Spider-Verse

Entertaining series, unreadable format.

It's a decent story. If you like Spider-Man and you like the alternate universe versions of him, you're probably going to enjoy this book. Not the best thing in the world, but good solid fun.

The problem comes with the collection itself. As you start the book you'll notice in the very beginning the "Spider-Verse Chronology," which lists all of the books in the event (Not all of which are collected here, but honestly even without the Edge of Spider-Verse books it's not a bad deal so I'm not heartbroken) and the order in which they're meant to be read. This is good. Any omnibus should have a list of the books somewhere up front so you know what exactly you have in a story.

The problem comes within the first few pages when you realize that while Marvel has given you a reading order, they themselves have completely ignored it. The book starts off with the Free Comic Book Day Spider-Verse story and instead of (as recommended by Marvel) going into "Spider-Verse #1", they instead go into "Superior Spider-Man #32." Instead of publishing a book in the order its meant to be read, Marvel grouped all of the titles together throughout, making reading it a trial in flipping back to the first page and then searching the rest of the book for where you're supposed to go next. If you're going to buy this book, I suggest you get post-its so you can mark where you're supposed to go next.

It's very annoying and I can only hope Marvel gets their act together for their next collection.

The story itself is spectacular. As a long time Spider-Man fan the story was about as pleasing as one could ask for. It hits almost all of the right notes and just amazes at its scope.

The problem here is the issue order. After coming off of a great collection, Infinity, this one was lacking. Infinity cut and spliced the individual issues so that the story made perfect sense. Here they grouped together the issues of a series so that the main plot will end halfway through reading the book. What makes it more upsetting is that it gives you a reading order. A highly specific one at that. So it simply highlights the laziness that went into putting this collection together.

As another reviewer mentioned, I used flags to navigate my way through the book properly. Tedious, but well worth it to experience the story correctly.

This collection had the potential to be great, but a lazy approach to the collection leaves this book feeling wholly inadequate which is disappointing considering the story is excellent. It is a fun, wide-ranging, no-holds barred, cosmic spider-man story. An actual good solid quality event book. The binding is great - the book is solid in hand, quite sturdy, opens and reads well, uses a slightly larger page size for art reproduction. It's beautiful. But the collection itself is lacking in a few places.

The Amazing Spider-Man issues that cross-over with Edge of Spider-Verse are not included so you will probably need to grab this: http://the store.com/Amazing-Spider-Man-Spider-Verse-Marvel-Comics/dp/0785197281/ There is a story written entirely in Spanish ("El Espíritu de las Calles") which a tag "Download the free digital version for the story in English" - it appears that the original comic came with a one-time code. No such code was found in this edition. However, the worse shortcoming of this collection is that the stories are not printed in reading order. A reading order is outlined at the front of the book, but the stories are grouped by title (e.g. all the "Superior Spider-Man" issues, then all the "Amazing Spider-Man" issues, etc.). So if you read the stories in the order printed, the main storyline will conclude in the first half of the book, with all the details being filled in in the second half. Leading to a very confusing read, as this ordering is not conducive to reading. Even if one were to try to look up a proper reading order it doesn't help as there are no page numbers or table of contents, making it difficult to skip around. This ruined the entire experience for me. I am thoroughly disappointed by this lazy, callous and money grabbing approach.

It's up to you if you really want this collection, but if you ask me, this isn't worth it. Save your money and wait, because we all know Marvel will eventually fix these problems, add in the missing issues and get us all to double or triple dip to get a proper collection.

The energy sucking vampire named Morlun has returned, and along with his family they are traveling across all dimensions with intentions on devouring all Spider-Men. Peter Parker is soon encountered by various Spider-Men, Spider-Girls, etc. to become their leader in this struggle for survival, since he's the only one among them to have ever killed Morlun, not only once but twice. The war of the Spider-Men begins. -summary

The build up that began towards the closing of Superior Spider-Man which continued in the first six issues of the Amazing Spider-Man reaches its boiling point here in Spider-Verse, written by Dan Slott, Christos Gage, Peter David, and various others. The event crosses over into various titles of the Spider-Man universe as they battle against Morlun's family the Inheritors; the event definitely delivers the goods in the form of some really good and at times brutal action, mild suspense, return of some familiar and even lovable characters. However, the best thing going on for this story is that it does a well enough job standing on its own, and it really doesn't require any backtracking. In case for those whom are interested in the Morlun character after this event, backtrack to The Amazing Spider-Man Ultimate Collection written by J. Michael Straczynski and Spider-Man: The Other for their first and earlier encounters, and brace yourself for some sick action. Now for this Hardcover, it collects the Spider-Verse main story along with side stories across Amazing Spider-Man 7-15, Superior Spider-Man 32-33, Spider-Verse 1-2, Spider-Verse team Up 1-3, Scarlet Spiders 1-3, Spider-Woman 1-4, Spider-Man 2099 5-8, and material from Free Comic Book Day 2014 (Guardians of the Galaxy) #1.

