Beta Ray Greg Presents: Edge of Spider-geddon

Written by

Jed McKay

Art by

Gerardo Sandoval

Cover by

Gerardo Sandoval

We find one of my favorite versions of the Spider-Man in this universe, Spider Punk. Fans would know him by his real name, Hobie Brown, as friend and enemy of our Earth’s Spider-Man. In this anarchy-based Earth, Hobie is the Spider-Man. We find him after the times of Spider-Verse still fighting against the man. Hobie has one of the most unique costumes of all Spiders with spikes going up and down his head with a sleeveless jean jacket. I found the appearance of a corporate Kang the Conqueror from 2099 strange, but it fit the bill.

The most interesting takeaway from this book is the line from Kang, “‘Karl Morgenthau died old and fat and irrelevant. Turning him into a brand would have been pointless’…’you however…you died young, Hobie. Like every great, bankable star.'” So does Hobie die in Spider-Geddon? Does he sacrifice himself to save the Spiders? All we know for sure is at the end of the issue, with his mask torn to shreds, he didn’t hesitate when Mayday Parker, Spider-Woman of her universe, tells him he’s needed. He leaps on singing “I don’t wanna live forever.” Great set up for the first issue of The Edge issues. MacKay has written a gem.

Written by

Lonnie Nadler

Zac Thompson

Gerard Way

Art by

Alberto Jimenez Alburquerque

Cover by

Jake Wyatt

In issue two, we find one of the more interesting twists in Spider-Verse, Peni Parker and Sp//dr. Sp//dr is a suit of armor worn by Peni and she inherited it from her father. She works at a government facility with her Aunt May and Uncle Ben. With many assumptions, I think her family designed the suit and will only respond to someone with her genetic markers. We find she discovers the government has constructed a second suit : VEN#M. VEN#M goes friggin’ insane, which you know, is expected.

The suit seems to murder or consume her Aunt May Lo and the OG pilot Addy Brock. NO ONE SEEMS TOO CONCERNED WITH THIS. No, really. As the story wraps up with little to no remorse for two deaths, Spider-Ham shows up with news that Peni and Sp//dr are needed. Fun issue. Story showed us more of Peni than previously known which is refreshing. I hope the story circles back around to the VEN#M suit at some point. It was pretty bad ass.

Written by

Jason Latour

Art by

Tonci Zonjic

Cover by

Tonci Zonjic

I’ll be completely honest. This issue confused the crap out of me. You start at the beginning which is the end but you don’t know it’s the end. Then you go to the beginning, but there’s no time reference. Back to the ending which was at the beginning but it’s sort of the middle.

Confused? Yep, me too.

I read it twice. I just don’t know. Unlike the other issues, this one seems to be set sort of after Spider-Geddon at points. There’s a *reference to issue #3 of Spider-Geddon. You’re following Spider-Peter and Spider-Ben. You glance at an origin story point where a gunman gets behind Uncle Ben after his painkillers prescription. Confusing story short, Ben gets a blood transfusion and gets powers. You never see his powers but you’re told about them.

I don’t know. I might have missed something, some plot point somewhere OR it purposely leads you nowhere. Maybe it has something to do with what happens when Ben speaks of Peter in the past tense 60% of the comic and why there’s a reference to #3 SP:GD. Also, unlike the previous comics, no Spider came through a portal to take them to The War. That has to mean something.

Written by

Aaron Kuder

Art by

Aaron Kuder

Cover by

Aaron Kuder

Looks like Aaron Kuder was like, “hey, I’ve got this.” Probably. The tagline for this issue is “MEET THE MYSTERIOUS SPIDER-MAN WHO CHANGES THE COURSE OF SPIDER-GEDDON.” Strong words. This universe is owned and operated by Oscorp and Norman Osborn. You get into the issue and you are being read a letter a few sentences at a time from an unknown source. The letter is being written to Harry Osborn.

He’s sort of being guided to do a mission, because if he is reading this letter, the author must be dead. He is being led to a suit of some sort that resembles…a high tech goblin suit. WHAAAA. I know. Mind blown.

Through his story, you see a figure with six arms and two legs in a Spider suit. The whole time there’s a conversation between this figure and Norman Osborn. DUN DUN DUN twist Norman Osborn is the six armed-two legged figure. Super cool twist. Now, the story is falling into place. Harry finds the Goblin suit. He finds something else. He finds a room with a projection on the wall. Its him. Peter Parker. Norman. All different versions, all different times.

Norman presents himself. He says that Harry found what was once called a Cosmic Cube, but it has twisted itself into a viewer of the multiverse. Again, WHAAAAA. I know. As the two battle, you understand from the letter being read that Peter Parker, even in their universe, was Spider-man…at one point.

He ends up working at Oscorp (on his own accord? or forced?). We don’t know how or why. He admits in the letter that he’s been sabotaging Norman from the inside. Harry receives the letter only on Peter’s death. During the battle, Harry shoots the Cosmic Cube shattering it. Oscorp top floors seemingly explodes. Norman does his patented laugh. Then, Spider-man Punk arrives through a portal, and drags Norman through under duress. What does this mean for our Spiders? I hope to all that is Spider they have a plan for that psycho. Who is the real villain? What happened to Harry? Why does Norman have six arms? Only time will tell.