Spider-Man: Soul of the Hunter [Paperback]

J. M. Dematteis (Author), Mike Zeck (Author), J. M. Dematteils (Author), Bob McLeod (Author, Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1993

Sequel to the 'Kraven's Last Hunt' story.

Product Details

• Paperback: 47 pages
• Publisher: Marvel Enterprises (January 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871359421
• ISBN-13: 978-0871359421
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,477,185 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, J. M. DeMatteis was a professional musician and rock music journalist before entering the comic book field.

Although he's written almost all of the major DC and Marvel icons--including memorable runs on Spider-Man and Justice League--DeMatteis's greatest greatest acclaim has come for sophisticated original graphic novels like Seekers Into The Mystery, Blood: A Tale, The Last One, and Mercy. The autobiographical Brooklyn Dreams was picked by the ALA as one of the Ten Best Graphic Novels and Booklist, in a starred review, called it "as graphically distinguished and creatively novelistic a graphic novel as has ever been...a classic of the form." The groundbreaking Moonshadow was chosen (along with Brooklyn Dreams, Blood and other DeMatteis works) for inclusion in Gene Kanenberg, Jr's 2008 book 500 Essential Graphic Novels. "While Sandman may be the best known fantasy comic," he wrote, "Moonshadow is arguably the finest."

More recently DeMatteis has had great success with the acclaimed children's fantasy Abadazad --which Entertainment Weekly, giving the series an A grade, hailed as "...one of those very rare fantasy works that can enchant preteen kids and 40-year old fanboys..." and Publisher's Weekly, in a starred review, called "an appealing blend of Spirited Away and The Wizard of Oz." Abadazad began life as a CrossGen comic book before morphing into a three-book series, a unique blend of prose, illustration and sequential art, published by Disney's Hyperion Books For Children.

His success in the comic book medium has led DeMatteis to work in both television (writing live action and animation) and movies (creating screenplays for Fox, Disney Feature Animation, directors Carlo Carlei and Chris Columbus and producer Dean Devlin, among others).

DeMatteis's latest work includes the fantasy novel Imaginalis, published in July, 2010 by HarperCollins, and a variety of television and comic book projects.

DeMatteis and his family live in upstate New York. His blogs can be found here at Amazon.com and at www.jmdematteis.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A poor sequel to one of the greatest comics of all time., July 14, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Spider-Man: Soul of the Hunter (Paperback)

Kraven's Last Hunt was a masterpiece. It was a tale of a man's obsession that eventually led to his suicide. After that story, there was a good deal of negative response from people thinking the story was glorifying suicide. In response, Marvel had the creative team responsible for Kraven's Last Hunt write this sequel, and it stinks! All it is, is a story saying how suicide is bad. It is cheap, and I recomend you go buy Kraven's Last Hunt (Fearful Symmetry) instead.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lackluster sequel to a classic storyline, July 18, 2006

By 

Justin Gaines (Northern Virginia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spider-Man: Soul of the Hunter (Paperback)

1992's Amazing Spider-Man: Soul of the Hunter prestige format one-shot serves as a sequel of sorts to the acclaimed Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt storyline that ran through the regular Spider-Man titles a few years earlier.

In Soul of the Hunter, Peter Parker is still haunted by the events of Kraven's Last Hunt, namely his being buried alive for two weeks and Kraven's subsequent suicide. In addition to Peter's internal torment, he is visited by none other than Kraven's ghost, seeking some form of forgiveness and absolution.

Personally, I think revisiting this classic storyline was a bad idea, but there are ways to make it work. If the book dealt strictly with Peter's internal struggle, then it might have made more sense (though as a comic it might have been a bit too boring). By adding the supernatural elements (Spidey vs. Kraven's moldering corpse under the watchful eye of a spectral Grim Reaper), it just muddies the issue. The end result has Peter coming to terms with his ordeal and death in general, but from a reader's point of view the ending was unsatisfactory and didn't seem to resolve anything.

The fact that the book boasts artwork by Mike Zech should have been its saving grace. Instead, Zeck's artwork seems uninspired, especially compared to his mood-setting work on the original Kraven's Last Hunt issues. Some of his panels had an almost Watchmen-like quality, but the action scenes in particular seemed lifeless.

Overall, Soul of the Hunter is a disappointing follow-up to a classic storyline. Like Frank Millers ill-advised Dark Knight Strikes Again, it reinforces the old adage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SEQUAL TO GREATNESS, October 31, 2005

By 

Marjorie Sorge - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spider-Man: Soul of the Hunter (Paperback)

So soul of the hunter, not really as good as Kraven's last hunt, but still a wonderful tale. It deals with the views of ol' pete parker after the events of kraven's last hunt. I don't care what the reason the book was made, there where some rumblings that it was just to show suicide isn't honorable and such, but the things that happened in last hunt had to be adressed. THis book is a take it or leave it in term of importance in spidey's life, but definatley a good read.