I want to start off by saying that Spider-Man: Spider's Shadow #1 is worth the price of admission. It's a solid start to an interesting story and it leaves me wanting more. Most importantly, it is written well and paced well so you feel engaged throughout.
It's possible that Tom Taylor and Juan Cabal's new 5 part series, Spider-Man: Spider's Shadow, will be the best What if series ever released. That's high praise but this first issue is a solid foundation to build on.
In Spider-Man: Spider's Shadow, you'll find all of that. It's a great What if series because it adds a new layer onto an iconic story and makes it feel relevant to modern audiences. You could even call it a great Spider-Man story since the character is so well written here, especially his relationship with his wife and daughter. And, if you like Venom stories this will certainly entice you too because it gives us an alternate take on Eddie Brock's origin while also bringing back some familiar faces from Venom's past.
All in all, this first issue is a solid foundation to build on as we wait for more issues in this 5 part series.
The premise is simple: Peter Parker gains the power of Venom and uses those powers to help people in New York City. He isn't a hero - he is an anti-hero who realizes that his powers can be used for good. And even then, he isn't sure that he is making the best decisions.
Peter Parker is a hero, not an anti-hero. The premise of Spider-Man: Spiders Shadow #1 (OF 5) is simple: Peter Parker gains the power of Venom and uses those powers to help people in New York City. He isn't a hero - he is an anti-hero who realizes that his powers can be used for good. And even then, he isn't sure that he is making the best decisions.
Spider-Man: Spiders Shadow #1 (OF 5) starts out with Peter Parker being taken by surprise by some robbers while at work as a pizza delivery man. After they get away with all the money from his bag and leave him tied up inside an abandoned building, Peter uses his new found powers to save himself and track down the criminals responsible for this crime spree across NYC (which included robberies at three different banks). While tracking one of them down, Peter gets attacked by another villain named Mac Gargan aka The Scorpion before being rescued by none other than Mary Jane Watson who also happens to have superpowers too!
The conceit brought to mind, 'What if Peter Parker had received the Venom symbiote when he was in his 20s?' That question lingered for much of the issue, only to be resolved in one of the final pages.
Spider-Man: Spiders and Shadows #1 is the story of a young man named Peter Parker. He's young, but he's not exactly a kid anymore. He's old enough to be working full-time while going to college at night. He has some responsibilities, but they're all manageable without compromising his life.
He lives in New York City, where he has been for most of his life, though recently he moved out of his parents' house into an apartment with several roommates who are also attending school with him or working as hard as possible to get through college courses while also holding down jobs. His best friend may have just finished high school himself and is now trying to figure out what he wants from life before having any plans made for him by his parents and family members on how they think his future should pan out (which will probably involve getting married straight away).
Spoilers ahead!
Peter Parker is not perfect. He's an imperfect person who wants to do good things, but he's also a flawed human being.
This is an important distinction that should be made clear when discussing the character of Peter Parker: Spider-Man might be his alter ego, but it's not who he truly is. He'll always be Peter first and foremost—and in his own way, he's just as heroic as any other superhero out there. As another character once said (albeit while trying to convince him that killing someone was wrong), “You are Spider-Man! You're not just some guy wearing a costume!” This doesn't mean that Spidey isn't capable of learning from his mistakes or improving upon himself over time; it just means that even though he has these powers and abilities at his disposal, they don't define him as a person by default.
In this issue alone we see evidence of this concept when Gwen Stacy approaches her father about him possibly getting back together with Aunt May after Peter broke up their relationship earlier on in the series (as seen in last week's installment). It seems like she wants them both back together so badly because otherwise all three characters would feel incomplete without one another—and yet at no point does anyone ever stop and say something like “Well if only you two were still together then everything would be perfect again!” In fact quite the opposite happens here: both May and Ben agree that their current situation isn't ideal because neither one feels like themselves anymore since they've become estranged from each other due to Peter breaking up their relationship several issues ago now (as seen further back).
The real hook for me in this story wasn't about Peter hooking up with the symbiote. That was handled reasonably well. Instead, the last page and the set-up for that page carry so much weight from earlier points in the issue.
The relationships between Peter and his Aunt May, Harry Osborn and even Mary Jane Watson have been explored before and will continue to be explored. But there's something different here; they're not just being looked at as people who care about him but also as people who are actively trying to help him grow as a person. This isn't just a case of "you're my best friend so I'll do anything for you." Harry has been shown being very protective over Peter while also trying to be honest with him about what he's thinking or feeling - even if that means challenging his viewpoint on things like terrorism (which is something we don't see often).
Peter's relationship with other students at school is also showing great promise here - especially when one of those students is Miles Morales! Even though their friendship started off rocky thanks to some misunderstandings (as all good friendships do), something clicked between them during their conversation after class which led Miles inviting himself over later that night - presumably so he could learn more about how Jameson Sr.'s death affected Spider-Man II after all these years!
Conclusion
The real hook for me in this story wasn't about Peter hooking up with the symbiote. That was handled reasonably well. Instead, the last page and the set-up for that page carry so much weight from earlier points in the issue.