Spider-Man Noir (2020) Issue 2

 

Spider-Man Noir (2020) Issue #2

Written by Margaret Stohl

Art by Juan Ferreyra

Cover art by Dave Rapoza

The first stop on Spider-Man's international adventure is London England. Honestly, the more I think about it, the more excited I get. As far as I'm aware, the noir genre rarely takes place outside of the United States, and typically sticks with New York or San Francisco (which is fair enough, write what you know and all that), but I'm looking forward to seeing other locales on mysterious dark and stormy nights.

This issue sees Spidey and Dr. Huma Bergmann (the expert on Byzantine artifacts whose sister was murdered in the 1st issue) attend a fancy party where Huma meets a couple of informants, a pair of well-to-do Brazilians with a taste for antiquities. They give our heroes a new lead on the case and a contact in Italy, before they're attacked. Spidey makes quick work of the first attacker and this leads us into an action packed, and deliciously drawn, chase sequence, before our detective and the doctor board a ship for Italy.

They make their way to meet the contact, the daughter of the informants who happens to be a tough as nails pilot who can fly our heroes to Berlin while avoiding any Nazi entanglements. The takeoff hardly goes smoothly. A machine gunner opens fire on the plane, and this is the most resistance we've seen Spidey face so far.

They make it to Berlin, lousy with Nazis, their symbolism polluting the place, and Dr. Bergmann leads the others to the museum where she hopes to meet her boss, Doctor Heinrich Hellstrom. It isn't long before Spidey and the gang are intercepted by a noir re-imagining of Electro, and the book ends, leaving us drooling in anticipation for the high voltage fight ahead of us.

Just as in the last issue, the art is phenomenal, every panel has me lovingly looking at all the detail and bold shadows with strategic use of color. The writing continues to be fun to read, the old timey slang never feels clunky or gets in the way of the story trying to impress the reader with its verisimilitude.

My only fear lies with Doctor Huma Bergmann. She's shaping up to fill the Femme Fatale role. Now, that's a classic noir trope, but not one I'm particularly fond of. I like Dr. Bergmann, and I'd hate to see her diminished to being a Nazi spy or some other plot device.

All that said, I'm still really enjoying this, and looking forward to what comes next. There's only three more issues in the series, so I don't have too long to wait for the exciting finale.