Customer Reviews

Spider-Man: Soul of the Hunter

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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.

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."

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.