Comic Vine Review

Comments

Scarlet Spider #4 - Whoever Finds Me Will Kill Me

4

As the Scarlet Spider, Kaine is trying to do the right thing and be a hero. But when the Assassins Guild comes looking for him, he might have to resort to his old ways.

Kaine is the last person you would ever expect to be a hero regardless of his Parker DNA. With a tie to the Assassins Guild, things are going to get very messy.

The Good

There have been several comparisons that Scarlet Spider is just a copy of Spider-Man. While Ben Reilly and Kaine are both clones of Peter Parker, neither was an exact copy of Peter. Ben had more in common with him but Kaine always seemed as far as you could get. Now that Kaine is trying to change his ways, we have a hero that is clearly not Spider-Man. Kaine may be doing heroic deeds but his methods are a different story. In these first four issues, we've seen a lot of inner conflict going on. He has a lot of blood on his hands and often gets even more while fighting his enemies. You almost get a sense that the dark path he was on will eventually be the end for him.

That's part of what we're seeing. Due to his activities in the past, he developed a...connection to the Assassins Guild. That's the other thing. I never would have imagined Kaine dealing with the Assassins Guild in any manner. This is just one of the reason I love Chris Yost on this book. He could have added anyone to the mix and he uses the Guild, primarily known as a enemy of the X-Men. Yost makes it completely work.

With each issue and piece of art by Ryan Stegman, I become more and more a fan of his work. His pencils with inks by Michael Babinksi and Cam Smith along with Edgar Delgado's colors look so dang good. Each panel is so crisp, clean and detailed. This is what I want to see in superhero action. I can't imagine this series without Stegman.

The Bad

I have pretty much the same complaint I've had before. It feels like we're barely getting the chance to see Kaine as Scarlet Spider and as a hero. He's been too careless with his secret identity. It's understandable because it's not something he was used to worrying about. He's simply to relaxed with keeping it and the fact that he has the same exact face as Peter Parker would make you think he might want to be a tiny bit more careful for him if not for himself. Seeing how quickly everyone discovers his identity worries me that the book's days might be numbered and we just haven't been told. I can't imagine that to be the case and would be ticked off if it was. I want to be able to enjoy more of Kaine struggling to be a hero and don't want the whole world to know who he is just yet.

The Verdict

This is what I want to see in SCARLET SPIDER. Chris Yost and Ryan Stegman are making quite the creative team in delivering great story and action in a single issue. I applaud Yost for bringing in the Assassins Guild and making it work in a Spider-Man related book. Seeing Kaine struggle to be a hero but forced to be a little more violent at times is an interesting mix. The more I see of Stegman's art, the more of a fan I become. I've been enjoying the sense of not knowing what will happen next but with so many people discovering Kaine is Scarlet Spider, I'm becoming a little concerned as to where the title may go. I do have faith in Yost so I have to believe that we and Kaine are in good hands. There's no way you can compare Scarlet Spider to Spider-Man. This is a completely different book and Kaine is living up to the name he took on. I just can't get enough of Yost and Stegman.