Last month’s ‘Scarlet Spider’ #6 ended with several epilogues including Kraven and his daughter preparing to hunt, the Salamander waking up somewhere and presumably angry at Kaine, and Madame Web having a vision and proclaiming that “She is coming!”. Surprisingly, not one of those hints is paid off this issue. Instead what we get is the opening chapter to a new tale title ‘The Second Master’.
It begins as so many superhero tales do with a routine patrol of their chosen protected city. Things go haywire as a missile comes blasting out the side of a skyscraper, sending glass and debris hurtling towards innocent people on the streets below. Kaine (I just can’t bring myself to call him Scarlet Spider) swings into action and saves a lot of people, including a girl who falls out of the hole left by the explosion. The girl, as is so often the case after being saved in these books, kisses Kaine full on the lips. The difference between Kaine and most other superheroes is that he doesn’t let it end with the kiss.
When he wakes the next morning with the girl, he discovers that she might know more about the incident that she let on at first. But, before he can figure it out, the girl disappears and it’s now up to Kaine to figure out what’s going on. He returns to the tower that was attacked. It’s home to an oil business called Roxxon (the Exxon reference isn’t lost on anyone). When Kaine probes into Roxxon, he discovers the truth about the mysterious girl, her disappearance, and finds more clues about Roxxon’s dealings in a file marked “Galveston”. Oh… and he finds out that Roxxon isn’t the kind of business to simply call the police when a spandex wearing guy takes out security guards and smashes into the CEO’s office.
Chris Yost has given us yet another fun tale of the Scarlet Spider. I’m loving the community of Houston that Yost is building up around Kaine. Like his inspiration (Spider-Man), the supporting cast is a huge chunk of what makes this title so interesting.
Combine a fun story, decent interior art from Khoi Pham and probably the best cover on the shelves this week from Ryan Stegman and you’ve got one darn good issue!
Verdict: Buy
SCARLET SPIDER #7
Story by Chris Yost
Art by Khoi Pham & Tom Palmer
Cover by Ryan Stegman & Edgar Delgado