The plot begins as the Inheritors wreak havoc across the Spider-Verse devouring as many Spiders as possible, whom they refer to as Totems. Two different outfits of Spider-Men being lead by Peter Parker and one by the Superior Spider-Man aka Otto Octavius devise their own ways to defend themselves. From here all hell breaks loose with many confrontations taking place to showcase just how powerful the Inheritors are.

Morlun is a character that was shrouded in mystery and I'm happy to see that Dan Slott did something with the character. He is by far the most interesting Spider-Man villain to come around in a while, due to his appearance adding more background to Peter being bitten by the spider in the first place. His psychotic family adds a bit more to him and their overall purpose. One thing for sure is, the Inheritors are going to pull some emotion from readers, even if it is a bit of loathing because I wanted them to pay for their murders.

There are plenty of guest stars with most notable characters being Miles Morales(Ultimate Spider-Man), Jessice Jones(original Spider-Woman), Anya, Kaine, Ben Reilly, Silk, and even Spider-Ham. The fun is never ending through some really good character interactions and Dan Slott weaves in the usual Spider-Man comedy in the coolest of ways. There are a few laugh out loud moments, but it doesn't damage any type of gloomy atmosphere because the story never really takes itself so seriously. One thing I definitely have to mention is that before this time I really began to like Spider-Otto much more than Peter. As established in The Superior Spider-Man, he plays by a totally different set of rules and his appearance added quite a bit to the story. My only gripe in regards to characters is that I wish he got his way a lot more, because quite frankly, Peter's moral compass comes off quite irritating at times.

The artwork is delivered by a revolving door of artist such as Camuncoli, Coipel, Kubert, and others; overall this book looks really good. Many crossovers are heavily inconsistent with some down right bad artwork at times but not here though. The main story for the most part looks great with finely detailed and serious looking character designs. There's a nice smoothness and it can be very easy to follow on many occasions. Some of the stories in the crossover can go for a goofier appearance that still can look good, yet it depends on one's taste. In addition, the different stylistic choices also works within the story. Unfortunately, there are some mishaps and this occurs when the artist are shooting for that cinematic visual style. On some occasions it can be a little hard to follow and it does hamper the pacing a bit. The inks have many moments of being quite beautiful with colorful splash pages and vivid foggy backgrounds.

While the quality of the book is quite sturdy with nice pages and a pretty strong binding. There is a small issue with gutter space though. It's not as finely done as let's say, Acts of Vengeance. There is a little that can be lost and the book at times had to be held just right to read every word. It's not that big of an issue because I seen much worse. Now what is in issue, is that the book is not in chronological order. The side stories all take place after the main event being grouped together by title, and while it doesn't hurt the story's pacing too much, certain reveals do lose some impact though and even the ending's aftermath feels a little weird. This really is laziness on Marvel's part though and anyone who thinks otherwise, then I recommend taking a look at how IDW put together their Transformers Collections. If that series can be put in chronological order then ANY series can be put in order.

Overall, Spider-Verse is indeed a really good event that Marvel is even taking some advantage of now with some of its characters; with Spider-Woman, Spider-Gwen, and Silk solo titles spinning from it. Even if The Superior Spider-Man series left a bad taste in your mouth on premise alone, this is still a nice place to renew one's interest in Spider-Man. It's a fairly linear story that doesn't try to be a serious brain twister in the least. Recommended.

Pros: Some really cool action and artwork, and good enough story

Cons: Lazy format that Marvel has no excuse for

Slott's biggest criticism has been his seeming lack of love for the main character, in that Peter is too stupid or just treated poorly in story. If that's how you've felt about his run, this will not change your opinion. I loved seeing all the Spider-characters in the story. The artwork and different styles of each individual Spider-person is done well, and I loved seeing how some of them come into play, but our Spidey (Peter Parker of 616) is simply ushered along from plot point to plot point. He's a rather weak central character in the story and there is no logic as to why he is so important other than because it's his book. There's a lot of characters saying he's the one, but it's never actually shown why he is important. His leadership skills leave something to be desired. Slott's Superior Spidey is in this and he proves himself a more capable leader, albeit with a shadier moral compass, but he holds a charisma and logic that makes people want to follow him, hell at one point in the story they happen upon an extremely important character in Spiderman lore that Peter wants to join them. Peter completely bumbles where Otto-Spidey inspires, which just boggles my mind. Because all at once Slott and his team of writers boast and undermine their creation, Otto-Spidey. Peter's role feels forced, like the writers don't truly believe in him but feel like they have to let him lead because it's his book, and in order to do this they make their creation, uncharacteristically submit and at times dumb. The climax is illogical and what happens to who I assumed was going to be the main antagonist is anti-climactic to say the least especially considering who he faced early on.

