Spider-Man: The Lost Hunt

[CaptainUniverse]

Ah! I can't wait!

[Matt Rat]

Another worthy issue.

spoilers:

Gregor is an unrelenting piece of s*it, virtually irredeemable, he not only wants to take Peter apart, he wants to go after MJ, he wants to kill the child inside the womb. He's only stopped by the intervention of his own mother. Poor MJ too, her concern and worry for her husband is on point, as is her struggles to understand why she can't get through to him when their new friend Tracey can (is it Tracey that's Gregor's mother?), I like to think Tracey's nod to MJ and Pete, her 'cosmic intuition' is a little on the meta side, as if DeMatteis is assuring readers all will be well not just by the end of this, but in regards to the overall lore someday. I also love MJ's emphatic second sight when it comes to sensing Peter being taken. Peter takes quite the beating, both mentally and physically, and you have to wonder just how he will endure this experience. What he believes will be his final thoughts are all focused on MJ, as well they should

end of spoilers

Put your silly crossover comics away, the adults are talking

[CaptainUniverse]

Another worthy issue.

spoilers:

Gregor is an unrelenting piece of s*it, virtually irredeemable, he not only wants to take Peter apart, he wants to go after MJ, he wants to kill the child inside the womb. He's only stopped by the intervention of his own mother. Poor MJ too, her concern and worry for her husband is on point, as is her struggles to understand why she can't get through to him when their new friend Tracey can (is it Tracey that's Gregor's mother?), I like to think Tracey's nod to MJ and Pete, her 'cosmic intuition' is a little on the meta side, as if DeMatteis is assuring readers all will be well not just by the end of this, but in regards to the overall lore someday. I also love MJ's emphatic second sight when it comes to sensing Peter being taken. Peter takes quite the beating, both mentally and physically, and you have to wonder just how he will endure this experience. What he believes will be his final thoughts are all focused on MJ, as well they should

end of spoilers

Put your silly crossover comics away, the adults are talking

spoilers:

Ah...I really like this series, why can't Spider-Man comics be this good all the time? And I am not just saying that because of the Pete/MJ aspect, there is something about DeMattis' writing that is really able to dig down deep and scratch that metaphorical itch in the back of my head that's been begging for relief. I don't feel restless while reading his books and they are way more engaging than anything else Marvel has out right now. I know he wrote Kraven's Last Hunt along with Spider-Man/Batman but was there anything else big he did Spider-Man wise?

end of spoilers

[Matt Rat]

I know he wrote Kraven's Last Hunt along with Spider-Man/Batman but was there anything else big he did Spider-Man wise?

"Child Within" "Osborn Legacy" and "Best of Enemies", aka The death of Harry Osborn.

[CaptainUniverse]

"Child Within" "Osborn Legacy" and "Best of Enemies", aka The death of Harry Osborn.

Thanks! I'll need to look into getting all of those one of these days.

[TinkerSpider]

Another worthy issue.

spoilers:

Gregor is an unrelenting piece of s*it, virtually irredeemable, he not only wants to take Peter apart, he wants to go after MJ, he wants to kill the child inside the womb. He's only stopped by the intervention of his own mother. Poor MJ too, her concern and worry for her husband is on point, as is her struggles to understand why she can't get through to him when their new friend Tracey can (is it Tracey that's Gregor's mother?), I like to think Tracey's nod to MJ and Pete, her 'cosmic intuition' is a little on the meta side, as if DeMatteis is assuring readers all will be well not just by the end of this, but in regards to the overall lore someday. I also love MJ's emphatic second sight when it comes to sensing Peter being taken. Peter takes quite the beating, both mentally and physically, and you have to wonder just how he will endure this experience. What he believes will be his final thoughts are all focused on MJ, as well they should

end of spoilers

Put your silly crossover comics away, the adults are talking

Ain't this the truth.

I also can't help but compare JMD's Peter with Wells's Peter.

JMD's Peter takes a brutal beating far beyond what Tombstone or Vulture or Hobgoblins dish out AND he's powerless, without his rapid healing. But still, Peter continues to perservere, to struggle to his feet, even when he knows it is hopeless.

