Review by Frank Plowright

While there had been a trickle of alternate universe Spider-Men over the years, 2014’s Spider-Verse battered the door down, introducing multiple variations from assorted Earths, and combining them in an epic not all survived. Spider-Verse also introduced the Web of Life, and after the dust had settled a few of the alternate Spider-People decided it needed guarding. The collective named themselves Warriors of the Great Web, which is hardly an enticing title, so Marvel opted for Web-Warriors instead.

Mayday Parker, Spider-Girl, Spider-Gwen, Spider-Ham, Spider-Man Noir, Spider-UK and Pavitr Prabhakar, the Indian Spider-Man form the core team, several of them preceding Spider-Verse, and they skip the dimensions seeing off threats as necessary. Mike Costa’s able to show several worlds previously seen, staring off in the universe of the 1970s Spider-Man cartoon, and the Electroverse title provides the clue to his bigger plot, as it’s not just variations of Spider-Man who’ve discovered the multiverse. If you previously thought Electro was a bit of a goon, you’ve not reckoned with several alternatives who’re actually smart and know how best to utilise electrical abilities.

While the alternate Spider-Men were already designed for him, David Baldeón has to put a lot of work into conceiving variations of Electro’s costume, with the masked wrestler version standing out. He’s less diligent when it comes to variations of another familiar character introduced near the end, but when the steampunk world of Lady Spider merges with events he creates no end of fiddly detail on the technology. That’s a process begun by Denis Medri on a short story introducing the character and her world.

Spider-Gwen has the strongest role, separated from her colleagues near the start, and smart use of wits extricating her from a sticky situation, but Costa ensures everyone has a moment in the spotlight. The only qualm really is that a team of Spider-People is a redundant concept despite minor variations in powers and very different personalities.

Costa leads everything up to a darkest before the dawn ending leaving a few plot threads over to be picked up in Spiders Vs. Electroverse is fun, but never groundbreaking. Both volumes are also gathered into the Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider Omnibus.