It’s spooky season once more, and Marvel somehow found a particularly thematic way to celebrate things. You know your favorite heroes, right? So, what happens if their worlds get a little more…darker? Well, darker than it already is anyway. That’s where the Midnight line of books comes in: a series of character-driven books that are centered around horror-focused retellings of iconic superheroes that we already know and love. But now it’s time for a little bit of fear and disgust. And none of those books gets those two quite on point like the debut issue of Midnight Spider-Man.
It's a Cronenberg sci-fi horror extravaganza with this first issue, where creepy crawly imagery and themes worm their way through a whole new ethos of how power and responsibility work in this twisted new timeline. And sadly, at the center of that tangled web of terror, is poor little Peter Parker.
Itsy Bitsy Spider…
Issue #1 starts in a genuinely grim and grisly fashion with a flashback of a young Peter and his parents returning from vacation. He rushes into the house to find his cat, but eventually finds something far more disturbing instead: his precious pet’s mutilated and rotten body in the backyard. It’s an image that sticks with Peter, all the way into his older years, along with the echoing words of his father about how power turns men into monsters every single time. It’s the kind of imagery and foreshadowing that has horrific consequences down the line.
We then return to the present day, where Peter is almost 18 and now living with Uncle Ben. In between his work as a teaching assistant and all around mopey teenager, he also runs a science-conspiracy website under the topical name “Sagan Ritual” that focuses on discussing the illegal actions of Oscorp. However, things take a turn for unexpected when Felicia Hardy shows up at Peter’s doorstep with an offer: to join Oscorp and work for them, so that he’ll never have to worry about money ever again. It’s an offer that Peter’s young mind can’t even begin to comprehend, and even though his uncle tries to dissuade him, Peter is pulled in by the temptation. What follows is a look behind the curtain of Oscorp’s horrific experiments, and a nightmare that follows Peter back home and costs him far more than his morality in the end as he transforms into something far from heroic.
The Hits of Horror
If you’re familiar with his work on the stellar Infernal Hulk, then you know that Phillip Kennedy Johnson is absolutely locked and loaded to handle a horror project like this. With that kind of pedigree, Johnson takes an Earth vs the Spider approach mixed with the kind of body horror you’d expect from a Cronenberg picture to graft onto his retelling of Spider-Man here. And while horror renditions of the friendly neighborhood wallcrawler are something we’ve seen in the past, Johnson’s version still manages to feel like it has a distinct enough setup to warrant a good read.
To touch on Peter himself in this universe, Johnson has offered a fairly clear position: what happens when the kid who wants to wield power with responsibility is stuck in a world where power only creates monsters? It’s an ideological mantra that’s hammered in time and again in this first issue for young Peter, with a genuinely traumatising opening flashback to get that across. Something as simple as Peter forgetting to lock a door was enough to create a series of events that led to the horrific death of his cat. Coupled with his father’s voice chastising him with the mantra that the world only makes monsters out of the powerful, and its easy to see why Peter would have a chip on his shoulder as he grows into adulthood. This Spider-Man is also a little older when he seems to be gearing up for his big “heroic” transformation, compared to the 15-year-old boy we know from the mainline comics, but that works to the narrative’s advantage in several ways. Peter is idealistic and impulsive, but he’s not lacking in the responsibility he feels for his Uncle – the sole person taking care of him. He wants to do good in the world however he can, but he also needs to support his uncle. So it’s natural that when that opportunity comes knocking in the form of Oscorp with its offer, he doesn’t really turn back.
And speaking of Oscorp, the giant company also looms powerfully over everything in Peter’s world. From its experimentation to its involvement in the deaths of Peter’s parents, the company is bigger than any monster or villain. And Peter definitely finds himself getting pulled into that gravity as he sees it suck his family dry of hope and resources. It’s an interesting predicament then that Johnson goes harder into that allure of corporate grandeur – either through the literal seductive recruitment elements of this universe’s Felicia Hardy as she woos Peter to join Oscorp, or through the fancy toys and brilliant minds working within Oscorp’s walls that also play to Peter’s scientific curiosity. There’s a lot to unpack with this façade, but there’s no doubting the shadier stuff underneath. Especially when Johnson has no qualms about showing just how far the corporations are willing to go in their lust for power, and whatever poor souls they’re willing to use as guinea pigs to get there.
Ultimately, while Midnight Spider-Man #1 does have more than its fair share of utterly gross-out moments and shock value to go around, there is more going on under the surface than meets the eye. All of that culminates in the big finale for this issue, which is the mandatory tragedy that needs to happen to turn Peter into Spider-Man, but rarely have we seen it done quite as terrifyingly and as mind-breakingly as this particular version.
Graphically Gruesome
For a horror take on a heroic classic, the artists in question to bring that vision to life are Scietronc and Neeraj Menon on lines and colors, respectively. The result is a creepy as all hell approach to a not-so-friendly neighborhood that’s as awe-inspiring as it is disgusting (in a good way).
Scietronc takes a distinctly anime-inspired approach to this book, which manages to elevate the horror and gore to a significant degree. There are a lot of nasty things that happen to human and animal bodies in this book, and you should probably be reading this on an empty stomach because Scietronc is going to take your eyes to places your lunch should not be following. The ever-present Spider that is scuttling across the pages and through Peter’s nightmares and eventually his reality is as much a spiritual force as a real creature, and its effects on both the mind and body are shown in deliberately horrific fashion. For the less horrific character moments, though, every character looks distinct. And yes, there are some…interesting perspective shots in the case of Felicia Hardy in particular, but barring those and Peter himself appearing a little too young for his supposed age, I personally think the art works and does a good job in being its own thing while still drawing callbacks to some trends from Japanese horror manga as well.
Adding to this decidedly deadly vibe is Neeraj Menon with his colorwork, who brings a host of vivid shades to the gore and carnage. There’s a lot of that in the book to go around, and Menon makes each piece stand out in graphic splendor. This Midnight world of Peter’s is a drab and dank place, and the way Menon brings those suburbs and corporate locales to life (or rather unlife) with his dour shades also plays into the character of this universe, just as much as Scietronc’s linework or Johnson’s script.
A Web of Terror
In the Midnight Marvel universe, all things in the light eventually return to the dark. And Midnight Spider-Man #1 puts that into stark focus. With a compelling and tight setup, a hell of a traumatic cliffhanger and a world where corpos turn people’s hopes and dreams into livestock, a different kind of hero is needed to set things right. And the creative team on this book aims to have a hero answer that call…but not before this dark new world tries to twist everything out of him.
I’m genuinely excited to see where this goes, and the kind of inspired horror takes we might get to see on other Spider-Man characters as things progress. As a massive fan of Justice League: Gods & Monsters and someone who wanted to see that universe carry onward, this book and the Midnight line in general scratch that itch just right.
Final Verdict: Midnight Spider-Man #1 is a creepy crawly start that has some genuinely disturbing body horror that perfectly sets up the stakes for what power and responsibility means in this dark new world.