Review by Frank Plowright

Mysterio was a member of the Sinister Six the first time Spider-Man’s enemies united to deal with him, and has been part of several iterations since. Now he’s Cage McKnight, film director, employing Mary Jane Watson in his current project, which is why she’s accompanied by Peter Parker to the red carpet screening. This being a superhero story, though, that’s certainly not going to go to plan, and indeed it’s attacked by the Vulture’s Sinister Six stand-ins, the Savage Six.

Nick Spencer and Ed Brisson co-write, and somewhere in this constantly escalating flood of Spider-Man’s foes there’s a plot about Spider-Man once upon a time making a deal with Mephisto. However, that’s relegated to a minor concession when the main action is just page after page of Spider-Man’s assorted foes just throwing themselves at him, with Mary Jane and Mysterio forgotten along the way. The whole thing reads like something plotted by Nick Spencer and Ed Brisson when they were eight years old, and now they finally have the chance to bring it to comics as originally written.

The first chapter’s drawn by Mark Bagley, and benefits from having fewer characters, so at least he’s able to supply his usual superhero polish (sample art), but thereafter around every fourth page is a pin-up page by one of the other four artists. Some are better than others when it comes to letting you know what’s going on, but given the mass of villains involved they’re fighting a losing battle along with Spider-Man.

Really, really poor. Don’t waste your money. Spend it instead on one of the better graphic novels from the co-authors as recommended below.