge Antonia and Mark Bagley
Publisher: Marvel Comics