Infinity Wars: Arachknight #2 Is A By-The-Book Origin

Peter Parker has a chance to get his hands on the literal monster that killed his aunt and uncle. He just has to get the various personalities in his head to agree on their next steps. To make matters worse, the Goblin-by-Night has been hiding right under his nose, kept secluded by Peter’s best friend, Harry Russell.

There are a lot of great qualities about Infinity Wars: Arachknight. The design for the costume is awesome, bringing in some key elements of Moon Knight with just a hint of Spider-Man. It’s pretty cool to see the character swinging through the night sky with his long cloak billowing behind him. Artist Ale Garza makes the character look every bit as mysterious and intriguing.
Adding to this is how the different personalities interact. Letterer Clayton Cowles shows each one in a different font, so you can really understand who’s talking. Peter may look like he’s speaking to himself, but he’s really in a heated argument with a few others in his head.

The story itself is rather predictable. It was obvious early on where the Goblin-by-Night was hiding in the first issue and this follow-up (and final one in this mini-series) continues along those same lines. I was excited to see how this mash-up of characters would work, but it feels pretty weak. There’s a lot of potential here too. It’s just squandered with a by-the-book story.
As we’re filling in the gaps, Harry has a flashback to when he learned his father was a monster. Colorist Ruth Redmond gives this scene an interesting look, like it’s something from an old VHS tape. Young Harry is lit by the glow of the television screen, casting a strange glow on the surroundings and making the shadows loom even larger in the distance. This is a great effect that I hope gets used in more horror comics.

This issue wraps up with something that’s more of a beginning than an ending. It redefines the character’s status quo in a way that you’d get from completing an origin story, but we’re probably never going to see Arachknight again, so it’s a bit of a waste. Writer Dennis Hopeless did a fine job with what he had, but it didn’t provide us with anything new.
Infinity Wars: Arachknight #2 from Marvel Comics is currently available at your local comic shop and digitally through ComiXology and Amazon Kindle.