The Spectacular Spider-Man: Brand New Day #4
(W) Dan Slott (A) Marcus To
DARKEST BEFORE BRAND NEW DAY’S DAWN! There’s no stopping MR. NEGATIVE now that he has the Lexicon, the directory of Kingpin’s entire criminal enterprise! But nobody tell that to SPIDER-MAN — he’s still going to do whatever a spider can do to stop the crime lord from weaponizing it — and the PUNISHER — against all of New York City!
Spectacular Spider-Man: Brand New Day #3
(W) Dan Slott (A) Marcus To, Marcos Martín
BRAND-NEW DANGER! Can the AMAZING SPIDER-MAN hope to overcome a two-pronged assault by both THE PUNISHER and MR. NEGATIVE across New York City?! To make matters worse, the fight is now at Peter Parker’s very doorstep!
Spectacular Spider-Man: Brand New Day #2
(W) Dan Slott (A) Marcus To, Marcos Martín
The adventure into one of Spidey’s most important periods with some of the creators who made it happen — continues! Spider-Man paints a giant target on his back by stealing the Kingpin’s LEXICON, Fisk’s directory detailing his entire criminal enterprise. PUNISHER steps in to “help” Spidey, but Mr. Negative and his army of unkillable Inner Demons put them both through their paces and do something truly horrific to our favorite hero and our favorite anti-hero!
PlayStation Studios, Arc System Works, and Marvel Games have joined forces to deliver the latest in tag team fighters, Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls! Releasing on August 6, the game drops players into an all-new Marvel Universe packed with reimagined characters and stages, a heart-pounding soundtrack, intuitive gameplay, and jaw-dropping visuals that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
To celebrate the launch, Marvel Comics is bringing the excitement of the game to comic shops with Marvel Tōkon: First Strike #1, an action-packed comic special written by Steve Orlando, Tom Waltz, Josh Trujillo and drawn by Bruno Büll, Áthila Fabbio and Ryusei Yamada. Starring the breakout teams of the game—the Fighting Avengers and the Unbreakable X-Men— Marvel Tōkon: First Strike #1 expands the game’s mythology and reveals the exciting backstories of its playable heroes as well as its antagonists, the Promoter and Champion! Marvel Comics will also spotlight the game’s stunning artwork and bold character designs across 20 Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls Variant Covers, featured on select Marvel titles beginning in August.
As Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls makes its debut on gaming systems, fans can pick up this exciting anthology comic showcasing brand-new high-octane adventures from the Marvel Tōkon Universe that won’t be found anywhere else! From show-stopping brawls to deep abiding mysteries – this one-shot acts as a companion piece to the upcoming 4v4 tag-team fighting game, uncovering secrets and more!
Check out Marvel Tōkon: First Strike #1 covers by Juan Frigeri and Ryan Stegman, along with the first 11 Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls Variant Covers. A Michele Bandini variant cover will be revealed in the weeks ahead.
Revisit one of the most transformative periods of Spider-Man history with some of the creators who made it happen! Spider-Man discovers one of the most valuable items the Kingpin, aka Wilson Fisk possesses – THE LEXICON. This directory of the Kingpin’s criminal enterprise could destroy the criminal landscape of New York City, and that’s Spider-Man’s goal when he takes it. But Fisk isn’t the only person who wants the Lexicon… Mr. Negative would love his competitor’s secret information, but so would Frank Castle, A.K.A. THE PUNISHER. Taking the Lexicon sure seemed like a good idea to make the city safer, but it’s painted the biggest target ever on Spider-Man’s back! The Spectacular Spider-Man: Brand New Day #1 is the latest series that takes us back to a key time in a character’s history adding to it with an in-continuity tale.
Spider-Man is a character that I dip in and out of when it comes to the various series. He’s not a character whose adventures I’ve read for a long time, the exception being Dan Slott‘s Superior Spider-Man run. So, seeing Slott take on one of the more controversial periods for the character left me intrigued. I enjoy his writing and have liked his previous work for the character. But, while The Spectacular Spider-Man: Brand New Day #1 has its moments, overall it doesn’t feel like anything vital that had to be told.
The Spectacular Spider-Man: Brand New Day #1 isn’t bad, but it feels like the type of miniseries put together specifically to tie into something else going on, in this case the upcoming film Spider-Man: Brand New Day which also features the Punisher who is in this comic as well. The cynical part of me says that’s the driver of this series, as opposed to really adding to Spider-Man’s history in an interesting way that impacts the character today or something really original, it had to be done.
“Brand New Day” was a storyline post “Civil War” that had Spider-Man striking a bargain where everyone forgot who he was and it dealt with that aftermath. We see that in this comic with so many feeling like they remember Spider-Man unmasking but not who was under it. It does its best to catch readers up on what is a rather complicated storyline. Mephisto isn’t mentioned at all to keep it all simpler and reflect Peter’s memories of how things went down.
There is some aspects that are interesting in the comic though. The idea of Spider-Man having this book of crime and using to to break up major operations is actually an intriguing idea. Spider-Man working with the police to do so and leaving the criminals to the justice system while the Punisher would rather have a more permanent solution is also interesting. But, the comic feels like there’s little point to its setting in the timeline so far. It could happen at any point, for the most part, it being “Brand New Day” doesn’t feel like it’s mandatory other than tying into the upcoming film in another way.
The art by Marcus To is pretty good. He’s joined by Alex Sinclair on color and Joe Caramagna on lettering. Marcos Martin and Muntsa Vicente provide some art going over the rather complicated history. Visually, the comic looks good with some decent action. The art is crisp but lacks a certain flair to it that we’ve seen in other Spider-Man comics. Like the story itself, it’s fine but doesn’t really stand out as anything truly special.
The Spectacular Spider-Man: Brand New Day #1 isn’t a bad debut and for those that really dig the time period or character it could work. But, it feels like its primary focus is giving those who see the upcoming movie a comic they might be drawn to. In that case again, it’s not something that will likely hook those readers to come back or seek something else out. Overall, it’s a perfectly fine read that’s also rather forgettable, like Peter’s identity.
Story: Dan Slott Art: Marcus To, Marcos Martin, Muntsa Vicente
Color: Alex Sinclair Letters: Joe Caramagna
Story: 7.5 Art: 7.5 Overall: 7.5 Recommendation: Read
Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Purchase: Zeus Comics – Kindle
Spectacular Spider-Man: Brand New Day #1
(W) Dan Slott (A) Marcus To
BRAND NEW BRAND NEW DAY! Spider-Man discovers one of the most valuable items the Kingpin, A.K.A. Wilson Fisk, possesses — THE LEXICON. This directory of the Kingpin’s criminal enterprise could destroy the criminal landscape of New York City and that’s Spider-Man’s goal when he takes it. But Fisk isn’t the only person who wants the Lexicon… Mr. Negative would love his competitor’s secret information, but so would Frank Castle himself, the Punisher. Taking the Lexicon sure seemed like a good idea to make the city safer, but it’s painted the biggest target ever on Spider-Man’s back!
