WEB WARRIORS #11
Writer: Mike Costa
Penciler: David Baldeon
Inkers: Walden Wong, Scott Hanna, John Dell, Lorenzo Ruggiero, Terry Pallot
Colorists: Matt Yackey, Andres Mossa, Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Release Date: 9/28/16
Price: $3.99
The last issue of Web Warriors is here! The team battles against the Electros and another surprise villain.
Plot
The Web Warriors have their final battle with the Electro army, but the Electros aren’t the only villain the team has to worry about because Green Goblin from Earth-90214 has plans to destroy the web of life forever.
Story
Web Warriors started out as a fun book, but then lost itself along the way. The series began with a few spider heroes who wanted to protect the web of life and help other spider heroes in alternate universes. It was a simple and entertaining premise. Their first arc with the Electro army was fun, but making them the villains for the last story arc felt repetitive. Then with the added addition of countless spider heroes made for an overbearing final issue. Norman Osborn should have been the main villain for this arc, and the Electro storyline could have been cut out all together. The last couple of issues should have built up Norman Osborn’s arc making him feel like a bigger villain for the final issue. Instead of making him feel shoed into the story at the last moment.
The biggest disappointment was the lack of connection with this finale. The first arc of Web Warriors built up the team nicely, but there was no payoff of the team’s chemistry in this issue. There was so much going on in this story that the reader isn’t able to focus on any of the individual character arcs that have been building throughout the series. Uncle Ben’s story arc was the most affected by this. In this issue Uncle Ben makes the ultimate sacrifice by infusing with the Electro monster, teaching the monster about responsibility (which was pretty cheesy). Gwen and, most importantly, Mayday are watching Ben make this sacrifice. This moment should feel emotional, but instead it only felt like a story device to destroy the Electro monster quickly.
Another weird character moment that could have been cool if executed correctly was when Punk Spider-Man and Spider-Gwen re-create the web of life with….Rock N’ Roll. It was fun to see the two Spider musicians playing their hearts out, but once again this scene comes across more as cheesy than entertaining. This is mostly because this moment is used as a quick resolution to re-create the web of life.
Art
I like the vibrant art style for this book. The cartoony look works for the series because the humor and dynamics are a bit cartoony themselves. I did mention that our Spider heroes saved the day through Rock N’ Roll – right? It’s an ending that feels like it belongs in a Saturday morning cartoon, which isn’t a bad thing.
But like the story, the artwork suffers from the large cast of characters in the book. It’s hard to enjoy the action and character moments because all the panels feel overstuffed. The reader doesn’t know what part of the panel to look at first, it’s overwhelming.
There are also some inconsistencies in the artwork. As a HUGE Mayday Parker fan the inconsistency I noticed was the change in her costume. In some panels she has her father’s webs attached to her costume, but then in other panels David Baldeon doesn’t draw the webs at all. This usually wouldn’t bother me, but in Secret Wars’ Spider-Island series it’s a big development when May adds those webs to her costume. She does it to honor and fully mourn her father. So I feel adding the costume change is important to stay consistent in her appearances.
Verdict
Web Warriors had a lot of potential, but the last issue of the series fails to deliver a satisfying ending. Hopefully in Clone Conspiracy we will see a more character driven appearance from the team.