Scarlet Spider #13

The Good:

Although not a great fan of Khoi's art this issue had the some of the best work he has ever done on this series. Some of the pages were very striking and vivid. As always Yost's writing was consistent and on point with how he has portrayed Kaine since the beginning of this series. His dialogue and how he makes the characters interact with each other is brilliant the conversations never seem forced or pushed and Kaine's internal monologue is as good as ever.

Since the Scarlet Spider began it set the bar to be a darker more macabre series than The Amazing Spider-man or should I say Superior now? And up to this point it had been darker but not particularly disturbing that all changed with the last page of this issue. Although the act in question isn't visible the thought of it coupled with the panels was enough to give you the horrific picture. This is the first time since the container incident in issue 1 that I felt this series really cross the line into dark and macabre so kudos to Mr. Yost for doing this.

The Bad:

As a huge fan of this series I also consider myself a harsh critic so i'm not going to sugar coat this. I am starting to dislike the direction this story is heading. I have always been curious about Aracely's past but for some reason the appearance of the two Werewolves and her connection to them doesn't do anything to me. Suffice to say the idea of Werewolves looks good on paper but not in action. It seems too random as if someone thought "What monster can we have Kaine fight? I know how about Werewolves?" it just seems too detached for my taste.

As I previously said I am not a big fan of Khoi's art and despite this being one of the best issues he has penciled I still can't warm to it. I can see the artistic value and Khoi is by no means a bad artist I just cannot warm to his style.

The Verdict:

The writing and conversations between characters was as good as ever and there was even some improvement to the art. Despite this I felt it was let down by the story. This may be just personal taste but it didn't appeal to me.

This series is still my favorite one out there and there is no way i'm going to drop it simply because Yost writes so god damn well however if this keeps up I feel I will enjoy this arc less than most (although I don't think i'll find as many problems with it as a would with Minimum Carnage).

I'm giving it 3 stars. Normally it would get 2.5/5 for being average (and by average I mean average for the type of quality we are used too on Scarlet Spider so this is by no means a bad comic) however that 1 page at the end of the issue deserved half a star all to itself as it was so good!