REVIEW: ‘Midnight: Spider-Man’ Issue 1

Midnight: Spider-Man Issue 1 is published by Marvel Comics. Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, art by ScieTronc, colors by Neeraj Menon and letters by Joe Caramagna.

At the start of a new universe in Midnight: Spider-Man Issue 1, Peter Parker is led into Oscorp. As a sinister new universe opens, Johnson spends a master of moments darkening Peter Parker’s life. It’s a shocking opening display of revulsion that is honest about what this comic is going to be. Familiar roots let the reader settle into the comic, but not for long. Peter is with Uncle Ben, which always represents two things. One is safety, and the other is an ominous foretelling of trauma.

Midnight: Spider-Man Issue 1 always moves forward, even with a few flashbacks to a singular traumatic event. Peter is very quickly summoned to Oscorp, which must be a nefarious organization on every world in the Multiverse. It’s difficult to predict how the horror will reveal itself in this opening chapter, which is what makes the eruption so stomach-churning and unexpected.

Midnight: Spider-Man Issue 1 marks a significant loss of innocence, and we witness its beginning. Peter’s first trauma is shocking in how brazen it is, and from there, a lifetime of strife and struggle begins. Uncle Ben is an incredible man in this world; he almost always is. But the young man’s upbringing hasn’t been easy. That has turned Parker, even at a young age, into something of a freedom fighter and journalist against enormous corporations.

A glaring absence is Aunt May, and both readers and her family feel it. She clearly existed, and what happened to her, Peter’s parents and more have all coalesced into a bundle of pain. A fascinating fact about Spider-Man in the Midnight Universe is that it alters the most iconic line in comic history. It is now “power makes monsters,” and it changed everything about the dynamic of the comic.

The art is startling regarding how far it goes. Corpses, gore and viscera are on stark display early in the comic, which is tame considering what comes next. This initial image keeps returning, flashing up again and again as it remains in Peter’s mind. Experiments lead to some of the most horrific injuries ever seen in a Marvel comic, on display like the most disturbing reality show in existence.

ScieTronc brings a macabre understanding of bodies and decay to Midnight: Spider-Man Issue 1. The transformations and degradations are jaw-dropping in their details, showing the effects of venom and scientific monstrosities in the human body. But then Peter looks so young and innocent, exposed to so much horror. And it isn’t just death and decay; the design of Felicia Hardy in the Midnight Universe is created with the testing of his innocence in mind.

The colors rarely step outside of natural shades, and it’s rarely good news when it happens. The red gets very intense when the inside of the body ends up on the outside. The injuries look raw, painful and sickening. The lettering uses a standard font, but does an excellent job of conveying extreme pain and weakening voices.

Midnight: Spider-Man Issue 1 isn’t for the weak-stomached webhead fans. It’s incredible just how much body horror gets crammed into this opening chapter, converting the Spider into something resembling The Fly. It’s a sign of how the creators within the Midnight Universe have taken their gloves off, with no limits regarding how scary and sickening they can get. There is no such thing as too far, which is alarming considering the horror credentials that Johnson has.

Midnight: Spider-Man Issue 1 is available where comics are sold.