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Review: Amazing Spider-Man #634 (The Grim Hunt, Part 1)

Some of my fears have gone away.

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Kraven the Hunter. He was pretty much always a lame/cheesy villain until Kraven's Last Hunt. That arc was simply crazy good. He elevated himself fifty times and finally proved himself as a worthy villain for Spider-Man. In the end, he went out with a bang...literally. That was such a powerful story that still stands the test the time. With The Grim Hunt, there's talk of a "resurrection." That's where my fear comes in.
 

The Good

This arc starts off perfectly. We've been reading through The Gauntlet and seeing Spider-Man get a bunch of crap thrown at him. If you've seen the preview, you already know that Kaine, Spider-Man's imperfect clone, shows up, badly beaten. Stronger that Spider-Man, if Kaine can barely survive this, how can Spider-Man? On a side note, I have to express my joy at that the Clone Saga still exists after the events Brand New Day. Seeing Madame Web, Mattie Franklin and Arachne was a nice touch as well. There is also a major reference to The Other that made me take pause.
 
Joe Kelly does a great job bringing in the various Kravinoff descendants. The story combined with the art, almost doesn't feel like a regular Spider-Man story. There is definitely a dark tone. Normally I'm not entirely crazy about the dark stories that beat down the hero for the sake of a story. Comics are meant to be entertainment and I don't necessarily need to see one of my favorite heroes beaten to the edge. But this was just so good.
 
Also, while I'm not the biggest fan of back up stories, we get an "untold tale" from Kraven's past. What makes this good is it's written by J.M. Dematteis himself, the gentleman responsible for Kraven's Last Hunt. Kraven is portrayed as the noble, tough bad ass he should've have been from the beginning. 
 

The Bad

I'm still really nervous about the talk of a resurrection. There is also a unfortunate death here for a character that I'm sad to see depart the comic world. The other bad thing is this issue along with issue #633 both shipped in the same week. I know I shouldn't be complaining over two issues of one of my favorite comics but I can see this being a problem for others. There could also be the chance that some might accidentally only pick up one of the issues. 
 
Truthfully, those are my only complaints. In other words, this issue rocked.
 

The Verdict - 5/5

The older Spider-Man stories will always have a special place for me. They were the first ones I really started reading and I picked up as many back issues as I could. Kraven's Last Hunt ranks as one of my all time favorite arcs. I had high standards for this issue before reading it. I had big fears that it would possibly tarnish the memory I had over Last Hunt. I should have known better and had faith in the "Webheads" that have been overseeing the different story arcs. 
 
Now if this had shipped the same day as the next issue, I really would've had nothing to complain about. Read this issue. And read Kraven's Last Hunt if you haven't already.

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inferiorego

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Edited By inferiorego  Staff

I forgot to pick this up, since two ASM books came out today...

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The_Martian

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Edited By The_Martian

You gave it the same rating I did :)

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sparty-dbq

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Edited By sparty-dbq

I thought both issues were great this week, but this took the gold for me.  And yeah, the death at the end made me sad too.  Someone needs a foot in the @$$ for this, and I'm dying to see Spidey provide said foot.
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sora_thekey

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Edited By sora_thekey
@inferiorego said:
" I forgot to pick this up, since two ASM books came out today... "
I don't even understand how that works...
 
I want to read this!! 
After that 3-Min Expert on Kraven made me even more excited for this story...
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nowhereman1306

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Edited By nowhereman1306

Was anybody expecting that character to die this early in to the arc? That tooke me by suprise. This was a crazy good issue, makes me eager to read the next issue.
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Joeybagad0nutz

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Edited By Joeybagad0nutz

No video?? Was expecting you guys to do a video for the beginning of this story arc. Damn...... I'm picking it up tomorrow. I'm hoping this is good.
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gmanfromheck

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Edited By gmanfromheck
@JoeRiccadonna: We came real close. Maybe we'll do one for part 2.
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The_Martian

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Edited By The_Martian
@G-Man said:
" @JoeRiccadonna: We came real close. Maybe we'll do one for part 2. "
I approve :)
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Joeybagad0nutz

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Edited By Joeybagad0nutz
@Nobody said:
" @G-Man said:
" @JoeRiccadonna: We came real close. Maybe we'll do one for part 2. "
I approve :) "

As do I lol.
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gmanfromheck

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Edited By gmanfromheck

We basically make our decisions on what we're gonna do Unscripteds for before we read the comics. That way we're not completely biased by what's "good" or "not so good." We went back and forth on this. We'll most likely reveal our schedule tomorrow.

