Spider-Verse vs. Venomverse by Kyle Higgins and Mat Groom with Luciano Vecchio (Illustrator, Cover Art) and, Jim Towe (Illustrator)

 

Spider-Verse vs. Venomverse by authors Kyle Higgins and Mat Groom with Luciano Vecchio (Illustrator, Cover Art) and, Jim Towe (Illustrator), is a miniseries where the Spider-Man of various universes go to war against the Venoms of various universes. The trade, which will come out in January, will collect the Web of Spider-Verse, Web of Venomverse prequels, and the main series. I read this through the Marvel Unlimited App.

 

The entities that individually control each groups have suddenly decided that the other entity and their group must die. So, each entity selects a team of heroes from each group and forces those selected to fight to the death to save their group.

 

The Spider-Verse team is led by the main Spider-Man (Peter Parker of Earth 616), and includes Spider-Ham (a cartoon pig that was bitten by a radioactive Spider), a super solider, and others. They must go against the symbiote team. A team that is led by an Eddie Brock Venom that murdered the Peter Parker of its universe and now tries to be a hero.

 

The prequels are not very relevant to the main series and just are used for backstory for some characters who show up. For example, based on the prequel, one would think that a vampire Spider-Man was going to play a big role in this series. Instead, despite getting a lot of pages in a prequel, it just shows up for the big fight at the end. This happens quite a lot with a number of such characters that just show up in the big fight at the end. A lot of the prequel characters only exists to fill big fight at the end.

 

The art, across the board, is just okay at best. This is an action-adventure style deal that tries to take itself seriously, but as a reader, one knows they are not going to wipe out a whole group of heroes. The ending is pretty predictable so the read is just a fun time where one gets to see these two groups fight. So, if you are a fan of either group you might enjoy this title as long as you just treat as a not a serious read.

 

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4aun9FK

 

 

Scott A. Tipple ©2026

Scott's Take: Spider-Man: Spider’s Shadow by Chip Zdarsky

 

Spider-Man: Spider’s Shadow by Chip Zdarsky is one of the first books that is launching Marvel’s new What If line. This is the only title in the new line, at this point, due to delays caused by the Covid pandemic.

 

The what if question here is simple: what if Peter Parker became Venom? In this read, it ties into a series that had Peter Parker fight off world and then return to Earth with what he thought was clothing from alien technology that was actually a symbiote. In that other series, he eventually figured out he had a symbiote and he was able to get rid of it. This book takes us back to that storyline and postulates the idea that the symbiote is Venom.

 

Peter Parker has been having nightmares and is increasingly under stress. After a personal attack by the Hobgoblin, Peter Parker succumbs to the influence of the symbiote, aka Venom, and decides to take a more violent approach to fighting crime. Who will be able to stop an unhinged Peter Parker from dispensing justice, as he sees it, under the influence of Venom?

 

Spider-Man: Spider’s Shadow by Chip Zdarsky is a very violent and dark read with pretty good art work that is heavily influenced by the original story. Since it is based on the original story, only characters who were active during that time period are featured so there are a smaller number of heroes in this book.  I enjoyed this mature read even though I wish it was longer so the impact of the events could be better explored. There are multiple deaths, maimings, and lots of violence. This tale sets up a rather interesting universe if there is a sequel.

 

 

My reading copy came from the Timberglen Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.

 

Scott A. Tipple ©2022