If You Want It, You're Gonna Bleed

I'm a sucker for a good Spider-Man story, but I feel like those are in short supply these days. So I was automatically intrigued by this title. To my surprise, so far it's more of a Frank Castle story than it is either a Peter Parker or a Bruce Banner one. It's definitely not your standard tale, however.

Our story takes place in an unnamed jungle, probably somewhere in South America.

At a church, Bruce Banner takes confession. Meanwhile, a six-man special operations unit that includes Lt. Frank Castle, callsign Punisher, has a mission to infiltrate an Advanced Ideas Mechanics facility and retrieve an unknown device. When they arrive, the base is under siege by Hydra forces!

Leaving Punisher on overwatch, the rest of the unit enters the base during the chaos. There, they find the device, but also encounter a small complication in the form of the Incredible Hulk, who leaves a bloody trail of broken bodies in his wake!

In New York, Peter Parker receives a call that Spider-Man is needed, and he is to report to a nearby S.H.I.E.L.D. substation. With that, our three main players are all on a collision course, with a trail of devastation in their wake...

That's the Price You Pay

Everything in this issue is familiar, but filtered through a different lens. This is the real strength of an out-of-continuity story like this: the ability to take something known and turn it on its ear, so that it works as something new and different.

This issue’s narrator is Frank Castle, and he’s probably the most different of our three leads. Here he is part of an elite military unit with Punisher as his callsign, wearing the iconic white skull as war paint on his face.

Bruce Banner still carries a beast inside him, but here the Hulk seems to be much more malicious. The childlike traits of the original Savage Hulk are not found here, leaving us with a coldly intelligent monster that isn’t afraid to kill.

Peter Parker seems to be the most unchanged, wearing the famous red-and-blue garb of the Amazing Spider-Man. Brought in by S.H.I.E.L.D. to help with the Hulk problem, his own personal code of honor and feelings on killing are going to be tested before the end.

This issue did a good job of introducing the various players and building the story around these versions of them. Whenever you get a book that looks like it exists only for MCU synergy, it’s easy to think that the story was wrapped around the required cast. Here, it feels like everything—the world, the story, all of it—was built to work with the versions of the leads being used. It feels less like a corporate tie-in and more like a legitimate book that has something to say.

Along those lines, it’s interesting how this issue is viewed through Frank Castle’s eyes. Since he’s the “normal” person of the story (even though military spec ops isn’t exactly a mundane career choice), he almost functions as the audience surrogate while all the super-powered craziness unfolds. Since Spider-Man enters the story at the end of the issue, I’m assuming we’ll shift to his viewpoint next (he gets top billing on the marquee, after all). I hope Castle’s POV isn’t completely gone now—it’s rare to read a version of him that seems mentally put-together and not completely nuts in some way, and I’d like to see more of that.

This book is obviously arriving at a synergistic time for Marvel, with Brand New Day hitting theaters next month. It gives retailers a new Spider-Man #1 to put on shelves for anyone looking for more Spidey adventures. Some of those readers will undoubtedly be kids, so I do want to offer a heads-up to parents. This book is bloodier and more violent than I expected—at one point, a man literally gets ripped apart, leaving only the lower halves of his legs standing where he used to be. It fits the more monstrous Hulk used here, but it was definitely surprising. I don’t want it to be an unpleasant one for someone who picks it up for their kids.

The People That Can Find Whatever You May Need

If you need proof that this book is trying to be more than just a soulless tie-in, look at the creative team. Jonathan Hickman and Adam Kubert are not names I think of when I hear the words “phoning it in.” They don’t know the meaning of those words (and no one tell them, please).

Hickman does what he always does—he takes the characters and worlds we know and filters them through his own lens. Sometimes he can get so wrapped up in unveiling his characters and concepts that the pacing suffers, but that isn’t the case here. This issue flows very nicely, introducing Castle and his unit before throwing them right into the thick of things. The Hulk’s entrance shows right away that this isn’t the old “Hulk Smash” version, and by the time Spider-Man enters the mix, his powers and beliefs are sorely needed. Even though these are altered versions of the characters, everyone’s voice feels true and for the most part you could tell who is speaking without the art.

If we didn’t have Kubert’s art to look at, that would be a shame. It’s fantastic. I’ve been a fan of Adam and his brother Andy since I started reading X-Men as a teen. If I’m being honest, I was more of an Andy fan back then. But Adam grew on me as time passed, and his work here is probably some of his best. The jungle is dense and lush, giving a unique setting for a Spider-Man story. The face paint look for Castle makes him recognizable as the Punisher while still feeling unique. The pages where the panels are viewed through his sniper scope are an incredibly cool idea. And his Hulk, although classic in design, really does come across as a monster. As I said earlier, this issue is violent, and he shows just enough detail to sell how in over his head Castle is.

Arthur Hesli’s colors add to the issue in just the right ways. The jungle is green and bright, perfectly showing its exotic feel. Hulk is a darker shade of green than he’s usually depicted, which fits the darker take on the character. There aren’t many superpowers at play in this issue, but plenty of gunfire, and he keeps those effects colorful and varied. Some of the more violent moments are silhouetted and dressed in brighter colors, which I’m sure helps with the content rating but also leaves a bit to our imaginations.

In the Jungle Where We Play

Spider-Man: Long Way Home #1 could have been a paint-by-numbers story just to capitalize on the new movie—instead, Hickman and Kubert give us a story that features different but still familiar versions of the characters, and an intriguing setting for the three-way collision to come. It’s a bit more violent than I expected from a Spidey book, so parents be warned, but the violence does fit the story being told. Spider-Man hype is running high, between the upcoming movie and Amazing Spider-Man #1000, and this book is arriving at exactly the right time to add to the conversation.