Wells's Peter? Gives up and waits to be shot after Tombstone beats him. One crash into a smokestack after his webshooters are useless thanks to the Vulture - but all his other powers are intact - and he's whining on the phone for Norman to help him because "I'm gonna die!" Goes one round with the Hobgoblins and instead of thinking how to come back and beat them, and instead thinks "I'm gonna die," crashes into an air conditioner instead of finding a way to avoid it and has to be saved by Norman.

[Mercwmouth12]

Ain't this the truth.

I also can't help but compare JMD's Peter with Wells's Peter.

JMD's Peter takes a brutal beating far beyond what Tombstone or Vulture or Hobgoblins dish out AND he's powerless, without his rapid healing. But still, Peter continues to perservere, to struggle to his feet, even when he knows it is hopeless.

Wells's Peter? Gives up and waits to be shot after Tombstone beats him. One crash into a smokestack after his webshooters are useless thanks to the Vulture - but all his other powers are intact - and he's whining on the phone for Norman to help him because "I'm gonna die!" Goes one round with the Hobgoblins and instead of thinking how to come back and beat them, and instead thinks "I'm gonna die," lets them grab him and lies down.

Can't wait till he fights chasm

[IamnotJudasTraveller]

This isn't a bad book by any stretch of the imagination, but unfortunately it's very familiar territory.

DeMatteis coming back to the formula he pioneered should be an event, but Marvel's dragged Kraven's Last Hunt into the ground. Wasn't too far off we had "Hunted" hitting the same beats. So when DeMatteis shows up and shows how it's done, it's unfortunately lost its luster with so many rethreads Marvel did because KLH was just that successful. It's kind of a Halloween effect that way; KLH worked because of how out of left field it was, and because the circumstances around the story gave it much weight. Peter being off his game seemed pretty reasonable by everything going on with his life recently and even his marriage - yeah, it's joyous, but it puts you on edge. In this, DeMatteis' hand is even forced to just directly correlate how off Peter is his game to "yeah, the 'hunter' is just doing it [somehow]", similar to how every time people try to explain or expand on Halloween's masked killer, it just dillutes what made it so effective to begin with. Given how KLH is also a psychological horror featuring Spider-Man, I think the analogy works well enough.

I guess another sign of this is how even the same beat is played out when Peter's about to die - his last thoughts are of Mary Jane. I wouldn't have it any other way, but it's exactly the same as KLH. DeMatteis is a great writer, this is a good book, and his enthusiasm for the medium is palpable, but unfortunately having him redo his greatest hits feel a bit of a missed opportunity IMO.

[HypnoHustler]

Peter having periodic rages, like tearing apart his apartment or screaming in public, is giving me uncomfortable flashbacks to his mid 90s breakdown (should that be “breakdowns” plural?). I’ll be the first to admit I have rose tinted glasses when it comes to this period, but this is reminding me of the warts. Also, this Tracy Makeba seems like a knock-off Calypso (unless she’s meant to be the REAL Calypso?). MJ is written well at least, and it’s nice to further flesh out their time in Portland, which was criminally unexplored besides ‘Final Adventure.’

How I feel about this mini overall? Well… it’s decent. I definitely preferred the Ben Reilly mini from the beginning of this year… like NotJudas, I’m just not a big fan of all these Kraven rehashes.

[CaptainUniverse]

Peter having periodic rages, like tearing apart his apartment or screaming in public, is giving me uncomfortable flashbacks to his mid 90s breakdown (should that be “breakdowns” plural?). I’ll be the first to admit I have rose tinted glasses when it comes to this period, but this is reminding me of the warts. Also, this Tracy Makeba seems like a knock-off Calypso (unless she’s meant to be the REAL Calypso?). MJ is written well at least, and it’s nice to further flesh out their time in Portland, which was criminally unexplored besides ‘Final Adventure.’

