Does Anyone Care About The Sin-Eater? ‘Amazing Spider-Man: Sins Rising Prelude’ Reviewed

If you’re like me, the recent revelation of the Sin-Eater, resurrected by the mysterious Kindred in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man felt a little lackluster. The villain feels pretty obscure and didn’t pack a punch when he showed up. Considering the next arc, “Sins Rising” uses the character pretty prominently, we’ve got a prelude chapter dedicated to his origins and how he’s now on a collision course with Spider-Man.

There’s a noir feel to The Amazing Spider-Man: Sins Rising Prelude. It reminds me a bit of Criminal from Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. There’s obviously a place for that, however it feels a little odd in a Spider-Man comic. Editor Nick Lowe says as much in the letter at the end of the issue.
While this is an interesting enough story from writer Nick Spencer, I’m not invested in it at all. I’m also surprised that we got this one-shot prelude as we just had a very similar origin story for Gog in Amazing Spider-Man #43. Then again, that didn’t work all that well either as the focus was taken completely off of the wall-crawler to give us a quirky tale of an alien monster. It feels like Spencer wants to play with some of the more obscure elements of the Marvel Universe, which is fine in certain spots, but when you’re in the midst of the flagship Spider-Man comic, it feels out of place.

Artist Guillermo Sanna’s style is perfect for this type of pulpy story. The shadows loom heavily as this poor man walks down a doomed path. His life is full of twists and turns, each getting closer and closer to the darkness. It gets a little tripppy and Sanna matches that with a dynamic layout.
Colorist Jordie Bellaire is the real star of Amazing Spider-Man: Sins Rising Prelude. The palette used is full of dark shades, mirroring the sinister journey this man finds himself on. This works well with the dismal reds and pinks that accompany the more violent and unsettling sequences.

The Sin-Eater himself narrates this issue. Letterer Joe Caramagna shows these in purple caption boxes, matching up to the tone of his costume. It also works well with Bellaire’s colors throughout the issue.
This prelude issue is intended to give us the background we need to head into what is being held up as a big deal. While some of the information is helpful, it didn’t move the needle on any investment with the Sin-Eater or the stakes his return have. If anything, it’s killing the momentum for this arc before it even begins. The dynamite artwork can’t save it from that unfortunately.
Amazing Spider-Man: Sins Rising Prelude from Marvel Comics is currently available at your local comic shop and digitally through ComiXology and Amazon Kindle.