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tcorder's review
3.0
3 1/2 stars.
I've been a big Spider-Man fan ever since I was a kid. He was my all-time favorite super-hero, until I ran across the senior citizen version of Dominic Fortune, so I'm always up for a good Spider-Man story/series. The "Spider-Man: The Gauntlet" series tells the stories about Spider-Man's fights with old and new foes, orchestrated by the Kravinoff family in an attempt to soften Spidey up for "The Grim Hunt" (Compiled in a separate volume).
Vol. 4 of the series, Juggernaut, is comprised of 4 different story arcs. The first, "The Sting", involves Spidey following a man he believes to be his rommate's (Michelle) new boyfriend to a meeting of shady characters. It turns out that this is a meeting of thugs vying for the right to wear the costume of the original Scorpion. The party is crashed by a new, female version of The Scorpion who also wants the costume for reasons of her own. The story was rather tame and uninteresting. The main villain, "The Hood", didn't seem all that powerful or interesting, and Spidey didn't seem to have much to do. The art in this one was also sub-par. I'm sure they were trying for some kind of "gritty" vibe with it, but it just came across as unfinished and unpolished. Fortunately, the art in the rest of the book was much better.
The second story arc, "Something Can Stop the Juggernaut", finds Spidey fighting on the side of the Juggernaut, for a change, to help save him from a new incarnation of Captain Universe. This is a nice return to some of the straight-forward, old-style Spidey stories. There's jokes, action, spectacular fights, and a nice little twist involving Juggernaut and the powers of Captain Universe. Perhaps the best part was how it was, basically, a continuation of the story from the very first time Spidey and Juggernaut tangled.
The third story was a bit of a puzzle. It really had nothing to do with the whole "Gauntlet" story arc, unless you consider Spidey losing a chance to interview for a job as part of the psychic and/or emotional weakening that is supposed to be leading up to "The Grim Hunt". Basically, Peter Parker is on his way to interview for a job when he runs across Crusher Creel, The Absorbing Man, tearing up the street. Of course, he has to change into Spidey to stop the mayhem, thereby losing out on the potential job. It almost seems like they dropped it in as a bit of a comic interlude.
The fourth, and final, story arc is a reprinting of the original, two story first battle between Spidey and Juggernaut started in "Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut". My biggest complaint with this was that they put it in the wrong place. If they're going to do "Something Can Stop the Juggernaut" as a continuation of this one, why not put it first? (I've had this complaint with other Spider-Man compilations, where they tell the story of what happened after before they tell the story of what happened before.)
All in all, a pretty fun little trip through Spidey-land with some good artwork. If you're a Spider-Man fan who hasn't had a chance to check this series out, I would definitely suggest you give it a look-see. If you're new to the Spider-Man universe, you might want to start somewhere else and build up to this one. One word of warning, though. If you're going to read "The Gauntlet" series, start with vol. 1 and read them in order. There are things that happen in the earlier volumes that are referenced here (such as why Peter Parker is going out on job interviews), so you might be confused if you didn't start at the beginning.
I've been a big Spider-Man fan ever since I was a kid. He was my all-time favorite super-hero, until I ran across the senior citizen version of Dominic Fortune, so I'm always up for a good Spider-Man story/series. The "Spider-Man: The Gauntlet" series tells the stories about Spider-Man's fights with old and new foes, orchestrated by the Kravinoff family in an attempt to soften Spidey up for "The Grim Hunt" (Compiled in a separate volume).
Vol. 4 of the series, Juggernaut, is comprised of 4 different story arcs. The first, "The Sting", involves Spidey following a man he believes to be his rommate's (Michelle) new boyfriend to a meeting of shady characters. It turns out that this is a meeting of thugs vying for the right to wear the costume of the original Scorpion. The party is crashed by a new, female version of The Scorpion who also wants the costume for reasons of her own. The story was rather tame and uninteresting. The main villain, "The Hood", didn't seem all that powerful or interesting, and Spidey didn't seem to have much to do. The art in this one was also sub-par. I'm sure they were trying for some kind of "gritty" vibe with it, but it just came across as unfinished and unpolished. Fortunately, the art in the rest of the book was much better.
The second story arc, "Something Can Stop the Juggernaut", finds Spidey fighting on the side of the Juggernaut, for a change, to help save him from a new incarnation of Captain Universe. This is a nice return to some of the straight-forward, old-style Spidey stories. There's jokes, action, spectacular fights, and a nice little twist involving Juggernaut and the powers of Captain Universe. Perhaps the best part was how it was, basically, a continuation of the story from the very first time Spidey and Juggernaut tangled.
