Saturday, February 11, 2012

JT's Take: Scarlet Spider #2

Hey everyone, JT here with my take on issue numero dos of Scarlet Spider. I enjoyed the first issue a lot and since X would rather pick up Grifter and Superboy over Scarlet Spider, I figured I'd throw up a review for it, so let's see what I thought of it.

Scarlet Spider #2

Summary: We pick things up seeing Kaine leaving Houston via cab when suddenly the Medical Center where he'd dropped off the girl he rescued explodes. After arguing with himself he heads back and see's she's being attacked by a giant mountain of a man who can shoot fire. This man, named Salamander (although it's never mentioned in the actual comic), is eager to fight a hero, especially Spider-Man, but Kaine assures him he is neither. Kaine proves that while fighting the villain, and while he saves a cop from being killed by the villain, he also uses the officer's gun to open fire on this blazing behemoth. When our fiery foe tries to incinerate Kaine alive, he webs himself up to protect himself from the flames before attacking the flame fueled fighter (I rule at alliteration) and incapacitating him. He thinks about killing him but says a little voice inside stops him from doing it, and that voice is soon replaced to by cheers from the citizens of Houston. After checking on the girl he saved, Kaine is pretty much told by an officer, as well as the Doctor that Houston could use a hero like Kaine. They also say they'll have to send the girl back since she's an immigrant, but a Vigilante could continue to defend her, but Kaine turns down the offer and heads for Mexico. We finally see him at the boarder but he changes his mind, as we see he's got the girl living with him now as he tries to make a new home in Houston.


Thoughts: I really enjoyed this issue and my review doesn't do the issue justice. You really got a feel for Kaine not being a hero, but still doing the right thing. Doing things like raking the eyes of someone or grabbing a police officer's gun and shooting his foe shows that our titular character is not a full-fledged hero, but rather an Anti-Hero. I also like that he has the city behind him, the police, and possibly even the Mayor, that's an interesting position for Kaine, especially since you know it has to backfire on him soon enough. I'm loving this comic and surprisingly I'm loving what Chris Yost is doing with Kaine, I really hope he keeps it up and we inevitably get a Scarlet Spider/Venom crossover. But that's for later, as for this issue, there's nothing I didn't enjoy about it. Simple as that, I had no qualms with this issue and that's reflected in my score below.

Score: 10 out of 10.
Kaine: I'm not Spider-Man. I'm not a hero. But maybe I don't have to be a monster.

18 comments:

  1. I checked out the first issue when it came out. Not bad. I haven't been reading any Spider books lately, so it looks like I may add this to my pull list.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'd recommend this one, I mean it's still early so if ya waited a bit I wouldn't blame you, but the first two issues have been pretty enjoyable. Kind of like Spidey mixed with Red Hood. (Pre-DCnU)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Damn, a perfect score, JT? At least one of us is giving those bad boys out this year! And for YOUR information, I like the Grifter character and have nothing against the writer of Grifter... As for Superboy... Um... Yeah, you've got me there... :P

    So this one ended with Kaine living with the girl he saved last issue... That's... different... I'm not sure how I feel about that actually. I guess she'll be a device used to humanize Kaine, but I'd think that could be done via Kaine's actions. Anyway, great review, and I'll be keeping my eyes on what you have to say about this series. If I decide to expand my pull list(which I CAN do if I want now!), this one may get the call.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lol, well how are you liking those alien things, you know, those things they revealed the name of on the cover but not in the issue of your expertly written, 6 outta 10 score getting, Grifter? :P

    Yeah, you know they have to do something to have him not be so cold, but it'll probably just be to her for now as he still seems to have a short fuse with everyone else. And glad you're keeping an eye on my reviews, at least ONE of us is watching the other. :P

    ReplyDelete
  5. Now I didn't say that Grifter was expertly written, my friend... Just that I didn't have anything against the writer! It's not like he killed several characters I really liked in several consecutive comic books or anything... Unlike a certain writer of a certain Scarlet Spider series... ;)

    Well, we both can't be class acts! :P

    ReplyDelete
  6. Haha, I can't argue with that, plus I'm not the biggest Yost fan around, so I shan't argue with that.

    Damn... you win this round.

    ReplyDelete
  7. "Damn... you win this round." I shall always remember this moment!!! Where the hell is Bleeding Cool now?!? :D

    ReplyDelete
  8. HA!!! I figured you'd enjoy that one! ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm glad you're reviewing this series JT. The art looks interesting, I may start picking this one up as well. Is it a $2.99 book?

    ReplyDelete
  10. I honestly don't remember Trobb, I think the first issue was 3.99 but the second one was 2.99.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Totally agree, JT. I'm loving this series. Issue #3 was equally amazing (and it was $2.99!). X, you should totally be reading it. (Maybe you can just put duct tape over Yost's name. I promise, so far, a bus full of children hasn't died yet.)

    ReplyDelete
  12. I definitely agree with JW, X you should pick up Scarlet Spider, it's been really good and it's much better than Red Hood, Teen Titans and a bunch of the other DC books you pick up currently, hell if I had to compare this to anything It would be the first few issues of Venom.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Dammit! You two are REALLY tempting me, you know that! *sigh*... I KNOW I'm going to be adding a mess of AvX books in the coming weeks, so I'm just not sure if this series is worth picking up... Especially at $4 a pop. But the fact that the both of you are so high on it does have me leaning towards getting it... Hmm, it's something I'll have to think on leading up to Wednesday.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Well that's a big step, hopefully you do get to pick up the first three issues, I doubt you'll be disappointed. I'll say this much, I'm close to liking Kaine as Scarlet Spider as much as I like Flash as Venom.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Wow, that's REALLY impressive... When I head into the shop this Wednesday, I'll have to see if issues #2 and 3 are still there. If it's a light comic week for me(HA!!!!!) I'll snag 'em.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Lol, a light week for you?! HA! And they should have the first two, I think they get reprinted this week or something like that.

    ReplyDelete
  17. It's sad that we ALL know I'll never have a light comic book week... The worst thing about it is that now that I'm working pretty much full time, my comic collection is growing out of control, like an unmowed lawn! I haven't had the time to index or put anything away, so I have huge piles of comics laying around my bedroom and living room... I not only need a light comic week, I need a few days off from work to catch up on my coomic book work!

    ReplyDelete