Our main character is written with little love in a story that was supposed to celebrate him and everything related. I'm glad Slott is done. His Superior Spider-man was a really awesome and interesting run, but because they brought Peter back, I don't want him anywhere near Spiderman for a couple years.

Got about halfway through the book (Which it turns out is right at the end of the actual story) before I realized I was not reading it in chronological order. That ruined it a bit. Guess I'll have to wait to forget what happened so I can go back and read it in order. Not sure why the issues aren't in the proper order; seems a bit sloopy to me.

Dont bother buying this. Totally wrong order Of spider verse. U need to book mark here and there and this book doesnt have any page number.

Worst of all, the table of contents doesnt tally with the order in the book

The major Spider-Man crossover event from just before the Secret Wars line-wide "reboot," Spider-Verse is collected here in its entirety in a decent hardcover collection. I will say that the first thing you have to understand about this collection is that while Spider-Verse is probably one of the stronger Marvel crossover events of the last few years this collection is lackluster. For some odd reason the various issues of the event are separated by title and thus not actually in order. The book starts with the tie-in issues of Superior Spider-Man (back when Doc Ock had taken control of Peter Parker's body and was trying to be a better Spider-Man) before jumping forward a bit in time to Amazing Spider-Man when Peter has reclaimed his body. From there the main story arc of Spider-Verse is told in the issues of Amazing Spider-Man. Only after the event's main story is over, does this collection include the various tie ins of other Spider themed books and event one-shots (we get tie-ins to Spider Man 2099, Scarlet Spiders, and Spider-Woman among others). Why the issues are all split up like this makes no sense. You'll either need to find a proper reading list online and jump back and forth around the omnibus to read the story in order, or accept that some plot points won't make sense until you get to the tie-ins later. Still, the actual story is entertaining enough with the various Spider-powered men and women of the Multiverse being hunted to extinction by vampiric baddies called the Inheritors. The Inheritors, led by the villain Morlun, believe that by feeding on the lifeforce of each spider "totem" (as they call them) then they will gain control of reality. It falls to Peter Parker of the main Marvel Universe to lead the fight back against extinction. With great cameos by characters like Silk, Spider-Gwen, Miles Morales, Kaine, Spider-Man Noir, Mayday Parker, and Spider-Ham this is a fun adventure and worth checking out for Spider-Man diehards.

Wow, this was actually really good... like really, really good. I'm not a consistent Spider-man fan (to the shame and horror of my husband), but I love the friendship between Jessica Drew and Carol Danvers and of course I got sucked into the hype that is Spider-Gwen so I decided to give this one a try. If you're going to go, go big, right? I got the omnibus from my library and I thought every page was great. The only thing I would change would be to integrate the tie-in stories into their correct places within the main Spider-Verse storyline instead of saving them for the end. I get that it was probably easier to just present the main continuity first, but these tie-in stories actually had to meat to them surprisingly. Integrating them would have added detail to the main story. Overall though, this was a great read even for a casual reader. I don't always like "featured events," but I give this one a big thumbs up and a high recommendation!

Spinning out of the SPIDER-VERSE event, a team of Spiders finds themselves face-to-face with Battleworld! Starring SPIDERGWEN, SPIDER-MAN NOIR, SPIDER-MAN: INDIA, MAYDAY PARKER, SPIDER-UK and SPIDER-HAM!caught in a cuty run by mayor norman osborn the web warriors have no idea how they got their or how they are connected and what is it that norman knows that he's not sharing with the web warriors?

This story is excellent! Well worth the read for any fan. Yes, the order is kinda screwy but I didn't find it necessary to bookmark a bunch of pages. My only suggestion is to read the spider woman, 2099, and scarlet spider titles at the end of the book when everyone splits up in the main story. Don't worry, you'll be directed to read those titles when they spilt up. Loved this book. Now I'm going to have to read up on some of the spiders I've missed. Enjoy.

One of the few Secret Wars crossovers that's readable. Most of the alternate Spidermen have shown up in one of Doom's worlds with no memory of their previous lives. That's pretty much the plot. The artist has potential. I can see the Arthur Adams and Nich Bradshow influences, but in this book he needs to work on his facial features. Heads are too narrow and the charcters have these wierd button noses.

Seriously? How are people giving this good reviews? Has anybody actually tried to read this thing or am I the only one? I don't normally write reviews but this is just ridiculous. People should be warned. This book is NOT IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER or any kind of reading order for that matter. What the HECK? I expect more from an Omnibus than, well, NOTHING, and so should you. I tried to read this thing. I really did try. I don't know how big of a super-duper geek you would have to be to actually know how to read this thing but I am a comic book fan and I could not do it.

