The dark trip through the alternate future of 'Earth X' grinds on in the latest Marvels X, as Spider-Man, now in middle-age and with his powers failing him, is felled in ambush by Kraven the Hunter... now mutated by a mysterious plague into a lion/man hybrid. While kept alive, if only to slake Kraven’s lust for another hunt, Spider-Man of Earth-9997 is going to have to gain back some of his old glory if he hopes to save the day this time.
Marvels X, the prequel series to Jim Krueger and Alex Ross’s 1999 epic miniseries Earth X, reunites the writing team while adding Serbian wunderkind Well-Bee on the pencils, and tells a tightly focused, street-level tale of a Marvel world gone mad. It follows the last ordinary boy, named David, in the not too distant future, after the Inhuman Black Bolt releases the Terrigen Mists over the earth, mutating everyone on the planet and giving them super-powers. Many, like Kraven are transformed into horrifying monsters. The world reacts as you might expect, and it's essentially the end of the world.
In Marvels X #3, David has arrived in New York City seeking the help of their famous community of costumed heroes and finds a downtrodden Spider-Man alongside a slightly more chipper Daredevil amidst a city in chaos. Hoping perhaps to find the key to curing the mysterious “plague” of the Terrigen Mists within David’s genome, the three attempt to enlist the Fantastic Four, only to be nearly killed by the Baxter Building’s defenses. As Daredevil heads out to track down the Invisible Woman using his super-senses, the older Spidey and David share a brief moment of friendship, only to be ambushed by Kraven, who brutally slashes Peter twice with drugged claws, and abducts David in order to lure the webslinger into a final battle.
One of the main criticisms the original series Earth X faced (as well as its sequels, Universe X and Paradise X) was the nature of the sprawling story left little to hold on to in terms of the tone of the world. Ross and Krueger here demonstrate their evolution as storytellers, combining the immersive characterizations of their former series with a ephemera of a lived-in world undergoing a world-shifting cataclysm. The discouraged Spider-Man (now in his late 40’s) especially is given fine room to breathe as a reluctant hero who feels the world may have finally passed him by and he may not be up to the task.
On display as well is Well-Bee’s marvelously muted visualization of the ongoing apocalypse, especially in his wonderfully visceral portrayal of the deranged and mutated Kraven. The hunter it appears has not been idle in this chaos, and has taken down many Marvel heavyweights before this challenge to his arch-nemesis, including the likes of Sauron and Fin Fang Foom. The Earth X world can largely be appreciated as a darker twist on the whimsical Jack Kirby years at Marvel, and Well-Bee does Kirby fine homage in his immersively detailed pencil-work.
Marvels X #3 is on sale now.