Vault of Spiders #1

Reviewed by: Robbie Rowe, Lead Comic Correspondent

Rating: 8 out of 8

There are more roads to walk than one. This is exemplified here, with various

different versions of Spider-Man, or web-slinging super-heroes. Some stories I

enjoyed more than others, most of all Savage Spider-Man, which I’d definitely

welcome more of. It could be stories set before this Peter came to the Savage

Land – awesome seeing more of that place by the way! – or after the end of this

story.

No matter what, I’d definitely swing through a land with a Spider-Man like this, in a place I’d welcome more stories exploring. It also included an interesting twist regarding Ka-Zar, one which twists his morality, also mixing him visually with a classic Spidey villain. It’s very well done and probably isn’t something Ka-Zar, one of the few heroes of the Savage Land, would appreciate!

Savage Spider-Man is well drawn, too, with a particularly striking look for the web swinger and a terrifying one for a massive spider. A tale with far less terror is Final Galaxy Battle, one which stars the Japanese Spider-Man from the 70s TV show Spider-Man. Similarly to the other 70s Spider-Man show, this one’s got his web shooters on the outside of his costume, on his wrists.

Unlike that Spider-Man, Takuya Yamashiro has a giant robot. Leopardon is the

name of his robot and isn’t the only tool in his arsenal – yet that isn’t the best part of this story for me. The best part of it is how well it emulates the manga style. From it crediting who scanned the manga, to it being another chapter instead of just having a story title and it simply being black and white, it recreated this style very, very well.

I like to think manga fans will appreciate this story, as well as fans of the Spider-

Man show. Spider-Byte provides an interesting twist on a spider-powered hero. It focuses on a woman named Margo, who deals with cyber crimes in between

university classes. Could be something simple, but here in this digital world,

they’re far more real than you’d expect. Another bonus is what I feel to be a

Conan the Barbarian cameo, someone who’s getting a new Marvel comic in

January.

Overall, it was a good story, though I feel it could’ve been a bit longer and I

would’ve liked Spider-Byte’s abilities explained a bit more. Last but not least, the opening story puts a western twist on the Spider-Verse, with the Web-Slinger following, fittingly, the Web-Slinger! Here, he was a former shootist, telling tall tales to entertain crowds at medicine shows, helping a doctor. It’s a brief story and not my favourite, but it does well at the kind of story it is, that of a spider- powered cowboy trying to rescue some children, with his trusty, masked horse.

I definitely recommend you open up this vault, most of all for Savage Spider-Man, but also for the beautiful manga homage Final Galaxy Battle and for such unique takes on Spider-Man. I’m definitely giving issue 2 a go and hope it can deliver as memorable delights as this one.