Ok. So, this is my story. I started reading this abomination with no idea what I was getting into. About a quarter way through the book I had very little idea what was going on and figured either the story was very convoluted and these were the worst story tellers ever (I even remember mentioning to my wife how confusing it all was) or I was just confused and didn't 'get it'. "What am I missing?" I kept asking myself. I got about a third of the way through the book when, after thumbing through the rest of it, it dawned on me that Oh My GOD! it's not in reading order! I assumed I must have somehow ended up with a misprint so I went on the internet to find, to my amazement, they printed this book in this order on purpose. I then tried really hard to make this book readable. I spent many hours with post it notes trying to tag the all the sections (there's a lot of them) with some kind of numerical code so I could read through this abomination in correct order. I ended up giving up. Not that it might not be, maybe, possible to do so but dear god it is not worth my time. Especially when there are so many other good books out there to read. You would be better off hunting down all the floppies and putting them in reading order. It would be easier.

I have hence found other Marvel omnibuses which, according to reviews, are printed in a similar manner. This apparently is the new marching order for Marvel omnibuses. What the heck is Disney thinking? Do they figure that comic-book fans are so stupid that they just wont notice so why bother to put in the effort? The same way they figured that Star Wars fans were so unbelievably stupid that they wouldn't notice their new movie was just a remake of the original as long as they put a different title on it? Well, come to think of it, I guess they were right on both accounts because this book has great reviews and seems to be selling just fine. The same way that appallingly terrible box office hit of a movie has great reviews. Apparently I'm the only one complaining about this abomination of a book the same way I was the only person who complained about that abortion of a Star Wars movie. Apparently Disney has proven that comic book fans and Star Wars fans alike are just a bunch of big dumb idiots that a huge corporate empire can take a huge stinking crap on and the fans will just gleefully lap it right up. I'm just annoyed that I'm considered among their ranks. Thanks Disney. Your a real piece of work.

One of the few Secret Wars crossovers that's readable. Most of the alternate Spidermen have shown up in one of Doom's worlds with no memory of their previous lives. That's pretty much the plot. The artist has potential. I can see the Arthur Adams and Nich Bradshow influences, but in this book he needs to work on his facial features. Heads are too narrow and the charcters have these wierd button noses.

Seriously? How are people giving this good reviews? Has anybody actually tried to read this thing or am I the only one? I don't normally write reviews but this is just ridiculous. People should be warned. This book is NOT IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER or any kind of reading order for that matter. What the HECK? I expect more from an Omnibus than, well, NOTHING, and so should you. I tried to read this thing. I really did try. I don't know how big of a super-duper geek you would have to be to actually know how to read this thing but I am a comic book fan and I could not do it.

Ok. So, this is my story. I started reading this abomination with no idea what I was getting into. About a quarter way through the book I had very little idea what was going on and figured either the story was very convoluted and these were the worst story tellers ever (I even remember mentioning to my wife how confusing it all was) or I was just confused and didn't 'get it'. "What am I missing?" I kept asking myself. I got about a third of the way through the book when, after thumbing through the rest of it, it dawned on me that Oh My GOD! it's not in reading order! I assumed I must have somehow ended up with a misprint so I went on the internet to find, to my amazement, they printed this book in this order on purpose. I then tried really hard to make this book readable. I spent many hours with post it notes trying to tag the all the sections (there's a lot of them) with some kind of numerical code so I could read through this abomination in correct order. I ended up giving up. Not that it might not be, maybe, possible to do so but dear god it is not worth my time. Especially when there are so many other good books out there to read. You would be better off hunting down all the floppies and putting them in reading order. It would be easier.

I have hence found other Marvel omnibuses which, according to reviews, are printed in a similar manner. This apparently is the new marching order for Marvel omnibuses. What the heck is Disney thinking? Do they figure that comic-book fans are so stupid that they just wont notice so why bother to put in the effort? The same way they figured that Star Wars fans were so unbelievably stupid that they wouldn't notice their new movie was just a remake of the original as long as they put a different title on it? Well, come to think of it, I guess they were right on both accounts because this book has great reviews and seems to be selling just fine. The same way that appallingly terrible box office hit of a movie has great reviews. Apparently I'm the only one complaining about this abomination of a book the same way I was the only person who complained about that abortion of a Star Wars movie. Apparently Disney has proven that comic book fans and Star Wars fans alike are just a bunch of big dumb idiots that a huge corporate empire can take a huge stinking crap on and the fans will just gleefully lap it right up. I'm just annoyed that I'm considered among their ranks. Thanks Disney. Your a real piece of work.