A Cowboy, A Spaceman, A Caveman & More In Vault Of Spiders #1

Spider-Geddon is in full swing and it will take the combined efforts of Spider heroes from across the multiverse to survive. We know the story of Peter Parker, your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Vault of Spiders shows us a number of different worlds where great power and great responsibility go hand-in-hand.

Four different Spider heroes are featured in Vault of Spiders #1 and they’re all interesting and fun. The major standout for me is “Final Galaxy Battle!” from writer Jed MacKay and artist Sheldon Vella. It’s a manga-inspired tale of space-faring adventure as the Spider-Man of this world battles Prime Minister Monster. He even has a giant robot. It’s incredible.
Vella’s artwork is packed with detail. The characters are overly expressive, which fits perfectly with the style of the story. He also handled the lettering, weaving the sound effects and word balloons into the art itself to make everything more intense. In the end, it’s an absolutely bonkers story that is just so much fun.

As mentioned, there isn’t a bad story in the bunch in Vault of Spiders. That one just hit on all the right marks for me. There’s also one with a gun-slinging Spider-Man, a virtual one, and one in the Savage Land. There really is something for every Spider-Man fan in this book. It doesn’t have a direct tie-in to Spider-Geddon though. Instead, it’s more like a peek into the lives of the various characters that may or may not pop up in the main event.
What is clear throughout all of these tales is that the essence of Spider-Man shines through, regardless of the setting or circumstances of the character. That die-hard sense of responsibility even in the face of insurmountable adversity is shared across the multiverse.

What’s interesting is that the sense of humor, which is something I strongly associate with Peter Parker, doesn’t translate as much. For example, the the Savage Spider-Man is a very serious hero, swinging through the jungle like Tarzan, but clad in the familiar blue and red. He’s a more vicious character who doesn’t speak much. His mind is racing, but there is not a single joke there.
Vault of Spiders is a nice complement to Edge of Spider-Geddon, showcasing a number of different characters. The Spider-Man mythos lends itself to some pretty awesome concepts and stories and this anthology title allows for the exploration of several at once. I seriously wish we get more from this than the two issues that are planned because it is such a fun book. Giving talented creators free reign to come up with cool Spider-Man characters is a fantastic idea.

Vault of Spiders #1 from Marvel Comics is currently available at your local comic shop and digitally through ComiXology and Amazon Kindle. It features writing from Jed MacKay, Cullen Bunn, Nilah Magruder, and James Asmus, art by Scott Koblish, Javier Pulido, Sheldon Vella, Alberto Alburquerque, and Juan Gedeon, colors by Andres Mossa, Muntsa Vicente, and Andrew Crossley, and letters by Travis Lanham, Joe Caramagna, and Sheldon Vella.