Writer: Al Ewing and Jim Zub
Art: Carlos Gómez, Juan Vlasco, Carlos Lopez, Ruth Redmond, VC’s Clayton Cowles, Carlo Barberi, Edgar Delgado, Rafael Fonteriz, Carlos Pacheco, and Nolan Woodward
Price: $4.99
Release Date: July 24th, 2019
The web-spinning Arachknight finds himself out of his depth with all four of his personas in this week’s all-new SECRET WARPS: ARACHKNIGHT ANNUAL #1 by Al Ewing and Jim Zub. What will happen as his own warped universe begins colliding with another? Let’s swing into the issue and find out!
WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
The fun and creativity continue in this week’s SECRET WARPS: ARACHKNIGHT ANNUAL #1 as Al Ewing and Jim Zub continue to invent these enjoyable blends between the Marvel heroes we know and love while also ushering the story in new, interesting directions. Arachknight, who’s made up of four different minds wrapped up into one intriguing package, manages to take down the Supreme Seven almost entirely on his own. Ewing takes the best aspects of Moon Knight and Spider-Man and makes a truly amazing character that this reviewer would love to continue to see when these annuals are done.
Readers get the spider quips, the Moon Knight brutality, the Peter Parker intelligence, and dueling inner monologues that added a bizarrely comedic twist that this reviewer couldn’t get enough of. It felt like Peter Parker was joking with himself more than the bad guys. However, his other personas were dishing the wisecracks right back at him too. Additionally, the initial story ended in such an imaginative and unexpected way. First of all, Speed Weasel (still my favorite Warped character) becomes the new Starbrand, and then the heroes “warp” on themselves AGAIN, which was nuts!!! To counteract the Soul Stone’s deconstruction, the soul’s re-warped again folding in on each other creating brand new characters like the Arachknight Supreme!!!
On top of the entertaining story by Ewing, Jim Zub’s terrific tale was a fun reminder of how lighthearted and enjoyable comics can be. Zub took warped comic classics and delivered a quintessential story of the first meet up between the Terrific Two and the Arachknight showing fans the true untapped potential of this warped universe. Furthermore, this extensive art team captured this reviewers attention with their dynamic style that brought each page to life. The art was clear, vivid, and polished, which will guide fans from panel to panel with ease. This was truly an outstanding job by the entire creative team.
Sure, there were some tediously, uninteresting moments, which were mainly the Supreme Seven’s characters themselves. Their names were too silly and this reviewer felt no connection with these ”Warped” villains what so ever. However, the stories were pretty cool overall and this fan had a blast with the entire issue as a whole. After reading each annual, I’m genuinely curious as to how next week’s story will repair this warped out problem. Will readers continue to get “Warped” stories? Will the Soul Stone be destroyed unleashing these combined souls to “our” Marvel Universe? Beats me. But either way, let’s hope Ewing, Zub, and the rest of Marvel’s brass find a way to keep some of these amazing characters like Arachknight, Speed Weasel, and Soldier Supreme.
FINAL THOUGHTS
If you’ve been following along with the “Warped” world characters to this point, readers should continue with this issue. If you love Moon Knight and Spider-man, you’ll love what Ewing and Zub do with Arachknight. Readers will get the best qualities of the two superheroes combined as Arachknight steals the show. If you haven’t been following along with these “Warped” stories, then pick this issue up anyway for something that’s simply entertaining and enjoyable. Let me know what you think!