The third story was a bit of a puzzle. It really had nothing to do with the whole "Gauntlet" story arc, unless you consider Spidey losing a chance to interview for a job as part of the psychic and/or emotional weakening that is supposed to be leading up to "The Grim Hunt". Basically, Peter Parker is on his way to interview for a job when he runs across Crusher Creel, The Absorbing Man, tearing up the street. Of course, he has to change into Spidey to stop the mayhem, thereby losing out on the potential job. It almost seems like they dropped it in as a bit of a comic interlude.
The fourth, and final, story arc is a reprinting of the original, two story first battle between Spidey and Juggernaut started in "Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut". My biggest complaint with this was that they put it in the wrong place. If they're going to do "Something Can Stop the Juggernaut" as a continuation of this one, why not put it first? (I've had this complaint with other Spider-Man compilations, where they tell the story of what happened after before they tell the story of what happened before.)
All in all, a pretty fun little trip through Spidey-land with some good artwork. If you're a Spider-Man fan who hasn't had a chance to check this series out, I would definitely suggest you give it a look-see. If you're new to the Spider-Man universe, you might want to start somewhere else and build up to this one. One word of warning, though. If you're going to read "The Gauntlet" series, start with vol. 1 and read them in order. There are things that happen in the earlier volumes that are referenced here (such as why Peter Parker is going out on job interviews), so you might be confused if you didn't start at the beginning.
walkonpooh's review
2.0
So I kind of got an understanding of what Alan Moore and Grant Morrison to some extent are talking about when they say that the comic book medium is killing itself off by regurgitating old ideas with this story. I don't want to get too spoiler heavy, though I'll probably mark this review as a spoiler filled review to be on the safe side, but wow, this is easily my least favorite story-arc of the Webhead era of Spider-Man. Characters acting out of, well, character? Check. Inconsistent art due to multiple artists, sometimes within the same issue? Check. Above all, really lazy storytelling. Check and mate.
I love Spider-Man, he's easily my favorite comic book character and I'm really forgiving when it comes to reading his work, I'll love stuff that most readers would think is terrible, like the infamous Clone Saga. I love it! This was a fresh opportunity for them to do something really interesting with the Kravinoff's and instead, they, well, regurgitated old ideas and in the process, lessened the impact of an older story. Is that story still out there and you can read it still and enjoy it? Sure, but that's kind of besides the point. Not to mention, having dipped my toes into Dan Slott's standalone Spidey (Spider Island, which was GREAT), I know that some of the major events that take place on this book, don't even last all that long, which even further lessens the impact of this story.
Then the major event that happens in this arc, seems to have happened just to, well, have happened. I hope it was done with the future in mind, the pieces for Slott's run are seemingly being put into place at this point of the Webheads run on the book and I'm sure if Slott was to have something planned for, that character, it would be something interesting. I hope so. I hope it was not for nothing.
I love Spider-Man, he's easily my favorite comic book character and I'm really forgiving when it comes to reading his work, I'll love stuff that most readers would think is terrible, like the infamous Clone Saga. I love it! This was a fresh opportunity for them to do something really interesting with the Kravinoff's and instead, they, well, regurgitated old ideas and in the process, lessened the impact of an older story. Is that story still out there and you can read it still and enjoy it? Sure, but that's kind of besides the point. Not to mention, having dipped my toes into Dan Slott's standalone Spidey (Spider Island, which was GREAT), I know that some of the major events that take place on this book, don't even last all that long, which even further lessens the impact of this story.
Then the major event that happens in this arc, seems to have happened just to, well, have happened. I hope it was done with the future in mind, the pieces for Slott's run are seemingly being put into place at this point of the Webheads run on the book and I'm sure if Slott was to have something planned for, that character, it would be something interesting. I hope so. I hope it was not for nothing.
booknooknoggin's review
3.0
Really torn for a rating on this....at times I loved it, and other times the flashback scenes seemed perplexing and bothered me. So I guess I will give this a solid 3 stars. Worth at least picking it up and checking it out.
reanne's review
4.0
This was definitely pretty grim for a Spider-man story, but I liked it pretty well anyway. It was cool seeing all the different spider-people, even though I didn't know who most of them were. It was definitely not necessary to read the Gauntlet stories that precede this. The art was pretty good, too. Not my favorite comic artwork I've seen, but the quality was pretty good (aside from a few parts where it was a little unclear), and it mostly fit the mood of the story. This makes me want to find out a little bit more about Kaine and the other spider-people.
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