The first book in the five part mini-series Edge of Spider-Verse sees a return for David Hine and Carmine Di Giandomenico's character Spider-Man Noir.

The story is set six years after the event of the 2010 mini Spider-Man Noir: Eyes Without a Face in 1939 and sets to serve as a prelude to the forthcoming Spider-Event Spider-Verse.


It would appear that the feature of the mini series is to give a prologue into how five of the featured Spider-People become embroiled into the main story arc which starts in November in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man #9.

This Spider-Man Noir storyline is penned by previous Noir scribe's David Hine & Fabrice Salpolski but unfortunately there is no return for former artist Carmine Di Giandomenico, instead the pencilling duties are taken up by Richard Isanove (Savage Wolverine) which is a bit of a let down as whilst Isanove's gives a good impression of a Noir feel, it never quite matches the level set by Di Giandomenico's tone.


The story however does it's job superbly as it gives the reader a glimpse into what's been happening in the lives of 1930's Peter Parker, Mary Jane and Aunt May. the writer's manage to keep to the narrative imposed by their remit, as this is more of a re-introduction to the character before the main event type thing but they do it well enough that this vignette of a story doesn't really lose focus and when the "Surprise" save happens it never feels contrived or forced.

Whilst a non essential pick up for Spider-Verse it's still a good indicator that this level of story-telling will continue in the other four books in the series.

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