[7.8/10] Now that’s more like it! I enjoyed the creativity and the humor in these two stories much more than in the prior Spider-Verse installment we got.
The opening bit with Web-Beard took a little while to win me over. While having Will Fredle back on board is a boon in my book, things were veering a little too far into the zany for my tastes at first. But between the increasingly implausible role of Coco the Coconut, and the fun cameos by Howard the Duck, Cosmo the Space Dog, and Rocket Raccoon (replete with a pirate ship made out of Groot!), the segment found a second gear. The story about learning to work together was pretty thin, but the whole thing was cartoony in a good way, with lots of irreverent humor that made for a nice break in the otherwise more serious action.
I really enjoyed the wild west segment as well. Maybe it’s just that a Deadwood-like setting is more my speed than Victorian New York, but it clicked with me. I’ll admit, I got a big kick out of the worldplay a la “Doc Ock Holiday” and “Ararchnid the Kid.” But I also enjoyed the setup of a gunfighter Spider-Man who had a yellow streak, and a steampunk Dr. Octopus as a corrupt sheriff. Plus the character designs of Westernized versions of our heroes and villains were superb.
But I also really liked the twist here as well. The reveal that the old mayor was Uncle Ben, and that the masked rider was really a brainwashed version of the same guy, legitimately caught me by surprise. It’s a reveal with meaning and cleverness (particularly since it involves Spidey Prime finding a neat riff on the standard shoot out). And amid everything else that’s going on, I love that Peter took a minute to stop and look back at his uncle being alive in one of these universes, because it’s something he wants to savor.
Overall, this was a vast improvement on the first instance of this “Return”, and I can only hope that the other two episodes follow suit.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2019-03-27T22:01:30Z
[7.8/10] Now that’s more like it! I enjoyed the creativity and the humor in these two stories much more than in the prior Spider-Verse installment we got.
The opening bit with Web-Beard took a little while to win me over. While having Will Fredle back on board is a boon in my book, things were veering a little too far into the zany for my tastes at first. But between the increasingly implausible role of Coco the Coconut, and the fun cameos by Howard the Duck, Cosmo the Space Dog, and Rocket Raccoon (replete with a pirate ship made out of Groot!), the segment found a second gear. The story about learning to work together was pretty thin, but the whole thing was cartoony in a good way, with lots of irreverent humor that made for a nice break in the otherwise more serious action.
I really enjoyed the wild west segment as well. Maybe it’s just that a Deadwood-like setting is more my speed than Victorian New York, but it clicked with me. I’ll admit, I got a big kick out of the worldplay a la “Doc Ock Holiday” and “Ararchnid the Kid.” But I also enjoyed the setup of a gunfighter Spider-Man who had a yellow streak, and a steampunk Dr. Octopus as a corrupt sheriff. Plus the character designs of Westernized versions of our heroes and villains were superb.
But I also really liked the twist here as well. The reveal that the old mayor was Uncle Ben, and that the masked rider was really a brainwashed version of the same guy, legitimately caught me by surprise. It’s a reveal with meaning and cleverness (particularly since it involves Spidey Prime finding a neat riff on the standard shoot out). And amid everything else that’s going on, I love that Peter took a minute to stop and look back at his uncle being alive in one of these universes, because it’s something he wants to savor.
Overall, this was a vast improvement on the first instance of this “Return”, and I can only hope that the other two episodes follow suit.