Review by Woodrow Phoenix

Spider-Man: Cosmic Chaos! is number three of three ‘Mighty Marvel Team-Up’ graphic novels written and drawn by Mike Maihack, featuring a tweenaged version of Spider-Man crafted to appeal to early readers. The art is a lighter, cartoonier style than typical Spider-Man comics and the stories are gently paced mysteries with lots of jokes. The three books can be read separately, but they share events, turning into one long story for kids who have the patience to make the connections.

In Animals Assemble! Spidey looks after all the Avengers pets while they battle a menace, and finds a strange dolphin talisman lying in the grass in Central Park. In Quantum Quest!, the adventures continue as the mysterious dolphin talisman has the power to transport Spidey into the sub-atomic Quantum Realm where lots of objects have been misplaced, including the Silver Surfer’s surfboard.

This third book opens with Spider-Man in space. He’s used the talisman to transport him to a space station above another planet where he can return the Silver Surfer’s property. “Now that I have my board back, it’s imperative I check up on an old boss to make sure he’s adhering to a strict diet,” says the Silver Surfer as he takes Spidey to someone who may know what makes the dolphin talisman work: Rocket Raccoon.

Maihack’s simplified designs for the characters aren’t quite as successful this time around, as the Silver Surfer is so minimal he’s barely there and Rocket looks like an off-model tiger. The plotting of the action remains fun as Spidey teams up with the Guardians of the Galaxy to solve the mystery of the talismans and avert cosmic disaster with the powers of a friendly and neighborly perspective. The jokes and interactions are pitched at the perfect level for kids to follow along and although the friendly neighborhoodlyness is a little repetitive in this volume it’s a nice way to tie everything together as the adventures end where they started, on a rooftop in New York.