Review by Ian Keogh

With the animated Into the Spider-Verse movie such a critical success, there’s a vested interest at Marvel in keeping the spotlight on their assorted alternate Spider-Men well beyond the Spider-Verse and Spider-Geddon crossovers where many of the characters were introduced. Bleeding Edge then follows the same pattern as the first Edge of Spider-Verse collection by looking in on a wide variety of Spider-Man’s alternates, some in longer stories, some in shorter.

Marvel are especially fond of the dinosaur Spider-Rex who appeared in the previous collection and will be seen again next time, all written by Karla Pacheco with Pere Pérez art. In all cases the comedy of wise-cracking dinosaurs is awkward, exemplified by the villain being Kravertooth Tiger.

Far more satisfying among the longer stories is David Hein and Luciano Vecchio reprising their idea of a fairytale musical. Musicals are notoriously difficult to pull off in comics, but this is witty unpredictable and charming. As seen on the sample art, Kraven becomes Gaston from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, and the variations on other Spider-Man cast members are innovative. Brian Reber’s totally suitable colouring also deserves a mention.

Other creators turn more to horror and darkness. Zander Cannon and Guillermo Sanna rework Spider-Man’s world successfully as a dark crime drama, while Juan Ferreyra’s art on Dream-Spider impresses (sample art right) on greater supernatural events, but a more ordinary story. Benjamin Percy and Marika Cresta achieve a better balance with Sky-Spider, a more tragic character.

Dan Slott had plans for a Spider-Boy series, and with Humbeto Ramos on art supplies a trial run for a young hero who’s been forgotten. It’s possibly best some wrinkles were worked out here before the series was launched. It’s an uneasy mixture of the sympathy generated for a child no-one remembers and his sometimes behaving well beyond his years, such as his solution for dealing with an item wanted by crooks.

Araña’s story by Alex Segura and Enid Balám is the one inclusion with unfinished business, so Segura continues her exploits in Spider-Society. This, though, is one of the weaker stories for the eventual purpose prioritised leading to a standard superhero battle.

This selection by and large improves on the previous volume, but there’s still a fair amount of filler. It’s going to appeal far more with readers for whom the idea of J. Jonah Jameson becoming Spider-Man is more than a one-off joke than the casual reader.

All three Edge of Spider-Verse collections are combined in Spider-Verse: Across the Multiverse.