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The Jeff

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Edited By The Jeff

great main story. I was a little pissed that I paid $3.99 and the back-up stuff sucked

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Blackestnight1

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Edited By Blackestnight1

Go back and read Amazing Spiderman #566 and #567 
 Spiderman barely escaped Ana Kravinoff but never captured or defeated her.  This issue was left unresolved.

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At the end she was joined by Sasha Nikolaevich and since then the two of them have been hunting spider related heroes. They even hired Deadpool to distract Spiderman long enough for them to capture more. Also part of the family is the Chameleon who broke Electro out of jail who in turn broke the New Vulture out of jail. 
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X-93

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Edited By X-93

I had kraven's last hunt as a kid.  Great story.  this looks like it's gonna be a good one as well.

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Meteorite

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Edited By Meteorite

I actually found out that my library had a copy of Kraven's Last Hunt today, and immediately ordered it. I'm really looking forwards to it!

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Anthony Robson92

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Edited By Anthony Robson92

I loved Kraven's Last Hunt when I borrowed it from the library years ago, truly an epic story.
I'm also super excited to see how this arc plays out, it's great to see all of Kraven's and Spidey's (kinda) family involved. The death was a disappointing surprise but I thought it was well written. I'd really recommend picking this up to anyone who hasn't.

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k4tzm4n

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Edited By k4tzm4n  Moderator

G-Man, it seems like you're a big fan of the Kravinoff family.  So, did you also find it sort of odd that Spider-Man treated Alyosha like he barely knew him. "Al, right?"  They've had multiple team ups and battles.  That aside, I really had a blast reading this.
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Benzo

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Edited By Benzo

Joe Kelly writes the best spidey issues!!! I'm gonna miss the character that died in this issue.....by the way I think I might know who the Kravinoffs are gonna target next.... 

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Joeybagad0nutz

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Edited By Joeybagad0nutz

Just got the issue and it was amazing!!! The reference to the other got the hairs on my arms to stand up.
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Blackestnight1

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Edited By Blackestnight1

cover for the next ASM does have a zombie Kraven on it.

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IronSpidy-Rooney

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Edited By IronSpidy-Rooney

Whatever's going to happen here will have some major effects on all members of the Spidey family since they've already killed one of the Spider-women. If they are trying to revive Kraven there will be a bloody battle at the end of this between the Kraven family and whatever will be left of the Spider family that will effect the Spider-man books for years to come(but not as much as O.M.I.T) how much trauma does Kraven have to put Spidey through I mean burring him alive and dressing up as him as one thing but killing the people that share his name is way over the top . Also the revival that marvel have been talking about could be a hint at the return of Ben Reilly as Marvel has brought up the clone saga a lot in the past while with the Clone saga trades coming out and the story about how the clone saga was supposed to end along with the story in AMS about him that was published  before the Gauntlet.   Anything could happen at this point

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Omega Ray Jay

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Edited By Omega Ray Jay

Loved The Gauntlet, Rhino and Lizard especially and the Grim Hunt has got off on top form for me. This is the only Amazing Spider-man run I can follow (got to drop it at the start of O.M.I.T because of the ££) and enjoyed nearly every issue, really intrigued as to how the Kravinoff endgame will pan out. 

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Jslab425

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Edited By Jslab425

The Hunt is going to go down in history as one of the great Spidey arcs.  I have a feeling there will be more deaths to follow and was sorry to see Spider Woman (Arachne) go, I always like her especially during the time when Jessica was "dead".

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zombietag

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Edited By zombietag

trading views: kraven's last hunt! 
 
get some people educated