How I feel about this mini overall? Well… it’s decent. I definitely preferred the Ben Reilly mini from the beginning of this year… like NotJudas, I’m just not a big fan of all these Kraven rehashes.

I guess I might feel that way too but I haven't read Kraven's Last Hunt or any of the sequels so...it's all news to me. I have only really begun to build up my Pre-OMD Spider-Man collection, so I got a lot to read.

[Matt Rat]

I don't think it's a 'rehash', Peter wasn't powerless in any prior Kraven story, and DeMatteis' writing has always leaned on Peter's psychosis, sometimes he went a little too far with it, but here I think he utilises it fine. Peter is ill, but he also demonstrates a durability when everything is on the line.

This is supposed to be Kraven's origin being told at last, so I figure issue three might be very heavy on exposition flashbacks. I think it's still too early to tell where this story is going to go.

I've slept on this a bit, and I really want MJ to do more in this series, the first few pages were full of promise with her being there for Peter and telling him she wished to understand more, but then the issue degraded into the usual trappings that many critics believe made the marriage problematic, MJ constantly worrying and breaking down over Peter and feeling helpless when others could help Peter but she couldn't. I'm hoping for some greater agency and to turn this current perception on it's head.

[Matt Rat]

SPIDER-MAN: THE LOST HUNT #5 (OF 5)
J.M. DEMATTEIS (W) • EDER MESSIAS (A)
Cover by RYAN BROWN
THE FINAL BATTLE!
• Peter needs to join forces with the one who taught Kraven to take Gregor down – but at what cost?
• You won't see this ending coming!
32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99

[Webhead]

The big draw of the book so far is the character work, as said above the plot is still a bit light and goes into familiar territory. As someone not reading ASM though, I'll take it.

[scarletspidey]

Can the spidey office team just give JMD overall outlines and let him write the rest (he would need to do the ending) - imagine he had the premise to Beyond and got to write that - like the rest said so far light on actual plot but it reads so well

[Huntsman Spider]

Peter having periodic rages, like tearing apart his apartment or screaming in public, is giving me uncomfortable flashbacks to his mid 90s breakdown (should that be “breakdowns” plural?). I’ll be the first to admit I have rose tinted glasses when it comes to this period, but this is reminding me of the warts. Also, this Tracy Makeba seems like a knock-off Calypso (unless she’s meant to be the REAL Calypso?). MJ is written well at least, and it’s nice to further flesh out their time in Portland, which was criminally unexplored besides ‘Final Adventure.’

How I feel about this mini overall? Well… it’s decent. I definitely preferred the Ben Reilly mini from the beginning of this year… like NotJudas, I’m just not a big fan of all these Kraven rehashes.

Plural, yeah, because he had one shortly before the Clone Saga started, after the whole "robot parents" debacle and Harry's posthumously revealed role in that. Then another one, just as he was starting to recover from the first, midway through the Clone Saga when Seward Trainer claimed --- through test results that turned out to be fraudulent --- that Ben Reilly was the original/"real" Peter Parker all along. That was even worse.

I don't think it's a 'rehash', Peter wasn't powerless in any prior Kraven story, and DeMatteis' writing has always leaned on Peter's psychosis, sometimes he went a little too far with it, but here I think he utilises it fine. Peter is ill, but he also demonstrates a durability when everything is on the line.

This is supposed to be Kraven's origin being told at last, so I figure issue three might be very heavy on exposition flashbacks. I think it's still too early to tell where this story is going to go.

I've slept on this a bit, and I really want MJ to do more in this series, the first few pages were full of promise with her being there for Peter and telling him she wished to understand more, but then the issue degraded into the usual trappings that many critics believe made the marriage problematic, MJ constantly worrying and breaking down over Peter and feeling helpless when others could help Peter but she couldn't. I'm hoping for some greater agency and to turn this current perception on it's head.

I wouldn't necessarily call Peter psychotic, though looking at him from a psychologist's or psychotherapist's POV, the argument could definitely be made that he's got serious PTSD, on top of responsibility OCD, a.k.a. what's more informally called a "guilt complex."