Comic Review: The Amazing Spider-Man (2018-) #18.HU

The Amazing Spider-Man (2018-) #18.HU

Marvel Comics

Writer: Nick Spencer

Artist: Ken Lashley

“Who the f*** is Gibbon?” is what went through my mind opening this comic. I don’t read previews or solicitations for comics, mainly to avoid spoilers, so I had no idea what this issue would be about. All I knew is that it’s a tie in to the Hunted storyline in the Amazing Spider-Man series that’s still currently going on. Let me say here at the top, it’s a surprising comic.

The Hunted story consists of Kraven the Hunter rounding up all the heroes and villains who go by animal themes. Spider-Man, The Vulture, King Cobra, Rhino, and a lot of others. Rich people in Kraven robot suits are hunting them down. The focus of this issue is Gibbon, a guy with the unfortunate looks of an ape.

This is one of those issues for me. I don’t want to get into it, but in my personal life I’m going through some stuff, and this issue hit me hard. It goes through Gibbon’s life and history and even though I’m not a supervillain, it’s just super relatable. Gibbon is an old school jokey Spider-Man villain, from what I can tell, and this story puts the sad, sympathetic glasses over his history. People laugh at him for his looks, and he only wants to do good. Even Spider-Man laughs in his face, so he goes down that darker path of villainy. All of which is intersected with the present, where he’s running for his life from hunters in Central Park.

I really enjoy the separation between the past and present scenes in this issue. The past is in a brown, kind of sepia tone filter, and the present is a darker blue tint night time look. The pages where there are panels of both have a really good contrast that’s pleasing to me. The art style is also really good, and again, has this nice contrast of scenery to it. The present is Gibbon running through the woods at night from hunters, while a lot of the past scenes show buildings and everyday New York life. I like Gibbon’s design, and he gets beat to crap over the course of the issue, and it shows because, by the end, he’s a mess.

I had zero expectations going into this issue, but I absolutely love it. Nick Spencer has made this D-list villain into a relatable, sympathetic one. The art is great and has great contrasts in color and scenery. Everything about this is just great. Even if you’re not reading The Amazing Spider-Man right now, this issue is something I think everyone should check out.