Sinister War
Written by Nick Spencer
Drawn by Mark Bagley and too many other artists.
I'll be honest; I was skeptical of the storytelling merits of "Sinister War" when it was announced. I know that as an entertainment company, basically Marvel is all about cash grabs, but this one felt a little more gratuitous than usual. It wasn't unlike the manner in which Marvel, especially during Spencer's run, has made a habit of swelling up his storylines with extra issues during which parallel stories run right alongside the main one as not quite necessary reading but definitely as an important supplement. They did this with the godawful Kraven story, as well as the Sin-Eater/Kindred story.
"Sinister War" had a different feel to it, and from a pure story perspective, I feel it actually worked better than a lot of the other "parallel" stories Marvel has put out as companion pieces to "The Amazing Spider-Man."
The premise is simple: Kindred, whom we thought was Harry Osborn but apparently isn't (as is disclosed over in the main title), has made a deal with five different supervillain teams: kill Spider-Man, or face an eternity of damnation. Spidey is basically in for the fight of his life, but may yet find some unexpected help along the way. Also, in the background, a mysterious conversation takes place between Doctor Strange and Mephisto.
I guess Marvel figured that people were getting sick of this "plus" style of storytelling, so they packaged this latest batch as a miniseries to change the marketing angle a little bit. That said, "Sinister War" reads pretty well on its own. Rather than shed light on the backstory of Kindred, which is still being teased agonizingly slowly in the main title, the story stays focused on Peter's battle royale with three dozen supervillains, and it's a brisk and decent, if slightly insubstantial read.
The only thing I truly disliked about this was the irritating "jam" style art. The story was drawn mostly by legendary Spider-Man artist Mark Bagley (who's probably a bazillionaire owing to the fact that his art has adorned Spider-Man merch for a good portion of the 21st century) but unlike the good old days in which he drew Ultimate Spider-Man all by himself for Brian Michael Bendis for a record-setting number of issues, for some reason he needs an army of backup artists filling in random pages for just four issues of story. While I patiently sat through this format for something like two years, it's no longer fun, whether it's here or over in the main title, and makes for a distinctly unpleasant reading experience. Bring back John Romita, Jr. for gosh sakes.
As Nick Spencer wraps up his run, which I thought started so strongly back in 2018, I can't help but have mixed feelings about the stories he produced. He set out, for example, to undo the resurrection of Kraven the Hunter, which essentially invalidated the modern classic "Kraven's Last Hunt" story, only for editorial to allow him some half-assed compromise in which Kraven is killed but survived by his clone. His buddy-comedy storyline involving Boomerang becoming Spider-Man's roommate was, oddly enough, one of his more solid pieces of narrative, with the most genuine emotional resonance and the best artwork, courtesty mainly of Ryan Ottley and Patrick Gleason, and it has a tragic footnote right here in "Sinister War."
The centerpiece of Spencer's run appears to be this meandering mess involving Kindred, which is either an attempt to undo the infamous "One More Day" or, given the heavy involvement of Norman Osborn, a revisiting (and hopefully eradication) of his retconned sexual affair with Gwen Stacy, the abhorrent "Sins Past." While I'd be happiest if it was the latter, at this point I really just want it to be over, whatever the outcome.
And with two more issues two go for Spencer's run, I'm about to get my wish.
In the meantime, though, "Sinister War" was a decent enough distraction, muddled art notwithstanding.
6.5/10
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